Product platform case study
How Pixelbasher helped Hidealoo visualise a new way of thinking around the humble toilet…
What Hidealoo needed
The Hidealoo is a frame/system that allows a toilet pan to be rotated 90 degrees into a void or cabinet. This allows new approaches to bathroom design, and offers customers new installation opportunities that make better use of space.
At the point that their founder Monty Ravenscroft approached us for help, the Hidealoo was only a concept, and therefore hadn’t been installed anywhere.
In order to showcase the Hidealoo, we created photoreal images in 3D software to show various ways in which this innovative product could be installed.
Some of these ended up becoming animations, and these featured heavily on the Hidealoo Instagram channel. Various Hidealoo videos featuring Pixelbasher renders have been viewed millions of times!
Below are examples of work that we’ve done for Hidealoo over the years, covering brochures, animations, marketing materials, product design iteration…
Hidealoo 3D renders
Built in Cinema 4D and Blender
Rendered in Cinema 4D and Redshift
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The Hidealoo team provided an initial CAD file of the Hidealoo frame. Pixelbasher then converted this into a Cinema 4D file, that allowed for quick animation of the Hidealoo unit being opened and closed. The unit also had to be quickly mirrored, so Xpresso was used to connect sliders for this and the rest of the animation controls for quick changes to be made.
Animations
3D – Cinema 4D/Blender
Renderer – Redshift
Editing/grading – Davinci Resolve
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We’ve had the pleasure of tackling several animation challenges for Hidealoo over the years, with some more complex than others!
Getting your product into a real-life setup for photographic purposes is an expensive endeavour, and, of course, doesn’t allow you to be creative around how you construct the shot.
The animations you’ll see here show room build-ups, construction ideas, and the Hidealoo in situ in a variety of locations that you may not have otherwise thought possible for a toilet.
Hidealoo Design Development
We ran live remote workshops with Monty to quickly iterate design ideas. This kept the pace of the process high, so as not to create a drag on resources for Hidealoo.
This extra narrow prototype design example is intended to allow for a toilet to be hidden away in a slimmer area than the standard design – where a really cramped space is all the client might have.
The solve here is a final frame rotation to 73 degrees (note the toilet itself is not square when deployed!), and doors that have a wedge cut to allow them to sit together when shut but still provide an aesthetic edge.
Brochures
A minimalist lighting scheme for the Hidealoo “setups” and unfussy copy choices give these brochures a strong visual lead, while remaining very much to the point.
