The SnapShot animation project was a deep collaboration between SISO and our team, built to translate a highly technical software platform into a clear, engaging visual story. From early concepting and script development through full production and delivery, every detail—from line style to dashboard animation—was crafted to reflect SISO’s engineering credibility and brand precision. What follows is a full breakdown of the creative, technical, and strategic decisions that shaped the project end-to-end.

Pre-Production

Concept & Scripting

The SnapShot project kicked off with a clear but high-bar challenge: take SISO’s complex, real-time monitoring and analytics platform and turn it into a video that was visually intuitive, fully on-brand, and engaging for its target audience. The client framed SnapShot around four operational “pillars”—performance trends, alarm tracking, component lifecycle, and emissions monitoring. Those became the backbone of the script.

SISO came prepared. They handed over everything from font and logo guidelines to turbine reference images and dozens of real software and mobile dashboard screenshots. These assets weren’t just useful—they were essential. The story had to make dense interfaces readable in motion, and the script had to toe a tight line: enough technical firepower to show off SnapShot’s engineering credibility, without drowning the viewer. Writing sessions were built on that balance—folding in terms like “one-way data tap,” “VPN secured,” and “Azure infrastructure,” while tying everything back to real-world benefits like proactive maintenance and cost savings.

Early alignment was a big deal. Take the turbine model search—it happened before contracts were even signed. We evaluated options like the LM-2500 and FlexAero LM6000 based on feasibility. The LM-2500 was ultimately selected and purchased for its fit with SISO’s product ecosystem. Even this choice fed directly into scripting and concept work: the turbine model dictated camera paths, internal reveals, and how narration would track data from physical hardware into SnapShot’s digital workflow.

Rapid Prototype (RP)

The Rapid Prototype phase is where everything started to click—visually and narratively. We built rough 3D animation in Blender and rendered it in Eevee at low settings to keep the iteration cycle fast. About 40% of the visual lift was handled in Blender, focusing on turbine mechanics, environmental modeling, and the signature whiteboard line aesthetic. The other 60% was done in After Effects, where the heavy storytelling happened—designing and animating dashboards, charts, and alarms that made up SnapShot’s conceptual UI.

The RP phase also locked down structure. The animation followed the script closely: it opened with power plant environments and the SISO logo, zoomed into turbine, introduced the Matrix Box installation, and moved through the four pillars before resolving with the SnapShot logo. This rough assembly gave everyone visibility into how 3D assets and UI overlays would play together.

Early Visual Styles Explored

The big style challenge? Nailing a believable 3D whiteboard aesthetic. Blender’s Freestyle renderer was the first attempt, but its lack of flexibility didn’t cut it—we couldn’t get consistent line weight or control the animation of stroke builds. Switching to Grease Pencil solved that. It let us draw, animate, and sequence lines with precision. This tool became crucial in the opening sequence, where the power plant needed to feel like it was being hand-sketched in real time. A lot of time went into making sure the linework held up, whether we were flying over entire power plants or diving into the guts of a turbine.

A defining creative choice was to strip away all materials and textures. Everything was white. Line art carried the form. This minimalist aesthetic reinforced SnapShot’s conceptual UI and aligned with SISO’s brand identity—clean, technical, and hyper-clear.

Prototyping Animation Concepts

During RP, several key animation ideas were tested. One standout was the “Matrix Box,” envisioned as a server rack install, showing a secure one-way data tap. Animated data streams flowed from the turbine into the box, then into the cloud, represented by glowing paths. Another sequence showed a component lifecycle: a part removed from one turbine, installed in another, and tracked historically—visually representing SnapShot’s ability to monitor parts across systems over time.

Other experiments included early control room scenes, server racks, and conceptual dashboards. While the control room was eventually scrapped for simplicity, its development illustrated how RP helped vet and refine conceptual metaphors. If something didn’t serve the story, it was cut.

Client Feedback Shaping Direction

Feedback loops shaped the project from start to finish. Clients were highly engaged and offered specific, often technical, input. For example, they requested the opening scene include three combined cycle plants—not one—to better represent real installations. They asked for the camera to pull back during the Matrix Box install and for server racks to be made semi-transparent, so dormant data streams could appear “Matrix-style” and activate once SnapShot connected. They also called for turbine geometry updates—fine-tuning blade spacing and taper to better match GE Vernova specs.

UI feedback was just as critical. Clients flagged dashboards for alarms, cycles, and emissions as off-base. They sent over new screenshots during production, which meant several dashboards had to be rebuilt from scratch. This kind of iterative input was key. SnapShot’s credibility hinged on the visual accuracy of its complex software—there was no room for guesswork.

Style Choices and Reasoning

The choice to pursue a 3D whiteboard style for SnapShot was driven by a blend of brand strategy and practical production needs. SISO’s platform is dense with technical depth—real-time data, layered dashboards, and system-level analytics. A photorealistic or texture-heavy 3D approach would have added visual clutter and distracted from the core story. Instead, a fully white scene defined only by black line art created a clean, focused backdrop—letting SnapShot’s software interfaces carry the narrative. This approach wasn’t just aesthetic; it was a strategic reflection of SISO’s brand promise to make plant monitoring simpler and more transparent.

The execution leaned hard into Blender’s Grease Pencil. It gave us fine-grain control over every stroke—ensuring consistent line weight across scale shifts and letting us animate the actual act of drawing. That became essential in the intro, where the power plant sketches itself into view. It wasn’t just a visual hook—it set the tone that this video would explain, not just show. The Grease Pencil workflow also brought visual unity, connecting diverse 3D elements like turbines, racks, and components through one consistent drawing language.

Another deliberate choice was eliminating all textures and materials. Every asset—plant, part, environment—was rendered as pure white geometry. Form was defined entirely by line and silhouette. That wasn’t just for style; it made sure that software overlays—charts, dashboards, alarms—stood out with zero visual competition. The contrast of black technical linework with glowing UI highlights created a clear visual hierarchy, drawing attention exactly where it needed to go.

In this stripped-back world, motion became the signal of importance. Animated line builds suggested clarity emerging in real time. After Effects handled data flows, giving them speed and rhythm that made the system feel alive. Slight variations in line density added depth, preserving the whiteboard illusion without flattening the scenes. Shadows were almost entirely avoided—but where used, they were surgical, offering just enough dimensionality to keep turbines and server racks readable beneath layered UI elements.

Anchoring the four SnapShot pillars onscreen wasn’t just a content move—it was a visual one. Instead of letting these appear and disappear like transient UI popups, we locked them into a consistent corner placement, toggling between them as the story advanced. That gave the viewer a clear sense of structure and forward motion. It also reinforced SnapShot’s identity as stable, structured, and easy to navigate—even within a complex technical environment.

The style also aligned seamlessly with brand. Clean white space communicated clarity and transparency. Black linework mirrored engineering schematics—visually resonating with SISO’s technical audience. The dashboards weren’t stylized abstractions—they were built directly from client-provided screenshots, animated to show the real functionality in action. That balance of clean design and real data made SnapShot feel both innovative and credible.

Every style decision pulled double duty: making the complex understandable and reinforcing SISO’s positioning as a company that turns invisible operations into clear, actionable insights.

Production & Post-Production

Look Development

While the Rapid Prototype phase carried the bulk of conceptual heavy lifting, Full Production is where everything was refined and dialed in. Blender remained the core platform, with Eevee chosen for final rendering—fast enough to handle the Grease Pencil’s line-intensive style without bottlenecks. RP versions had already defined the structure of each shot, but now every frame got upgraded. The turbine model—already optimized for basic geometry—was reworked further to align more closely with GE Vernova specs, especially in terms of blade taper and spacing. These refinements mattered, especially with SISO’s engineering-focused audience likely to notice small technical inaccuracies.

To add depth without compromising the whiteboard aesthetic, subtle shadows were introduced into the otherwise stark environment. These were faint by design—just enough to improve object legibility in sequences where turbines and racks were surrounded by dense UI overlays and dashboards. This gave dimension without adding noise, ensuring the visuals remained clear even at peak complexity.

Design & Animation

This phase was all about precision and polish. Camera moves blocked out during RP were refined with eased keyframes and intentional pacing. Movements were smoothed to guide the viewer’s eye logically from turbine components to software overlays to data flows. The turbine part-swapping scene was reanimated with specific arcs and mechanical timing—replacing the floaty placeholder motion with more grounded behavior.

After Effects was where SnapShot’s user interfaces came to life. Screens built from client screenshots were finalized: alarms pulsed in sync with voiceover lines about real-time monitoring; emissions charts animated live; and lifecycle data scrolled through tracked progressions. These elements weren’t visual garnish—they were structured narrative beats, each UI action designed to reinforce a technical feature or benefit.

Technical Details

The production pipeline was a hybrid between Blender and After Effects. Blender handled everything in 3D—turbines, plants, server racks, Matrix Box. Once Grease Pencil renders were exported, After Effects picked up the baton. This is where storytelling happened: dashboards were animated, data flows were built, and UI overlays were layered into the scenes.

Precomps and essential properties made dashboard management modular, which became key as client feedback rolled in—enabling quick swaps of graphs, layout changes, and color updates without breaking the system.

Eevee’s real-time rendering allowed near-final renders to be reviewed quickly, helping catch issues like flicker, line inconsistency, or overbearing shadows early. This tight Blender–After Effects feedback loop kept production moving fast without sacrificing quality.

Collaboration & Revisions

Client input was steady and specific throughout the final production and post stages. They requested directionality changes for data flows—making sure streams entered SnapShot clearly, not ambiguously. They asked for consistent placement of the SnapShot logo and pillar markers. They flagged the need for clear toggling between the four pillars to maintain narrative clarity throughout the video.

Dashboard edits were especially detailed. The alarms screen needed accurate labels and a closer match to real UI. The cycles dashboard was split into a dedicated scene. The savings section—highlighting predictive maintenance ROI—was expanded and given more visual weight. These were more than cosmetic tweaks; they ensured the final video wasn’t just visually compelling, but technically precise.

Final Compositing & Color Grading

This was the final pass—where everything blended into a unified whole. Blender’s Grease Pencil renders were imported and composited with animated dashboards, data lines, and flow effects in After Effects. Color grading was light-touch: contrast boosted slightly, lines sharpened to maintain crispness, and no unnecessary effects layered on.

All branding elements—fonts, logos, colors—were cross-checked against SISO’s brand guidelines. Even in a stripped-down whiteboard world, brand accuracy mattered. Fonts were corrected, overlay colors adjusted, and any off-brand visuals were brought into alignment.

Infographics, UI Overlays & Data Visualization

The bulk of the heavy lifting in post centered on dashboard animation. Each UI screen was animated to reflect the actual software: alarms flashing live, cycles moving across engine timelines, emissions graphs updating, savings calculated in real time. The process involved breaking down client screenshots into vector-style elements, rebuilding them in After Effects, and animating them to fit within the broader narrative.

Screens you provided—like alarms, emissions, temperature readouts, and cycle counts—were translated into dynamic overlays that wrapped around turbines without overwhelming them. These were visual explanations, not abstractions.

Delivery

The final deliverables were rendered in 1080p H.264 for easy web and internal use, and ProRes for high-resolution playback in client meetings and conferences. Both formats were optimized for distribution flexibility. The video landed with consistent pacing, clean transitions, and strong adherence to both brand and technical credibility—giving SISO a flagship asset they could use across platforms and touchpoints.

Transcript:
Power plants are complex. Monitoring them doesn’t have to be.

SISO Engineering is a controls, analytics and automation company. 

We give you an avenue to a level of support you've never experienced before.

SnapShot captures real-time data—and stores your operational history so you can spot performance trends with the help of our proprietary models.

We install our Matrix Box to access data and  provide a secure conduit to our database.

Our customers save money by preventing trips and failed starts, with intelligent alarm tracking that shows exactly what needs attention.

Track cycles and component swaps with complete histories. 

Use real-time data to monitor emissions, unit performance, and key metrics allowing you to get ahead of potential issues.

While Custom alerts and dashboards keep maintenance proactive, anywhere. 

It’s detailed historical data — and tangible, actionable insights, backed by turbine expertise. 

SnapShot by SISO. See your power plant like never before.