How does Shapeways choose which Photos are shown and when?
All products shown on Shapeways are associated with a material - either because a shop owner has set a default material, a user has searched for a specific material, or the Shapeways team has chosen to highlight the product in a material. When a shopper clicks on a product and is brought to your product page, we do our best to show them an image of the product in the specific material that they're looking at. We also change the image displayed when a shopper changes which material they are looking at. There's an image or render for every available material for sale. Each material is a unique product in its own right, so if a shopper sees a gold ring and clicks on it, they should see a gold ring when they land on the product page. In order for your product to shine, it is important for you to ensure your renders look great, and add & tag photos of all of the materials of your product.
How to Tag Your Images
You can add tags to your images from the "Edit Model" page for your product, which you can access from either your Shop Inventory, your My 3D Models page, or the Edit Model link on your product page.
From here, scroll down to the "Images" section and upload your photos. Select the material from the drop down, save, and you’re done!
If you have multiple images of your product in the default material, you can choose the default image by selecting the radio button that says “Default Image,” and if no material has been selected by a customer, that is the material and image they'll see on your page.
Why should I tag an image or render?
When we know what material is shown in a picture, we can show shoppers the most accurate representation of the product they can expect to receive. There are some products that are hugely different based on the material they are printed in, if you tag images and renders appropriately, this can avoid potential confusion for the customers.
What is the “Not A Photo” tag on renders?
We tag all Shapeways generated renders and any photos that you tell us are a render with a note for Shoppers, to prevent any confusion for our customers.