3D Product Animation for TuckRack's Folding Truck Rack, Built Without CAD Files

The brief

TuckRack is a family-owned company in Massachusetts that makes a steel ladder rack for pickups. Unlike a fixed rack, it folds down flat into the truck bed when you don't need it. TuckRack calls it the first foldable truck rack of its kind, rated for up to 500 lbs.

That fold is the whole reason to buy it, and it's also the hardest thing to sell with photos. A still image shows a rack standing up, or a rack lying down. It doesn't show how little effort it takes to go from one to the other.

The client wanted two things to come across clearly:

• Installation is simple. The brackets mount to the bed and the rack goes on in a few clear steps.
• Folding it away is just as easy. Raise it, load it, fold it back down, and the bed is clear again.

The video had to show both in under half a minute.

No CAD files: modeling the rack from photos and measurements

Most of our projects start with CAD files. This one didn't. TuckRack sent us product photos and a set of measurements, and that was the full reference.

For a folding product, getting the model right isn't just about looks. If an arm is a few inches too long, it won't fold flat inside the bed walls in the animation. If a pivot sits in the wrong place, the rack swings through the truck instead of over it. Viewers who own a pickup notice that kind of thing immediately.

So we built the rack part by part: the bed-mounted brackets, the uprights, the crossbars and the pivot points. We checked each part against the photos and measurements, then tested the fold in 3D before any animation started. Only once the rack folded and stood up the way the real one does did we move on.

Making a library truck look like a real truck

The rack needs a truck, and the truck is on screen the whole time. A custom-built pickup was out of reach for the budget, so we started from a truck model bought from a 3D library.

Library models are made to look good in a single glamour shot, not to hold up in close-ups of a truck bed. This one needed a lot of work before it could carry the product:

• Paint. We gave the body a realistic gray paint material in place of the flat stock finish.
• Tailgate. The model's back end wasn't built to open, so we rebuilt it with a working tailgate. The rack install happens from the back, so it had to open like a real one.
• Bed interior. Inside, the bed was a plain, empty box. We added the ribs and details a real truck bed has, and gave the metal a proper black finish so it holds up in close-ups.

We went through several internal review rounds on the truck and rack together before showing anything to the client. By the time it went to TuckRack, the model was ready to animate.

The lesson for anyone on a tight budget: a library model can work, but only if someone budgets the time to fix it. Used straight out of the box, it's the first thing a viewer notices.

The animation, delivered in under two weeks

The deadline was tight: one to two weeks from the start. Because the modeling was locked in before animation began, there was no going back to fix proportions halfway through. The client approved the first version we sent, with no revisions.

The finished video runs about 25 seconds and follows the order a buyer thinks in:

1. The empty truck bed, with the rack folded flat and out of the way.
2. Close-ups of the brackets on the bed walls, so it's clear how the rack attaches.
3. The rack swinging up and locking into place.
4. Lumber loaded on top, to show what it's for.
5. The rack folding back down, and the bed clear again.

It closes on TuckRack's tagline: "Tuck. Load. Trust. TuckRack."

Where it's used

TuckRack uses the animation as the main video on its How It Works page, the page that explains the product to buyers before they order. It's also on YouTube.

"The video turned out great and it was super easy to work with him!"

— TuckRack