Michael Ko - vagaro hardwares

CREATIVE INTENT

Before this project, Vagaro had no 3D pipeline.

Hardware imagery relied entirely on photography & videography — processes defined by three recurring constraints: cost, time, and limited creative flexibility.

Shooting hardware in industry-specific venues required significant budget. Venues were scarce, borrowing them was expensive, and the logistics of coordinating photographers, equipment, and locations for every new campaign made iteration nearly impossible.

The creative ceiling was real. Limited camera equipment and production resources meant limited environment options — and limited environments meant limited brand storytelling.

Nobody assigned this project. It started with a conversation.

In an early discussion with Vagaro's CEO, I laid out what a single 3D artist was capable of — and what it would mean for the business. The pitch was simple: scalable assets, reduced production costs, and creative flexibility that photography & videography could never provide. Leadership was convinced before the meeting ended.

What followed was a self-initiated 3D asset pipeline built from scratch — one that permanently expanded what Vagaro's creative team was capable of.

Before this project, Vagaro had no 3D pipeline.

Hardware imagery relied entirely on photography & videography — processes defined by three recurring constraints: cost, time, and limited creative flexibility.

Shooting hardware in industry-specific venues required significant budget. Venues were scarce, borrowing them was expensive, and the logistics of coordinating photographers, equipment, and locations for every new campaign made iteration nearly impossible.

The creative ceiling was real. Limited camera equipment and production resources meant limited environment options — and limited environments meant limited brand storytelling.

Nobody assigned this project. It started with a conversation.

In an early discussion with Vagaro's CEO, I laid out what a single 3D artist was capable of — and what it would mean for the business. The pitch was simple: scalable assets, reduced production costs, and creative flexibility that photography & videography could never provide. Leadership was convinced before the meeting ended.

What followed was a self-initiated 3D asset pipeline built from scratch — one that permanently expanded what Vagaro's creative team was capable of.

CREATIVE INTENT

Before this project, Vagaro had no 3D pipeline.

Hardware imagery relied entirely on photography & videography — processes defined by three recurring constraints: cost, time, and limited creative flexibility.

Shooting hardware in industry-specific venues required significant budget. Venues were scarce, borrowing them was expensive, and the logistics of coordinating photographers, equipment, and locations for every new campaign made iteration nearly impossible.

The creative ceiling was real. Limited camera equipment and production resources meant limited environment options — and limited environments meant limited brand storytelling.

Nobody assigned this project. It started with a conversation.

In an early discussion with Vagaro's CEO, I laid out what a single 3D artist was capable of — and what it would mean for the business. The pitch was simple: scalable assets, reduced production costs, and creative flexibility that photography & videography could never provide. Leadership was convinced before the meeting ended.

What followed was a self-initiated 3D asset pipeline built from scratch — one that permanently expanded what Vagaro's creative team was capable of.

PROCESS & CRAFT

The process of digitalizing each hardware began with photography — but not conventional product photography.

Working alongside a photographer, orthographic reference images were captured from six angles— front, right, left, back, top, and bottom — using a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance to minimize lens distortion and preserve dimensional accuracy.

A chrome ball was also photographed on set to generate HDRI images — capturing the exact lighting environment of the studio and creating a consistent, reusable lighting reference for every hardware asset built after it.

With reference images prepared, each hardware was modeled from scratch in Autodesk Maya. Translating six flat orthographic photographs into a dimensionally accurate, production-ready 3D model requires a level of spatial precision and technical expertise that can't be approximated — every edge, chamfer, port, and surface detail had to be faithfully reconstructed from reference alone.

Shading, lighting, and material development were handled in Redshift and Substance Painter — chosen deliberately for speed and accuracy. Redshift's GPU pipeline cut render times three to four times faster than traditional CPU rendering, while Substance Painter ensured every unique surface texture was faithfully represented. Both decisions were made with a solo pipeline in mind — tools that had to work as hard as the artist using them.

The HDRI captured on set became the foundational light rig for the entire library — one consistent lighting environment that unified the look across all 13 assets, every render, and every campaign.

The process of digitalizing each hardware began with photography — but not conventional product photography.

Working alongside a photographer, orthographic reference images were captured from six angles— front, right, left, back, top, and bottom — using a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance to minimize lens distortion and preserve dimensional accuracy.

A chrome ball was also photographed on set to generate HDRI images — capturing the exact lighting environment of the studio and creating a consistent, reusable lighting reference for every hardware asset built after it.

With reference images prepared, each hardware was modeled from scratch in Autodesk Maya. Translating six flat orthographic photographs into a dimensionally accurate, production-ready 3D model requires a level of spatial precision and technical expertise that can't be approximated — every edge, chamfer, port, and surface detail had to be faithfully reconstructed from reference alone.

Shading, lighting, and material development were handled in Redshift and Substance Painter — chosen deliberately for speed and accuracy. Redshift's GPU pipeline cut render times three to four times faster than traditional CPU rendering, while Substance Painter ensured every unique surface texture was faithfully represented. Both decisions were made with a solo pipeline in mind — tools that had to work as hard as the artist using them.

The HDRI captured on set became the foundational light rig for the entire library — one consistent lighting environment that unified the look across all 13 assets, every render, and every campaign.

PROCESS & CRAFT

The process of digitalizing each hardware began with photography — but not conventional product photography.

Working alongside a photographer, orthographic reference images were captured from six angles— front, right, left, back, top, and bottom — using a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance to minimize lens distortion and preserve dimensional accuracy.

A chrome ball was also photographed on set to generate HDRI images — capturing the exact lighting environment of the studio and creating a consistent, reusable lighting reference for every hardware asset built after it.

With reference images prepared, each hardware was modeled from scratch in Autodesk Maya. Translating six flat orthographic photographs into a dimensionally accurate, production-ready 3D model requires a level of spatial precision and technical expertise that can't be approximated — every edge, chamfer, port, and surface detail had to be faithfully reconstructed from reference alone.

Shading, lighting, and material development were handled in Redshift and Substance Painter — chosen deliberately for speed and accuracy. Redshift's GPU pipeline cut render times three to four times faster than traditional CPU rendering, while Substance Painter ensured every unique surface texture was faithfully represented. Both decisions were made with a solo pipeline in mind — tools that had to work as hard as the artist using them.

The HDRI captured on set became the foundational light rig for the entire library — one consistent lighting environment that unified the look across all 13 assets, every render, and every campaign.

PROBLEM & SOLUTION

The biggest challenge wasn't technical — it was infrastructural.

Vagaro had no existing 3D pipeline and no precedent for this kind of asset development. Every standard had to be set from scratch — and what I built didn't just solve an immediate problem. It became the foundation every subsequent project was built on.

The orthographic photography process was the first critical problem to solve. Standard product photography introduces lens distortion that makes accurate 3D modeling difficult. The solution was a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance — minimizing distortion and producing reference images precise enough to model from with confidence.

Consistency across a growing library of 13 assets was the second challenge. With multiple devices at different stages of development, maintaining a unified look required a systematic approach. The HDRI light rig solved this — one consistent lighting environment applied across every hardware asset, ensuring visual cohesion whether the asset appeared on a website, a social post, or a paid advertisement.

The third challenge was scale. Digitalizing an entire hardware lineup solo required every tool choice to be strategic. Redshift's GPU rendering pipeline cut render times by 75% — making the ongoing nature of this project sustainable for a single artist.

The biggest challenge wasn't technical — it was infrastructural.

Vagaro had no existing 3D pipeline and no precedent for this kind of asset development. Every standard had to be set from scratch — and what I built didn't just solve an immediate problem. It became the foundation every subsequent project was built on.

The orthographic photography process was the first critical problem to solve. Standard product photography introduces lens distortion that makes accurate 3D modeling difficult. The solution was a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance — minimizing distortion and producing reference images precise enough to model from with confidence.

Consistency across a growing library of 13 assets was the second challenge. With multiple devices at different stages of development, maintaining a unified look required a systematic approach. The HDRI light rig solved this — one consistent lighting environment applied across every hardware asset, ensuring visual cohesion whether the asset appeared on a website, a social post, or a paid advertisement.

The third challenge was scale. Digitalizing an entire hardware lineup solo required every tool choice to be strategic. Redshift's GPU rendering pipeline cut render times by 75% — making the ongoing nature of this project sustainable for a single artist.

PROBLEM & SOLUTION

The biggest challenge wasn't technical — it was infrastructural.

Vagaro had no existing 3D pipeline and no precedent for this kind of asset development. Every standard had to be set from scratch — and what I built didn't just solve an immediate problem. It became the foundation every subsequent project was built on.

The orthographic photography process was the first critical problem to solve. Standard product photography introduces lens distortion that makes accurate 3D modeling difficult. The solution was a 250mm lens shot from a significant distance — minimizing distortion and producing reference images precise enough to model from with confidence.

Consistency across a growing library of 13 assets was the second challenge. With multiple devices at different stages of development, maintaining a unified look required a systematic approach. The HDRI light rig solved this — one consistent lighting environment applied across every hardware asset, ensuring visual cohesion whether the asset appeared on a website, a social post, or a paid advertisement.

The third challenge was scale. Digitalizing an entire hardware lineup solo required every tool choice to be strategic. Redshift's GPU rendering pipeline cut render times by 75% — making the ongoing nature of this project sustainable for a single artist.