3d Product Visualisation
These projects cover animations as well as stills for 3d product visualisation. In some instances, the 3d product animations/stills were of existing products, where the marketer, need to gain a greater deal of engagement or visibility.
This process is also widely used by entrepreneurs looking to launch a new product. Where a physical product does not exist. Here the client wished to explore product design, and we worked closely, to come up with the best design concepts, to meet their needs. In some instances, this was all done before the creation of a physical prototype.
The workflow, involved, means, we work from sketches and ideas, to visualise what the product might look like. This is all done using computer generated imagery (CGI). The process involves firstly:
- 3D modelling of the concept
- 3D Texturing, shading and lighting
- And finally 3D rendering, as stills or an animation
Once this is done, we create a set of initial product stills. Or a product animation.
These can be 360 degree videos, showing the product from all angles, or, the product placed in a contextual/lifestyle environment. Or creating an exploded view, which shows internal components. One example is a bathtub, in a bathroom environment, or a car, in an urban setting. Or a consumer product, like headphones, in a studio environment. This gives the product context, and users are more easily able to see how it would fit in with their needs.Quite often users will employ these animations in order to gain funding or gauge demand for the product through platforms such as kickstarter. This is a much more cost effective means of visualising things than using traditional photography or video.
The next step if required, is to create a prototype model, with more exact measurements and tolerances. Clients will then usually send these away for prototyping/3d printing, so that they have a physical product to hand. Which can then be further refined and adjusted before final manufacture.
Another avenue in this process, is to hand scan/3d scan a product prototype, that may already have been built. Then, use that model to visualise the product. This workflow is slightly different. In this instance, we need to clean up the scan, built/rebuild it, so that the model can be used in native 3d packages for rendering purposes. The result is often a model, that can then be further built upon, refined, and then re-protoyped into a physical format. Some examples are here.
We've worked on a number of these types of projects, ranging from cars, boats, smart dog collars, Smart watches. etc. Please take a look at a few examples above. In some instances CAD models were available, in some we fabricated something for the client from scratch.
SMEG Oven Photorealistic Product Rendering
Product rendering project, using a CAD model provided by the manufacturer. The task involved converting the CAD files to a 3DSMax format, then texturing, lighting and shading the model in max, for render with mental Ray.