Not all of us like reading multi-page manuals, analysing data tables and leafing through data sheets. With the help of graphic instructional animations, however, we can avoid this. Instructional videos and 3d explainer video explain the construction and assembly of products - the format that fits the middle of a B2B sale, when the buyer is already comparing suppliers.
A picture is worth a thousand clicks, and in an animation you show processes that are difficult to explain in an understandable way.
Who and how can it help?
- In marketing to promote and explain the advantages and distinctive features of a product.
- For salespeople as materials explaining the construction and operation of the equipment they are selling. In animation, you show convincingly why your product is worth buying.
- For assembly instructions for customers as an aid to the smooth and correct assembly of the purchased goods - instead of printed instructions, simply provide the customer with a link to an instructional video published online.
- For training and educational materials - as support for professionals to help them understand the construction, processes and use of technical equipment.
- An explainer-video animation is a great solution for training clinical professionals in the correct and safe way to perform procedures.
3D EXPLAINER VIDEO - Why are they effective?
The human brain processes images much faster than text. Instructional videos explainers offer a message that grabs attention and allows you to explain the principles of assembly or how products work in a simple way. Instead of creating multi-page instructions, show it in an animation.
In this way, you will explain even complex procedures step by step. Humans remember video much faster and easier than written content. In an animation, you can show every detail and focus the viewer's attention on the most important features of the product.
In dentistry or medicine, in an 3D explainer video animation you can present medical procedures without bloodshed, explaining the steps step by step, focusing attention on what is crucial in the process, for example the installation of implant abutments.
MEDICAL PROCEDURES
Instructional explainer videos are versatile. They can be used on a website, in marketing campaigns, sales presentations and at trade shows. Thanks to the internet, videos can reach customers all over the world, crossing language and cultural barriers.
Video is an easy-to-understand message for everyone. In animations for Sol-Millenium, one of the world's largest manufacturers of needles, syringes and blood collection devices, we show the application and correct use of products in animation.
In the medical industry, 3D is an effective training tool for clinical professionals.
HVAC - industrial instruction
Our instructional animations provide easy access to complex technical information, transforming it into understandable and engaging content for the viewer. Thanks to the animations, technical specifications, operating principles of systems as well as installation instructions become accessible, even for the non-technical user.
A good example of this is the heat exchange, refrigeration and ventilation industry, or so-called HVAC. In this field, 3D creative support offers a wide range of possibilities. From showing specialised products in a sales visualisation, through cross-sectional views explaining the construction to animations of the heat exchange process.
3D Explainer video - presentation of product features
3D Instructional videos are a powerful tool to convey the benefits of a product to your customers. No matter what field you operate in, when the need arises to explain a process, a technical procedure, a medical procedure or to explain how something works - an explainer-style video animation is a solution worth considering.
At Studio Modelight, we create content that is eye-catching yet easy to understand for your target audience.
What else can we offer you?
Example: a safety mechanism that works in a split second
A safety syringe has one feature that no photo can show: the moment the shield closes over the needle. It happens in a fraction of a second, in the nurse's hand. For Sol-Millennium, a global manufacturer of medical devices, we created animations that show the safe use of syringes, needles and blood collection systems step by step, including cutaways in slow motion.
This kind of film does two jobs at once. It trains hospital staff, and it sells the product, because it shows exactly the feature the hospital is paying for. The Sol-Millennium products we visualized won iF Design and Red Dot awards in 2022.
Example: a dental procedure explained to specialists and patients
How do you explain an implant procedure so that both the dentist and the patient understand it? Footage from a real procedure is hard to read and, for a patient, simply off-putting. For Almadent, a dental technology lab, we made an animation of a dental implant with transparent tissue, cross-sections through the bone and gum, and a clean clinical setting, without a single drop of blood.
What you can explain with a 3D explainer or instructional film
Five different uses, with different length and pace. One set of 3D models can serve all of them.
- Assembly instead of a PDF drawing. order, orientation and the step where people usually go wrong, shown in three dimensions and in motion.
- Operation and service. start-up, daily use, replacing consumables and fixing common faults, long after the sale.
- Procedures you cannot film. medical procedures, processes inside a sealed machine, parts that disappear under a housing.
- Training and onboarding. new staff and service technicians watch the procedure as often as they need before touching the real device.
- Sales and trade shows. a short cut of the same film explains the product on a stand, in a meeting or in a follow-up email.
Did you know? Moving pictures plus key stills teach a procedure best
Amaël Arguel and Eric Jamet taught people first aid procedures in three ways: with a video only, with a series of static pictures only, or with a video accompanied by key still pictures. The group that got both understood and remembered the procedure best. The video showed how the steps flow into each other, and the stills let people hold on to each key position. Good instructional films do the same: continuous motion, with clear pauses on the steps that matter.
When the goal is to show how a machine works rather than how to use it, see technical animation. When the film has to sell a product at launch, see 3D product animation.
Frequently asked questions
Questions we hear most often before an explainer or instructional film.
What is the difference between an explainer video and an instructional film?
They are close relatives. An explainer shows what a product is and why it matters, so it usually works on a website and in sales. An instructional film walks the viewer through a specific task: assembly, operation, a procedure. It tends to be longer and more detailed. We make both, often from the same set of 3D models.
Can a 3D animation replace a printed assembly manual?
It can support it and take most of the load. A printed manual often has to stay for formal reasons, but the film settles the questions a drawing cannot: which side, in what order, how tight. A QR code on the box or the device leads straight to it.
Does the film need a voice-over?
Not necessarily. A well-made 3D assembly sequence is understood without words: we show the action, arrows and labels on the key parts. That is a big advantage for exporters, because one film works in every market. A voice-over is added when something invisible has to be explained or when there are safety warnings.
How long should an instructional film be?
As long as the task it explains, and no longer. Assembling one part usually takes a few dozen seconds; a full service procedure can take a few minutes. Longer films are split into chapters, so the viewer can jump straight to the step they need.
What do you need from us to start?
Ideally the CAD files of the device and a step-by-step description of the task, which can be a simple list or an existing manual. Without CAD we build the model from drawings or photos. It also helps to know where users most often make mistakes, because that is usually the most important part of the film.
LET'S TALK
Let us know how we can help you highlight your products by showing them in 3D