New Year’s Greetings and Annual Review 2024: EXCIT3D Projects from January to December

2024 was by far the most successful business year in EXCIT3D’s history. Together with our partners and clients we realized projects in 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality and AI demonstrators, for clients from politics, research, culture, retail and industry.

Projects in this review

17

Focus areas

AR, VR, 3D printing, AI

Partners include

Fraunhofer IAO, German LHC office, PENNY

Company history

since 2017

The highlights in brief

The year’s topics included the Willy Brandt bust, the Fraunhofer IAO AI Studios, CERN and particle physics, Goslar Cathedral, six museums in Kusel County and PENNY. The following overview goes through 2024 from January to December, with a link to the detailed article for each project.

The year month by month

1. 01
   January: A Willy Brandt bust that we modeled and 3D printed went to Rolf Mützenich, chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, on the initiative of Member of the Bundestag Ingo Schäfer. We printed the bust in several sizes and materials. More →
2. 02
   February: EXCIT3D was one of seven winning teams in the ideas competition of the Fraunhofer IAO AI Studios, which received a total of around €1.0 million in funding. Fraunhofer IAO had launched the competition in autumn 2023 to find partners for its AI network. Our contribution: a mobile VR demonstrator that shows in practical scenarios how AI is used in different professions. More →
3. 03
   March: With the FSI Forum for Social Innovation, “cards on the table” shows climate protection projects in Nicaragua and Honduras in 360° and VR. The 360° films show the everyday lives of young people there: viewers take part virtually in mangrove reforestation or visit a women’s coffee cooperative. More →
4. 04
   March: For the Schlossbauverein Schloss Burg we digitized around 18 sculptures, reliefs and stained-glass windows depicting Engelbert I using drones and photogrammetry, including motifs from Cologne Cathedral. From the detailed 3D scans, reproductions are 3D printed for the museum, making regional history more accessible. More →
5. 05
   April: PENNY products appeared as digital 3D twins in commercials set around the TV series “Unter Uns” and “GZSZ”, together with PION3ERS and RTL AdAlliance. We 3D scanned around 50 products for this, placed them in the scenes of the series and rendered them for broadcasting. More →
6. 06
   April: Eberswalde presents itself in a 360° tour, created with the city marketing team and the Smart City department and structured into city life, art and culture, history and architecture, and nature and leisure. More →
7. 07
   May: A transparent, illuminated Röntgen bust from the 3D printer, around 40 cm tall, for a radiology practice on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, printed from scan data made for the German Röntgen Museum. It stands in an antique display case in front of the practice. More →
8. 08
   June: The Certification Office for the Research Allowance (BSFZ) confirmed our research project on AI and mixed reality for people in need of care. The aim is a system in which AI-supported avatars communicate with users and support physiotherapy exercises. More →
9. 09
   July: For onliveline GmbH we turned the anime character Yuuki into a 3D character. She explains AI to Takeda employees worldwide, in keynotes, an escape room and through ongoing training sessions on Microsoft Teams. More →
10. 10
    July: “The Construction Pioneer” shows in VR how AI supports logistics on the construction site, from storage areas to the distribution of materials as construction progresses. Users take on the role of construction manager on a virtual construction site. More →
11. 11
    July: An app uses GPS to guide users to twelve stations of Zug’s industrial history, with texts, historical photos, quizzes, 2D mini-games and 3D AR games; the railway pioneer Alfred Escher appears as an animated AR figure. More →
12. 12
    August and September: For CERN’s 70th anniversary, the AR app “The Particle Universe” launched with ten stations, developed with the German LHC office. The avatar Kim explains dark matter, the Higgs field and the Big Bang; users can also create their own routes. More →
13. 13
    September: Kick-off in Kusel County: together with the county we developed digital concepts with AR guides, 3D avatars and interactive applications for six museums, from historical craftsmanship to regional cultural history. More →
14. 14
    October: Kick-off for the AR/VR time travel at Schloss Broich in Mülheim an der Ruhr, together with Mülheimer Stadtmarketing und Tourismus GmbH. The app explores the history of the castle as a virtual journey through time; its completion was planned for spring 2025. More →
15. 15
    November: We handed over three VR demonstrators for the AI Studios on Meta Quest 3: gastronomy, logistics and construction, operated by hand tracking. Visitors experience AI-supported workflows in virtual scenarios. More →
16. 16
    November: WebAR for the NaturschutzDigital conference series of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: a grey seal, a lizard and a bat appear as realistic 3D models in the browser, placed via ground or image tracking, without installing an app. More →
17. 17
    December: Goslar Cathedral becomes tangible again with 3D scans, VR and AR, funded by the programme “Zukunftsfähige Innenstädte und Zentren” (future-proof city centres). Only the cathedral’s vestibule survives today; school students are involved in the project. More →

Thank you, and a look ahead

These projects were only possible thanks to the trust of our clients and partners, and we would like to thank them sincerely. For 2025 we planned AI integrations, research-related VR solutions and sustainable 3D materials. Some of what followed: the Schloss Broich app, the museum app for Kusel County and DOM:digital.

We wished all our readers a happy, successful and healthy New Year 2025. Your EXCIT3D team