Foilco Scans and Render Project

Leading suppliers of stamping foils, Foilco, have recently launched a project that hopes to bring the analogue and digital mediums closer together through game-changing innovation. Working alongside collaborators Chaos and Where Giants Roam, Foilco have successfully digitised their foil catalogue in true likeness, to the betterment of both the creative and print industries respectively. The material scans give creatives and printers instant access to their range, allowing digital artists to literally play with their foils. At a time where remote working is prevalent, studios and brands will be able to share true likeness imagery at multiple sites across the globe instantly, hugely reducing the delays and costs for making physical mock-ups.

“For the first time ever, the Chaos Scans technology has allowed Foilco to digitise its foil catalogue as usable material files that will allow digital artists to drag and drop decorative foils straight into projects for rendering including mock-ups, CGI, animations and AR/VR applications, creating an instant foil surface or layer with realistic light reactive appearances. With the support of Where Giants Roam, we have been able to fully realise the potential of bringing these two mediums together and ensure that what you’re looking at on your screen, is a true representation of the foil you would see in person.” – Jaime Evans, Marketing Manager.

This technology provides creatives and designers the freedom to be more experimental and expressive in their foil considerations, resulting in more unique and standout packaging designs. The digital catalogue will offer more power and encouragement to the collective buy-in and improve a project’s efficiency, from early concept development to the final print production.

The addition of stamping foil to any print or packaging is a strong way of raising the profile of and bringing attention to a product or brand, thus this new medium aims to give marketeers and advertisers a new opportunity to maximise exposure for their clients ensuring the end results have the greatest impact.

Rhiannon Porter, Managing Director at Where Giants Roam, had this to say about the collaboration; “Where Giants Roam were delighted to work in collaboration with Foilco and Chaos on this project. The creation of these amazing digital assets provides a fantastic future resource for all visualisation firms around the world to ensure photorealism in computer generated imagery.  As a studio that prides itself on photorealism, at all times, we are beyond thrilled with the results of the collaboration and how the results will take our work to the next level.”

The accompanying visuals have been named “shader balls” and are Chaos’ signature, designed to showcase how a material reacts to light. The shader ball gives the user the impression of how light affects the appearance of the foil with highlights and shadow demonstrated both beautifully and effectively. Courtesy of Where Giants Roam they have also created Foligon rendors as a visual impression of how the digital foils will look once stamped onto a material substrate, providing an idea of how the foil will apply on a flatter surface.

Foilco have some big plans for the renders and the raw material scans, including integration of the technology within the next iteration of the company’s sample swatches and other AR possibilities.

Both the shader balls and Foligon rendors are available to view on Foilco’s website under each foil range listsing. 270 of Foilco’s foil scans can be accessed via the Chaos Scans Material Library at www.chaosgroup.com (subscription required, 90-day free trial available).