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Case study
Award-winning innovation in automotive marketing
How Brose Group’s 3D digital asset library reduced marketing content creation costs, decreased content production time, and increased customer engagement

Brose: A Unity case study

Brose is the world’s fourth largest family-owned automotive supplier and is committed to innovation. Recipient of a prestigious German Ideas Management Award, their comprehensive and accessible digital product asset catalog is used for streamlined marketing content creation and enhanced sales enablement.

The challenge

To build a 3D digital product catalog, accessible across the organization

Solutions

Unity Pro

Pixyz Studio

Team members

5 (Brose) + 12 (Visoric)

Location

Germany

IDEAS 3D Asset Management Video

Driving innovation

Developed in partnership with Visoric, a Munich-based company specialized in 3D real-time solutions, the asset library is the source for several applications, including a virtual showroom, immersive mixed reality experiences, sales materials, and more.

3D ASM Renderer

The results

  • More than €500,000 savings in marketing content production costs over 2 years
  • Promotional videos created in 4–6 weeks vs 4–6 months
  • Hi-res 2D assets produced 7x faster
  • Brand consistency ensured by using the asset library
  • Recognized for its economic advantages and ease of use
The challenges faced

With a growing and varied catalog of over 260 products and components, the Brose digital exhibit team faced the ongoing challenge of producing detailed and accurate visual assets to showcase their products.

The costly process of producing images involved contacting a third party with a detailed request specifying the angle, environment, lighting, model, and other factors for each asset. After several rounds of adjustment, the team would get the images they needed, often costing several thousands of euros each.

How the real-time 3D journey began

The objective was to revolutionize marketing content production at Brose by using real-time 3D. Brose envisioned a solution that enabled easy management of 3D data, including image/video rendering for sales and marketing purposes, without the need for specialized developer skills. To achieve this vision, Brose partnered with Visoric.

Together they established their mission: “The introduction of a holistic 3D asset management system with multiple/expandable output possibilities such as still and film rendering or the download of real-time 3D assets for use internally and externally.”

Unity Asset Creation Workflow
Building the asset library

The Visoric team quickly identified Unity as their technology of choice, their top reasons being:

  • Accessibility for their expert programmers
  • Multiplatform deployment options

The CAD product data originated in CATIA, and was exported in STEP format. The STEP files were imported into Unity using a combination of Pixyz Studio, Blender and in-house solutions. Visoric also worked with Brose to build a materials library.

In just 2 years the digital asset library was populated with real-time 3D, configurable digital assets for over 260 product models.

Lessons learned

Technology: Consistent file-naming structures and clear processes were essential for managing product information accurately. The team established a methodology for importing and working with 3D data while maintaining version control.

Change management: Several areas of the business were significantly affected by the implementation of the new workflow. The key to success was transparency. For example, the team engaged key stakeholders by:

  • Working with the legal team on compliance for 3D data rights
  • Demonstrating the benefits to the key users
  • Collaborating with the IT infrastructure team to ensure accessibility across the business
IAA2021 Exponate
Brose virtual showroom

The Brose digital exhibit team knew that the models in the asset library could be used for other purposes, and that’s where the Brose virtual showroom comes in.

This real-time 3D environment showcases the Brose product catalog. Visitors are invited to a guided tour in groups of up to 30. Once inside, they can explore products, including detailed asset specifications. They can also see products in use as part of a larger installation. For example, a virtual car highlights and demonstrates its various mechatronic components.

Brose VR Experience
VR experience: Brose people mover

Another innovation made possible by the digital asset library, the Brose people mover virtual reality (VR) experience gives visitors a memorable experience of Brose products.

Combining a real-world space with a virtual reality experience, visitors get a clear understanding of how components such as a standing seat and a door opening mechanism would function when installed. While in the real world these features would be obscured, virtual reality offers a “transparent” view that enables the experiencer to observe the components in action.

Looking to the future

The Brose digital exhibit team continues to expand the asset library, and they plan to streamline the data ingestion process to improve access for the in-house team.

The team is investigating additional uses for the real-time 3D product models, including incorporating them into predevelopment and prototyping processes. The level of detail available in the models enables the modeling of component behavior, which could speed up prototyping.

Because 3D digital twins of our products are already extremely important for our business, we have built an efficient solution for data management. This allows even inexperienced users to view and render 3D data and make it available to extended reality (XR) experts. It is a real competitive advantage for us.
MARC JULIAN SCHIEMANN / BROSE GROUPMarketing Coordinator
Unity gen art 2021
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