Bott GmbH is a German company with significant facilities in the UK. They manufacture high quality storage and racking systems for vehicles and workplaces. Traditionally they used photography for marketing but increasingly this option was seen as expensive, restrictive and time consuming. Proto Imaging was approached to find out how their marketing material could be enhanced through the use of CGI.
The initial commission was for an interactive online application to allow the user to interactively explore the various elements of the SmartVan vehicle racking system. We produced a very realistic look to the visuals, as if they’d been filmed. As opposed to photography, our CGI solution would allow for more creativity in terms of how the product could be displayed and marketed. To achieve this we used our expertise in 3D to create a clean studio feel to the graphics, matching Bott’s design ethos and existing visual style.
Bott supplied detailed engineering CAD models of all the required products, which after processing, allowed for very clean 3D models. During the project, we worked concurrently with a third party web developer to fulfil the HTML5 integration. For efficiency, we supplied the web developer with placeholder animations until the final high quality rendered animations were complete.
This interactive tool has been very well received and can be accessed here. As spin-off projects, the core 3D scenes were used to generate high resolution images for for brochures and also ultra-large format graphics for custom vehicle liveries.
Our relationship with Bott is ongoing and our latest project involved producing a standalone video for their Modulo range. Again, once the CAD was prepared, we outputted CGI images for other applications such as an online configurator and images for print. The work for Bott has been technically demanding but the benefits to the client are clear. Once prepared, the 3D CAD can be re-used re-purposed, and In this case, it is the flexibility and reusability that ultimately makes CGI cost effective.
“I’ve worked with Proto Imaging on a few major projects over the last 18 months, they have a positive ‘can do’ attitude and deliver excellent results for a fair budget. We’re very pleased with the results and have more projects planned for the future.” — Product Marketing Manager, BOTT Ltd.