Glossary

The terms that keep coming up in conversations about configurators — explained briefly and without jargon.

2D configurator: Shows the product from above or as a sequence of views instead of a rotatable model. Loads faster and is often more precise to use for flat products such as floors, cut-to-size parts or floor plans.

Ambient occlusion: Shading in places little ambient light reaches — corners, joints and where parts meet. Makes a 3D model look more solid without calculating every single light.
Anchor point: A defined spot on a part where another one attaches. Anchor points tell the configurator where a table top sits on its frame or where a shelf hooks in — even when dimensions change.
API: An interface through which two programs exchange data. A configurator uses APIs, for example, to read prices from the ERP or to pass a finished order to the shop.
Augmented reality (AR): Overlays a digital object on the phone's camera image. This lets a configured product be placed to scale in your own room before it is ordered.

Backend: The part of an application that runs on the server: data storage, price calculation, interfaces. Visitors never see it, but notice at once when it is missing.
Bill of materials (BOM): The list of every part a configured product is made of. It is the bridge between configuration and manufacturing.

CAD: Computer-aided design — the engineering data from product development. It is dimensionally exact but usually far too detailed for the browser, so it is simplified before it reaches the configurator.
CPQ: Configure, price, quote: assemble a product, calculate its price, generate a quote. Describes configurators that deliver a finished quote instead of a shopping cart in B2B sales.

Draw call: A single drawing instruction sent to the graphics card. The more of them per frame, the sooner the view stutters — which is why parts sharing a material are often merged.

ERP: Enterprise resource planning — the system in which a company manages orders, stock, prices and production. An integration turns a configuration straight into an order.

Frontend: Everything that runs in the browser and that visitors see and operate: interface, 3D view, selection controls. The counterpart to the backend.

glTF / GLB: Open file format for 3D models on the web, often called the JPEG of 3D. GLB is the variant that bundles geometry, materials and textures into a single file.

Level of detail (LOD): A model exists in several levels of detail. From a distance the simple one is shown, close up the fine one — saving computing power without being noticeable.

Mesh: The wireframe of a 3D model, made of points, edges and faces. Materials and textures are laid over it like upholstery over a piece of furniture.

Normal map: An image texture that fakes fine surface detail such as grain, seams or ribbing without extra geometry. Saves polygons and therefore load time.

PBR: Physically based rendering: materials are described by physical properties such as roughness and metalness. That makes wood, fabric and metal look believable under any light.
PIM: Product information management — the central database for product data such as copy, dimensions, variants and images. A configurator can draw its options directly from it.
Polygon: A single face of a 3D model, usually a triangle. The number of polygons largely determines how fast a model loads and how smoothly it runs.
Product configurator: An application in which customers assemble a product from options themselves. A rule set ensures only buildable combinations arise; price and view update instantly.

Real-time rendering: The image is recalculated continuously while you use it, typically 30 to 60 times per second. Only then does a 3D configurator respond instantly to rotating, zooming and every change.
Rendering: Calculating an image from a 3D model, its materials and the light. In a configurator this happens in real time; for product photos often in advance and at the highest quality.
Rule set: The collection of all conditions stating which options fit together and which exclude each other. It is the invisible core of a configurator and decides whether every order can actually be built.

Shader: A small program that runs on the graphics card and works out how a surface looks — colour, gloss, transparency. Custom shaders allow effects standard materials cannot achieve.
Shopify: A widely used hosted shop system. A configurator can be embedded and place the finished configuration, including price, straight into the cart.
Shopware: A shop system widespread in German-speaking countries. A configurator is usually integrated as an extension and passes variant and price to the cart.

Texture: An image laid over the surface of a 3D model — a wood grain or a fabric pattern, for instance. Texture size and format account for much of the load time.
three.js: A widely used JavaScript library for displaying 3D scenes in the browser. The foundation of many web configurators, ours included.

UI: User interface — the visible controls: buttons, selection fields and displays. In configurators it decides whether hundreds of options stay understandable.
UV mapping: Defines how a flat texture is wrapped onto the curved surface of a model — comparable to the sewing pattern of a garment.
UX: User experience — the overall experience of using something: whether you find what you are looking for, understand what happens and end up ordering without detours.

Variant: A concrete version of a product, such as a particular combination of size, colour and material. Even a few options quickly add up to thousands of variants.
Vertex: A single corner point in space. Several vertices together form a model's polygons.

WebGL: The browsers' graphics interface that lets 3D content use the graphics card without a plugin. Runs on practically every computer and phone today.
WebGPU: The successor to WebGL with more direct access to modern graphics cards. Enables richer visuals with less load but is not yet available on every device.
WooCommerce: A shop extension for WordPress. Here too, a configurator can pass configuration, price and variant straight to the cart.