- ABOUT US _ Drive is an Automotive Design Consultancy building long term relationships with design-driven companies worldwide, designing products that enhance their brand's DNA and position in the market place.
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The race to produce the first production autonomous supercar is well and truely on, as many doomsayers mourn the passing of true driving – missed gearshifts and terrible lines around corners – Supercar manufacturers and their highly specialised engineers are more excited than ever. Why? ….
…. because they will at last see their cars perform at the maximum. Currently they resign themselves to the fact that the people who buy these ultimate performance vehicles are unable to exploit the full potential of the car.
Far from autonomous cars reducing us all to the lowest common denominator commuter speeds, the real benefit is for ‘B’ road experiences like never before.
With autonomous control, owners will choose their preferred setting, not suspension stiffness but style of driving, clicking the dial to their driver of choice. And it is here that McLaren and Mercedes have stolen a march on their competitors. Mercedes are now able to use the 2016 data of the current world champion Rosberg without giving away any advantage to their current F1 opposition, and McLaren have played a blinder, creating a scenario where they will have 2017 data from two world champions, Button racing in a one off at Monaco, and Alonso covering off the US market at Indy.
Moving to autonomy has relieved the need for a steering wheel, and this reduction in production costs for right and left hand drive, has allowed other manufacturers to contemplate entering the supercar market, and niche to compete on more even terms. With steering wheels, pedals and gear shifts now being additional cost options for those who wish to pretend to be driving, the commercial benefits are clear.
So with autonomous supercars using all the latest sophisticated positioning and sensoring technology, the passenger phrase “Slow down, you don’t know what’s around the corner” will at last be erased from the English language.
Imagine positioning a camera when you don’t know the exact position of the subject, you do know it won’t be there for several months and the client is demanding an image within 3 weeks. So you decide on the CGI route only to discover that there is no data available of Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two.
At that point, photographer Richard Seymour came to Drive CGI Studio to deliver a fast, cost effective and flexible process for producing the high quality images required whilst maintaining art direction freedom throughout.
As Richard flew out to the Spaceport America site in New Mexico to capture the back plates and HDR images for domes, Drive’s expert team of modellers got on with creating the 3d data Spacecraft from scratch using information gleaned from the web.
Richard’s photographs were transferred to the studio before he had said his farewells, and Drive’s creative team set about finalising the environment using early volume models in the scene to match camera angles ready for further creative input.
The digital 3d model was completed, textures and finishes applied and then dropped into the virtual environment. Once the creative direction and images were completed, the final retouching was applied.
No chance? On release, on time, on budget.
These CGI renders feature Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Photography and art direction by Richard Seymour, CGI work by Drive CGI, Retouching by Nick Humphries.
These images are strictly not for reproduction without permission. Virgin and Virgin Galactic are registered trademarks.
Whilst out shooting backplates for some still images, I took the opportunity to collect some for some drive promotional pieces.
These particular shots lent themselves to some ideas we had been dicussing in the studio.
See some of our recent work here CGI STUDIO
Drive were asked by Partners Andrews Aldridge agency to support them on producing an animation for the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars web page promoting the Ghost V-Specification.
Following the initial creative briefing a story board was produced and agreed, with an animation play blast getting the final sign off. Drive prepared the final data of the car, with colours, materials and finishes matching samples supplied by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke team at Goodwood.
Delivering the final movie within the short time frame available, Drive once again proved their skills and facilities are first class.
As August approaches our creative team are beginning to get the usual requests to produce animations and visuals for the 2017 Monaco Yacht Show in September.
It is 10 years since we exhibited at Monaco, and ever since we have regularly supported companies with their marketing imagery and animations.
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 new 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 as well as supporting brokers, naval architects and yacht design consultancies, is an enjoyable experience allowing our creative team to work on projects without 4 wheels.
www.drivecgi.co.uk