A visualization system for enabling a user to select a vehicle and to
overlay images of various user-selected accessories onto an image of the
vehicle to cause a computer to display an image of the desired combination
includes a database that stores digitized images of various vehicles and
accessories. The accessories can be photographed separately from the
vehicle, so that it is not necessary to photograph an accessorized vehicle
for each one of the potentially thousands of vehicle/accessory
combinations. The database correlates accessories and colors, with prices
and other data, to the relevant vehicles. An Internet user can access the
database over the Internet to select a vehicle with user-defined
accessories, and then a composite image of the vehicle with accessories is
presented to the user. Or, a salesperson in a dealership can access a
local database of vehicles/accessories to display, on a monitor in the
showroom, a composite photograph of a vehicle with a buyer-defined suite
of accessories, such that the buyer can visualize the desired
vehicle/accessory combination even if an actual vehicle with the desired
accessory suite is not on the lot.