Blaker Sandflo

Client: Blaker Tech

Case Study

Bringing a brand new product to the forefront of the industry.

Quick facts:

  • New product with a single prototype at the time of project
  • A real British success story
  • Part of a wider solution with other products to follow
  • CGI build and animation including complicated particle physics
  • Images rendered for a printed brochure

About the client.

Blaker has been around since 1905, originally based in Islington North London. Their mainstay is the repairing of industrial machinery alongside many metalworking services.

Visit client website

The challenge.

As a very innovative solution, unlike anything else on the market, it was important for us to know the product as well as the producers.

Aside from that, the biggest challenge was the difficult simulation required with the sand – to behave as a “dry liquid” when air is passed through it.

This required a commitment from DURTY for R&D time to achieve the realism to do the product justice.

Our solution.

We created a two and a half minute animation explaining the process of scrap separation within their Sandflo product.

We worked closely with the Blaker team, including an in-person visit to their site to see Sandflo working firsthand and gain a true understanding of how it worked.

The animation acted as a precursor for additional marketing stills for print and a shorter teaser animation on the run-up to launch.

Watch the teaser video

Watch the explainer video

“My first impression is WOW! It looks amazing.”

Kate RussellMarketing Manager, Blaker

A new product for a new venture.

Entering a traditional market for the first time is one of the most important. You need to grab attention, inspire curiosity and understand what the product does and how it can improve your own business. Especially as a brand new product to market there’s the additional barrier of convincing potential clients it not only works but can revolutionise a production line.

We’re in no way taking away the ingenuity of Blaker Tech’s “Sandflo” machine, but we’ll proudly say we played our part in Blaker’s journey to success and securing sales within the industry.

01

Using your CAD assets.

Working with both the client and their CAD company allowed us to gather most of the 3D assets we needed. This still required time to optimise the models for animation, including some rebuilding of the elements, but this always helps in reducing production time/costs.

3D animation allows us to visualise processes otherwise impossible to film. In this case, it was showing how scrap metal behaved within a fluidised mass of sand – how heavier pieces sank to the bottom and less dense pieces stayed on top for separation. Whilst traditional filming could have shown this from the surface, the key functionality of the product was hidden within the sand and therefore only possible to show using CGI.

02

With campaign usage in mind.

Keeping USP’s separated throughout the video, with clean transitions between shots, means multiple clips can be made for use on different platforms. Whether it’s multiples ads running on Google or LinkedIn, or creating a library of reusable content to be shared organically such as the company LinkedIn page or Twitter, cuts can be delivered quickly top and tailed with company branding.

03

Helping us understand your product.

The client shot videos of the product, sharing footage of each part of the separation process, saving us multiple visits to site.

Not only does this help us ensure we are showing the process correctly, but it’s an easy way for clients to share information with readily available technology, without the need to create PDF documents or build CAD models.

04