FAQ: REBUS Agency
We have been producing 3D animations and visual communication for IVD and MedTech companies for over 20 years. Most of the questions below are ones we answer regularly - in briefings, proposals, and conversations with marketing and product teams at companies like Tosoh Bioscience, Revvity, and Erba Mannheim. These answers reflect how we actually work: what the process involves, what we need from you, and what you can expect in return.
CAD DATA AND TECHNICAL INPUTS
What types of CAD data can be used for IVD instrument animations?
We work with most standard 3D formats: STEP, SolidWorks, CATIA, Rhino, and OBJ. If your engineering team can export it, we can most likely work with it. If the only available reference is a product render or a photograph from a trade fair, we can work with that too - it requires additional reconstruction time, but the result is equivalent.
What if CAD data is not available at all?
This situation arises more often than one might expect - particularly with instruments still in development, or with legacy products where original files are on backup systems that are difficult to access. In those cases, we send a colleague to the client's site with measuring tools and a camera. He documents the instrument in detail - dimensions, surfaces, component relationships, and structural references. It takes a day or two on location, and we return with everything needed to build an accurate 3D model from scratch. The process is more involved than receiving a STEP file, but the final output is comparable in quality and accuracy.
What materials does REBUS need to start a project?
Ideally: CAD data or 3D files, a product brief or datasheet, any existing marketing materials, and a clear understanding of what the animation is supposed to achieve. When the full package is not available, we work from a brief, a set of product materials, and a technical briefing call. We have worked from both starting points.
Do you create animations from engineering data or from marketing concepts?
Both - and in practice, most projects start from a combination of the two. The preferred starting point is engineering data. CAD files provide an accurate physical foundation that makes every subsequent step faster and every output more credible. When engineering documentation is available, we use it. When it is not - or when the animation is being developed from a communication brief rather than a technical specification - we work from marketing materials, product renders, physical samples, or on-site documentation. The most common scenario involves both teams: engineering provides technical accuracy, marketing defines communication objectives, and we translate between the two. We are experienced at facilitating that process, and at identifying the questions that matter from both perspectives.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA HANDLING
Can REBUS work under NDA before a product launch?
Yes. Pre-launch confidentiality is standard for us, not an exception. The majority of our projects involve instruments that are not yet public - development-stage products, unreleased platform variants, or launches planned for a specific date. We regularly work with confidential CAD data, pre-release datasheets, internal product roadmaps, and embargoed specifications. The relevant confidentiality terms are documented before any technical materials change hands. If your organization requires a specific NDA format, we work from that. If not, we use our own standard agreement.
How do you handle confidential CAD and product data?
We treat client data - CAD files, engineering documentation, unreleased specifications, and internal product materials - as confidential by default, regardless of whether a formal NDA is in place at first contact. Files shared with us are used exclusively for the agreed project. They are not retained beyond delivery and are not shared with third parties. For clients with specific data handling requirements - internal security protocols, jurisdiction-specific compliance, or contractual restrictions on file storage - we align with those requirements at the start of the project. This is a standard part of working with global organizations.
PROCESS AND TIMELINE
How long does it take to produce a 3D animation for a laboratory analyzer?
A standard product animation of 60 to 90 seconds takes approximately 8 to 12 weeks from first briefing to final delivery. A full workflow animation explaining the assay principle, reagent handling, and data output can take 14 to 20 weeks. If your product launch has a compressed timeline, we are worth a conversation. We have experience delivering under tight constraints, though earlier engagement consistently produces better outcomes for all parties.
How does the review and approval process work?
Our process includes two structured review rounds at defined milestones. The first follows the storyboard - a set of final-quality still frames showing exactly how every key scene will appear, including camera angles, lighting, and composition. This is where the visual direction is confirmed. The second review follows after the first full animation render. In practice, most projects are resolved cleanly within these two rounds. Significant scope changes introduced after storyboard approval are handled as a separate scope item. Rebuilding a 3D scene at the render stage affects timeline and budget for all parties, and we prefer to raise scope questions early rather than absorb them silently.
How many revision rounds are included in a typical project?
Two structured rounds are included as standard - as described above. Adjustments within the agreed scope can usually be accommodated without issue. What we ask in return is clear, consolidated feedback at each milestone rather than individual comments distributed across an extended period.
SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY AND REGULATED CONTENT
What is the difference between a product animation and a workflow animation?
A product animation shows the instrument: its design, key features, and physical interaction points. A workflow animation shows what happens inside or around the instrument - how a sample moves through the system, how a reagent reacts, what occurs at the optical detection stage. Both serve distinct purposes. For a product launch, you often need both. For a trade fair, the workflow animation is typically what draws sustained attention.
How accurate do 3D animations need to be for medical device marketing?
Accurate enough that your regulatory and product teams are satisfied - which in our experience means quite accurate. We do not invent processes or omit steps that carry scientific significance. At the same time, animation is not a technical manual. We work with your team to determine the appropriate level of detail: scientifically defensible and visually clear. Every project goes through a content review with the client before final delivery.
Can REBUS adapt existing animations for different markets or languages?
Yes, and this is one of the more underused capabilities we offer. Localizing an existing animation - replacing voiceover, subtitles, or on-screen text - is significantly faster and more cost-effective than producing a new one. If a global rollout is planned, it is worth discussing localization at the start of the project rather than six months after delivery.
What makes IVD instrument animation different from general medical animation?
The subject matter is fundamentally different. General medical animation typically visualizes biological processes: cellular mechanisms, pharmacological pathways, disease progression, surgical procedures. The primary audience is often clinical or patient-facing. IVD instrument animation addresses an engineered system - a physical instrument with a defined sample path, reagent handling logic, fluidic architecture, optical detection system, user interface, and data output workflow. Each of these elements must be represented accurately, in the correct sequence, and in the correct relationship to the others. This matters for two reasons. First, accuracy: a misrepresented detection sequence or an inaccurate reagent handling step is not an aesthetic issue. It is a communication error that product management and regulatory teams will identify, and that distributors may relay incorrectly to customers. Second, audience: laboratory professionals, product managers, procurement decision-makers, and commercial teams are the primary viewers. They recognize when something is correct and when it is not. Beyond accuracy, IVD visualization regularly addresses processes inside closed systems that no camera can access - the movement of a sample through a microfluidic channel, the separation of hemoglobin fractions in a chromatography column, the chemistry inside a test cup. That is the core challenge 3D animation is built to solve. Generalist studios can produce technically polished work. Understanding what a specific immunoassay detection principle looks like at the level of the sensing cell - or how cation exchange HPLC separates hemoglobin variants - requires domain knowledge that is built over years of sector-specific work. We have that knowledge.
OUTPUT FORMATS AND USAGE
What video formats are needed for trade fairs, websites, and sales presentations?
We deliver master files at the highest quality available, along with optimized versions for each intended use: MP4 (H.264 or H.265) for web and presentations, ProRes or DNxHD for broadcast or post-production, and specific aspect ratios for trade fair screens, which are not always standard. If you need a 4K loop for a 21:9 booth display, we have produced that. If you need a 15-second cut for LinkedIn, we can prepare that as well.
Can one animation be adapted for sales, training, exhibitions and social media?
Yes - and planning for this at the start of the project is one of the most cost-effective decisions a marketing team can make. A single 3D production generates a set of assets: models, scenes, lighting setups, and camera positions. From those assets, we can produce a full range of outputs - a 90-second version for the product page, a 30-second cut for trade fair screens, a detailed workflow version for distributor training, a simplified version for lab technician or patient-facing education, and short cuts for digital campaigns. Each additional output from an existing production costs significantly less than a new production would. The constraint is rarely capability. It is usually timing: outputs specified before production begins can be built into the scene structure from the start. Outputs specified after delivery require revisiting scenes that may no longer be configured to produce them efficiently. We raise this at the briefing stage for this reason
How can 3D animations be used across the full IVD product launch cycle?
YThe role of a 3D animation changes at each stage of a product launch, and the same core production can serve multiple stages. Before launch, the animation supports internal sales training, distributor briefings, and congress or advisory board presentations - typically in an unlisted or access-controlled format. At launch, it goes public: product page, trade fair loop, digital campaign assets, press and media kit. After launch, the same scenes can be localized for different markets, adapted for updated product variants, or extended with new workflow content as the product evolves in the field. Planning the full lifecycle at the briefing stage means scene compositions and camera angles serve all of these uses, rather than being optimized for a single output and retrofitted for others later.
Can 3D animation replace physical samples for trade fair presentations?
In many cases, yes - and there are situations where it performs better. Not every instrument can be shipped to multiple trade fairs each year. Not every prototype is ready to be handled by a high volume of visitors. A well-produced 3D animation runs continuously, never breaks down, shows internal processes that the physical product cannot, and appears identical at the start of an event as at the end. We are not suggesting the physical display should be eliminated - but the animation should generally be present alongside it.
Can REBUS create still images, cutdowns and launch assets from the same 3D production?
Yes. A 3D production builds a set of assets - models, scenes, lighting, and camera rigs - that extend well beyond the video itself. From those assets we can produce photorealistic still images for product pages, printed datasheets, trade fair panel graphics, and exhibition backdrops; scene exports for presentation templates and sales decks; and social media visuals in any format or aspect ratio. For many IVD marketing teams, the still image library generated from a single production becomes one of the most frequently used visual assets in the months following a launch - often more so than the video itself. The key requirement is planning: camera angles and lighting setups optimized for a 90-second video are not always the right ones for a hero image or a portrait-format exhibition panel. Specifying the intended still outputs at the briefing stage means we build scenes that serve all of them from the start.
WORKING WITH REBUS
How does REBUS work with a MedTech marketing team on a product launch?
We work primarily with marketing. That is where the brief lives, where communication objectives are defined, and where decisions about scope and output are made. Engineering involvement, however, has a meaningful impact on accuracy and efficiency. When we can clarify a technical question directly with the engineering or product team, we can often resolve it in a single interaction rather than through a longer chain of communication. This reduces the likelihood of inaccuracies appearing at a review stage when they are more costly to address. The level of engineering involvement varies by client and project. Some marketing teams come fully prepared - documentation reviewed, internal alignment complete. Others prefer a single kickoff with both teams present. Both approaches work. What we ask is that the marketing team has access to technical information when questions arise, or knows who to consult.
Do you need access to the engineering team, or can you work directly with the marketing team?
We work directly with the people responsible for the project. The process typically begins with a kickoff call involving marketing, product management, and sometimes regulatory or scientific leads, and continues through defined review milestones to final delivery. For a detailed overview of how we structure each project, see our Approach page at rebus.cz/approach.
Can you work with global teams across different time zones?
Yes. A substantial part of our client base operates across multiple time zones - including teams in Japan, the United States, EMEA and also throughout APAC. Our project process is structured to minimize real-time dependency: milestone deliveries are documented, feedback rounds are consolidated, and review cycles are designed to function across geographies without requiring simultaneous availability. Where live calls are required, we schedule them. Working across time zones is not a constraint for us - it reflects how most of our international projects operate. Clients working with us from outside Europe typically find the process indistinguishable from working with a local partner.
Which companies produce 3D animations for IVD and life science products?
There are generalist production studios that accept projects across any industry, and there are specialists. REBUS is a specialist: we work exclusively in IVD, MedTech, and life sciences. Our clients include Tosoh Bioscience, Revvity or Erba Mannheim. We understand the distinction between a flow cytometer and an immunoassay analyzer, we know what a reagent carousel does, and we have produced animations for instruments across hematology, clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, and point-of-care testing. That context matters when you are communicating a complex instrument accurately and efficiently.
How much does a 3D animation for a laboratory instrument cost?
It depends on the scope, technical detail, and final outputs. A single product animation, a short teaser, and a full launch package are very different productions - so stating one number upfront can be more confusing than useful. The starting point is a brief conversation about what you need to achieve. From there, we can define the appropriate scope, timeline, and budget range.