Innovations In 3D Technology and How They Are Relevant to Packaging

Even though packaging is generally printed on flat substrates, the end product is never really flat. Many stakeholders in the packaging production chain can benefit from using tools that work in three dimensions. Those tools already exist. There is packaging specific software that makes use of 3D to help creating better designs, detect and fix errors and improve communication.

The computer graphics industry is evolving rapidly. We believe that some of the recent innovations are relevant to the packaging industry: web-based 3D, cloth simulation, augmented- and virtual reality. These technologies improve current 3D software tools or allow the creation of completely new tools. Easy communication using interactive 3D mockups is made possible with web-based 3D technology while advances in cloth simulation, augmented- and virtual- reality contribute to create more convincing and immersive experiences.

In conclusion, we expect that the continuous improvements in the field of computer graphics will lead to the use of more and more 3D enabled software in the packaging workflow.