3D dishes and AR on your menu: what they are and when they help
On a 3D menu, guests turn a dish with a finger and look at it from every side. With AR (augmented reality), the phone’s camera places the dish on their own table at its real size. Here is when that helps, and how to do it without slowing your menu down.
What guests see
A dish opens on its photo and then turns into a 3D model that guests can rotate and zoom. On a phone, “See it on your table” opens the camera and puts the dish in front of them. It works in the phone’s browser: iPhones use Apple’s Quick Look and Android phones Google’s Scene Viewer, so nobody installs an app.
Which dishes to show in 3D
You don’t need every dish in 3D. Start with five to ten: your best sellers, your signature dishes and the ones guests ask about, such as unfamiliar local food, generous portions and desserts that look impressive.
Real size matters
A model is only useful if its size is right: a sharing platter shouldn’t look like a side dish. Seghan measures the plate, and “Size” shows its dimensions in centimetres next to a drink can for comparison.
How the models are made
A model is made from photos of the dish with Seghan’s photo-to-3D, or uploaded if you already have one (a GLB file). Before anything is made, you see what will be turned into 3D, so a napkin or a glass doesn’t end up in the model.
- The whole plate in every photo
- Even light, a plain table, no hands in the picture
- Several angles, from the side and from above
Keep the menu fast
3D models are larger than photos, so a good menu loads them only when a guest opens a dish. The menu itself opens as quickly as one with photos alone, even on mobile data.
See whether guests use it
Statistics show how many guests opened a dish, turned it in 3D, looked at it in AR and then ordered it. If a dish’s 3D view leads to orders, add the next ones; if not, a better photo may do more.