If you’ve never commissioned a 3D animation before, the process can feel opaque. You have a product or concept you need visualised, you know roughly what you want the end result to look like, but you’re not entirely sure what you need to provide, how long it takes, what you’ll be reviewing at each stage, or what can reasonably be changed and when. This guide answers all of those questions in plain English, so your first 3D animation project runs as smoothly as a tenth one.
Stage 1: The Brief and Source Material
Every 3D animation project starts with two things: a clear brief and the source material the studio needs to build from. The brief covers what the animation needs to communicate, who the audience is, the intended platform and format (website, social media, trade show, tender submission), the approximate duration, and any visual style references you have.
Source material for a product animation typically includes CAD files or engineering drawings if the product is technical, existing photography or physical samples if available, branding guidelines including colours, fonts, and visual tone, and any existing scripts or voiceover copy if the animation will include narration. The more complete your source material, the faster and more accurately the studio can build the 3D model that underpins everything else.
Stage 2: Modelling and Blocking
The first production stage is 3D modelling: building the digital geometry of the product or environment from your source material. For complex industrial or engineering products, this is a significant phase. For simpler product animations, it moves faster. At the end of modelling, you’ll typically see a grey-shaded or basic-material version of the model for review. This is the stage to check proportions, dimensions, and overall form before materials and lighting are applied.
A blocking review at this stage is important. Changes to geometry are straightforward when the model is still in a basic state. Changes to geometry after materials, lighting, and animation have been applied are significantly more time-consuming and expensive.
Stage 3: Materials, Lighting, and Environment
Once the geometry is approved, materials are applied to every surface, lighting is set up, and the environment is built. This is where the animation starts to look like the finished product. You’ll review still renders at this stage before animation begins, checking that surfaces look correct, that the lighting suits the visual tone of the brief, and that the environment reads as intended.
Stage 4: Animation and Motion
With the look approved, animation is added. For a product animation, this might mean the camera moving around the product, components articulating, or an operational sequence running. For an explainer animation, this means the movement and timing of every element working together to communicate the narrative clearly. You’ll typically review an animatic (a rough animation at low quality) before the final render is produced, allowing timing and motion to be adjusted before the most time-intensive stage of production.
Stage 5: Rendering, Compositing, and Delivery
Final rendering is the computationally intensive stage where the finished frames are produced at full quality. Depending on the complexity and length of the animation, rendering can take hours to days. Once rendered, frames are composited, colour graded, sound is added if required, and the final file is delivered in the formats you need.
Colourberry manages this entire process from brief to delivery, keeping you informed and involved at every review stage without overwhelming you with technical detail you don’t need. If you’re ready to start a 3D animation project or just want to understand what’s involved for your specific brief, get in touch and we’ll walk through it with you.
