AUAR / Product CGI Film

Bringing AUAR's Automated Architecture Microfactory to life.

XO3D created a 3D product animation for AUAR's Microfactory, showing its on-demand automated construction system with the clarity and polish needed for a complex industrial story.

ClientAUAR
SectorConstruction Robotics / PropTech
ServicesAnimation, CGI, Lifestyle Stills, Motion GIFs
Year2026

The brief

Communicate an unbuilt industrial system to homebuilders, before a real one existed.

AUAR supplies homebuilders with deployable MicroFactories, industrial robot cells running Physical AI to manufacture wall and floor panels on site. They needed a full CGI content suite to communicate the MicroFactory system across their new website, hero animation, stills and looping motion assets, all produced within two months for the launch. It sits inside our broader industrial and robotics CGI work.

The stakes were high. The new site is AUAR's shop window during a period of strong commercial momentum, and the CGI content now runs throughout it, including the homepage automation loop.

The creative challenge sat in a single question: how do you make an industrial robot cell feel approachable and trustworthy to homebuilders, and read as a real, physical product, when it doesn't yet exist in real life? Read more on our approach to technical CGI and pre-manufacture visualisation work.

Deliverables

One production. A full launch content set.

Twenty-four stills, a 36-second hero film and three animated GIFs, all built from a single source and delivered live across auar.io, including the homepage.

24 Stills.

A mixed studio and lifestyle library covering hero angles, macro detail and in-context environments, all rendered from the same source build.

36-Second Hero Animation.

The main product film. A tight cinematic cut that opens the site and communicates the whole MicroFactory system in under a minute.

3 Animated GIFs.

Short looping motion assets built for the homepage automation loop and secondary page moments across auar.io.

Homepage Loop.

A hero loop optimised for web performance, light on file size, premium on first-frame impression.

Creative direction

Five decisions that made the system read as real.

Each decision connects to visible evidence in the finished frames, lighting, scale grounding, detail realism, camera language, adaptive delivery.

  1. AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, warm natural lighting in a lifestyle setting
    01Warm, natural lighting

    Approachable, not clinical.

    Lighting was kept warm and natural so the system reads as approachable and human, not clinical. Warm tones echo the timber the MicroFactory manufactures and the outdoor settings the product is built for.

  2. AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, real-world scale reference with containers and timber
    02Scale grounding

    Real objects, real size.

    Real containers, pallets and timber stacks anchor the MicroFactory at its true working size, so the "factory in a container" claim is believable at a glance.

  3. AUAR MicroFactory close-up 3D render, gripper mechanism with fine detail
    03Detail realism

    Grippers, fixings, and labels.

    Grippers, fixings and component labels were modelled in close detail so an unbuilt machine reads as genuinely manufactured. The credibility lives in the small parts.

  4. AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, wide framing showing full system layout
    04Camera language

    Wide to explain, macro to reward.

    Wide frames explain the full system; macro frames reward its engineering detail. The product's own geometry was used as a framing device for the more creative compositions.

  5. AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, final delivery still from the expanded set
    05Adaptive delivery

    The set grew. Launch held.

    The deliverable set expanded as the site took shape, 14 stills grew to 24, and the hero film tightened from 60 seconds to a 36-second cut. Everything still landed for launch.

Full still library

The stills that shipped.

The full library delivered for the launch, mixing studio, lifestyle and in-context scale references, all built from the same production.

AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A01 with full system view
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A02 alternate angle
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A03 with lifestyle context
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A04 showing scale reference
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A05 with material detail
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, hero series A06 close finish
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, secondary series B01
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, secondary series B02
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, secondary series B03
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, secondary series B04
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, MicroFactory with truck in real-world scale context
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, MicroFactory in containers context
AUAR MicroFactory 3D render, F03 finished composition

Scalability

Deployment at scale.

A dedicated set that communicates how the MicroFactory scales across sites, environments and deployment configurations.

AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 1, showing modular deployment context
AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 2, showing system in wider context
AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 3, showing deployment configuration
AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 4, alternate deployment view
AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 5, detailed system view
AUAR MicroFactory scalability visual 6, closing composition

Motion + interactive

Loops for the web, and one you can spin.

Short, web-optimised motion assets that run on auar.io, plus a drag-to-rotate 360° turntable built from the same production.

D01 · Interactive turntable
D02
D03

Selected shots

The film, shot by shot.

A curated set of sequences from the 36-second hero film, mixing landscape and vertical aspects for launch and social use. Hover any tile to play.

Short-form cutdowns

Cut for social, paid and secondary placements.

Six focused cutdowns from the same hero source, each engineered to hit a single beat cleanly for the launch's social and paid channels. Hover to play.

Short 01
Short 02
Short 03
Short 04
Short 05
Short 06

Process

Grey to final.

The grey stage is where the composition is finessed. Photo-realistic materials and lighting land only once the camera and staging have been locked. Two paired examples below, and the transition captured in motion.

AUAR, grey card pass B01 for camera and composition sign-off
Grey, B01
AUAR, final rendered composition B01 with lighting and materials applied
Final, B01
AUAR, grey card pass C01 with containers, pallets and scale references in place
Grey, C01 → C02
AUAR, final rendered composition C02 with the MicroFactory in context alongside containers
Final, C01 → C02

Process reel

AUAR process reel, module coming after 7 August.

Connor is finishing an AUAR-specific process reel covering grey card, material development, lighting and camera studies. This section reserves the space until it lands and is approved for public use. The general XO3D showreel is not a substitute for this module.

Behind the scenes

Inside the studio.

Frame reviews, lighting checks and shot approvals from the XO3D studio during the AUAR production sprint.

XO3D artist reviewing AUAR MicroFactory scene in Cinema 4D during production
AUAR MicroFactory frame review at the XO3D studio during lighting sign-off
AUAR MicroFactory shot review at the studio during animation production
Behind-the-scenes at XO3D during the AUAR MicroFactory production sprint

Tools

What we built the AUAR film in.

  • Cinema 4D3D modelling + animation
  • RedshiftGPU rendering
  • After EffectsAnimation compositing
  • PhotoshopStills post-production

The production story

Director's Commentary.

AUAR needed a full CGI content suite for a website launch built around a period of real commercial momentum, press coverage, investment and awards were all landing at the same time, and the site had to reflect that weight.

The scope evolved as AUAR shaped their new site. The still set grew from 14 to 24 assets, and the hero film sharpened from 60 seconds to a tighter 36-second cut. Adapting quickly to the shifting brief while holding the launch date was the production story.

Close client collaboration made the credibility possible. Making an unbuilt product read as genuinely manufactured comes down to the small details, the grippers, the fixings, the labels, and only ships when the client and studio work as one team on those details.

Projects like this, robotics, industrial automation and Physical AI, are the kind of work the studio actively looks for. Communicating an unbuilt robot cell so it feels approachable, trustworthy and real is what a director-led CGI studio is built for.

Connor Hamilton-SmithConnor Hamilton-SmithCreative Director, XO3D

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