Infiniti Motors IQ VR - Detroit International Auto Show 2016
This project was a collaboration with The Pulse as part of the Detroit International Auto Show 2016.
This was my first large-scale Unreal Engine project and a true test of every technique I had developed from VFX including large data set handling and optimising, high dynamic range workflows, on-set photography and shoot planning. New techniques were extended from there to get into the frame budget for VR as well as produce ‘photo-real’ images which aren’t very prevalent in the space. UE4 was changing very quickly at this time and new tools such as the sequencer, VR Editor and better quality rendering procedures were hot off the press. Painfully the tools seemed to be released moments after we’d hacked around many issues (a theme that continues to this day!) and a reminder of how this wave is picking up serious mass as the developers get more budget to build out the tools we’re using daily.
As it was a ‘VR car ad’ ultimately some affordance to marketing themes was necessary to bring it to light but at the base conception is was a piece which meant to make one feel as though they’ve aspired from sea level to the peak of the world and to feel humbled by the scale of nature.
My treatment was targeting the different feelings that each moment along that journey would have, be it large alpine deserts, secluded mountain lakes, vertical cliffs and finally the pinnacle of the world where the snow under your feet is linked to the ocean at the horizon.
Photogrammetry was something I’d started using about 15 years ago and have watched grow into an amazing tool today. As part of the deeper process I built into the ELC mantra, we knew we had to be amongst these environments to be able to sample the sensation of being there to truly reconstitute it into a virtual context. The shoot was based out of New Zealand and virtual location scouting was used to find real places that could be pivoted on and remixed for creative reasons. Shot over a week and processed for another few weeks we had four phases to the journey that would go into the final project.
Animals unique to NZ were chosen to feature as calm bystanders and witnesses to your presence (another theme that we continue in later work)
High dynamic range was preserved throughout and in later UE4 versions I’ve experimented with HDR versions of the project as I anticipate HDR VR headsets would bring a higher sense of presence.
Positional sound was pre-mixed by Nylon Studios and final-mixed into UE4 as part of a continuing partnership to push professional level audio into VR.
Thanks everyone,
Matt Hermans
Electric Lens Co
www.electriclens.co
Sydney, Australia
Screen shots attached below
