A Smart Car Smashes Into a Concrete Barrier!

http://uni3d.com/ - A smart car comes flying down the street and smashes into cement construction barriers at 14th & Larimer in downtown Denver! Luckily the driver and vehicle were digital, and no injuries or damage resulted.

This shot was a project originally created to be my final at the Vancouver Film School. Upon further development it was scrapped for harder challenge; a Phoenix. Years later I revived this scene as a compositing demo while teaching at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Once I had set this up for the class I was pleased with how simply recycling unused elements together had turned out, so I fleshed out the animation, added a driver/airbag (which is BARELY visible...) and comped the shot together.

All elements are created within Maya, with compositing being handled via Nuke. Unless otherwise mentioned all visual elements are the work of Troy Whitmer. The vehicle was a free model from a source I cannot find years after the fact, but I did do significant cleanup; all normals were remapped, and it did not come with any materials, or grouping of items. The character model is courtesy of VFS animation mentor Sarah Hill, with new materials applied.

Audio:
Much thanks to these FreeSound Project contributers!
http://www.freesound.org/index.php
Scarbelly25 - http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=298165
Timbre - http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=1015240
CGEffex - http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=1386366
Sagetyrtle - http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=43834

The breakdown music is a mixture of sounds from the sample pack Kazan Makes it Through by Jelly Llama
http://ccmixter.org/files/Jelly_Llama/26301

--Video page on my portfolio, HD Still available--
http://home.comcast.net/~twbpfile1/html/portfolio/SmartSmash.html

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• smart
• car
• fortwo
• wreck
• crash
• totalled
• smashed
• 3d
• 3-d
• cgi
• vfx
• compositing
• integration
• maya
• nuke
• Denver
• uni3d
• visual
• effects

[Love2makeUcrazy]

I want to learn how to do that. Where do I start?

[ICPJuggalo1988]

@Love2makeUcrazy I'd say the key aspect of it is the animation, all the motion and deformation of the car itself was done manually. So getting a feel for movement and being able to reproduce it decently enough is key to selling it. After that the next biggest piece is probably the camera tracking, this was done in MatchMover. This scene was full auto tracked, with only a few masks over walking people. Throw in a bit of rigid body dynamics for the glass and it's down to refining the light/render!

[ASSIMPORTER]

light angle and detail problem vray better

[ICPJuggalo1988]

@ASSIMPORTER I'm afraid this kind of critique offers little to work with, though. I'd imagine V-Ray could offer nicer renders, and Maxwell a step beyond that, but it wouldn't be the most effective tool, especially when considering additional cost (working in Maya).

[Gwi145]

It's called concrete not cement !

[ICPJuggalo1988]

@Gwi145 At first I thought it was a technicality, but you do appear to be right. I said "cement", but that's only the binding agent. Concrete, being the mentioned cement and other material such as gravel ground limestone/granite, is indeed a different material. It's always good to learn new facts!

[DBBOY9]

It's awesome but next time try to avoid key giveaways.....for example the way that the people crossing the street just kept walking. Just some tips :D

[albelba]

i fell for the barrier

[4fingered]

good work :)

[ethownzbh]

somebody tried to mimic fifth gear

[Dansorganmusic]

More like a DumbCar

[timnlilrok]

you can call a car anything you want. thing is, most of the time it's the person in the seat, not the car around them.

[camwizardoz]

and not a single fuck was given that day

[GerbilEssences]

Nice work, fake... in the best way possible :)

[Pow3rGaming]

What an idiot car... you notice the driver's whole freaking body pushed up against the windshield?? Yeah, REAL safe.  What a dumbass car.

[becky645]

VERY nicely done. Perfect. Congrats!