Interviews and suxess stories from customers

CPI uses VZUAL 3D Card Studio

CPI Card Group becomes the first global card manufacturer to adopt VZUAL® – transforming their entire approval process

Variuscard is proud to announce that CPI Card Group, USA, one of the world’s leading card manufacturers, has joined as the first official customer and beta partner of VZUAL®.
With multiple production sites across the United States and a global customer base, CPI ranks among the most innovative and respected producers of payment cards, ID cards, and specialty print products.
Since June 2025, CPI’s Design and Prepress team has been working with the new VZUAL® Card Studio — and after only a few months, their feedback is overwhelmingly positive.


“It’s no longer a guessing game.” – How VZUAL® is changing daily work at CPI

“We were instantly excited when we first saw VZUAL,” says Megan Bogard, Director of PrePress at CPI Card Group.
“Until now, the approval process for new card designs has always been somewhat of a guessing game — designers, production, and customers often had slightly different ideas of how something would look in the end.
With VZUAL, everyone sees the same result — in real time, with realistic materials. That changes everything.”

The CPI team now uses VZUAL® daily to visualize customer designs, evaluate color variations, and simulate effects like hot foils, spot varnishes, and metallic layers directly on screen.
“In the past, we sometimes had to produce 10 or even 15 physical press proofs before everyone was happy,” Bogard continues.
“Now we do everything digitally with the customer first — and once we go to print, everything is clear. It saves us weeks of time and a lot of money.”


A milestone for the card industry

With CPI Card Group as the first official customer, VZUAL® marks a major step forward for digital prototyping in the card industry.
Originally developed during the COVID lockdowns as an internal proofing tool, the software evolved over five years, through three full rebuilds, and now features real-world material libraries integrated directly from Variuscard’s own production.

Michael Dorner, CEO of Variuscard, explains:
“Having one of the world’s largest and most respected card manufacturers use VZUAL as a production tool validates our entire approach.
It proves that digital prototyping isn’t a future concept — it’s happening right now, and it’s reshaping how the card industry works.”


From beta testing to a new industry standard

Following its successful rollout at CPI, VZUAL® is now being offered to other card manufacturers worldwide.
The platform combines nearly two decades of card production expertise with cutting-edge web technology, simulating materials with physically accurate light behavior — from PVC to metal, wood, and complex composite structures.

VZUAL® doesn’t just replace traditional proofing — it redefines communication between designers, manufacturers, and clients, bringing unmatched precision, speed, and sustainability to the process.


“Once you’ve used it, you’ll never want to go back.”

“Our entire team now works with VZUAL,” says Bogard.
“We use it for internal reviews, client presentations, and even for training sessions.
It saves time, prevents misunderstandings, and gets everyone visually aligned from the very start.
Once you’ve used it, you’ll never want to go back.”


See it for yourself

VZUAL® is now available to other card manufacturers through several licensing models.
Interested companies can experience the platform in a live interactive demo and see firsthand how it can transform their workflow.

👉 Learn more and book your demo at www.vzual.com

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Vzual 3D Card Studio

Variuscard introduces VZUAL® – the digital rapid-prototyping tool for card manufacturers

For almost 20 years, Variuscard has stood for innovation in card production, specialty printing, and high-end finishing. During this time, we have guided countless physical proofs, material tests, and sample productions – often involving significant time and cost.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, everything changed: on-site press checks were suddenly impossible, and our team had an idea that would redefine the process entirely.
From that idea grew a development project spanning five years and three complete rewrites – now culminating in VZUAL® Card Studio, a next-generation visualization platform built for the card industry.

Born from the lockdown

During the first COVID lockdowns in 2020, many of our clients were unable to approve their card projects as usual. Press checks were delayed, deliveries paused, deadlines postponed.
In response, our in-house software team began building a 3D visualization tool that could display realistic card simulations on screen — not as static renders, but as interactive, physically accurate previews.

What started as an internal experiment quickly evolved into a full-scale development effort.
By 2021, the first working prototype was live. In 2022, we completely rebuilt the system using Three.js with true physically based rendering (PBR) for material accuracy.
Since 2023, VZUAL® has been expanded with genuine material libraries from our production environment — including hot-foils, screen varnishes, metallic inks, laminates, and chip inlays from renowned suppliers.

In 2024, we decided to make VZUAL® available to the global market — turning an internal innovation into a product for other card manufacturers. The software is now in beta testing, being introduced to a select group of partners.

What VZUAL® does

VZUAL® is a browser-based digital prototyping and 3D visualization platform for chip cards, ID cards, bank cards, and specialty printing.
It simulates cards with real-world physics, enabling users to see how materials interact with light, depth, and texture.

Key features include:

  • Real-time rendering with PBR materials
    (Plastic, metal, wood, paper, carbon fiber, acrylic, and more)

  • True reflections, light behavior, and depth just like real press proofs

  • Full layer stack simulation (CMYK, white, screen print, foil, varnish)

  • Embedded NFC chips and visible inlays within the material

  • Hot foil, spot varnish, and metallic simulations using custom mask layers

  • Dynamic environment maps for realistic lighting conditions

  • Multi-user collaboration with commenting and approval workflow

  • Web-based infrastructure — no installation required

By combining two decades of material know-how with modern web technology, VZUAL® creates not just an image, but a digital twin of the physical card — complete with reflections, texture, metallic shine, and transparency.

Why it changes the game

In traditional card manufacturing, proofing is expensive and time-consuming. Every version requires material preparation, press setup, and physical shipping.
With VZUAL®, all that happens virtually: card producers, designers, and clients can review and approve their projects online — in minutes.

The result: significant time and cost savings, fewer physical samples, and a more sustainable workflow. Projects move faster, visual errors are caught early, and communication between design, production, and customer becomes seamless.

What’s next

The beta phase with selected manufacturing and design partners is currently underway.
The official public launch is planned for Q2 2025, introducing VZUAL® to the global market — including an Enterprise Edition for larger teams and advanced collaboration features.

Card manufacturers and design studios interested in testing the system can now register for a personal live demo.

👉 Learn more and book your demo at www.vzual.com