Consulting

Halo (AddOn Networks) 3D & Videography (2025)

Featured work: 2025 · AddOn Networks: –

For Halo (AddOn Networks), I created product animations and a videography series used across corporate marketing, social media, and lobby displays. My work connected detailed product modeling with storytelling, filming, and editing.

A tiny device. An epic sense of speed.

Looking at the tiny transceiver, I knew I needed 3D to convey the scale and speed I had in mind. Macro photography could reveal its details, but as the basis for the finished film it would have been a substantial creative compromise. I wanted to move the camera among the components, animate the product’s assembly, and follow it into a much larger world.

The lead animation introduces an optical transceiver for datacenter communications. It assembles from an exploded view, captures the laser light of optical communication—its “electronic soul”—and flies toward the stars.

Product modeling, environments, animation, story, voiceover, soundtrack, and edit by Brendon Hedrick. Explore the construction process below.

Behind the animation

A tiny product.
Hundreds of deliberate details.

Macro photography became the foundation for the model. I disassembled the physical transceiver, photographed its components, and used that reference to build a detailed 3D asset. The photos, Blender screenshot, and animation studies below come from my working archive.

300
sub-components handcrafted
40+ hours
building the model
100 hours
environments, animation & finishing

01 / Observe & document

Start with the real hardware.

Opening the enclosure revealed the layout that the finished animation needed to preserve: the circuit boards, metal housings, connectors, and delicate fiber paths. I photographed the assembly and its individual parts so I could return to the reference throughout modeling.

Disassembled optical transceiver with the main board, metal enclosure, small board and fiber connections visible.
Disassembly photographThe boards and enclosure separated, with the fiber routing visible.
Overhead reference photograph of the transceiver circuit board, including metallic components, board markings and gold edge contacts.
Board layout referenceAn overhead view of the real component arrangement, surfaces, and markings.
Macro photograph of connector pins, small surface-mounted parts, printed board markings and fine fibers.
Connections & placementMacro views made the small parts, pin spacing, and fiber paths visible enough to use as modeling reference.
Macro photograph of a metallic component with printed markings, surrounding black mounts and a curved fiber.
Surfaces & markingsThe metal finish, printed identifiers, and surrounding mounts supplied visual detail for the digital version.
A tiny circuit board and connector held between fingertips.
The actual scaleA fingertip-sized assembly: details that would become large enough to explore with a virtual camera.

02 / Build the digital asset

Reconstruct it, component by component.

I used the photographs to handcraft the transceiver in Blender, building the forms and their arrangement, then adding materials and markings. The work extended from the enclosure and major components down to the small parts mounted on the boards.

Original Blender screenshot showing Brendon Hedrick’s detailed 3D transceiver circuit board with gold and silver housings, chips, component markings and edge contacts.
The model in BlenderCompare the gold and silver housings, the small two-chip board, and the printed markings with the reference photos above. Select any image to enlarge it.

03 / Animate & tell the story

Give the hardware a cinematic scale.

With the model built, I could move the camera among its components, animate the exploded assembly, and carry the product into a larger environment. Lighting and the laser-light motif connected those technical details to the story of optical communication.

Frame from an early transceiver animation render, with red light illuminating the board and outer frame.
Assembly & lighting studyA frame from the archived initial render, exploring the product through dramatic light and close camera views.
Frame from a transceiver flight animation test in a rendered interior with a planted wall and curved seating.
Movement & environment studyAn archived animation test carries the modeled transceiver through a larger scene.

3D let me give a tiny device a monumental presence and a sense of speed, while keeping its visual detail grounded in the real hardware. The result was also a reusable product asset. I created the model, environments, animation, story, voiceover, soundtrack, and edit.

A wider view of the company.

For this globe animation, I assembled 43K Earth imagery from NASA into a detailed planetary model. I animated the sun and stars to create a day-to-night cycle, then moved the camera around the globe to connect the company’s office locations.

Sony camera and lens mounted on a DJI gimbal, isolated from the office background.
Camera & gimbal setupMy camera rig, with the office background removed for clarity.

Beyond the render

Bring the same attention to the live story.

My work at Halo also included filming people, facilities, and events. Alongside the 3D work, I created video that showed the company’s expertise and the people behind its products.

For the September 2025 AI event, that meant recording five hours of sessions and shaping the day into a recap. The camera setup here is another part of that production practice.

Halo hosted an AI event at its headquarters on September 25, 2025. I recorded five hours of sessions using a Sony FX3a and DJI RS4 gimbal. The full seminar series was published to the company’s YouTube channel; this is the recap I edited to capture the day.

This facilities video explained the company’s optical transceiver process and what its operation could provide to a customer. It helped support a major customer win in 2025, and the CEO recognized its contribution to the deal.

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