Product Engineering and Physical Prototyping of a Layered Diorama Lighting Object Anyone

Hello,
I am looking for an experienced individual developer or multidisciplinary engineering team to design, develop, physically prototype, test, optimize, and ship one complete working prototype of a premium ambient lighting cube.
This is not a CAD-only project, and it is not a conventional RGB mood lamp or a simple illuminated photo frame.
The product combines:
Soft atmospheric ambient lighting
A replaceable three-layer front diorama cartridge
Selective illumination inside the artwork
Separate lighting systems for the cube body and front diorama
Touch controls
A refined acrylic exterior
A compact angled base
Future allowance for scent-pad integration and intelligent cartridge recognition
The final goal is to create a small emotional lighting object that uses light, imagery, depth, and movement to evoke memories and atmosphere.
The selected developer or team must be able to move from concept development and CAD through electronics, firmware, physical fabrication, lighting tests, final assembly, and delivery of the completed prototype to South Korea.
1. Main Product Concept
The product is a desktop ambient lighting cube approximately 16–17 cm per side.
The cube should look attractive both when illuminated and when switched off. It should feel like a refined consumer product rather than a handmade acrylic box or inexpensive RGB lamp.
The front of the cube contains a replaceable three-layer diorama scene.
The artwork should not appear as a single flat photograph. It should contain approximately:
Foreground layer
Middle-ground layer
Background layer
The layers should have controlled spacing so that the scene has visible depth and slight parallax when viewed from different angles.
The user replaces the entire pre-assembled three-layer cartridge as one complete unit. The user should not need to remove, align, or handle the individual artwork layers separately.
2. Core Light Reveal Function
The front diorama should use a selective illumination principle.
The complete artwork must remain visible and attractive while the product is switched off.
When the dedicated diorama light turns on, selected natural light sources inside the image should gradually become brighter or newly visible.
Examples may include:
Streetlights
Illuminated windows
Decorative lights
Stars or moonlight
Reflections on water
Snow or rain highlights
Small environmental rim lights
Light passing through trees or architectural details
The entire image must not be illuminated evenly like a normal backlit picture frame.
Areas such as faces, skin, clothing, and major non-luminous objects should not become washed out by uncontrolled backlighting.
The selected developer should be able to recommend or coordinate:
Image layer separation
Background reconstruction behind foreground subjects
White-ink masks
Opacity masks
Selective-transmission masks
UV printing, film printing, PET, acrylic, or other appropriate fabrication methods
Layer spacing and diffusion
One representative three-layer Light Reveal cartridge is required for the first physical prototype.
The final artwork will be provided after discussion with the selected developer.
3. Cube Body Lighting
The body of the cube should produce soft, atmospheric, multi-zone lighting.
The target is not a gaming-style RGB effect.
Important visual requirements:
Individual LED points must not be visible.
Straight LED strips or bright linear bands must not be visible.
Color transitions must blend smoothly.
Colors must not appear as equal rainbow bands.
Bright and dark areas should coexist naturally.
The cube should not be filled with one flat uniform color.
Soft white light should appear within the colors like mist or cloud-like illumination.
Lighting should remain comfortable for long-term viewing.
Movement should remain slow and subtle.
The body lighting should complement the front scene rather than overpower it.
The preferred lighting palettes include:
Lavender and White
Soft lavender
Pale violet
Slight blue undertones
Small amounts of pale pink
Soft white or lightly champagne-toned white
Blue and White
Clear refreshing blue
Aqua blue
Very pale sky blue
Soft clean white
Five-Color Mode
This should not look like a standard rainbow effect.
The palette should use soft combinations of:
Clear blue
Aqua or soft mint
Lavender
Pale pink
Champagne white or subtle warm golden white
The colors should overlap with different sizes, brightness levels, and positions to create one coherent atmosphere.
The system should also preserve a fourth firmware channel or demonstration profile for a future user-defined My Scene mode.
4. Lighting Behavior
Each lighting channel should include a gentle opening animation.
Possible behaviors may include:
Light gradually rising from the lower part of the cube
Soft light forming around the edges and moving inward
A slow halo effect
Gradual filling or settling of the light
The animation must not look like individual LEDs switching on in sequence.
After the opening animation, the product should enter a stay state.
The required stay states are:
Very subtle breathing state
Static state
The breathing effect should not simply make the entire cube obviously bright and dark. It should feel more like a very small change in light density or atmosphere.
The exact opening behavior for each channel should be selected after physical lighting tests.
5. Separate Lighting Systems
The main body lighting and the front diorama lighting must remain separate.
The body lighting controls the ambient colors and movement around the cube.
The dedicated front lighting controls the selective illumination inside the three-layer artwork.
The two systems must be optically separated.
The body lighting should not leak into the artwork and distort the printed colors.
The front lighting should not interfere with the ambient color gradients of the cube body.
The dedicated front LEDs, wiring, and diffusion system should remain permanently installed inside the cube.
Only the complete three-layer acrylic artwork cartridge is replaceable.
6. Exterior and Materials
The enclosure should use lighting-grade acrylic, PMMA, or another professionally recommended optical material.
The preferred appearance is a refined satin-frost or softly diffused finish.
The final exterior must hide:
LED points
LED strips
Internal supports
Wiring
Hard color segmentation
Unfinished joints
Visible screws and fasteners
A cosmetic frost film or simple surface sanding is not sufficient unless physical tests prove that the internal structure and light sources are fully concealed.
The exterior should remain primarily geometric and square.
Only minimal edge softening is preferred. The cube should not become heavily rounded or toy-like.
The front artwork should appear slightly recessed inside the cube, but it should not resemble a thick traditional picture frame.
The selected developer should compare visual proportions for:
Front image size
Surrounding illuminated margin
Frame thickness
Recess depth
Overall cube proportions
7. Base and Angled Presentation
The cube should be supported by a visually smaller base.
The current preferred direction is:
Warm wood tone
Light oak, natural ash, or pale walnut
Optional restrained champagne-gold accent
Alternative materials may be proposed if they better suit the product.
The cube should sit at a subtle fixed angle on the base.
The angle should make the object appear lighter and more distinctive without making the artwork difficult to view from a normal seated position.
The exact angle should be selected through:
CAD comparison
Visual evaluation
Stability testing
Center-of-gravity analysis
A simple fixed angle is preferred over a complex adjustable mechanism.
8. Cartridge Replacement Mechanism
The complete three-layer cartridge should be removable without tools.
Possible mechanisms may include:
Push-to-release
Magnet-assisted removal
Sliding or guided insertion
Another professionally recommended mechanism
The final solution must meet the following requirements:
Easy and intuitive replacement
Accurate alignment
No visible front screws
No large handles
No rattling or movement after installation
Durable after repeated cartridge replacement
Minimal front-frame thickness
When the cartridge is removed, the user should not see exposed LEDs, wiring, screws, rails, or an unfinished cavity.
A fixed finished inner diffusion surface should remain visible behind the cartridge opening.
The empty state should look intentionally designed and visually complete.
9. Touch Controls and Electronics
A separate remote control is not required.
The product should use hidden capacitive touch controls, preferably integrated into the left side or upper-left area of the base.
Required physical functions:
Power on and off
Change lighting channel
Adjust main-body brightness
Adjust front-diorama brightness
Switch between subtle breathing and static states
The physical product must remain usable without an app.
The developer should recommend an appropriate controller, power architecture, LED system, PCB design, thermal strategy, and wiring layout.
ESP32, STM32, RGBW LEDs, separate white LEDs, or other appropriate technologies may be proposed.
The exact technical solution is open, but the final appearance and lighting quality are the main acceptance criteria.
10. Future Design Allowances
The current prototype does not require a finished mobile app, active NFC/RFID reader, or completed fragrance system.
However, the CAD and internal architecture must reserve realistic space for:
Future passive NFC or RFID tag in each cartridge
Future cartridge reader or antenna
Controller memory and profile storage
Wiring and service access
Replaceable scent-pad compartment
Physical separation between fragrance, electronics, LEDs, adhesives, printed artwork, and optical surfaces
The scent-pad compartment should be considered either:
Inside the base, or
Inside a separate isolated compartment in the cube
The selected developer should recommend the more practical location.
These future allowances must not significantly damage the appearance, lighting quality, or serviceability of the current prototype.
11. Physical Testing Requirements
Physical optical and material testing is essential.
Renderings and CAD simulations alone are not sufficient.
The development process should include real-world tests for:
LED placement
Diffusion distance
Material haze and transmission
Hotspot removal
Color blending
White-light blending
Light leakage
Separation of the two lighting systems
Layer spacing
Print opacity
Selective illumination
Surface finish
Thermal performance
The developer should provide photos and short videos during the testing process.
Major fabrication decisions should not be permanently locked before the main lighting and material approach has been physically evaluated.
12. Required Scope and Deliverables
The selected developer or team should provide:
Product concept development
Industrial design
Mechanical design
Complete 3D CAD
Internal architecture
Cartridge mechanism
Base and angled support structure
Electronics design
Circuit schematic
PCB design if required
Component selection
Firmware and source code
Touch-control implementation
Lighting animations and modes
Physical material and lighting tests
One complete three-layer Light Reveal cartridge
One complete working physical prototype
Final assembly and testing
Packaging suitable for international transport
Shipping to South Korea
Final technical deliverables should include, where applicable:
Editable CAD files
STEP files
STL files
Manufacturing drawings
Exploded assembly views
Circuit schematics
PCB source files and Gerber files
BOM
Firmware source code
Wiring diagrams
Assembly instructions
Material specifications
Supplier or fabrication recommendations
Test documentation
All final project files and source files must be transferred to the client.
13. Important Clarification
Please do not apply if you only provide:
Exterior rendering
CAD without physical fabrication
PCB design without product development
Firmware without mechanical development
A simple LED strip inside an acrylic box
A uniformly backlit photograph
A generic RGB lamp
An untested conceptual design
The goal is one complete, working, physically tested prototype.
14. Information Required in Your Proposal


Please answer the following questions directly.

-Will this project be completed by one individual or by a team?

-Who will be responsible for:
Industrial and mechanical design
Electronics and firmware
Optical and lighting development
Acrylic fabrication
Image separation and selective-lighting masks
Printing and three-layer cartridge assembly
Final prototype assembly

-Which parts will be completed directly by you, and which parts will be outsourced?

-Do you have experience with:
Diffusing acrylic
Light guides
LED hotspot removal
Multi-zone RGBW lighting
Consumer lighting products
Layered illuminated artwork
Custom acrylic enclosures

-Please provide photographs or videos of the most relevant physical products you have previously developed.

-How would you test and optimize the lighting before final fabrication?

-Can you create or coordinate the three-layer Light Reveal artwork cartridge, including masks and printing?

-What is your estimated timeline?
Does your proposed price include:
Design
Electronics
Firmware
Materials
Fabrication
Testing
Assembly
Packaging
Shipping to South Korea

-What final source files and technical documents will be transferred to me?


Please do not respond only with a general introduction or a copied portfolio description. I am looking for a clear explanation of how you would approach this specific product.
A detailed project document and reference images can be shared with serious shortlisted candidates.
Thank you. read less