Burrows uses Hardware Ray-tracing to bring FORD prototype cars to life

Burrows, a design agency specializing in the automotive industry, used hardware ray-tracing technology to create a series of photorealistic images and animations for Ford marketing communications.

 

Burrows has been using ARTVPS’s RenderDrive for more than four years to create “real-life” stills and animations of Ford products. CAD data for cars are sent to Burrows in wireframe format and imported into Discreet’s 3ds max or Alias’ Maya for texturing and lighting. The models are then combined with high-dynamic range (HDR) background images and rendered with RenderDrive, which automatically processes the HDRI lighting, shading and reflections.

 

“We are used to producing photographs of cars for Ford and Mazda sales brochures,” says Derek Price, creative head at Burrows. “With RenderDrive and the HDRI environments, we’re able to achieve more realism in outdoor stills and animations. Our photographic art directors have evaluated some in-house comparisons between renderings and photographs of the cars, and they are indistinguishable.”

The RenderDrive incorporates ARTVPS’s modular ray-tracing architecture, which accelerates 3D rendering by distributing it across an array of specialized chips. RenderDrive generates full-frame previews in seconds, and gives users the speed to take advantage of advanced 3D rendering features such as multiple area lights, accurate 3D motion blur and depth of field, secondary illumination, and physically based materials, lighting and camera properties.

Burrows uses this technology for billboard-sized renderings and realistic animations that would be impossible to produce with software rendering.

“Even though computers have advanced, an interior image that mimics real-life photography with 20 lighting sources, soft shadows and ray-traced shadows would virtually shut down the computer, even for a test render,” Price says. “RenderDrive is the only solution we’ve found that can handle the large CAD data sets we require and give us the highest level of realism for Ford’s automotive marketing materials.”

Examples of Burrows work with the Ford Motor Company can be seen in numerous print ads, billboards, brochures and other marketing materials for the Ford, Lincoln Mercury, Land Rover, Jaguar and Mazda automotive manufacturers