Frequently Asked Questions

Because there is such a wide range of products that customers ask to have modeled and rendered, it is not possible to give an accurate cost.  I am happy to give free estimates, simply contact me for an instant quote for your next project.

I’ve been at this a long time, and I have seen everything from customers who provide me with a dead-on accurate 3d file, to customers who do not have a single drawing or dimension of their product.   The ideal scenario is to send me a sample of the actual product, but that is not always possible.   The bottom line is no matter how much or how little information you have, I will find a way to get the job done.   The most common scenario is I will receive 2 dimensional CAD files and some photographs and off I go.

Typically, once I get the information I need about the physical properties of your product, I will produce a low resolution rough draft in a matter of days.  Once that happens things generally progress very quickly.   Typically after a few revisions we are done in less than 2 weeks.

Most projects progress from start to finish in less than 4 weeks.

The results are only as good as the information I have,  as long as I have some decent photographs of the actual product, or a physical sample, things will be extremely accurate.  That is because the textures and colors come from actual photographs.  They are then made into textures and applied to the 3d models during the process.  Here is one blog post where I show a little bit of this process.

Absolutely,  some of the most dramatic uses of this technology is to show cutaway views of wall systems, complex assemblies and in context views of a product in ways that photography cannot possibly capture.  See my portfolio for some examples.

3d photorealistic animations can take many forms.   In two minutes or less, even the most complex installation procedures can be animated in a way that even the uniformed or un-inclined viewer can go from zero knowledge of the what, how, and why of your product, to fully understanding it and wanting to purchase it.    Videos with on screen demonstrators often fall short of the actual goal and the on screen talent tends to influence viewers in unintended ways.   With a 3d animation, your product is the talent!    The cost of doing a 3d animation is far less than the lighting, staging and complexity of a video-shoot.

If I have not created 3d models of your product yet, that is where it starts.   I will create and render all the products that go into the animation first.   Once those are reviewed and approved, generally I will create a storyboard outline with each event that will happen in the animation sequence, when it will happen and a still image of how things will look at that point in time.    Once the storyboard is approved, motion is added to the animation and a video is posted on my web site for approval.  Then revisions are done and the final high definition video is produced and delivered in any format desired.

A typical 2 minute video takes around 3 weeks to get a complete first draft created.

Yes and I highly recommend going that extra mile, making the animation a polished product that can stand-alone at a tradeshow or a sales presentation.