Stamping foil specialists Foilco and creative coverings experts Winter & Company are the first in their industry to digitise their entire product catalogues for use in 3D rendering design – a feat not widely thought possible.
Working alongside Emmy award-winning software specialists Chaos Group, both companies have collectively scanned over 1500 individual products, giving creative designers the opportunity to showcase a true digital likeness of the physical materials they work with, for the first time.
The Chaos Scans technology combined with their software ecosystem enables digital artists to drag and drop decorative foils and creative coverings straight into their render projects for mock-ups, CGI, animations and AR/VR applications with amazing speed and ease.
The journey to this point, however, was not an easy one as Nikolai Winter, Director of Winter & Company revealed.
“Both Foilco and Winter & Company have a longstanding reputation for supplying quality, specialist finishes to the print and packaging industry. For Foilco this could be a highly reflective complex holographic foil and for Winter & Company a luxurious heavily textured paper, and so we always knew that we were both setting a real challenge for Chaos.”
He added: “It has taken several years, and many re-runs, but they finally made it! Each of the 1500 plus products we produce between us has been effectively photographed over 10,000 times to capture the most amazing true-to-life detail, including every aspect of the material you can experience in its physical form. We are delighted with the results. At a time where remote working has increased, studios and brands will be able to share true likeness imagery across their global network. Brand integrity and continuity can be controlled with all stakeholders and importantly you can vastly reduce the prototyping process, and both physical and environmental costs.”
Matt Hornby, Sales Director at Foilco, said the technology now gives creatives the freedom to be more experimental and expressive in their foil and paper considerations, meaning more (aesthetic) risks will be tried and taken, creating more unique and standout packaging designs.
He added: “At a time when post pandemic consumer buying habits have shifted even further towards online, the need to merchandise products in their true likeness digitally has never been more important.”
Both companies joined together recently at White Rabbit Studios in London’s Shoreditch to showcase the software and speak about their experiences and industry perspective. Award-winning creative design company, Where Giants Roam, who built Foilco’s Thought themed whisky bottle render and AR animations were guest speakers.
They discussed working with the technology to create the whisky bottle. They also provided a live demonstration of the software showcasing the simplicity of swapping foil and material choices.
Rhiannon Porter, Managing Director at Where Giants Roam; said: “Bringing the Thought project to life at the end of the scanning process allowed us to put everything through its paces – and we were delighted with the results. As a studio at the forefront of CGI/VR and AR, this technology really is a game changer for the industry. It allows designers more time to be creative now that they have 100 percent accurate material scans to visualise the perfect product.”
Further information – and render scans – can be found on both company websites:
