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3D SECTION

A cross section animation is a 3D visualization in which we cut a product open or remove its housing to show what cannot be seen from the outside: layers, chambers, mechanisms, the flow of air or coolant. We build it from CAD documentation, so the interior matches the actual design — that is how we showed the 5-chamber window profile for Sokółka and the four layers of a Magnat mattress. Want to see cross sections in action? Examples from HVAC, CNC, medtech and construction are right below.

If you are wondering how to showcase the construction or operation of any device in training materials or advertising, it is worth considering 3D support. The creative possibilities in 3D are nearly limitless. In this form, we have complete control over time and space, enabling us to showcase any object, even those inaccessible to the camera’s eye, in detail, in slow motion, or through cross-sections.

 

WINDOW SECTIONS | SOKÓŁKA

What lies beyond the window is visible to everyone, but understanding the interior of such a window, how it is constructed, and why it serves as an effective barrier against the cold is not always apparent.

Sometimes, discussing the advantages of everyday products, and highlighting the key benefits derived from their construction, can be challenging without dissecting or physically altering them.

However, there is a simpler way to illustrate this – through cross-sectional 3D animation.

This becomes particularly feasible when CAD documentation is available. In such cases, preparing engineering-correct, realistic visualizations is a prudent idea. The window visualizations for Sokółka on the website assist customers in acquainting themselves with various options and selecting the most suitable window for their home.

If you’re pondering ways to showcase your product in marketing or promotional materials, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We can certainly create such a presentation in the form of 3D graphics.

MATTRESSES | MAGNAT

Each of us enjoys a good night’s sleep, and undoubtedly, numerous factors influence a restful slumber – the right timing, location, ambient warmth, and often, even the company we keep ;-).

In our assessment, one of the most crucial factors affecting a good night’s sleep is not necessarily who we sleep with, but what we sleep on. Despite having ample time for sleep, an ideal setting, and good company, it’s challenging to achieve quality rest on an improperly chosen mattress.

In this regard, we had the opportunity to explore various possibilities while creating cross-sectional visualizations for products like mattresses for the company Magnat.

If you want to see what’s inside a mattress, the different variations available, and why coconuts are included in them, check out our 3D cross-sectional visualizations.

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HVAC | FLOWAIR

In the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, the key process is the flow and exchange of air. In this field of environmental engineering, it is valuable to present cross-sections not only of the devices themselves but also of heat exchange processes and the application of various technological solutions.

As an animation studio in the HVAC industry, we have a lot of experience in presenting cross-sections of products, heat exchange processes, as well as entire systems and their applications. It’s challenging to showcase a large-scale hall with an exposed roof and a variety of technological solutions installed in different locations through a photo or video.

In 3D, there is no issue with that.

Check out an example of comprehensive 3D support for a company in this field, Flowair.

See more 3D for HVAC

CNC TECHNOLOGY | POKOLM

In the CNC milling plotter industry, chips are generated, and the machines often operate with direct water cooling directed at the working mill. The cooling system may even be placed inside the mill itself. Additionally, for safety reasons, the entire tooling procedure is typically enclosed in a separate space, isolated from the viewer and the CNC plotter operator.

Therefore, recording a video or capturing an image that shows the operation of milling machines is quite a challenging task.

By depicting this process in animation, in cross-section, or in slow motion, we can closely examine the operation of specialized tools in this field. Whether you need to prepare training materials, animations promoting milling machines, or explaining the manufacturing process, showcasing it in 3D animation is a good idea.

In this form, we can delve into areas where a camera may struggle, highlight the crucial aspects of the process in detail, or, in slow motion, observe the operation of each type of CNC tool.

See examples of 3D for CNC

DENTAL TECHNOLOGY | ALMADENT

Do you know how the process of installing dental implants unfolds precisely, and why dentists are confident that the implant is perfectly fitted and won’t come loose? Medical procedures in video recordings are usually not aesthetically pleasing for viewers.

That’s why when it’s necessary to showcase a process or product in detail, we recommend 3D animations. The use of cross-sections, transparency, or slow-motion shots provides ample opportunities to focus attention on the most crucial processes or devices.

This approach allows for the presentation of areas inaccessible to the camera, explains the functioning of tools, or step-by-step illustrates procedures.

It’s the perfect support during training for professionals.

With cross-sectional animations, we can witness complex dental procedures without the need to depict the actual surgery.
Simply, understandably and engagingly, without the spillage of blood.

Educationally for specialists, informatively for patients, and effectively for everyone.

Check out examples

AVIATION | INVENTIONS | ATS

In the context of engineering and design, 3D animation can be a highly effective tool for popularizing innovative inventions and convincing investors to support their implementation.

An example of this is the story of Sławomir Malicki, an entrepreneur who, in 2015, conceived and designed an autonomous system for towing passenger airplanes(ATS). This idea has the potential to revolutionize the global aviation industry. We had the pleasure of creating an animation illustrating the construction and operation of the system, including presentations featuring cross-sections of segments and components of the invention.

Utilizing realistic 3D animation, the inventor showcased his idea at the Air Fair in Le Bourget in 2015. In Malicki’s case, the impressive presentation successfully persuaded a delegation from the USA to collaborate, leading to an invitation for cooperation and later signing an agreement with a renowned university in Oklahoma.

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INTERIOR DESIGN | BACARDI-MARTINI

Are you planning a new office? Or perhaps making changes to the current one? Do you want to design interiors, layout spaces, or arrange the environment? All of this can be done in the form of graphics, presented suggestively and realistically in architectural cross-sections.

Each space can be redesigned from scratch in 3D, showcasing various versions and variations of layouts, color schemes, or graphic finishes.

By the way, to make the presentation more interesting and add architectural context, it’s beneficial to display a cross-section of the building and the entire floor.

This is how an animation was created during the rebranding of the Bacardi Martini office in Warsaw.

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING | EJOT

Computer graphics allow you to peer beneath the foundation or into the interior of a building’s structure effortlessly, without the need for a shovel. If you manufacture construction solutions present in areas challenging for a camera to access, showcase it through a 3D cross-sectional visualization.

This approach was employed in creating visualizations for the company EJOT. There was no need to demolish the foundation to demonstrate modern solutions and the construction of the subwindow system.

In this form, every layer, product, location, and method of installation is visible in a single image.

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INSULATION MATERIALS | KNAUF

Building products are often hidden beneath the facade, under the floor, within the foundations. Of course, one could rip up floorboards, dig holes, and uncover the roof sheathing to showcase where insulation materials function.

It’s possible. But we do not recommend taking that route.

It is easier, more visually appealing, and certainly more cost-effective to showcase such products in a building cross-sectional animation. For the company KNAUF, we created an interactive animation presenting various insulation solutions and their applications.

This innovative approach allows for a clear and attention-grabbing focus on the product.

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EXPLODED VIEW ANIMATION

An exploded view shows a product taken apart along its assembly axes — every part pulled out just far enough to see what it is and where it sits. A drawing freezes that moment; an exploded view animation lets the parts slide out and back in, so the viewer sees the assembly order, not just a parts list.

We build it from the same CAD model as a cross section, which is why the two often go together: the cross section shows what happens inside, the exploded view shows what the product is made of. Typical uses: assembly and service instructions, trade show screens and product pages for devices with many components.

Shown, from our projects: a Flowair air curtain, cartridge replacement in a USTM water filter, a car bumper with Knauf EPP components and an AFL Motors industrial fan.

Cross sections are older than the camera

1489 — Leonardo da Vinci. In April 1489 Leonardo sawed a human skull open and drew it cut lengthwise and across, to see how the interior relates to what is visible from outside. The drawing, “The skull sectioned”, is now in the Royal Collection.

Today you don’t need a saw to look inside a head: an MRI scan usually takes between 15 minutes and an hour, and those images can be turned into a 3D model you can rotate and cut anywhere. We work the same way with a product — except our layers come from CAD files.

1556 — Georg Agricola. His mining handbook “De re metallica” carried almost 300 woodcuts. One shows a mine shaft cut open so that the pump working inside is visible — at the time, a cutaway drawing was a complete novelty.

The woodcut froze a single moment. In 3D animation the cutting plane can move while the pump keeps working — the viewer sees the mechanism from the inside, in motion.

The first CT scanner — nine days per scan. The first version of Godfrey Hounsfield’s device needed nine days to collect the data for a single cross-sectional image; switching to X-rays cut that to nine hours. In 1979 Hounsfield and Allan Cormack received the Nobel Prize for computer assisted tomography.

Today a CT scan usually takes 10 to 20 minutes. We have it even easier: we don’t X-ray anything, because the product’s interior is already described in the design documentation — we just have to show it.

1,871 slices, one millimetre apart. For the Visible Human Project, the U.S. National Library of Medicine sectioned a donor body into 1,871 cross-sections at 1 mm intervals — about 15 GB of data, released in 1994. The female dataset was cut at 0.33 mm and has 5,189 images.

Those slices were later assembled into 3D models for anatomy teaching, surgical simulation and virtual reality. A cross section and a 3D model are two sides of the same knowledge: one shows the layer, the other the whole.

Sources: Royal Collection Trust · Linda Hall Library · Lasker Foundation · nobelprize.org · U.S. National Library of Medicine · NHS · NIH 3D