The marketing department was looking for a “metallic and industrial style” to their three-letter logo.  Once we received the logo in vector format as an Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file, we put together a concept based on this client’s input.  “Make it look metallic, make it do something to come into the scene, then have it come to rest.  We plan on using it to consistently brand videos pertaining to our corporate logo.”

Well, not much to go by.  Conceiving a new logo and corporate identity package is challenging enough, but for video producers and animators, it’s very challenging to glean the visual tastes and expectations from a client.  Videos and animations d0n’t exist in just two dimensions like flat print logos, they don’t even exist in  just three dimensions, like a static 3D model, but we’re dealing with four dimensions — the extra dimension of time!

I’ve had hundreds of clients I’ve produced 3D animations for, including here in Northeast Florida from Saint Augustine, through Jacksonville, FL up to Fernandina Beach, and in my 14 years doing 3D animation, not one refused to pay or complained they didn’t get what they asked for.  The funny thing is, most people who want a 3D animation, especially a logo animation, didn’t provide much guidance or details about what they wanted in the first place — in fairness, they couldn’t really, because it didn’t exist before!

There’s a reason for that — video is much more complex than flat, two-dimensional images that don’t ever need to move, change, or transition into another scene.  In this creative business, you have to be able to manage expectations and have a high level of uncertainty, especially when dealing with new people you don’t have a history producing anything creative with.

Four dimensions instead of two?

When working with organizations on videos, there’s a lot more preparation and details to consider than designing a print ad, or coming up with an ad campaign concept.  That’s okay, video production experts not only need to be professionals at their craft, they need to help business owners and organization leaders without much video or multimedia experience turn their concepts and visions into tangible results they’ll be happy to use as intended.  Feedback and details about how they want a video to look and those intangibles they want the video to convey — tone, mood, etc, can often lead to much higher production quality results, but some companies know they need something and don’t know where to begin.  I’ve encountered dealing with people from both extremes and each has their challenges and strengths.

The marketing professionals who may not have a clear vision of the details are usually more willing to be open to suggestions, leading to more possibilities to be more creative.  They know they need something clean and professional to help brand their company and they’re willing to leave the rest up to an expert in the production of visual media.

We try to observe the culture and understand the nature of the message the video will need to convey, we look through their identity and other marketing materials to capture the essence.  I know, sounds deep, sounds like a lot of fluff, but capturing the spirit of an organization in 30 seconds or even short if it’s not a TV commercial, is a complex concept.

On the other hand, working with people experienced in working with multimedia who provide clear details about what they are looking for have done their homework and so there’s less resistance because they’ve cleared the path of expectations throughout the organization already.  This leads to faster production and turnaround and, admittedly, these type of 3D animation projects could bring down production time so much this upfront preparation and extra directorial creative guidance is worth considering providing 3D animation services at a discount.

Getting a 3D logo animation for a  company is a process

Short logo animations like the 3D logo animation above can’t be expressed in a simple timeline script.  Providing 3D animation services for over 14 years nationally and throughout Florida, I’m happy to say the demand is growing.  As many marketing arms of all types of businesses realize creating visuals for things in 3D is attainable.  Imagine a new home construction builder who has some great plans but no models yet, or they sold their model home to a resident who wouldn’t take too kindly having a video production crew taking videos of their homes.  A 3D model can always be reused, a new color put on the walls, walls removed, pools in the backyard added, all without actually building anything physically.

The sky isn’t even the limit for 3D!

There are no limits to 3D, for business, creatives, or just hobbyists.  What about an inventor of a new product that’s waiting to be manufactured?  An ad agency that wants to show a “proof of concept” through 3D pre-viz (pre-visualization)?  A company who wants to break out into some immersive VR (Virtual Reality) presentations at an upcoming trade show?  A new medical procedure that a company like Arthrex wants to sell the proper devices and equipment to doctors to help save patients’ lives?

Storyboards, rough sketches of main motion, events and transitions in a video are helpful, along with looking at some samples together that are similar to the consensus what an organization is looking for, but 3D modelling and animations for business is exploding as more realize the age of Star Trek is already here!