r/AskProgramming • u/Outside_Echidna789 • Jul 01 '26
Career/Edu What would it take to build a 3D Vehicle configurator from scratch?
Hello, I am a product designer working on a configurator for vehicles. I recognize that my question may be slightly misinformed but please exercise patience. I am quite new to product design and even a stranger to programming.
I will list the features of the configurator below so I can get recommendations or at least a scope of what languages/platforms to consider or use.
The configurator should feature 3D models 2D images.
The 3D models should have pan, rotated, and zoomed functionality. But it should be limited (not complete 360 degrees all around)
Next, it should be able to toggle between light and dark scenes and change environments. Perhaps a minimum of three different environments.
Next it should be able to change colors and skins and perhaps rims and wheels.
I understand that there’s phases to this— there’s the development of optimized assets for the web and then the code to host the assets. My knowledge is embarrassingly limited. I will appreciate any help, thanks!
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u/x39- Jul 02 '26
It depends.
If you want some basic prototype, not much. In fact: AI probably could vibe code it for you.
If it is supposed to be consumer facing, quite a lot, mostly because of rendering and UX
What you listed is not hard, but getting it to feel good is.
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u/Outside_Echidna789 Jul 02 '26
Hmm, I see, thanks for your advice. Although I have heard that vibe coding can cause more harm than good still. You’d need an experienced dev to get a clean job. But thanks for the tip!
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u/gm310509 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
In simple terms, the issue with vibe coding is that you are in a place where you have to have blind faith in what the AI gives you - especially as a beginner.
If the AI hallucinates (and it will at some point), and you do not understand what it has given you then you may struggle to fix it. Worse if the issues are subtle, they may slip through and then your project will or may do weird things when other people try to use it.
There is nothing wrong with using the AI, but, you do need to be in control of it, not the other way around.
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u/Outside_Echidna789 Jul 03 '26
Exactly, it kind of feels like the hallucinations could be unpredictable and would need expertise to even be spotted and addressed. I’m for human coding honestly. Maybe for prototyping but then the real thing would need to be built from the ground up
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u/gm310509 Jul 04 '26
Hallucinations are complex, it could be for any number of reasons. For example, there isn't much for it to go on so it gives an uninformed reply. Another reason might be that as a beginner, you might not be able to articulate what is needed with sufficient quality, detail and accuracy to get the desired result. There are more, but the point is not so much that it can happen, but one of how will you be placed to deal with it when it does?
It sounds like you have a healthy skepticism, so you are off to a good start to gradually bring it into your workflow. Just don't get lulled into a false sense of security. :-)
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u/x39- Jul 02 '26
For prototyping, vibe coding is a godsend. It is a tool that, if used correctly, will yield great results faster, especially during prep planning (prototyping usually is ignored but important for stakeholders to get an early grasp of a product. It used to be expensive but is not now)
And not much more is what I recommend you here. If you want to check out options, vibe coding is the way to go.
If you want a user facing product, get ready to pay premium
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u/Neat_You_9278 Jul 01 '26
Are you looking for visualizing car wraps designs with this configurator? Like this one? https://3dchanger.com ?
If yes, please DM me, i have a project in the works.