XO3D Studio · Use Cases
The context shapes everything.
Product CGI commissioned before manufacturing begins looks different to product CGI built for a trade show screen. The brief that launches a crowdfunding campaign is nothing like the brief that builds a monthly content programme. The context shapes what gets made, how it gets made, and what it needs to do.
XO3D works across every stage of a product's life, from the first investor roadshow before a single unit is manufactured, through launch campaigns and trade show screens, to the ongoing monthly content programmes that keep products visible in market. Every use case below is a distinct brief type with its own requirements, its own production logic, and its own measure of success. Understanding which context you're in is the first question worth answering before choosing a studio.
Which use comes first?
Product CGI can support a product before manufacture, at launch, in sales and in ongoing communications. Choose the use by three things: what the work must achieve, who has to be convinced, and where the product is in its development. A deck image for investors, a launch film for buyers and a listing image for shoppers ask different things of the same product. New to the term? Read what is product CGI?
Stage 01, Before the Product Exists
Make the design understandable before manufacturing.
CAD data and engineering references can support product visualisation while manufacturing is still in progress. The brief must distinguish the intended design from demonstrated functionality, with the imagery and its use appropriate to the product’s development stage.
Pre-Manufacture Visualisation
Product CGI from CAD files and engineering references, planned against the launch calendar while manufacturing is still in progress.
Investor Presentations & Roadshows
Making investors understand and believe in a product before it exists physically. Engineering credibility for due diligence teams. Visual ambition for the C-suite. Both from the same pre-manufacture asset.
Stage 02, At Launch & In Campaign
The use cases that define how a product enters the world.
These use cases cover the most commercially critical window: the period when a product launches, when it needs to establish itself in market, and when every visual touchpoint either builds or undermines the brand's positioning. One approved product build can feed the launch film, the social formats, the trade show screen, the press imagery and the website hero, where each one is planned into the brief.
CGI Production for Agencies
Product animation and compositing that fit the campaign idea, with an agreed production handoff, clear review owners and evidence from our work with ImageNova.
Trade Shows & Exhibitions
4K loops for exhibition screens, hero renders for stand graphics at the print sizes the stand needs, and mechanism films for sales demonstrations. Including pre-manufacture products where the physical object isn't available at the show date.
Product Launch Campaign Suite
Hero film, social format suite, stills library, interactive viewer and press assets, planned from one product build for launch day. Covered fully on the Launch Visuals service page.
Press Kits & PR Imagery
Hero product images, lifestyle composites, and white-background packshots formatted to press kit specification, for product launches, award submissions, and media coverage. Can be planned as a deliverable from a product build.
Technical Sales Collateral
Mechanism animations, assembly sequences, exploded views and feature callouts for sales decks, distributor training, and technical documentation. Covered fully on the Technical CGI service page.
Dashed cards indicate use cases covered by service pages rather than dedicated use case pages.
Stage 03, In Market & Ongoing
The use cases that keep a product visible, converting, and current.
Once a product is in market, the demand for imagery doesn't stop, it accelerates. New channels need new formats. New colourways need new renders. New campaigns need new creative. New markets need locally-resonant imagery. With photography, a new variant often means a new shoot. With an approved CGI asset, a new colourway or format can start from the existing build, though each new deliverable is still scoped, produced and reviewed.
E-Commerce Product Listings
Packshots, lifestyle composites, colourway variants and interactive assets for product pages, with marketplace requirements checked for the intended placement.
Paid Social & Digital Advertising
Social and advertising formats planned from the same product build. Agree the creative variants, aspect ratios and review needs for the campaign.
Website Hero Sections
Autoplay product films, hero still images, and interactive 3D viewers embedded into website homepage and product pages. CGI suits this use because the camera angle, crop and resolution can be planned for the layout.
Monthly Content Programme
An ongoing programme of films, stills and campaign formats, with an approved product library and a shared creative direction. Explore the Visual Content Partnership service.
Dashed cards indicate use cases covered by service pages rather than dedicated use case pages.
How to Use This
Which use case are you in right now?
| Your Situation | Primary Use Case | What You Need |
|---|---|---|
| We're launching in 3 months and the product isn't manufactured yet | Pre-manufacture visualisation | CAD files → full launch suite before day one |
| We're raising a Series A and need imagery for the investor deck | Investor presentations | Engineering credibility + commercial ambition from pre-manufacture CGI |
| We need to explain a product for a crowdfunding campaign | Crowdfunding notes on the pre-manufacture page | Prototype evidence and permitted imagery, planned around platform rules |
| We have a trade show in 6 weeks, the product may not arrive in time | Trade shows and exhibitions | 4K loops + stand graphics + mechanism films, pre-manufacture if needed |
| We're launching and need film, stills, social, and press all at once | Launch Visuals service | Film, stills, social and press planned from one build |
| We need consistent product imagery across several colourways | CGI for ecommerce | Variant references and output requirements checked for each channel |
| We're running paid social and need 9:16, 1:1, and 4:5 for every campaign | CGI for paid social | Channel formats and creative test variants scoped for the campaign |
| Our agency needs CGI within a wider campaign production | CGI production for agencies | Clear creative handoff, production scope and review owners |
| We need product imagery for our website hero and product pages | Website Heroes | Autoplay films, hero stills, optional interactive viewers |
| We launch products regularly and need a consistent content flow | Visual Content Partnership service | An ongoing programme from an approved product library |
Published Work
Three briefs, three questions.
Each example below is a published case study. It shows what that project needed to communicate. It is not a claim about every channel the work was used in.
How do you show an industrial system that is not built yet?
AUAR: a film, stills and motion assets explaining the MicroFactory for its website launch.
Read the AUAR case study
How do you explain a product that is still changing?
Petalite: animation and CGI of its EV charging system, made from evolving CAD while the design was still in development.
Read the Petalite case study
How does CGI fit inside an agency campaign?
Sony WF-C710, for ImageNova: product animation, water-resistance VFX and colourway CGI composited into ImageNova’s photography.
Read the Sony case study (with ImageNova)Planning the Build
One approved product asset, planned for each use.
- InputsCAD, drawings, finish references and samples for the product revision you are launching.
- Model approvalThe product model is checked against those references before creative work depends on it.
- Creative treatmentEach film, still or interactive gets its own camera, lighting and edit, and its own review.
- DeliveryFiles are prepared for each destination: a deck, a screen, a listing or a feed.
A single file does not automatically produce every film, interactive or crop. The approved model is the shared starting point, and each new treatment is planned and reviewed on its own. Before you brief, it helps to answer five questions: which product revision is this for, which audience comes first, which output do you need first, what could be reused later, and what will need new production? The CGI brief template sets these out, or you can start a brief with us.
The Underlying Logic
Why one studio, one build, every context.
When different suppliers handle each context, a photographer for packshots, a production company for the launch film, a social agency for content and another studio for the trade show screen, the product can end up looking slightly different in each place. The lighting changes, the colour temperature shifts and the proportions drift between outputs. If you are weighing the production routes, compare CGI and product photography, and CGI and AI images.
XO3D plans one approved 3D asset for your product and reuses it where each brief allows. The investor deck image and the social reel can share the same geometry, materials and lighting approach, so the product stays consistent from one context to the next. Each output is still rendered, framed and reviewed for its own purpose, and a new treatment may need new creative or production work. That consistency is part of what the asset is worth.
Your next project
Find the right starting point.
Choose the occasion the work must serve: launch, sales, product page or event. The destination should determine the message, output and review requirements.
A route to consider
Launch Visuals
A directed launch suite: film, stills and channel versions, scoped around the product story and release plan.
Bring these three things.
- What is your product?
- What does the audience need to understand?
- Where and when will the work appear?
Start with an outline. We review the product, intended outputs and timing before agreeing the production scope.