XO3D Studio · Use Case

CGI for Crowdfunding Campaigns.

Show the design clearly. Show the development stage honestly. Plan your imagery around the product, the prototype and the platform.

A crowdfunding campaign needs to make the product understandable and its progress credible. CGI can help with design communication and permitted campaign assets, but it cannot prove that a physical product exists or works. The right starting point is your prototype status and the rules of the platform where the content will appear.

CGI product visualisation for campaign planning
CGI illustration. This image is not evidence of a working prototype or approval for use on a crowdfunding platform.

Shape the brief

Plan the right campaign assets.

Hero Campaign Imagery

Explain the design clearly

Product visualisation for the uses your campaign platform permits. Agree which images need to show a real prototype and which can explain the intended design before commissioning the artwork.

Campaign Film

Build the film around real progress

A directed film can combine genuine prototype footage with permitted explanatory graphics. Show the product's current capabilities accurately and distinguish development plans from demonstrated features.

Feature Callout Images

Showing the product's detail

Diagrams and detail views can explain mechanisms, materials and dimensions. Their format and placement must follow the chosen platform rules and make the development stage clear.

Social Campaign Content

Pre-launch and launch social

Plan social crops, design explanations and later launch assets together. Check the rules for each destination; permission to use a render on one channel does not make it suitable for every campaign placement.

FAQ

Common questions, answered.

Can I use photorealistic CGI on a Kickstarter hardware campaign?
Kickstarter requires hardware and product design projects to show a working prototype and prohibits photorealistic renderings in that context. Read its current category guidance before commissioning campaign imagery. CGI cannot substitute for evidence that a prototype works.
What do I need to have in place before approaching XO3D for a crowdfunding project?
At minimum: CAD files or detailed technical drawings of the product, a clear understanding of the product's key features and selling points, and your campaign launch date. We can begin from early-stage CAD, we don't need production-ready files. The earlier we're involved in a crowdfunding timeline, the more we can contribute to the visual strategy of the campaign, not just the execution.
Can XO3D work to crowdfunding launch deadlines?
Yes, crowdfunding projects typically have fixed launch dates determined by campaign platform scheduling. XO3D builds the production schedule backwards from the launch date and tells you at brief stage what's achievable within the timeline. We will always tell you honestly if a timeline is too compressed for the quality level you need.

Planning a crowdfunding campaign?

Tell us about the product, your launch date, and what your CAD data situation is.

Include your platform and prototype stage so we can shape an appropriate visual brief.

About the studio

XO3D is a director-led product CGI studio, incorporated as XO3D Ltd in 2019 (UK Companies House 11876020). Founded by Thomas Howcroft (Founder and Creative Director) and Alex Mann (Co-Founder and Managing Director). Based at the Business and Technology Centre in Stevenage, UK, with representation at 244 Fifth Avenue, New York. We work with tech, industrial and premium consumer brands on product films, launch stills and interactive experiences.

That makes us the right choice for launch-critical work where the visual standard has to be high and the product may not exist yet.

It makes us the wrong choice for three things, and it is worth establishing that now rather than later.

  • Hundreds of routine SKUs to a fixed template. A volume batch renderer will do that faster and for less. Paying for creative direction on work that does not need a creative decision is poor value, and we will tell you so.
  • A permanently live, self-service configurator across a large range. That is platform software. We can build the assets and, where it is the right route, the experience itself, but the ongoing system is not a studio deliverable.
  • The campaign idea itself. If what you need is the strategy, the audience work and the media plan, start with an agency. We are frequently the production partner behind one.
How XO3D compares to the other five supplier models