Catamaran

A commercial for a performance sailing catamaran, built to see whether a hull can be sold the way a car is.

Category
Product & Technology
Year
2026

A twin-hulled performance catamaran modelled and rendered at sea, in the language boat builders almost never get — not a brochure shot on flat water, but low sun, real swell, and the camera close enough to the deck to read the teak and the hardware.

The challenge

Boats are photographed badly. The usual options are a drone shot from 200 metres, where the boat becomes a white shape, or a marina shot where it is sitting still and surrounded by other boats. Neither tells you what the thing is like to be on, and neither shows the part of the design anyone actually paid for.

The approach

Three passes, three different jobs. One close on the foredeck so the teak, the flush hatches and the deck hardware read at detail level. One head-on at the bow, where the twin hulls frame the water and light bounces up off the underside. One straight into the sun, where the whole boat becomes a silhouette and the rig does the drawing. Water is simulated rather than a plate, so the swell behaves the same in every shot and the boat sits in it correctly.

Process
My role

Modelling, materials, water simulation, lighting, camera and rendering.

Services used
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