Photorealistic 3D Packaging Rendering with PackCAD Mockup
PackCAD Mockup is browser-based software that turns flat dielines into foldable 3D packaging mockups. This guide covers PackCAD Mockup’s Render tool, which creates photorealistic path-traced renderings of your 3D packaging designs in just a few clicks.
Setup
First you’ll need to pose your model and apply artwork and materials for rendering. If you’re new to PackCAD Mockup, the Getting Started guide covers these steps.
Posing the mailer box model before rendering.
Always save your project before rendering. Large renders can cause your browser to reload the page, losing unsaved changes.
To open the rendering workflow, select Render from the Postprocessing section of the left menu, or from File > Render.
Live Preview
When the Render window opens, a live preview of your scene appears on the right. The preview responds to settings changes in real time, so you can frame your shot and adjust the lighting interactively. Drag the preview to rotate your model and scroll to zoom.
What you see in the live preview is very close to what the final render will look like, but there may be some slight differences in the lighting. We always recommend performing a small test render to check your settings.
Rendering Settings
You can adjust the output image, scene, camera, and renderer settings via the panel on the left side of the Render window. If you’ve changed any of the default settings, a Restore Defaults button appears at the top of the window. PackCAD Mockup’s defaults work well for most packaging designs, though you may want to increase the output image size for your final render.
Output
- Aspect Ratio - Choose a preset (1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, or 9:16), or select Custom to use any proportions.
- Width and Height - Set the output size, up to 4096 px on each side. The button keeps the aspect ratio locked while you edit either value.
We recommend rendering a small test image first to make sure you’re happy with your settings before committing to a full-size render. The default image output size is intentionally small (800px wide) so test renders finish quickly.
Scene
- Background Color - Sets the seamless backdrop color behind your packaging.
Lighting
- Key Angle - Moves the main light around your design, changing where highlights and shadows fall.
- Key Intensity - Brightness of the main light; higher values create stronger highlights and deeper shadows.
- Fill Intensity - Brightness of the secondary light, which sits 90° from the main light and softens its shadows.
- Ambient Intensity - Soft light coming from all directions; higher values brighten the whole scene and soften shadows.
Changing the Key Angle moves the highlights and shadows across the box. The soft shadows take a moment to recompute after each change.
Camera
- Camera Type - Switch between Perspective, which looks like a photo from a real camera with natural depth, and Orthographic, which keeps parallel edges perfectly parallel, like a technical drawing.
- FOV - Sets how wide the perspective camera sees (the field of view). Low values zoom in like a telephoto lens, and high values show more of the scene and exaggerate depth like a wide-angle lens.
Renderer
- Exposure - Overall image brightness, similar to a camera’s exposure setting.
- Samples - The number of passes the renderer makes. More samples produce a sharper, less grainy/blurry image but take longer to render.
- Light Bounces - How many times light can bounce between surfaces. More bounces add subtle indirect lighting but take longer to render.
Start Render
Click Start Render in the lower-right corner to begin. The render runs in three phases, with a progress bar along the bottom edge of the image:
- Preparing - The renderer builds the scene.
- Sampling - The image sharpens with each pass, with the sample count and elapsed time shown below the image.
- Denoising - An AI denoiser cleans up the remaining grain in the sampled image.
If the image already looks good partway through sampling and you don’t want to wait any longer, click Skip to Denoising to finish early. Click Cancel to abandon the render and return to the live preview.
Keep the tab open and your browser window visible while rendering, otherwise your computer may pause the render.
Render Gallery
Each finished render is added to a gallery for your current session. Use the tabs to switch between the Live Preview and your saved renders. The gallery holds up to 5 renders; delete one with to make room for more.
Renders live in the app for your current session only and are not saved with your project file. Download any render you want to keep.
Downloading
Select a render in the gallery and click to download it as a PNG. PackCAD Mockup Pro lets you create watermark-free renderings and download them at up to 4K resolution.
Want to try the full workflow? Renders of the built-in example file have no watermark and can be downloaded by any signed-in user for free.
Troubleshooting
PackCAD Mockup’s renderer has been tested primarily in the desktop Chrome browser. If you’re running into problems, try switching to Chrome.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Blurry image | The denoising step at the end of the render can blur an image that hasn’t accumulated enough samples. Increase Renderer > Samples or the Output > Width and Height, and avoid Skip to Denoising while the image has fewer than 100 samples. |
| Failed or blank output | Very large renders can exceed your computer’s hardware limits. The render may fail outright, or the denoising step may fail and leave a grainy-looking image. Reduce the Output > Width and Height, close other browser tabs, and click Start Render to try again. |
| Long render times | With the default settings, modern computer hardware can render a 4K image in 2-3 minutes; older or less powerful computers may take significantly longer. Render time scales with the output size, number of samples, and number of light bounces; reduce these settings to speed up render. |
Going Further
For most packaging visualization work, PackCAD Mockup’s built-in render tool has you covered. For those who need full control over custom scenes, lighting, environments, and materials, you can export a 3D model from PackCAD Mockup and render your design in the free, open-source Blender software instead:
Export your 3D model via File > Export 3D Model and follow our Photorealistic 3D Packaging Mockups with Blender tutorial, which includes a free Blender template with a studio lighting setup.