5 Ways KeyShot Viewer Can Save Rendering Time

There are so many ways KeyShot Viewer can be used in the product development process. We’re learning about new ways people are using it all the time but these five are the ways customer have told us it has helped the most.

What is KeyShot Viewer?

KeyShot Viewer is a viewer for KeyShot scenes. It’s a free, stand-alone application that enables secure sharing of those KeyShot scenes so you can provide interactive, photo-realistic viewing, presentation and configuration of your designs. Best of all, it uses the same real-time render technology as KeyShot to produce those amazing visuals you love, all without rendering a single image.

So, how is that possible? Well, since KeyShot Viewer is a stand-alone app, it can be shared and used in a lot of different ways across a lot of different applications, from off-site design reviews for milestone completion to showroom configurators for engaging customers.

Bottom line, there are a lot of ways we’re seeing it used to save render time and aid the product development process. Here are five that KeyShot users have told us about which have gone on to save an immense amount of time and money.  

1. Send Scene to Product Manager for Approval

At it’s core, KeyShot Viewer allows the simple viewing of scenes you’ve set up in KeyShot. All the lighting, materials, and textures show up just like they do in KeyShot. Instead of generating tens or even hundreds of views, KeyShot users are sending the scene to management for buy-off, wherever they may be, using the KeyShot Viewer.

2. Explore Model and Material Variations

When you take your KeyShot scene a step further adding different Model Sets or material variations, you can use KeyShot Viewer to show these variations during design reviews to provide an interactive way to view different model and material options. We’ve seen this used for simple model option presentation up to expansive CMF (Color, Material, Finish) studies with the time in rendering each model option or material variation eliminated.

3. Distribute Real-time Product Configurations

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Using KeyShot Configurator, you can create advanced product configurators capable of visualizing the complete array of model, material, and lighting options. One addition to that could multiply the options 10-fold where an image rendered for each becomes unrealistic. Fortunately, any configurator created in KeyShot can also be viewed in KeyShot Viewer providing immediate, interactive viewing of all model, material and lighting options.

4. Send to Manufacturer to Communicate Design Details

In any product development process, you eventually need manufacturing input. Maybe it’s to discuss the material for a single part or maybe it’s to settle on a machining operation that would effect finish and final look of the entire product line. KeyShot users are using the KeyShot Viewer to do both, eliminating the need to create multiple renders and sharing the scene with manufacturing as quickly as they finish applying a material.

5. Send to Customer to Make Purchasing Decisions

KeyShot Viewer works great during product development but ultimately it’s the product we want in the customer’s hand. Often, it’s simply not feasible to have every option available, not to mention every lighting condition, but KeyShot users are finding how KeyShot Viewer can put all of these options in the customer’s hand immediately, allowing them to interact with each and come to a decision sooner.

And though we’ve said it several times, all of this can be done without rendering a single image. These are just five ways KeyShot Viewer can be used to reduce or eliminate rendering time. How are you using KeyShot Viewer?