What does a technical animation cost?

Our projects start from €10,000 excluding VAT. An animation of one machine or component is usually around that amount; a product line with multiple deliverables costs between €15,000 and €25,000. The price is determined by the state of your CAD material, the complexity of what needs to be shown, and the number of formats you need.

How long does it take?

Six to ten weeks for an animation of a minute and a half. Most of that time comes before the animation: research, scenario and storyboard. The animation itself takes two to three weeks.

Can you work with our CAD files?

Yes. We prefer to work with STEP files or native SolidWorks files. Bear in mind that a production model usually needs cleaning up first. A model built to be milled is rarely ready to render straight away.

Our model is confidential. How do you handle that?

We sign an NDA as standard before you supply anything. Files are kept on secured storage that only the project team can access. And we publish nothing without your approval, and never before the launch. Some of our work we never publish, and that is a normal agreement.

How do you make sure the technology is correct?

By not deciding it ourselves. We sit down with your engineers, and you approve the storyboard and the first movement test before we continue. Errors in sequence or function surface there, not at delivery.

How long should a technical animation be?

For sales and website: 60 to 90 seconds. For a trade show stand: 30 to 45 seconds without sound, on a loop. For training and instruction it can be longer, up to four minutes, as long as it is divided into chapters. Beyond two minutes, a general audience drops off.

Can we update the animation later if the product changes?

Yes, and that is one of the reasons to choose 3D. We keep the scenes and models, so a new module or a changed component calls for an adjustment, not a new production. We keep project files for at least five years.

Do we also get stills and separate clips?

That is possible, as an option. High-resolution stills, with a transparent background where useful, and separate clips for social and sales are additional work. You can include them in the quote or have them made after the project. Choosing up front is often more efficient and therefore more cost-effective: we then set up the production for it from the start. At Bühler the stills are used widely, from sales presentations to product launches.

Do you also work for agencies?

Yes. Part of our work comes through communication and marketing agencies that outsource technical animation. We then work under your name or as a named partner, whichever you prefer.

Technical animation production

From the outside, your machine is a cabinet. Everything that makes it worthwhile happens inside.

Cut-away 3D animation of a Bühler machine

More detail doesn't make a technical animation better

The CAD model is already right. That is never the problem.

The problem is that a viewer has to grasp what is happening within ten seconds, and that only works if you remove three quarters of what there is to see. A complete model with eight hundred parts shows eight hundred things that all seem equally important. Nothing stands out, so nothing sticks.

That is why we don't spend the first week animating but on one question: what does the viewer need to see, and what is getting in the way. For GF Waga the answer was one movement, the clamping and sealing system that engages when you tighten the bolts. For Kalpana Systems the answer lay at atomic level. The rest of the image is there to make that one movement stand out, not to prove completeness.

Leaving things out feels unnatural when you have worked on that model for years. But that is exactly where the difference lies between an animation that is correct and an animation that is understood.

3D animation for MARIN's Zero Emission Lab with glowing green parts

Where technical animations get stuck in practice

In our experience, technical animation projects rarely go wrong on technology. They go wrong on two things that are related.

Everyone wants their part on screen. Engineering wants every detail shown, with explanation, while a working principle becomes clearer the less you show. Sales wants the three selling points in. Marketing wants the brand to be recognisable. Product wants to show the new module. Each request is reasonable on its own. Added together they produce an animation in which nothing stands out any more, and that is exactly the animation nobody remembers.

And nobody makes the call. That is the second half of the same problem. As long as nobody has agreed who can say "this goes", every request wins. Feedback rounds then become additions instead of choices, and the project overruns because every round adds something.

What we do about it: before the start we agree who has a say, for example marketing, sales and engineering, and which of them bundles the feedback. That group approves the storyboard together, and from that moment the storyboard is the agreement. If new requests come in after that, we take them back to the same group and ask what can go instead. And we explain our own choices: why something is in, and why something goes. That way every feedback round becomes a choice instead of a sum.

The storyboard is also the best moment to look at it critically. A change costs an afternoon at that stage. Changes after that lead to extra work: the same adjustment two weeks later can easily cost a week. Yet many clients only really start looking at the first render. We deliberately steer against that.

Illustration of a workspace with a desk, computer and red chair

Is the value of your product on the inside?

Send us your question with whatever you have, even if that is just a CAD file and a story. You will hear from us within one working day, with a rough estimate or a proposal to sit down for half an hour. That conversation results in a well-founded scope, plus our proposal for what we would leave out.

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Technical animation for marketing, sales and engineering

why us?

Street with an office building in Rotterdam

Marketing and communication

If you work in marketing or communication, your question is usually how to make a product explainable for an audience that doesn't know the technology. Then we work towards a main animation, with separate clips and stills as an option, so you can fill a campaign with it instead of one post.

Sales and business development

If you work in sales or business development, it is about making the conversation shorter. Then we build the animation so that it already explains the basics, and you can go straight into depth in the conversation.

Alex from Studio Analoog testing a VR experience at his desk

Engineering and product

If you work in engineering or product, the concern is usually whether it is correct. Then we build a technical check into the process: you or a colleague approves the storyboard and the first movement before we continue. Founder Joris is an industrial design engineer himself. So we speak your engineers' language, and we know when a detail is essential and when it can go.

Three technical animations
we made

Bühler Group
TECHNICAL PRODUCT ANIMATIONS
Bühler Group had two machines whose advantage is invisible. The Granulex 5 hammer mill and the Cenomic Optima bead mill sell themselves on what happens inside, and you can't photograph that. For both we made a full animation plus a set of CMYK stills, which Bühler uses in sales presentations, on social media and at product launches. It was the start of a longer collaboration.
GF Waga
TECHNICAL PRODUCT ANIMATION
GF Waga sells a coupling that does its job at the moment you can no longer see it. The MULTI/JOINT 3000 Plus repairs gas and water pipes without extra tools; the clamping and sealing system engages when the bolts are tightened. We showed that with exploded views, cross-sections and detail shots, edited to music. We also delivered stills on a transparent background, for technical documentation and for marketing.
Kalpana Systems
3D ANIMATION & WEBSITE CONTENT
Kalpana Systems had to explain something that starts at atomic level. This high-tech start-up from Delft makes a thin-film machine that makes Atomic Layer Deposition commercially feasible for large, flexible surfaces, with applications in fast-charging batteries, rollable OLED screens and flexible solar panels. The animation takes the viewer from atomic level to the machine. We also delivered 4K stills and website content in their new brand identity.
Edorado
INTREKBAAR FOLIESYSTEEM
Edorado moest laten zien hoe een boot kan opstijgen als een vliegtuig. De Edorado 8S trekt zijn foliesysteem volledig terug in de romp: in de haven vaart hij als een gewone boot, in vliegmodus komt hij boven de golven. Dat mechanisme bestond nog alleen als prototype. Onze animaties bouwen de boot op vanuit de mechanische onderdelen, via het carbon naar de complete romp. Uit dezelfde productie kwamen loops, stills en context renders, ingezet bij een investeringsronde en bij de wereldwijde lancering op het Cannes Yachting Festival.

What clients say about
working with us and the results

3D-animatie van het elektrische vliegtuig Maeve 01 in de lucht

"Your fantastic artwork helped make our vision understandable! This was extremely valuable in our development process and greatly contributed to securing multiple investment rounds."

Jan Willem Heinen
Co-founder & CEO - Maeve Aerospace

Geanimeerde zero-waste app op smartphones, uit het project met PlusDrie

“We always enjoy working with you! From start to finish, there's excellent communication, clear agreements, and high-quality production. You're constantly contributing ideas to achieve the best possible result, both creatively and technically."

Dave Valk
Designer & Owner - PlusDrie

3D-doorzichtanimatie van een motor in een machine, uit het project met Blickfanger

“By combining your animation skills with our audiovisual expertise, we'll elevate the creative concept to the next level. You'll also deliver the right assets and files on time, and we'll work together to meet the deadline!"

Wouter Kooken
Owner & Creative Director - Blickfänger

Avocado's aan de boom, uit het project voor Westfalia Fruit

"Working with Studio Analoog was impressive! They are true experts in their field. The final product made a huge impact, which we were able to showcase to state officials and important customers."

Jelle Wigboldus
Global Marketeer - Westfalia Fruit

What a technical animation costs

Our projects start from €10,000 excluding VAT. A technical animation of a minute and a half takes six to ten weeks with us, from briefing to delivery.

A defined animation of one machine or component: from €10,000, 6 to 10 weeks

Several machines or a product line, with separate clips and stills: €15,000 to €25,000, 8 to 12 weeks

Ongoing, new modules and updates to existing models: on request

What drives the price up: models that have to be built from scratch, multiple languages, and processes we first need to research. What brings it down per asset used: usable CAD material, clear agreements on who decides, and assets you reuse across several channels.

Most of the work in a technical animation happens before the film: the research, the concept and storyline, the design, and making the model animation-ready and applying materials. If you invest in that once, you can still have trade show loops, cross-sections and stills made from it years later.

Want to see the prices of all types of animation side by side? Take a look at animation production.

How an enquiry works with us

You will hear from us within one working day. Usually with a few questions, because a budget that makes sense doesn't come from a single email.

After that there are two routes. If you need a number now, we give a rough estimate based on what you have sent us. If you have half an hour, we discuss the project and you then receive a well-founded scope with a matching budget. The second route gives a better answer, and often a different project than you had in mind.

In a hurry? Feel free to call. We do the same the other way round.

How a technical animation
comes together at our studio

Briefing

After your enquiry you will hear from us within one working day, usually with a few questions. Then we schedule an introduction. We focus straight away on the content and the context: what needs explaining, to whom, and where will the animation be used? Together we map out where the communication friction lies and which decision you want to speed up, whether that is sales, an investor presentation, onboarding or stakeholder communication. Based on that we make a proposal with a clear scope, timeline and budget, including options for reuse. Once approved, we get started.

Fase concept en storytelling: 3D-illustratie van het team bij een bord met de verhaallijn

Concept & storytelling

We translate the substance into a narrative: what does the viewer need to understand first, what comes next, and how do we build towards the core? This is the phase in which we do the most substantive sparring and lay the foundation for an animation that is logically structured. You receive a fully developed concept with core message, structure and tone of voice.

Kick-off

At the kick-off everyone involved sits at the table. We define the storyline, discuss the inspiration and ask each other questions: we about the content, you about the process. We agree the timeline, fix the feedback moments and agree who has a say and who bundles the feedback. That last agreement is the most important one of the whole project.

Storyboarding

The narrative is worked out visually in a storyboard. You see per scene what will appear on screen, how the structure flows and where the accents lie. An animated storyboard also lets you judge the timing. This is the key moment to steer: changes here are fast and save costs further down the production.

Concept design

We develop the visual style: colour palette, atmosphere, level of detail and what the models look like. This can range from hyper-realistic to abstract, depending on what suits the story and the brand. We present the storyboard, animated storyboard and style frames together in the pre-production presentation, on which you give feedback in one round.

Fase productie: 3D-illustratie van animatoren aan het werk achter meerdere schermen

Production

The scenes are built, animated and rendered. You get an update and a feedback moment every week, from the first camera animation to the final preview. Because the substantive choices have already been made, this phase remains manageable and predictable.

Sound

Music, sound effects and any voice-over are added. This largely determines the sense of professionalism and pacing. Once you approve the final preview, we render the final images and finish the audio mix.

Release

The animation is delivered in the agreed format, ready for use. You choose extras in the proposal: stills, short versions, formats per channel, subtitles and language versions. We also advise on the best use per channel.