Not so long ago an animation of a minute or so, might take days to output on dozens of computers packed out in air conditioned server rooms.  Once the rendering is done, a whole load of post production has to be done afterwards to fine tune and colour grade too.  Hold on a minute, not quite right? Need a last minute change? The product has been updated? Back to the farm it goes for another couple of days.

But the new technology gives us the opportunity to refine the output and deliver a higher quality animation because we are able to make adjustments closer to the cut off deadline.

In our previous blog explaining the creation of the scene, here , we showcased a few images using Unreal of our favourite Mclaren, the 720s.  Following on from this, the above animation has been created with the camera pans, edit and tonal adjustments all refined in Unreal and outputted in near real time.

Beyond that, the scene is ready for interaction for a configurator or Virtual Reality.

CG animations can be used to help promote a car manufacturer’s products, and these two have been screened grabbed from the above animation.

Every shot created is different and every car has certain angles that show it off at its best, Drive’s team of creative visualisers and automotive designers combine to create and ensure great results.

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So how have we facilitated the use of the VR set up within the studio?  We are always finding new ways to use it, but within the realms of being a beneficial tool rather than being a slave to it.

To highlight the benefits of integration of VR in our process, we initiated an internal project, that resulted in this Bugatti concept, as a demonstration for our transportation and product clients.

Internal projects like this are an important to everyone at Drive, with our passion for automotive design being able to explore ideas and and especially for anything that goes fast is in our DNA. With the initial concept penned the team worked together to design, resolve and refine the concept simultaneously combining our work flows through digital sketching , Alias modelling and the VR set up.

The use of VR is a great tool to check the design through the modelling development process and helps both modeller and designer.  An instant tool at our finger tips that allows us to critique and rapidly develop concepts, producing a more refined and resolved result in a quicker time frame.  Being able to view the product in this way makes you aware of the design issues you may only realise when you are standing in front of a full scale clay.  We believe that ideally every project benefits from a physical model during development, but for projects where time or budget are constrained, VR is a benefit enabling to skip stages or start the physical modelling stage from a more advanced point, speeding up the process and saving time.

We use various systems like Autodesk VRED and Unreal Engine to create the Virtual Reality experiences.  We will be very pleased to discuss your requirements and support your adoption of the technology into your work flow.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/drive-inc-ltd

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We used the latest photogrammetry techniques to digitally recreate the runway.   The resultant 3D model of the airstrip was placed in Unreal and integrated with an HDRI dome for realistic reflections.  Then a beautiful sunset from a stock image library created the backplate.  The completely digital scene was refined with additional lighting as well as adding foliage.  This provided us with a very stable environment where we could now position a digital car, in the finishes of our choice, and ‘re-shoot’ the scene from any angle.

Our hero shot is a wide-aspect ratio image.  The car is shot from the rear and positioned to the far right,  the dramatic sunset providing strong low light to reflect off the sculptured body side.

The second in the series showcases the front and plan shape of the car, with the runway lane markings providing the perfect lead-in lines to the supercar. The dim light enables us to utilise lamp glows to add more drama and realism to the shots.

Unreal  impresses me more every time I use it and we still discover new tools and parameters to enhance our work.

Unfortunately what you can’t see here, is how spectacular the scene looks through our VR setup.  Being able to move around in the scene in real time and interact with the car adds yet another layer of realism and excitement.  I only wish it was truly real so I could jump in, turn the key and drive off.

If you think filming or photographing of your car is impossible in the current situation, then why not have a digital shoot instead.   Whether we’re working in the studio or working remotely, our team can bring your car advertising or marketing ideas to life.  Every shot created is different and every car has certain angles that show it off at its best. Drive’s team of creative visualisers and automotive designers combine to create and ensure great results for all your CGI Car Advertising Imagery.

Digital Storytelling

The animation blog https://www.drivedesign.co.uk/realtime-animations-for-automotive-marketing/
www.unrealengine.com

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Following a briefing, deciding on the objectives of the piece and its intended audience, we work out a story board and get sign off.

On this occasion with the South Downs so close we scouted a location and  found a spot that was quiet, allowing plenty of freedom to experiment without interruption.  A whole day was spent taking reference shots of the area, trying different lenses and really exploring the road and surroundings, finding interesting angles that would suit the car we had chosen to animate, and shots for the live footage backgrounds.  We then refined the storyboard, taking in to consideration the final scene, environment and sun positions, and planned the shoot for the next day.

Weather conditions can cause chaos when shooting out doors, heavy cloud cover combined with strong winds can make it difficult to get consistency in lighting, especially when shooting HDRI domes.  Working to our shoot timing plan, we worked through our programme taking back plates, HDRI domes and reflection plates and a few reference shots of cars driving up the road.  We now had all the material required to create our animation.

Using our camera tracking software, we captured the back plate camera movement and gathered information that could be used to construct the virtual environment and most importantly, the road surface.  Often overlooked it is important to make sure the road surface is defined accurately as the interaction of the car with this surface helps make the movement believable.   A simple lighting dome would not be suitable for a moving car over distance so we mapped our stitched HDRI light capture to the environment geometry, regularly checking the effect from various camera shots to ensure realism.

The chosen car data set was then animated using our in house automotive rig.  Additional lighting was added for specific shadowing and a number of render tests were carried out to match light levels and motion blur in keeping with the back plate.  Multiple passes were rendered for the final composition and depth of field and subtle reflective glow were added to help sit the car in the scene.  Finally, a little grading was added to the composition for a warmer finish.

Every shot created is different and every car has certain angles that show it off at its best, Drive’s team of creative visualisers and automotive designers combine to create and to ensure great results .

Videos

The post CGI Animation for Car Marketing appeared first on Drive Automotive Design Consultancy.

The motorsport industry is arguably, one of the UK’s most successful. Over the years we have been privileged enough to work with number of motorsport engineering companies and racing teams.

The Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) has members from the many diverse sectors of motorsport: high performance engineering and tuning companies; race and rally teams; governing bodies; motorsport services; research organisations; race circuits; universities and colleges.

The crossover of techniques and technologies between motorsport and automotive mass production brings benefits to both. However, we also know from experience the differences between producing a one off that has a sole purpose of being quick maybe for 1 race and then updated, to something that has to be replicated time after time and last for years.

Looking forward to continuing our partnerships into the future.

Digital Storytelling

www.unrealengine.com

The post CGI Racing Car Visuals Celebrate Drive’s 25 years appeared first on Drive Automotive Design Consultancy.

We have over 25 years’ experience of working with and delivering quality content to many premium clients including Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, McLaren Automotive and Jaguar Land Rover.  In an exclusive world where confidentiality and exceptional quality is of utmost importance, our track record offers reassurance that you will get your desired results.

Once we have agreed the brief, deliverables, timing and budget our team will put a proposal together for you to agree to.   Then we shall go through a planning and storyboarding ‘sprint’ with you to finalise the content.  This sprint ensures that you are involved from the start and control the brand message, as well as getting to experience the process as we decide on studio shoots or location videos, cgi animation or stills, and edits for social campaigns and digital PR.

Our network allows us to work with leading directors, videographers and photographers bringing the highest quality of filmography and production to your marketing project.

As our creative team works alongside car designers, you can be assured that the best views and angles will be exploited to show off your cars in the best possible light!

Not only are we experienced filming location-based automotive videos, we are able to capture environments using photogrammetry to create a CGI version to combine with the digital car model assets to generate content.  So if a vehicle isn’t available, the specific model not released yet, the location isn’t accessible or simply the weather lets us down, our team can still deliver the content.

Enough ….. let’s talk about your project and how we can help you. Give us a call and whether ultimately you use us or someone else, we’re happy to share our experience. 01483 211 200

Drive Creative Services

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Working with Richard Collar, Head of Bespoke Sales and Marketing at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, we produced some automotive video marketing that would allow them to show the 1001 Nights limited edition car to their valued customers.  The challenge was to demonstrate the features prior to the car becoming a reality.  Drive’s creative team suggested that the true craftsmanship involved be captured by filming the people involved in assembling the car.  As it would be filmed on location their Goodwood site, it was imperative that the filming was done with the least possible disruption to ensure that production would not be interrupted. Therefore the film crew and equipment required needed to be minimal yet deliver Rolls-Royce quality.

The success of the film was fantastic and measured by all the limited edition cars being allocated before production started.  We continue to work with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the Bespoke team at Goodwood on a number of projects.

http://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/

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It is clear that for manufacturers, car animations are the strongest attention grabbing content in the news feed on social networks.  They set your post apart and increase audience engagement, attracting likes and in turn new followers.  Simply by holding viewers attention for longer than average, most of the social media algorithms will promote these posts, again driving the brand’s profile, raising its popularity and audience engagement.

Original content that presents a brands unique style and originality, will stick in the mind of the viewer and more likely lead to recommendations.  By exploiting the use of CGI and the ability to combine realistic footage with unrealistic scenarios increases recollection, therefore brand awareness and recall.

These are a couple of example of car animations for social media marketing that we produced to promote our own creative team.

If this is all new to you, give us a call to discuss your ideas and what is achievable, always happy to chat even if you decide on another marketing direction.

https://www.instagram.com/drivedesign/

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For an Art Director the use of storyboards is the first step in making the vision that they have in their mind’s eye a reality.
Mood boards and reference images can cause confusion as it is rare that one reference image can completely sum up the composition and lighting that has been envisioned.
Just like a car designer’s initial sketch, the intent can be captured quickly whilst still leaving room for one’s imagination to develop the idea.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/drive-inc-ltd

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Drive have always shared the expertise and methodologies gained in automotive design with other product and transportation studios.  Our aim is to provide a quality service, building our reputation of bringing real value to our clients.  All knowledge gained from other industries is then incorporated into our work flows and brings benefit to all our clients across all sectors.

Working with yacht manufacturers’ marketing teams, providing Superyacht animations and CG images, as well as supporting super yacht brokers, naval architects and yacht designers, is an enjoyable experience allowing our creative team to work on projects without 4 wheels.

www.fairline.com

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Drive have been creating both Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications for automotive and transportation clients, drawing on our experience of design, digital modelling and high quality CG imaging techniques.

Recent Projects have included a VR train interior for a b2b exhibition, an AR App for the MG SUV launch, car configurator and a b2b sales and promotional App for Mirus Aircraft Seating.

Our creative team embrace these immersive technologies because Virtual Reality as a storyteller, has the power to connect, communicate and engage audiences by enabling them to experience a story in a way no other media can.

http://www.mg.co.uk

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