3D Solutions for Startups & Small Businesses

This collection of projects highlights 3D solutions for startups and small businesses across various industries—from eyewear and cryptocurrency to mobile apps and production studios. Each project brings unique branding, interactive animations, and creative problem-solving to life using 3D software like Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Redshift, and Substance Painter.

These projects are crafted to enhance brand storytelling, offering interactive and visually dynamic experiences, boost user engagement, and elevate interaction across mobile, web, and digital platforms.

Eyebuydirect — Tiktok Ad

This animation was created in 2024 for the glasses company, EyeBuyDirect, which originally started as a direct-to-consumer startup focused on affordable eyewear. The animation showcases a variety of kids' frames, with a cute dog trying them on. Drawing inspiration from the Super Mario 64 home screen, two versions were developed with distinct color schemes—one light and one dark.

The animation was conceptualized, directed, and created by Ruggiero. She used ZBrush to sculpt the dog, the glasses, and to create the blendshapes, along with Substance Painter, Cinema 4D, and Redshift, to texture and render the animation.

Light Color Scheme Animation Frames

Eyebuydirect animation light color scheme, Still 1. Brown and tan dog tries on different pairs of glasses. Stars fly up when the dog tries on a thin metal pair of frames.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 1, Still 2. Brown and tan dog tries on different pairs of glasses. A blue flame rises behind the dog's head when the dog tries on a thick black pair of frames with blue lenses.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 1, Still 3. Brown and tan dog tries on different pairs of glasses. A ring of bones flies around the dog's head when they try on a black plastic pair of frames.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 1, Still 4. Brown and tan dog tries on different pairs of glasses. An orange heart appears when they try on a orange plastic pair of frames.

Dark Color Scheme Animation Frames

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 2, Still 1. Black and white spotted dog tries on different pairs of glasses. Stars fly up when the dog tries on a thin metal pair of frames.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 2, Still 2. Black and white spotted dog tries on different pairs of glasses. A blue flame rises behind the dog's head when the dog tries on a thick black pair of frames with blue lenses.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 2, Still 3. Black and white spotted dog tries on different pairs of glasses. A ring of bones flies around the dog's head when they try on a black plastic pair of frames.

Eyebuydirect animation color scheme 2, Still 4. Black and white spotted dog tries on different pairs of glasses. An orange heart appears when they try on a orange plastic pair of frames.

Big Fun — Social Media Promotional Video

In 2025, on a tight four-day timeline, Ruggiero created this fun, chaotic animation using Big Fun branding. Big Fun is a startup crypto exchange focused on trading meme coins on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The animation starts with a BIG FUN screensaver before an anonymous cursor disrupts the scene, throwing objects until the monitor switches to the BIG.FUN website. The cursor frantically clicks on "Mint Rune" and unleashes runes that burst out, get eaten by a larger character, who is then squished by the BIG FUN logo—only to be flattened by the phrase "serious memes on a serious chain." A thrown mouse knocks over the meme text, and the screen glitches back to big.fun.

The animation was conceptualized by the artist and created with Cinema 4D with Redshift, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and After Effects.

Big Fun Promo Animation Frames

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 1. The still pictures a computer desk with vibrant, 70's colors and an old 90's style computer. A mouse cursor is floating in the air.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 2. The still pictures a computer desk with vibrant, 70's colors and an old 90's style computer. A mouse cursor is floating in the air, clicking a button on the screen that says "mint runes."

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 3. The still pictures a computer desk with vibrant, 70's colors and an old 90's style computer. A bunch of "runes" -- smiley coins with wobbly faces -- burst out of the computer screen.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 4. "Runes" -- smiley coins with wobbly faces -- fly through the air against purple backdrop, from left to right.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 5. The still pictures a 3D smiley face eating a "rune" -- a smiley coin with a wobbly face.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 8. Text that reads "Serious memes on a serious chain" gets knocked down by a mouse that is thrown at it.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 9. Previous still appears on the 90's computer screen, and camera zooms out to reveal 90's computer on desk from the beginning of the animation.

Big Fun 3D Animation, Still 10. 90's computer screen glitches to a new screen that reads "Big.Fun"

Trash App — 3D Logo and Brand Design

In 2019, Trash—a startup AI-powered editing app for smartphones (now acquired by VSCO)—commissioned a 3D solution for its logo design and branding treatment. The iridescent 3D logo was used for the app icon, while the iridescent liquid renders were integrated into the app’s interface. These assets were created using Cinema 4D, Octane Render, and Houdini.

GUM Studios — Mystery Phrase Animations

These animations were created in 2018–2019 for the social media of small business, GUM Studios, a NYC-based film and photography production facility. Designed for GUM’s social media, each animation and social media post challenged followers to guess the secret production term the animations were based on. Examples of the phrases include "Beefy Baby" (a type of stand) and "Duck Bill" (a type of clamp).

The animations were created using the following: Cinema 4D and Octane Render, Daz 3D, and After Effects.

Mystery Phrase Animation Examples

Stills from Each of the 12 Mystery Phrase Animations

Below you will find one sample still from each of the 12 animations created for GUM Studios. The animations' secret production terms, in order, are: Beefy Baby, Duck Bill, Magic Cloth, Snake Bites, Skate Wheels, Vortex 360, Interrotron, Gold Lame, Speed Rail, Daddy Long Legs, Spider Dolly, and Shadow Maker.

Kintsu • Asteroid Kintsugi Animation for Kintsu Homepage

This asteroid Voronoi fracture was created in 2024 for the cryptocurrency startup brand, Kintsu. Inspired by kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and gold or silver powder—Kintsu sees itself as the glue that brings different parts of the blockchain together into a unified whole.

This asteroid animation was created as a 3D solution to represent the company's ethos on the front page of their website. The animation was created in Cinema 4D and rendered in Octane Render. You can see a video of the animation and a screen recording of their homepage below.

Skill Issue — In-app Lootbox Animation

This animation was created in 2024 for the startup mobile app Skill Issue, which lets viewers use tokens to win prizes while livestreaming. The loot box design draws inspiration from arcade machines, neon lights, and classic game loot boxes, such as those in Overwatch.

The loot box appears on-screen playing an idle animation while the streamer is chatting in app. When the streamer clicks on the loot box, it queues an opening animation and reveals a prize.

The loot box was modeled in Cinema 4D, rendered with Redshift, with post effects done in After Effects. These 3D solutions bring the app’s experience to life, from designing the loot box to enhancing user interaction. Below, you can check out a video of the loot box animation and its in-app experience.

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