Building 3D websites takes longer than 2D websites? That makes sense, right?
If instead of a 2D website, you build a website with the same structure and layout but with 3D content in the form of images, videos or especially real time, then the effort is higher in almost all of the cases, because 3D, as process in itself, comes on top of our existing workflow with more than just a little effort.
Tip: A 3D website does not necessarily have to work in real time. Rather, it's about presenting 3D in an immersive way and seamlessly embedding it into the design and layout of the website.
And while you could of course always fall back on stock media, 3D models and existing solutions, customization is the single most effective way to unleash its full potential. After all, you don't want to use a copyable design template for your company either and get lost in the digital swamp of website templates.
Putting 3D on your site
Creating custom 3D requires making concepts, modeling the scene and elements, texturing and rendering them to achieve decent 3D graphics and videos. This process can take an average time anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or even a few months if you are thinking of animating a top-class trailer for your product. This means that our site can already possess some 3D and who would have thought, without redeveloping it from scratch.
By creating these assets and integrating them into our existing website in various places, we have created the simplest and most accessible form of a 3D website, in this case with less effort than developing a new site from scratch. We could also call this an "upgrade".
So when we develop a new 3D website, we can assume that it will always be longer and more complex. If instead we decide to upgrade our existing website to a simple form of 3D, this is possible in just a few weeks.
The process of different 3D web projects and how long each of them takes
3D influences the workflow dramatically depending on the type of experience you choose. We will describe the extensive process to implement 3D on all levels. They are shown in a linear and simplified form, but please note that a large proportion of them run in parallel.
The common website
- Develop overall strategy (1-4 weeks)
- Build concept and structure for the content (1-2 weeks)
- Design layout and UX (1-2 weeks)
- Do moodboarding and create UI design style (1-3 weeks)
- Create assets and content (1-4 weeks)
- Design complete UI (1-5 weeks)
- Create prototype (1-2 weeks)
- Front end development (1-6 weeks)
The design and development of a full website from scratch with more than 10 pages takes about 2-4 months.
Additional steps to upgrade to a 3D website
- 3D strategy and inspiration (1-2 weeks)
- Make 3D concept designs (1-2 weeks)
- Model, texture, render and review 3D scenes and elements (1-4 weeks)
- Create animations and effects (1-4 weeks)
- Export content in video and image form (a few days)
- Make design adjustments and then integrate 3D into the front end
The development and integration of 3D assets for a website can take anything from a few weeks to several months depending on the complexity. The average time to develop a 3D website from scratch is about 3 months and the upgrade of an existing site to a simple 3D experience is as fast as 1 month.
The process of developing an immersive experience
Now we come to the actual thing, bringing 3D to the web in real-time, like in a video game. We want to be able to move through atmospheric scenes, rotate elements and view them interactively. To achieve this, we have to prepare our 3D for the web in a complex process called "baking" and also focus on a new core task: The Creative Development.
A simple 3D website is a normal website with 3D on top. An immersive experience requires a complete new workflow and rethinking at all levels from design to development. These experiences are simply far too different to measure one against the other. Rather, an immersive experience is a useful addition like an app on your site, not a replacement, to a regular website.
- Plan and strategy (1-4 weeks)
- Make 3D concept designs (1-2 weeks)
- Model, texture, render and review 3D scenes and elements (1-10 weeks)
- Bake and optimize 3D assets (2-4 weeks)
- UX/UI Design (1-3 weeks)
- Tweaking the 3D scene (1-3 weeks)
- Custom shaders and effects development (4-20 weeks)
- Functional development (4-20 weeks)
- Front end development (2-4 weeks)
- Testing and troubleshooting (2-4 weeks)
When developing fully immersive experiences, it is not uncommon to enter uncharted territory and develop new ideas and concepts. The large number of individual building blocks that have to be created and the fact that you cannot rely on existing solutions are the reason why the development is far more complex than any other 3D website. The development can take anything from 3-10 months or more, ending up at an average of around 5 months.
The 3 factors that impact time most
As you can see above, some steps are simple and easy while others are highly dependent on the focus of the experience and the possibilities to do more are almost unlimited.
1. Custom shaders and effects
At the absolute top are custom shaders and effects. These small, inconspicuous animations that give experiences their own special atmosphere can also eat a hole in your wallet and time budget. For many effects there are already references on the net, but the development is the crucial point and the supreme discipline of Creative development. The more realistic, the more detailed, the more individual and, above all, the more interactive, the development of a single effect can take a good 1 or several months. In addition, a great amount of time must be paid to optimizing performance so that they function smoothly on the web on all devices.
To save time, a specific framework with existing, usable effects and variations can be selected in the planning phase, and the orientation of the experience can be optimized so that fewer or easier-to-implement effects come into play that look just as great.
2. Complex functionality
Let's say you're planning to create a multiplayer-enabled event in a virtual immersive 3D environment where users can join live and participate in groups in a private voice chat. Sounds great, let's develop it! - But wait, do users have to register, how do these groups work and how do you get together, who and when will the live event start, how does the broadcast work and what happens if a lot of people take part?
A great idea quickly develops into a project that takes months, in which small details add up to a huge overall effort. A realistic assessment at the beginning and the development of a strategy examining the entire project in advance are the key to not getting lost in unforeseen problems during development. For projects of this level of complexity, a top agency with experience in this area is always the best contact for planning and executing such a project together.
If you want to spend less time on building an experience, planning with a fixed time budget is a good way to consciously make complex projects simpler and have realistic expectations at the same time. Likewise, most complex experiences can be boiled down to a kind of MVP solution, because it is often additional functions and gimmicks that make projects take forever. A clear focus on an absolute minimum of essentials helps to get a functional experience online.
3. Overall project size
Sometimes it doesn't have to be really complex or have great effects, but rather the absolute effort involved is what makes a project last a long time.
The good thing is, this is less surprising and is at least a slightly harder trap to step into. If large amounts of 3D assets have to be developed, the website requires 100 pages instead of 10, not one but 20 special effects are desired and the workflow simply has too many steps, then the effort is multiplied. You assume it takes longer because there is more work and that's all true. Now it may be that the project not only stalls for a long time but suddenly and may not come to an end at all. The invisible problem becomes apparent when not only the actual effort but also the time for exchanges, feedback and improvements suddenly multiplies. Misunderstanding or slow communication between customers and agencies as well as inefficient processes are often the reason why time is lost everywhere, even though the project itself does not seem to be the problem.
Well, in order to avoid this issue, caution and preparatory work are required. Instead of starting projects as soon as the conditions are right, it’s worth finding out more about the workflow and the exchange process during the project, and how an agency ensures that the work will work efficiently and in line with both interests. You can also request a structured list, or process documents; a good agency should already have and use these on a daily basis.
There is also the option of a test project in which you have part of the work done and do not make yourself dependent on the success of the project. This means that if things go haywire, so be it and you move on until you find an agency that meets your needs. This gives you as the client the best insight and real experience of how a project works with the respective partner for a fraction of the money of a large project. Any agency will agree to this if you are willing to pay the costs. Expecting this test project to be below their rate and excluding studios that don't accept this is probably not a good solution and will leave you with average service providers who have fewer options and therefore play along. - A good agency has its price and will not work below it.
Summary
The time it takes to develop a 3D website depends on the type of experience, overall size, complexity, custom effects, quality of the agency who develops it and the client themselves.
Yes you, the customer, has the most influence on how long the project will take. By deciding who will develop what, you are at the helm of your own ship. You can decide whether this ship reaches its destination successfully or sinks somewhere at sea, goes off course or breaks down due to lack of fuel.
By studying this topic yourself and becoming an expert in the field of 3D websites, you will be able to come up with a good plan and strategy yourself, consciously choosing a good agency for your project with a realistic budget. Altogether you can finally let your dream 3D project come to live and finish it just in time.
