GESIPA's UK team needed short animations showing how their blind rivet nuts are set, and what happens inside the joint where no camera can see. We made three, across two projects a year apart: G-Sealed in 2023, then MegaGrip and LightWeight in early 2025. Each was built from GESIPA's STEP files and delivered as a transparent-background sequence their team could edit into their own videos.
A blind rivet nut lets you put a threaded hole into thin sheet metal when you can only reach one side. You push it into a hole, a setting tool pulls it, and the body folds up behind the sheet to lock it in place. The fold is the whole point of the product, and it happens on the side nobody can see.
Ashton at GESIPA UK came to us with the STEP files for the G-Sealed rivet nut (before and after installation), a simple storyboard, and a reference video showing the style he wanted. The brief was about 30 seconds.
Opening the CAD, something didn't match the storyboard. The storyboard showed a black bolt going right through the rivet nut, but in the STEP file the bottom of the nut was closed. Build it one way and the product is wrong; build it the other and the storyboard is.
So we asked. The black "bolt" turned out to be the setting tool, not part of the product, and this version of the G-Sealed is closed at the end on purpose, so the tool doesn't go all the way through. We kept the closed end exactly as the CAD showed. It was a five-minute question that avoided a wrong model going all the way to delivery.
We also asked early what background they needed. Their team planned to add their own text and edit around the animation, so we rendered it on a transparent background from the start.
We delivered in 11 days. Ashton liked it, but one shot bothered him. We'd shown the rivet nut set in sheets of different thicknesses, to show its grip range. The way the layers were colored and angled, though, it looked like the nut was set through three sheets, and in a countersunk hole. GESIPA's product doesn't do either, and an engineer watching would take it literally.
It was one of those problems that's easy to fix and hard to explain in writing. After a couple of messages back and forth, we suggested a quick call. Ashton set one up on Teams straight away, showed us exactly what he meant, and we delivered the corrected version the next day.
In December 2024, Ashton came back with two more products, MegaGrip and LightWeight, and asked for animations in the same style as the first. He sent STEP files, a basic storyboard for each, and reference videos. He also mentioned he'd be away over the holidays, so there was no rush.
Because we'd already built GESIPA's look the first time, the style was settled from day one. We delivered both animations on January 1, ready for him when he got back:
Ashton then asked for both as image sequences on a transparent background for his team's editing, and we delivered those the same day.
After the first project, he wrote:
"Prakash was a pleasure to work with. The work he produced was exactly as asked for and exceeded expectations. There was a small revision that was needed (due to an error within my explanation) and Prakash was happy to quickly jump on a call with me and we discussed how we could make it correct. Could not recommend him enough. Will definitely use for future projects!"
— Ashton, GESIPA UK
He meant the last line. A year later he came back for two more, and when he sent the files for those, he added that GESIPA had more work lined up after them.
For a fastener maker, that's the value: once a 3D studio has your products and your visual style, every new product animation is faster to brief, faster to make, and looks like part of the same family.
Yes. We use cutaway (x-ray) views so you see the rivet nut fold behind the sheet, which is the part a live-action video can't film.
STEP files are ideal. We also accept STL, OBJ, FBX and other common formats. A simple storyboard, even a few bullet points, and a reference video for the style help a lot.
Yes. GESIPA's team adds their own text and edits the animations into their videos, so we delivered image sequences with a transparent background alongside finished previews.
Tell us, and if it's hard to explain in writing, we'll get on a call. On the G-Sealed project, one call sorted a shot that looked like a countersunk install, and the fix went out the next day.
Yes. We keep the models and the look from earlier projects, so a new product in the same range comes out consistent with the rest, as with GESIPA's MegaGrip and LightWeight.
