3D billboard production: how it's made, week by week

How is a 3D billboard made?

3D billboard production is the making of a CGI film for one specific screen, seen from one spot in the street. The studio surveys the screen, fixes the viewpoint, tests the idea in an animatic, then models, animates, lights and renders the scene at the screen’s resolution. From an approved brief, it takes us 3 to 4 weeks.

The illusion only works from that one spot, and every step below exists to protect it. New to the format? Start with how anamorphic billboards work.

How long does a 3D billboard take?

3 to 4 weeks from the approved brief to delivered files, with two rounds of changes included. That is our timeline, and it holds when the brief holds.

Count the time before the brief too: booking the screen, getting its specs, collecting product files. That is where most projects slip. Big launches can take longer overall: Nike’s first 3D billboard, for Air Max Day 2022 in Tokyo, took two months to bring to life, according to Creative Review.

When	What happens	What you approve
Before week 1	Screen specs, viewpoint photos, product files, dates, one decision maker	The brief
Week 1	Concept, storyboard, animatic in the screen’s geometry	The idea and the timing (round 1)
Week 2	Modeling, animation, lighting, a test render of the key moment	The look (round 2)
Week 3	Full render at native resolution, compositing, loop, versions	The final files
Week 4	Export to each media owner’s specs, submission, fixes, social cut	Go-live
Launch day	Check on the real screen, film it for social	Nothing left to approve

Working back from a launch date? Read 3D billboard ideas for a product launch.

The 3D billboard production process, step by step

1. Screen survey and viewpoint

Everything starts with the screen, not the idea. You need the media owner’s layout template: the resolution of each face, the gaps, the corner angle and the zones that must stay clear. Then a photo or video from where people actually stand, by day and by night.

From that, the studio fixes the viewpoint: the spot and eye height the illusion is built for, usually the crossing or plaza where people stop. Move it later and the scene has to be rebuilt.

2. Concept and storyboard

The idea has to read in a few seconds, from a distance, without sound. Street screens play short spots in a loop with other ads, and many have no sound: on Miele’s French plan, only one screen did. The 3D billboard design is decided here: one moment, where the product appears, where the logo sits.

3. Animatic in the screen’s geometry

The animatic is a rough animation with the final timing, built in a 3D copy of the screen and seen from the viewpoint camera. It answers the question that matters early: does the illusion work from where people stand? This is the cheapest place to change the idea. After the render, every change costs render time.

4. Modeling

The product is built from the brand’s files: CAD data, packaging artwork, color references. The set is built to the screen: on a corner screen, the box the product breaks out of matches the exact angle of the building. A product that will be 10 meters tall needs detail a TV ad never shows.

5. Animation

Movement sells the depth. Objects that cross the edge of the frame, cast shadows on the inner walls and move toward the viewer make a flat screen read as a volume. Good 3D billboard animation is built at the frame rate the screen plays, so motion stays smooth on the LED.

6. Lighting and look

Light the scene for the street. A screen seen at noon in a plaza needs more contrast than one in a mall atrium. Shadows and reflections make the box look deep, so judge them from the viewpoint camera, not in a beauty shot.

7. Rendering at native resolution

The film is rendered at the screen’s real pixel size, face by face, at its frame rate. These files are heavy. Territory Studio rendered its Volvo EM90 billboard at Beijing Capital International Airport at over 16K, around 700 MB per frame at 60 frames per second, according to Maxon. Render time is production time, which is why late changes are expensive.

8. Compositing and the unwrap

The renders are assembled, graded and, for corner or curved screens, unwrapped into the flat layout the media owner’s player expects. Studios overscan the image to compensate for the stretching at edges and corners. Logos, legal lines and text go in here, in the zones the media owner allows, at a size you can read from the viewpoint.

9. The loop

Decide how the film starts and ends. If the screen plays your spot back to back, a loop with no visible cut works. If it sits between other ads, a clean end card is better. Miele’s HydroClean film ends on an end card instead of pretending to loop, because the oven starts dirty and ends clean.

10. Versions

One idea rarely runs on one screen. Each layout, length, language and product variant is its own version. For Miele HydroClean we delivered 300+ versions for 81 screens in 5 languages, including versions with nothing important placed where an escalator or a window frame blocked part of the screen.

11. Delivery and media-owner approval

Each media owner has its own file rules: codec, frame rate, length, file size, naming and deadline. Files are checked before they go on air, and a flagged file has to be fixed and sent again. Ask for what the media owner needs at the start, not at the end.

12. The social cut

The screen reaches the people who walk past. The social cut reaches everyone else: the brand’s own film of the screen, shot on day one, and often a FOOH version built from the same 3D assets for vertical feeds. Plan it at the storyboard, not after the launch.

What software is used to make 3D billboards?

There is no special 3D billboard software. Studios use the same tools as for VFX and motion design:

• Modeling and animation: Cinema 4D, Blender, Maya, 3ds Max.
• Simulations (liquid, smoke, particles, cloth): Houdini.
• Rendering: engines such as Redshift, Octane, Arnold or Cycles, or a real-time engine such as Unreal Engine.
• Compositing and the unwrap: Nuke or After Effects.

Territory Studio’s Volvo EM90 billboards used Cinema 4D and Redshift, among other tools. A student team from Ansbach University used Cinema 4D, Redshift and Houdini for a three-sided curved screen in Singapore, fitting the film to the curve by baking the render onto a 3D model of the screen (Maxon).

What anamorphic billboard tutorials teach, and what they skip

An anamorphic billboard tutorial in Blender, After Effects or C4D teaches the core technique: put a camera at the viewpoint, build a box that matches the screen, project the render onto the screen’s surface, unwrap it into a flat file. Some After Effects plugins automate the unwrap for corner and segmented screens.

Tutorials skip what makes a paid campaign work: the media owner’s current template, the real viewpoint, copy you can read from across the street, a version for every screen and language, and the approval process. That is where first attempts usually fail.

Why 3D billboard projects run late

• The screen changes after the concept. A different screen means a different viewpoint and a different scene. Book the screen first.
• The template is outdated. An old layout file gets the film rejected. Ask for the current one.
• Product files arrive late or unusable. A packaging PDF is not a 3D model. Send CAD files or a sample with the brief.
• Too many reviewers. Feedback in different directions burns a round. Name one decision maker and merge legal and brand comments first.
• The idea changes after the animatic. Every change after the render costs render time.
• Markets or languages are added late. Each one multiplies the versions. Decide them before week 1.
• The media-owner deadline is missed. Ask for it on day 1.

None of these is fatal. All of them cost days.

What you need to provide before production starts

• The screen: media owner, site, layout template, spot length, file specs, deadline.
• A photo or video of the screen from where people stand, day and night.
• Product files: CAD or 3D models, packaging artwork, colors, logos.
• Brand guidelines, legal lines and required claims.
• Dates, markets, languages and the full list of screens.
• One person who approves.

The screen brief checklist is the same list as a free PDF for your media owner.

A real 3D billboard timeline: Miele HydroClean

In spring 2026, Miele was launching HydroClean, an oven that cleans itself, on screens in four countries. We presented the first ideas on April 3. Production started on April 10, the concept was validated on April 13, and the 6-second animatic was locked on April 21, before any rendering. Delivery to the media owners ran through May, and the campaign went live in early June.

That was one idea on 81 screens in 76 cities. A defined set of screens fits in 3 to 4 weeks. A multi-country network adds time for versions and deliveries.

FAQ

Can I make a 3D billboard in Blender?

Yes. Blender covers modeling, animation, rendering and camera projection, and it is free. For a paid screen, the hard part is not the software: it is the exact template, the real viewpoint, the media owner’s specs and a check on the real screen.

Does a 3D billboard need a special screen?

No. It runs on a standard LED screen: the depth is in the content. Corner screens give the strongest effect because the image wraps around two faces. Flat screens work too, with a frame-breaking effect: see corner screen or flat screen.

How long is a 3D billboard video?

The media owner sets the length. Spots are short and play in a loop with other ads. Miele’s campaign ran mostly in 10-second slots, with 6, 10 and 30-second cuts.

Can a 3D billboard be made faster?

It depends on what is ready. One screen, a simple scene and product files ready to use is the fastest case. Tell us your date and we tell you what fits. A network across several countries cannot be rushed the same way.

How much does 3D billboard production cost?

There is no fixed price. It depends on the scene, the number of screens and formats, and the resizing. The projects we are built for usually land around €40,000, and each extra screen costs less than the first. More in how much a 3D billboard costs.

Planning a 3D billboard?

Send us the screen (or the city), the date and the product, and we tell you what fits in the time you have: contact us. Not ready to brief? Ask for a free concept for your screen first.