Part Two: Presentation Tools
Once the design was nailed down, my client, Jennifer deWeber, now had several working prototypes to play with, her first order of extrusions was still weeks away from delivery, her first production run was scheduled, and I could now move to the second part of my involvement: the presentation tools she needed to demonstrate the product easily at an upcoming conference of Plein-Air artists. The production run would not be ready for the conference, so I produced renders and animations to pre-market the PleinEasel.
After building the actual CAD model parts in Autodesk Inventor and converting them to various formats for the fabricators, I imported the parts into Autodesk Maya to my “digital studio” for texturing, rendering and animation.
The image above is a 3D model showing the full PleinEasel™ on a tripod in its open position with paint on the palette surface in the right box and a canvas in the left box on the painting panel, which also houses the canvas storage and paintbox storage areas behind it. Holes on the bottom edges of both boxes allow for carabiners and hooks for solvent can, paper towel roll, the paintbox, etc. And the wing tabs on the top edges of the left-hand box will handle various types of loops, straps and carrying choices.
Once I rendered the models, I animated the entire scene with it opening to its full functional position, the canvas and paintbox storage capabilities, and the paintbox and tool hanging features.
So, as Jennifer finalizes the first production run, with the use of 3D models that are CAD accurate, she can proceed with preliminary advertising, and create sales materials for the first public unveiling in advance of actual production.
And those models now sit in virtual photo studio sets, lit and ready to go again, whenever needed. I can update the models as the product changes, and endless color, material and feature options can be explored and rendered with no extra prototyping costs involved. Once production pieces are available, Jennifer can, of course, photograph people actually using the PleinEasel for her retail marketing tools, but 3D models can eliminate all surrounding distractions in a scene to easily concentrate and present details and features more clearly.
DeWeber Studios is a great example of the unique and personal one-to-one client-designer relationship I bring to new product entrepreneurs. My services are a blend of product and graphic design that particularly combine well in a project like the PleinEasel.
I love to tell visual stories and make magic every step of the way, from concept through production, sales & marketing. Thank you Jennifer for a really fun project!
For more images and information about the PleinEasel, check the case study section of the home page (lower right hand corner).
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