Last Updated on April 18, 2024 by DesignerPeople
For any designer, marketer, or entrepreneur, seeing a product come to life right before their eyes is magical. And it’s even more exciting when that product can leap off the screen in full detail. That’s where 3D product animation comes in. It turns simple ideas into visuals that everyone can enjoy and connect with. It brings a new dimension to how people see the latest products, sometimes creating experiences beyond a customer’s imagination.
A 3D product animation is a visual approach that does more than just still pictures. It enables brands to display their products in action and makes a product seem more exciting. In this blog, we’ll explore why this digital technique has become such a key tool in marketing today and its various applications in branding.
What is 3D Product Animation?
In simple words, 3D product animation is a digital visualisation method that brings virtual models to life in a detailed three-dimensional space. Basically, it uses computer-generated imagery (CGI) to turn static designs into engaging, lifelike digital models.
Unlike traditional photography, 3D product animation allows potential buyers to view the product from every angle and understand its features and functionality through a convincing visual experience. It’s interactive and makes the product look realistic so that customers can picture the real-life version of the product. With features like motion graphics and special interactive elements, 3D product animations let customers experience your product beyond imagination and also easily remember what they’ve seen.
Why is a 3D product animation effective for business advertising?
3D product animation is a technique that has become invaluable to businesses across various sectors, from e-commerce websites like Amazon to real estate. It provides an interactive way to display products, share complicated ideas in a clear way, and capture your customers’ interest.
Taking flat, static images and turning them into vivid, three-dimensional presentations makes them more appealing and helps the brand tell a story. Additionally, making accurate models takes a lot of money and time. That’s why more and more businesses are opting for 3D animations, which is a cheaper and faster way to showcase their products.
Boundless Benefits of Integrating 3D Animation in Product Design Processes
Let’s take a look at how 3D product animation can benefit your business when designing products.
1. 3D Product Animation displays objects in motion
3D animation is perfect for showing the various features of a product and how their designs work in real life. When you say your product can be customised to fit the customers’ needs, they’ll naturally want to see how it’s done. That’s where 3D product animation works wonders. It demonstrates how effortlessly a customer can personalise the product and acts as a step-by-step guide for putting it all together. Whether you’re a furniture brand or a tech company, 3D animations help showcase your products and gadgets in action.
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2. Engage and educate your audience
3D product animation is like a quick, visual explainer that shows each part of your product. It lets your audience look at features that might not be immediately apparent. These animations are incredibly useful for educating potential customers about what you’re selling. They can also help engage your audience and sell your products. For example, 3D animation clarifies the intricate details of industrial gadgets, which are often too complex to be captured in simple photos.
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3. Optimised Marketing and Sales
3D product animations are a solid tool when it comes to marketing and sales. You’ll often see these animations in advertisements, social media videos and website banners. They help products stand out by showing them in a dynamic and memorable way. It can quickly grab a potential customer’s attention and encourage more online sales. For example, if your customers can interact with a virtual version of the product while shopping online, it’s 100% more likely that they’ll trust your products.
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4. Explain your product quickly and easily
3D animation is quick and effective. It not only shows your product but also helps in narrating what it is, how it should be used, and why it’s beneficial. Most customers engage with brands that promote their products in a unique way, and 3D animation is one of those methods. In today’s fast-paced world, no one has time to spare figuring out what you’re selling. Product animation helps you get your point across fast and catches your audience’s eye in just a few seconds.
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5. Boost your brand’s image
3D product animation can really make your products look sleek and impressive, enhancing your brand image. It establishes your brand as detail-oriented and shows its focus on quality. It helps put your products in the best light and leaves a strong impression on your target audience. All these factors can help your brand seem more trustworthy to both your potential and existing customers.
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Applications of 3D Product Animation in Different Industries
3D product animation has lots of uses across different industries. Here, we’re listing out its most common uses.
1. Designing and developing products
It’s crucial for any brand to visualise the prototypes of the products before they’re made. Designers and developers use 3D product animation to see their concepts in action, test how things work, and spot any flaws. This helps them find ways to improve their products and saves costs since the problems are caught early.
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2. E-Commerce
E-commerce sites use 3D animations to let customers see products up close like they’re in an actual store. It gives customers a good look at what they’re buying. They can check out textures, how things fit together, and even how products look in different colours or settings. It makes them feel more confident when they buy something online, reducing returns.
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3. Gaming and entertainment
Film and gaming industries love 3D animation as it allows them to create many special effects, bringing characters to life and making everything more exciting. It helps tell stories in a larger-than-life way, making movies and games more fun to watch and play. Also, things that would be too hard or risky to do in real life can be safely created through 3D animation.
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4. Education and Trainingnic
For training in areas like health and flying, 3D animations are a big help. With realistic simulations for training, they make learning about complicated equipment and how to do things feel easier to understand. They also let professionals practice safely. Over the years, 3D animations have been immensely helpful in demonstrating the use of complex machinery or in performing delicate procedures in a controlled manner.
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Best Practices To Create Appealing 3D Product Animations
Everything has a process, and 3D product animation is no different. Below, we’ve outlined the best practices for creating appealing product animations.
1. Providing a 3D product animation brief
If you want to promote your next product with a stellar 3D product animation, you’d first need to come up with a detailed brief. That’s because the process of creating an animation starts with understanding the product’s unique aspects. It sounds complicated, but trust us, it’s not.
The brief should have the key features you want to show off in your product. Basically, it’ll include any script ideas, storyboards, video examples and notes on special effects you’d like. However, not all the things above are mandatory. If you work with a professional design agency like DesignerPeople, our experts will help you out with most of the requirements, like script and storyboards. On the other hand, if you’re developing the brief from your end, then make sure to mention things like the resolution quality of the animation.
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2. Creating a Storyboard
Next, you (or the designers you’ve consulted) need to draw up a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual plan that outlines each scene of an animation or movie. So, the 3D animation artists will make simple drawings for each part of your product’s animation. It includes the characters, their moves and all the scenes.
Each frame in the storyboard tells a bit of the story, from the beginning to the end. This helps make sure the story makes sense and keeps people interested. It also lets you and your team see how the whole video will flow, from action to action.
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3. Use feelings in 3D product animation
When you or the designers are working on the 3D animation of your product, there are a couple of things to consider first. Your animation video should be able to evoke emotions and feelings in your target audience. To be able to do that, you need to ‘integrate’ feelings into your animation.
But how do you do that? It’s simple. First, you need to decide what kind of feeling you want your audience to have. Should they be excited, intrigued or at ease when they see your product? To further elevate these emotions, you can use special music and sounds that suit the vibe you want to create through your product animations.
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4. Creating 3D design elements
Before diving into the animation, it’s important that you create everything in 3D. First, animators make basic shapes to build all the characters, objects and backgrounds. To make your animation look realistic, you should use good 3D models and design elements. All the elements in your animation should look right, including the way things move, the textures and the lighting.
Your 3D artists should carefully create every aspect of the product, from the smallest detail to the overall form. Their textures should mimic real-life materials so the final design looks as close to the real thing as possible.
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5. Receiving the final version of the 3D product animation
The final steps include 3D rendering and composting. The rendering process begins once everything else is sorted. The next step is compositing, where different rendered parts of the scene, like lighting and shadows, are put together to create the final video. During this phase, the designers will focus on colour balancing and enhancing the effects.
Once all of the above steps are done, it’s time to finally receive the complete animation. Make sure to carefully review the renders and ask for any additional sequences if necessary. After the final adjustments, your 3D product animation will be complete and all set for release!
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Conclusion
3D product animations are great for promoting your products and business because you can create just about anything you can imagine with them. You can use them to make helpful how-to videos or highlight parts of your product that customers might not know about. Such videos can help your business grow and strengthen your reputation with your customers.
If you’re considering using 3D animation for your products, we can help. Our team of experts will design animations that are suitable for your product, grab the attention of your audience and clearly convey your brand’s message. So, get in touch with us today!
Author: Megha Malik
As a passionate entrepreneur and creative brand consultant with experience of 14 years in digital, branding and packaging industry, it is my honest effort to put my experiences and knowledge of industry towards readers. A chartered accountant by degree but a marketing personality in blood has motivated her to take in designing industry as a career. With her fun-loving personality and sharp branding skills, she is a great motivational speaker on her YouTube channel, an active member in various business channels offline as well as online. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.
