3D Explainer Videos: Is It a Good Investment for Your Brand?

Breadnbeyond
6 min readNov 30, 2020

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We’ve seen a lot of classic 2D, flat style explainer videos. But, have you seen the 3D ones?

When we think of 3D animation, we think of those Disney Pixar movies. In fact, in recent years, 3D animation has taken the business world by storm.

It’s not all about entertainment or movies for kids anymore, but also for marketing purposes across different industries.

3D explainer videos might not be as mainstream as 2D animated ones. However, it can be a unique and different approach to attract audiences’ attention faster.

Today, we’re going to talk about 3D explainer videos more so you can understand if this type of explainer video is just a waste of money or a good investment.

Let’s dive in!

3D Explainer Videos: Why You Should Care?

Many marketers use 3D explainer videos to take their video marketing campaigns a notch — go beyond the classic 2D cartoon style.

But, does the more fancy appearance make the 3D explainer videos better than 2D animated ones?

Well, sometimes. It all depends on your marketing objectives (we’ll get to it later).

Despite its tougher and longer process in production, 3D explainer videos can pay off big time.

3D videos offer much more freedom and creativity than other animation styles. This type of video allows your imagination to fly high. It can go into great detail, depicting situations that you couldn’t in real life.

What’s more, 3D animation can also create characters and objects that rotate around and in any other direction — which 2D animation and any other animation style can’t do.

The Best Examples of 3D Explainer Videos

Now that you understand why 3D animation can be such a high-performing explainer video type for your brand, we’ll dive into some of the best examples.

From the example below, you’ll understand what makes 3D explainer videos different from any explainer video style and what makes them captivating.

You can also take some of the examples as inspiration for your next video marketing campaign.

#1. Fuelshaker

This 3D explainer video introduces you to Fuelshaker.

If you see the video, it is not hard to understand body design, operating model, and other innovative water bottle features.

#2. FuelBaby

This explainer video helps the viewers and customers understand the detail of the product — even though it’s made from animation.

The brief texts also give them instructions about how to operate the water bottle clearly.

#3. I-COOP

What makes this 3D explainer video stand out is its creative rendering. The idea of creating 3D animated instructions immediately sets this video apart from its competitors in terms of stylization.

By watching this video, one can easily understand its features and how you can install it.

#4. BETAVIB

This video starts with motion graphics animation before it’s introduced in 3D animation.

Not only does The 3D animation show a virtual demonstration of how users can use BETAVIB, but it also gives the viewers some reasons why they should consider their service.

#5. ILCoin

ILCoin shows the inside functionality of its unique blockchain network. It’s astonishing to see how they showed the individual parts inside the network from a cross-section camera angle.

That’s what 3D animation is for — to show things that would have been extremely challenging to show in real-life shooting or even 2D explainer video.

You can check out our 3D project showreel to see other stunning examples in minutes:

Find us on YouTube

The Pros and Cons of 3D Explainer Videos

3D explainer videos look stunning, doesn’t it?

However, it’s always better to look carefully at the pros and cons before you make any decisions.

The list of the pros and cons above can help you to answer this question:

is it really worth investing in 3D explainer videos?

Pros:

  • You can depict any situation and environment even when they are not possible in real life.
  • You have more options for visual effects (combine it with any other animation styles)
  • Looks more appealing and realistic

Cons

  • You might need to spend more on the production
  • It requires you design skills to create your own
  • The production takes longer
  • Lack of flexibility when it comes to revisions or changes
  • Lack of simplicity — the whole process is quite complex

Download FREE e-Book: 7 Tactical Advantages of Explainer Videos

Essential Tools to Create 3D Explainer Videos

3D explainer videos are a preferred choice for marketers due to its ability to render objects with real-life precision.

It should come as no surprise that this type of explainer video is rising above clutter nowadays.

Even though it’s quite hard to create your own 3D explainer videos (especially without any design skills and background), we have some video tools that you would need to start with.

Renderforest

The beauty of Renderforest is that it offers a toolkit for 3D explainer videos. This tool spoils you with a wide selection of 3D animated scenes, characters, and even transitions.

You can use it free with unlimited 360p video export. You can also subscribe to a premium plan to access all the features and create high-quality (720p — 1080p) 3D explainer videos.

Cinema 4D

This tool offers a wide range of easy-to-use and reliable character animation features that you can use to create life-like characters and any other 3D objects you need on your explainer videos.

It might take time to adapt and have a solid grasp on the features of Cinema 4D. But, once you crack the code, you’ll realize that this software is such a powerful tool to design stunning 3D explainer videos.

Adobe After Effects

Not only does Adobe After Effects (AE) help you create cool 2D animated explainer videos, but it also makes it easier for you to design 3D animated ones.

With its Classic After Effect 3D Renderer feature, this tool provides you with a number of tools and settings which allow you to change the AE workspace from 2D to 3D.

In this case, you can easily create compelling 3D objects from the 2D animation you’ve created before.

That’s been a quick walkthrough of 3D explainer videos. Are you interested in creating one for your brand? Let us know in the comment section below 😊

As mentioned above, it might take painstaking efforts to create your own 3D explainer video. But, you can take a quick shortcut by leaving it to professionals.

Illustration by Breadnbeyond

Breadnbeyond can help you create professional 3D explainer videos to level up your video marketing campaigns.

So, are you ready to talk? Contact us here.

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Breadnbeyond
Breadnbeyond

Written by Breadnbeyond

Crafting animated explainer videos since 2009. Visit our website: https://breadnbeyond.com/

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