How are AI and virtual lights revolutionizing the packshot?
Structural limitations of traditional packshot lighting
Traditional packshot photography relies on a series of time-consuming manual steps. Installing multiple light sources—usually between two and five flashes or LED panels—requires precise positioning, cable management, and physical adjustments for each new setup. Every time the product changes, the operator must reconfigure everything. This process takes an average of 30 to 45 minutes per setup, resulting in systematic inconsistencies between image series, operators, or even sessions.
As production volume increases, these constraints become even more critical. Post-production is essential to correct lighting flaws, adding 15 to 30 minutes of retouching for every image. Hidden costs also accumulate: ongoing staff training, equipment maintenance, and significant manual time spent on adjustments. For complex products—transparent objects, metallic surfaces, or multi-texture materials—the traditional method quickly reaches its limits. Adjusting lighting for each case is time-consuming and, in many situations, nearly impossible without starting from scratch.
This technology has reached its ceiling: adding more light sources only brings exponential complexity without genuine qualitative improvement. Physical constraints restrict lighting angles, limit creative options, and make the process entirely dependent on human expertise. The result is a permanent bottleneck in any visual production workflow.
AI-Driven Virtual Lighting: A Fundamental Breakthrough
The launch of Alphashot Pro G2 marks a fundamental breakthrough. This system integrates 74 virtual LED sources positioned around the product, each individually controllable across three parameters: intensity, orientation, and diffusion. Using the Orbitvu Station graphical interface, the operator can instantly adjust every setting—without any physical movement, wiring, or manual manipulation.
At the heart of the system, embedded artificial intelligence analyzes each object placed in the studio. It detects shape, material, sheen, and transparency, then immediately proposes optimized lighting schemes drawn from a database of thousands of real-world, validated configurations. The user always retains control, seamlessly switching between full-auto mode (complete AI control) and semi-assisted mode for manual refinement, depending on the desired level of precision or expertise.
A major advantage is absolute reproducibility. Every configuration can be saved, named, exported, and imported between studios, guaranteeing visual consistency regardless of context, operator, or production schedule. Achieving uniform results across entire product lines or series is no longer dependent on individual skill or experience.
New Technical Capabilities and Concrete Use Cases
The virtualization of light enables lighting setups that are unattainable in a traditional studio. For example, underlighting reveals the transparency of glass or plastic without unwanted shadows. The IQ Mask tool ensures instant and perfect clipping, even on the most challenging products, with no cast shadows. Microzones become accessible: you can now highlight an engraved inscription, a complex texture, or a subtle marking with unparalleled precision.
Difficult materials are now fully controllable. For transparent objects, the system automatically combines backlight, rim light, and side fill, with each source individually adjustable. For metallic or chrome surfaces, the virtual double overhead makes it possible to control reflections precisely and eliminate overexposure. Multi-material products benefit from adaptive lighting schemes, zone by zone, allowing both matte and glossy areas to be handled differently in a single shot.
The workflow is completely automated. As soon as a barcode is scanned, the system loads the appropriate preset, triggers the capture, applies hardware clipping, and automatically exports the final file to all distribution channels. Total time per product drops from 15–20 minutes (classic method) to less than 30 seconds per image, including post-production.
Business impact: operational gains and transformation of practices
Productivity takes a giant leap forward. Lighting setup time is reduced by 90%, and post-production becomes unnecessary in 80% of cases. The daily volume of processed visuals can be multiplied by ten, all while maintaining consistent quality. Studios operating at critical volume reach profitability in less than six months, with ROI calculated from real, verifiable data.
Quality reaches an industrial standard: color fidelity is ensured by automatic calibration, and every image is immediately usable—no extra retouching required. The standard deviation between images in a given series is zero. This level of standardization secures the visual production workflow, eliminates variability, and delivers measurable added value at every stage.
Democratization of professional photography is now a reality. Training a new operator takes just two hours. The intuitive, drag-and-drop interface with real-time preview enables any team member to produce expert results—no prior photographic experience required.
Sectoral and vertical applications
In e-commerce, high-volume production automatically meets the visual requirements of marketplaces such as Amazon. The Fashion sector benefits from perfect reproduction of textile textures and brilliant accessories. The food industry finally captures the freshness, complex textures, and transparency of packaging with an unparalleled level of realism.
The luxury and premium sectors now have tools matching their requirements: watchmaking reveals micro-details and controls reflections on dials and bracelets. Jewelry highlights the brilliance of precious stones and metals without overexposure. Cosmetic faithfully reproduce metallic effects, bottle transparency, and cream textures.
The B2B industry optimizes visual communication: perfect legibility of technical markings, enhanced presentation of complex materials, and suppression of unwanted reflections on shiny surfaces or screens.
Market, Evolution and Prospects
The convergence between Artificial intelligence And Virtualization of Light Accelerate. The next generations will integrate predictive AI, capable of anticipating needs based on the history of each brand and automatically adjusting presets according to the production context. Native integration with media management systems (DAM, PIM) or complete automation via API will become standards.
New economic models are already emerging, such as rental for use, the sharing of studios or the total outsourcing of visual production.
Sectoral certifications (“Virtual Light Ready”), the standardization of presets and interoperability between studios will structure the market in the coming years, with the objective of total reproducibility and frictionless collaboration between actors.
Transition guide
The transition to virtual lighting requires a Accurate initial audit : current production volume, average time per product, hidden costs, level of expertise of the teams, types of objects treated. The deployment strategy is built in phases: starting with simple products to validate the ROI, gradual extension to more complex ranges, then full automation with integration into information systems.
Success depends on the involvement of the teams from the start and on the resulting documentation of the presets by product family. Regular monitoring of performance indicators guarantees the continuous optimization and sustainability of the solution.
Key technical specifications
The Alphashot Pro G2 integrates 74 virtual LEDs with granular control (0 to 100% in steps of 1%), an adjustable color temperature of 3200 to 6500 Kelvin, has CRI greater than 95 For optimal color fidelity, a rotating plate accurate to the 0.5 degrees Supporting up to 10 kg and products from 50 x 50 x 50 cm maximum. The interface is compatible with Windows and Mac, offers native exports in RAW, JPEG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVIF and WebP, and AI trimming reaching 99.5% accuracy. The Lighting Setup Time Goes From 30-45 minutes Unto 10 seconds, the shooting of 5 minutes Unto 30 seconds and post-production is integrated.
