How to make a 3D product animation
Start with a model file and finish with a video or a set of product images. Everything happens in the browser tab — nothing installs, nothing uploads.
1. Load your model
Drag a .glb or .gltf file anywhere onto the page, or press
open model. Draco- and Meshopt-compressed files work without extra setup.
If your asset is FBX, OBJ, STL or a CAD format, export it to GLB first — in Blender that is File → Export → glTF 2.0 (.glb). GLB carries meshes, materials and textures in one file, which is why it loads instantly here.
Tip: the tool scales the camera to your model automatically, so real-world units, centimetres or arbitrary scale all behave the same.
2. Frame it and light it
Use the camera panel for quick views — iso, front, side, top, low — or open camera angle to set exact numbers: lens length in millimetres, yaw, pitch, dolly distance and roll. A 50 mm lens is the default because it reads as natural, the way a product photographer would shoot.
In the lighting panel:
- Key — your main light. Rotate and raise it until the highlight lands where you want it.
- Fill — softens the shadow side. Keep it low for drama, higher for catalogue work.
- Rim — separates the edges from a dark background. This is what makes a product read on black.
- Shadows — softness and strength for the contact shadow under the product.
- Exposure and ambient — overall brightness and how much the environment reflects.
The studio and dramatic buttons set all of it at once if you would rather start from a look and tweak.
3. Choose a camera move
Pick a preset in the animate panel. Each one is built for a different feel:
- Hero 360 — the safe catalogue turntable.
- Orbit or light sweep — one revolution, with the highlight travelling across the surface.
- Dark to light — opens black and reveals; good for launches.
- Edge by edge and close-up — detail and craft shots.
- Floating and particle drop — motion with a bit of physics.
Prefer your own move? Press capture moves, drag the product and the camera around, then stop. Your take replays exactly as you performed it. For a straight push through a scene, use travel: pick an end point in 3D and the camera runs to it in a perfectly direct line with eased speed.
Preview take plays it back so you can check the timing before rendering.
4. Export video or images
For video, set size (720p → 4K, plus vertical and square for social), fps and bitrate, then press render take → video. The grid and gizmos disappear for the recording, and a download link appears when it finishes. MP4 comes out of Chrome and Edge; other browsers get WebM.
For stills, press screenshot. Choose 1080p, 4K, 8K or square, and tick transparent if you want a PNG with an alpha channel to drop onto a coloured background later.
To build an angle set for a listing, step the yaw slider — 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180° — and take a screenshot at each stop. Same lighting, same lens, consistent set.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Select / deselect | click · esc |
|---|---|
| Move / rotate / scale | W · E · R |
| World or local axes | Q |
| Snap while dragging | hold shift |
| Duplicate / remove | D · Del |
| Focus / reset grid | F · 0 |
| Capture / preview take | C · P |
| Render or record | space |
| Screenshot | X |
Getting a better-looking result
- Keep the background deep black and raise the rim light — edges do the work.
- Longer lenses (85–135 mm) flatten perspective and look more premium; wide lenses exaggerate.
- Slower is better: a 20-second revolution reads as expensive, a 5-second one reads as a demo.
- Render at 1080p/60 for social, 4K only when the destination actually shows 4K.
- Bump bitrate if you see banding on gradients in the exported file.