If you have never commissioned 3D work before, this is what the process actually looks like, and where first-time projects go wrong.
Before you enquire
- Decide what the visuals must achieve: catalogue, trade show, tender or training
- Find out who can export the CAD and in which formats
- Check whether an NDA is required by your legal team
- Fix the deadline, and the event it belongs to
What a good studio asks for
CAD assembly, photos of an existing unit, RAL and finish specifications, branding artwork, the features that must stay exact, and the internals that are confidential. See how to prepare CAD files.
Realistic timelines
- Machine render set: 7 to 12 working days
- Feature animation: 2 to 4 weeks
- Process or line film: 4 to 8 weeks
- Cinematic launch film: 6 to 10 weeks
- Interactive viewer: 4 to 8 weeks
Realistic budgets
A first project usually lands between $600 and $6,000, depending on whether you start with a single render, a render set, or a short film. Pricing lists every starting point.
How approvals work
You approve a look frame for stills, or a storyboard and animatic for film, before full production. Changes at those stages are quick. Changes after final rendering are not, which is why good studios insist on the milestone.
The five things that cause delays
1. CAD arriving late, or in a format nobody can open 2. No single decision maker, so feedback contradicts itself 3. Branding artwork supplied as a screenshot rather than vector files 4. A machine revision mid-project that nobody mentions 5. Feedback given verbally instead of on the frame
A simple first project
One machine, one render set, one short feature film. It tests the studio, produces usable assets, and prepares the model for everything after it. Send one CAD file for a free assessment.
Send one CAD file for a free assessment.
We open it, tell you what is usable, and return a fixed price and delivery date within one working day. NDA first if you need it.
