How Much Do Trial Animations & 3D-Printed Exhibits Cost?
Published July 16, 2026 · Full Vision Legal Support
Demonstrative evidence is priced like expert work: by complexity, by revision rounds, and — too often — by opacity. Here's how the market prices trial animations and 3D-printed medical exhibits, what actually drives the number, and how we structure an engagement so it goes straight onto your case ledger.
The market picture
For reference, a custom trial animation alone typically runs about $7,500 from a legacy studio, quoted case-by-case, with a 6–8 week production window — and that buys the video only, no physical exhibit. Public pricing in this industry is rare: most demonstrative-evidence vendors quote per engagement, which makes budgeting a case cost harder than it should be. When you're comparing quotes, get three things in writing: what's included (formats, revision rounds, expert-support documentation), the delivery date, and what happens to the price if the trial date moves.
What actually drives the price
- Complexity of the reconstruction — a single-vehicle mechanism with clean imaging is less work than a multi-party collision with disputed physics.
- Scan quality — thin-slice CT segments cleanly; older or lower-resolution imaging takes more modeling time.
- Revision rounds — the classic overage. Rounds should be defined at kickoff, in writing.
- Expert involvement — time spent working with your treating physician or retained expert so the exhibit matches their testimony.
- Rush production — legacy studios charge heavily for compressed timelines. (Our pipeline is built fast by default, so a moved-up mediation isn't a surcharge event.)
How we structure an engagement
Every engagement delivers both tools — the AI incident-recreation video and the 3D-printed medical exhibit built from your client's own CT or MRI — so you're never buying the video and the physical model as separate line items. We offer three ways to engage:
| Engagement | What it buys |
|---|---|
| Single case | One full engagement — video + 3D-printed model, invoiced per case |
| Multi-case pack | Several case credits at a per-case discount; credits never expire, priority turnaround |
| Firm retainer | A monthly block of case credits for high-volume practices, dedicated account manager, priority turnaround |
We quote a fixed price and an exact delivery date at your free consult, so the number goes straight into your case budget with no hourly meters or surprises. Book a consult to get the figure for your case.
How contingency firms recover it
Demonstrative-evidence spend is a case cost, and the invoicing should behave like one. Every engagement — including credits from a pack or retainer — is assigned to a specific case when it's used, so each credit maps to a single line on that case's ledger and is recoverable at resolution. Your statement shows exactly which case each credit funded. If a vendor can't invoice that cleanly, your bookkeeper will find out at the worst possible time.
The budgeting question that matters isn't "what does the exhibit cost?" — it's "what does the exhibit do to the number?" A five-figure demonstrative spend on a seven-figure policy is a rounding error if it moves the evaluation. That's the math to run at your case-strategy meeting, and it's why we'll tell you honestly at the consult when a case doesn't warrant one.
Questions to ask any demonstrative-evidence vendor
- Is the model or animation built from my client's own data (DICOM imaging, the case record), or from stock assets?
- What documentation do you deliver for my sponsoring expert's foundation? (See our admissibility guide.)
- How many revision rounds are included, and who approves before final production?
- What's the delivery date — not the estimate, the date — and what happens if my mediation moves up?
- How is PHI handled — is a Business Associate Agreement standard?
- Is the invoice structured for case-cost recovery?
Third-party figures cited above are market reference points, not quotes. We quote a fixed price for your specific case at consult. This article is general information, not legal or accounting advice.
Want the exact number for your case?
Free consult. We'll quote a fixed price and an exact delivery date — and tell you straight if an exhibit won't move your number.