Here at Echo we are continuously looking for new services to offer that can help our current client base and also gain new business. We achieve this by occasionally hiring in specialist freelancers but more often than not we push ourselves to learn more skills.
3D animation has always been in the back of our minds because of the benefits it can offer businesses and in recent months we have had existing clients ask if it’s something that we can do or can we recommend someone instead. Now, in the past we have happily recommended some of colleagues for the job but not any more, this time we’ve decided to bite the bullet and immerse ourselves in this new world of polygons, boules, textures, ambient occlusion and massively extended render times.
So, I thought it was about time to tell you a few of the benefits that 3D animation can bring to your business.
3D animation and the hidden world
For this first point I’m going to use dentistry as the example. We have produced traditional videos foråÊdental practices for the last 4 or 5 years and now I believe 3D animation couldåÊbe a great addition. One of the dental practices we work for often ask us to produce informational videos where the principal dentist for example explains how dental implants work. These videos have been very met with much praise as dentistry is a bit of a mysterious subject but 3D animation could really add value here.
3D animation allows us to create a moving image of a 3D model from any angle. If you take a human mouth, it’s quite small and in the real world it would be impossible to get a high quality digital film camera in one to film a close up of an implant being attached. With 3D animation we can zoom in to parts of the procedure, rotate the model, show the different sections of a implant, explode it, put it back together again…Hopefully you’re beginning to get the picture that 3D animation in certain instances can have a far greater scope than traditional video.
3D animation and what doesn’t exist
For this point I’m going to use manufacturing companies as my example. Imagine if you were in the middle of producing a new product and there was a great oppurtunity to start building some excitement around it ahead of it’s physical launch, well 3D could be your saving grace. No doubt as a manufacturer åÊ3D CAD models would have been produced before any production work started, with 3D animation we can those models and create an exciting and dynamic animation that will help your marketing team start building up the all important buzzåÊthat a new product needs.
3D animation and the world of learning
Another exciting avenue that 3D animation can take you down is that of instructional and installation videos. In a similar way to the dental implant example 3D animation allows us to show details of an installation or how a product works or is assembled that might be very difficult or very expensive with real world cameras.
Building 3D Visualisations
Another area of 3D animation that is very popular and extremely useful is when you want to show what a new development will look like and how it will fit in to it’s surroundings. Using 3D animation techniques and photo-real rendering you are able to recreate the finished building and place it into a ‘real’ background or produce a fully virtual world so that investors and the local community can better understand the project. This type of animation is particularly helpful during the early planning stages of a new housing development or shopping centre for example as they can help reduce and answer any concern that local residents may have. They can also be used when selling land with planning permission as you can give the perspective buyer an idea of how the planned house would look.
I hope this has been of interest and please don’t think that 3D animation is limited to the examples I have used. 3D animation could give you huge scopeåÊwhen used in a balanced video marketing plan. And remember that 3D animation can’t replace traditional videos because they don’t have the human element that ultimately advertisesåÊyou as the trustworthy and professional business you are.
If you’d like to find out more about 3D animation and how it could help you please contact Will or Andy on 01273 911345 or email us here.