Guides
The Complete Guide to Always-On 3D for Industry
How always-on 3D product marketing runs as an asset library: intake, 5 deliverables, cadence, revisions, publishing, analytics, and governance.
Mainstay Digital · · 7 min read
Short answer
Always-on 3D product marketing runs as a loop: upload a STEP file, order from 5 deliverable types, review drafts, publish through Brizo, read the analytics, and queue the next asset. Plan concurrency sets the pace (1 asset at a time on Basic and Immersive, 3 on Momentum), and turnarounds run from 1 to 2 weeks for stills to up to 8 weeks for interactive 3D. This guide is the operating manual, with a month-by-month example.
Always-on 3D product marketing means a product's 3D library never goes dark: the assets stay published, and a production queue keeps adding new ones. In practice that comes down to 1 intake process, 5 deliverable types, a fixed cadence, and a habit of reading the analytics.
What does always-on 3D mean for industrial product marketing, in practice?
The library holds digital product assets: stills, AR experiences, hotspot walkthroughs, videos, and interactive builds. Each one moves through 6 steps.
- Intake. Pick a deliverable, upload the STEP file, and answer 3 to 7 questions.
- Production. The team builds the 3D master and the first draft.
- Review. You revise until it's right, with every stage visible to your team.
- Publish. The asset goes live through Brizo and into your sales stack.
- Measure. AR analytics and hotspot analytics show what buyers open.
- Queue. The next asset gets picked using what the analytics showed.
The 3D master gets built once per product. After that, each new asset starts from the model already on file.
What goes in at intake?
A STEP file and 3 to 7 answers. IGES, SolidWorks, NX, and Inventor files work too, so engineering rarely has to build anything new. The platform routes the rest.
Pick the first product on purpose: the machine your reps demo most, or the one hardest to put in front of a buyer. Tidel's TR400 weighs 1,000 pounds and MES Fire's RevolveAir station is trailer-sized. Both became easy to show once they existed as 3D.
What are the 5 deliverables, and what does each take?
| Deliverable | Turnaround | Plan that includes it | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product stills | 1 to 2 weeks | Basic and up, unlimited | Web pages, spec sheets, brochures |
| Web AR | 3 to 4 weeks | Basic and up, unlimited | Booths, remote demos, QR entry |
| Hotspot experiences | 3 to 4 weeks | Immersive and up | Guided mechanism walkthroughs on any device |
| Product videos | 4 to 6 weeks | Basic edit on Basic, voiceover and scored music from Immersive | Booth loops, sales decks |
| Interactive 3D | up to 8 weeks | Momentum | Websites, floor iPads, live calls |
Product visualization comes in 5 forms here, and all 5 are 3D visualization cut from 1 master. Our catalog lists Pearson's CE15 case erector as a Web AR experience, a hotspot experience, and a product video, all of the same machine. Pearson's interactive 3D spans 27 machines.
How does cadence work?
Concurrency is the rule. Basic and Immersive run 1 asset at a time, so assets queue back to back. Momentum runs 3 at a time.
Here's a worked example. Take 1 product, 1 STEP file, and a request that goes in on day 1. Assume the top of each published turnaround range and 4 weeks to the month.
| Month | Immersive (1 asset at a time) | Momentum (3 assets at a time) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (weeks 1 to 4) | Stills ship in week 2. Web AR starts in week 3. | Interactive 3D, stills, and Web AR start on day 1. Stills ship in week 2 and the video starts in week 3. Web AR ships in week 4. |
| 2 (weeks 5 to 8) | Web AR ships in week 6. The hotspot experience runs weeks 7 to 10. | The hotspot experience runs weeks 5 to 8. The video and the interactive 3D both ship by week 8. |
| 3 (weeks 9 to 12) | Hotspots ship in week 10. The video starts in week 11. | Product 1 is done. Product 2's STEP file goes in. |
| 4 (weeks 13 to 16) | The video ships in week 16. | Product 2 follows the same 8-week pattern. |
The arithmetic: Immersive builds 4 deliverables back to back, so 2 + 4 + 4 + 6 = 16 weeks. Momentum builds all 5, which is 2 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 24 weeks of work split across 3 slots, so 24 / 3 = 8 weeks. Interactive 3D starts at Momentum, which is why the two columns hold different deliverables.
At the fast end of each range, the Immersive run takes 1 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 11 weeks. How fast your team reviews drafts moves these dates, so treat both figures as planning estimates.
How do revisions and publishing work?
The first draft lands in weeks. Revise as many times as you need, and your team sees every stage. Stills carry unlimited revisions.
Batch your feedback. 1 consolidated round from 1 approver moves faster than 5 people commenting at different times.
Publishing runs through Brizo. Interactive and AR experiences embed on your site, run on a booth iPad, or open from a QR code on a spec sheet or an AR business card. Stills and video drop into the website, spec sheets, decks, and booth loops.
A tradeoff to plan for: browser and AR models give up the last few percent of shadow and texture in exchange for running anywhere with no install. Use stills and video for hero content.
When a product changes, send the revised STEP file through the same intake. The model on file gives the update a head start.
What do the analytics tell you?
AR analytics come with every plan. Hotspot analytics come with Immersive and Momentum, and they report which hotspots buyers click. MES Fire's Web AR results show the kind of numbers worth watching: session length, countries and cities reached, and views per user.
Run a monthly look with 3 questions:
- Which callouts get opened most, and does the spec sheet say the same thing?
- Which products draw the most AR sessions?
- Which product has no assets yet but keeps coming up in sales calls?
The answer to the third question is your next request.
Who owns always-on 3D product marketing? A governance split
Industrial marketing content drifts when no one owns it. Here's the split we'd suggest:
| Owner | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Product marketing | The queue: which product and which deliverable go next |
| Engineering | Handing over the revised STEP file when a configuration changes |
| Sales enablement | Placing links and QR codes in decks, spec sheets, and dealer kits |
| 1 named approver | Sign-off on drafts, in 1 consolidated round |
Add 2 habits. Keep a short list of every live link and where each QR code is printed, so a retired product gets pulled everywhere at once. Review the analytics monthly and let them set the queue.
Pricing runs from Basic at $2,995 a month through Immersive at $3,995 to Momentum at $7,995, plus a one-time $2,500 onboarding fee. You can cancel anytime with 30 days notice. If you're ready to start the loop, start a request with your first STEP file.
Frequently asked questions
How long until the first asset ships?
Product stills are the fastest at 1 to 2 weeks. Web AR and hotspots take 3 to 4 weeks, product video 4 to 6 weeks, and interactive 3D up to 8 weeks. Ordering stills first gets something live before the longer builds finish.
How many assets can run at once?
Basic and Immersive run 1 asset at a time. Momentum runs 3 at once, which is why it suits bigger portfolios and several initiatives in parallel.
What happens when engineering changes the design?
Send the revised STEP file through the same intake: pick the deliverable, upload the file, answer the questions. The 3D master on file means the update starts from existing work.
Which deliverable should we order first?
Stills make a good first order: they're quick and cover the website, spec sheets, and quotes. Add Web AR next for machines too big to ship, then hotspots for sealed mechanisms.
