3D Product Animation

Companies, organizations, and professionals use 3D product animation in order to create a realistic, three-dimensional representation of a product or component prior to manufacturing. In addition, 3D product animation allows for movement in and around the product being designed. This “fly through” capability is a key hallmark of 3D product animation, enabling designers to see every aspect of the product in a virtual setting.

Among the industries that use 3D product animation are consumer goods products, manufacturing, and engineering.

There are various 3D product animation software solutions that companies and professionals use to create high-quality animations. The most popular include Maya, SketchUp, Fusion 360, and Houdini. They offer varying degrees of complexity but enable users to develop virtually any type of 3D product animation. Many of the software options available for product animation are used by product development companies as well as visual arts studios for cinematic use.

While a 2D animator creates black-and-white or color products or characters that are viewed in two dimensions (typically height and width), 3D animators create the same products or characters using three dimensions (height, width, and depth). By using three dimensions rather than two dimensions, 3D animators are able to successfully convey a product or character as it moves in relation to its background.

It’s also worth mentioning that 2D animation is considered more artistic, while 3D animation is often considered more mechanical in nature.

Professionals animating in 3D must always take into consideration the object or character being created in relation to its background. This may include, but is not limited to, lighting, shadowing, texture, and focus. A 2D animator does not have to worry about most of these issues.

Whether 3D animation is easy to learn depends on how that animation will be applied. With 2D animation, illustrators must draw not only characters and objects that are artistically appealing but also every frame contained within the entire animation. With 3D animation, the creation of every frame is not necessary, as the animation software can automatically render frames between any two movements.

While creating the movement associated with the movement in 3D animation may be easier than in 2D animation, creating the proper environmental elements for three dimensions may require a higher learning curve when using specific 3D animation software.