Net Business Labs
Journal

Writing on 3D, AI, and the studio.

Insights from inside the production line. New posts roughly every two weeks.

Insights·Apr 4, 2026
AI isn't replacing CGI — it's changing what CGI is for
After 15 years and 1,000 projects, I no longer think AI is going to replace 3D studios. It's going to make them ten times more useful.
5 min read
Studio·Mar 18, 2026
What we learned building the Google Maps 3D buildings team
From 2010 to 2014, our 50-person team in India delivered the original Google Maps 3D buildings layer. Here's what scaling 3D production at that volume taught us.
8 min read
Tutorials·Feb 26, 2026
Render or photograph? A decision tree for furniture brands
Sometimes the answer is photography. Most of the time, in 2026, it isn't. Here's how to choose.
4 min read
Tutorials·Apr 12, 2026
How to brief a 3D studio without wasting a week
Most briefs we see are 80% what the client thinks we need and 20% what we actually need. Here's the template that flips it.
6 min read
AI·Mar 28, 2026
288 SKU configurations in 11 days: anatomy of an AI-augmented catalogue
How we delivered a seating brand's full collection — 12 SKUs × 6 fabrics × 4 woods — in less than two weeks.
7 min read
Insights·Apr 18, 2026
When does architectural visualization pay for itself?
A practical calculator for developers, brokers, and architects deciding whether to spend on renders before breaking ground.
5 min read
AI·Apr 22, 2026
Why your CGI looks 'AI' — and how to fix it
If your renders are starting to feel generic, the problem isn't the AI. It's where you put it in the pipeline.
5 min read
Tutorials·Apr 25, 2026
From SketchUp to Unreal: a 2026 stack for archviz studios
What we run, why we run it, and which combinations we'd avoid in 2026.
6 min read