Animation & process illustration for SPIEGLTEC

Animation and process illustration for SPIEGLTEC

SPIEGLTEC offers fully prefabricated, customised process units for the modular conversion and expansion of processing plants – so-called “skids”.

A skid can be thought of as a robust metal frame that serves as the supporting structure for transporting and installing plant components. In addition to modular expansion, skids also enable an increased degree of automation within processes.

To showcase and explain this product in greater detail, we created a 3D animation, a process illustration and an interactive web rendering – all aligned with SPIEGLTEC’s existing visual language and corporate identity.

Along the way, we overcame several challenges together with the SPIEGLTEC marketing team:

Presenting a highly complex product in an emotionally engaging way for a very niche target audience
Translating the product claim “We enable progress” into a visual narrative
Immersing ourselves in a completely new target sector (biotech), with its own terminology and conventions

Client

SPIEGLTEC GmbH

Tasks

Digital Marketing & Content

3D & Motion Design

Storyboard

The starting point of every animation: key scenes, planned sequences, camera movements, perspectives, zooms and other sequence-relevant details are captured through sketched visuals.

Based on these, the client can provide feedback and adjustments can be made easily as required.

The next step is a simple greyscale animation (animatic), based on the approved storyboard.

Storyboard Bilder der Spiegltec Animation

Style development and initial renderings

What appear to be close-up camera shots are, in fact, photorealistic 3D renderings – created as a first preview of the look, lighting and colour mood of the final animation.

Combined with the animatic, this provides a very clear impression of the planned animation and allows final adjustments to be made before the animation is rendered in full.

Fotorealistische Nahaufnahme eines Metallrohrs

Spiegeltec Skid vor neutralem Hintergrund

Nahaufnahme eines kiesähnlichen Materials

Metallstückchen fällt auf ein Meer aus weiteren Metallstückchen

Character design

3D characters introduce emotion through a human element – a powerful addition to technical product videos that creates greater connection and engagement with the viewer.

However, 3D characters are complex, particularly when they must integrate seamlessly into a photorealistic environment. Here, small details made a significant difference.

Process illustration

Part of the project involved presenting complex content as clear, structured illustrations. Various pharmaceutical processes had to be prepared in a consistent visual style that was easy to understand.

As with every stage, attention to detail was essential – ensuring technical accuracy despite the reduced and simplified visual language.

The style needed to be professionally restrained and appropriate to the subject matter, without compromising on visual quality.

From sketches and proposals to the final design:

Final animation

Behind the scenes

From the first sketches to design coordination and the final video: depending on the amount of feedback and coordination required, the creation of a 3D animation often spans six to eight weeks.

Here, we offer a brief glimpse behind the scenes of the video production process.