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Easy, Cheap, Fast, and Online - New Visualisation Tools Win Big Business For Small Print Companies

Easy, cheap, fast and online, the new breed of exhibit visualisation systems are used by tens of thousands of exhibitors to generate pre trade-show excitement. An interactive virtual booth is provided as a taster, helping visitors recognise your real booth when they play out their visit in real life at the trade show.

Intrigued by the hype, we went to check it out for ourselves:
We chose 3D-Standards; the clear lead player in this new form of exhibit visualisation, I figured we'd get a chance to peek behind the curtain...

We took a look at 3D-Standards online using the version at www.babycad.com, and felt immediately relieved that here was no learning involved. The app runs in a web page, you select your portable trade show booth components from a list of thumbnail images on the left, each product selected gets inserted into a cool 3D viewer on the right.

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I was mixing banners, pop-ups, shell scheme panels,... etc, dragging them around in the little 3D view, snapping them together and playing with floor plan ideas. It was stupidly easy and very, very cool.
My uploaded graphics sat straight onto the little 3D panels, banners, etc. I loved it, and rapidly created an impressive, professional booth visualisation. And it really is impressive, a one-click-publish feature puts your stand design in it's own 3D web page. Send your customers the link and they can take a virtual tour of your exhibit, and even use the embedded Twitter button to send your design sailing into the social sphere.

We met with Aarkid, the team behind the app, when they exhibited at Sign&Digital2011, and they’re bursting with energy. They spoke about plans for the future and emerging technologies, they clearly had an affinity for the exhibition industry, and understood the impact their application could have.

"Our users are great, providing a lot of honest feedback, steering development, and helping us prioritise which 3D products to add next, we're excited about where this is going!" enthused Damian Tremlett the CEO at Aarkid.

So how does it help you? well, while we chatted, Aarkid revealed something important. and for me, that’s when the penny dropped.
It turns out that many exhibitors get their 3D-Snapshots made for them by their printer or exhibit designer as part of a standard service. The companies providing this service use the app to make visuals quicker than their competitors can and win more booth design contracts, now add in the 3D publish feature and suddenly they’re offering their customer additional marketing materials, increasing the value of their service for no extra effort. Their customers get busy promoting their booth with engaging virtual 3D images, and the design company gets exposure for free, It’s a win-win.

I'd highly recommend giving this a try, once you see it in action it's really straightforward. It's available online at www.babycad.com for free. Right here’s the place where the web meets exhibit design, so if you design exhibits for a living, go take a look.

Tags: banner, design, exhibit, exhibition, software

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