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Blackbird Shape-Shifting Car — Parallax Forums

Blackbird Shape-Shifting Car

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
in General Discussion
Cool tech. Why didn't WE think of this?

The Blackbird is the world's first fully adjustable car rig that cannot only alter its chassis to match the precise length and width of almost any car, but its looks as well. Using CGI, the car rig can be re-skinned to look like any car, and its electric motor can be programmed to emulate the driving characteristics of the subject car, too. Automotive content producers no longer need the physical vehicle for a shoot as the Blackbird is a do-it-all-rig.



Comments

  • yetiyeti Posts: 818
    erco wrote: »
    Cool tech. Why didn't WE think of this?
    [  ] ... Because we dream of spaceships.
    [  ] ... Because we dream of teleporters.
    [x] ... Because virtual presence is the next big thing.
    [x] ... Cars are sooo last millenium.
    ;-)
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    Here's a few stills from the site, I really like the acrylic skin.
    The_Mill.jpeg
    867 x 399 - 103K
    00000014998.jpeg
    1280 x 720 - 112K
    00000014995-1.jpeg
    1280 x 720 - 103K
  • Keith YoungKeith Young Posts: 569
    How many are they going to sell?
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    Keith Young wrote: »
    How many are they going to sell?

    You can't impress the ladies, unless you keep the FPV goggles on her, then you can change yourself into Super Man while your at it.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    Cool technology, but unless it's a futuristic car that exists only in silicon, or a Corvair that no sane person would agree to drive, is there a point to the added expense? Car rental is pretty inexpensive in the scheme of things, even if it's a 1932 Bugatti (exceptions do exist, like the *horror* of wrecking now-classic and $100K + E-Jags in the original Italian Job -- what were they thinking?!)

    If used in a car ad, I think they're underestimating the social media impact of revealing nothing like the actual car model was used. These sorts of things tend to backfire, and the car mags love this sort of gossip. So this makes it the domain of TV and movie production, where costs are outlandish already.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    If nothing else it would be used in the film industry. Lots of potential there. :nerd:
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Yup, I see it mainly in TV/movies. The Batman "Tumbler" Batmobile (Dark Knight) was maybe 7 different cars, each for different shots & stunts, at a half-million to million each. A rig like this could save lots of time & money.

    Funny, when they stunt jump a car in Dukes of Hazard or Knight Rider, they consumed one car per jump. If you watch closely, you can often see the chassis bend/crumple/break on landing. Then they cut away to a different car to continue the scene. The only exception I recall from long ago was the "Cody Coyote" from Hardcastle & McCormick, which would land a jump (gracefully or not) and keep going in one shot. Pretty impressive considering
    the G-forces involved.

    http://videosift.com/cinema/video/Jay-Leno-Test-Drives-Batmans-Tumbler-from-The-Dark-Knight

  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    Knight Rider was definitely one I was thinking of. They had one "show" version of the car for inside shots and the rest were all disposable stunt vehicles. But they made changes to the body and even had the car do some mechanical morphing in a few episodes. It would have been much easier (and cheaper) with CGI.
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2016-06-28 01:27
    I think I read it here, how many cars were involved in keeping the General Lee rolling, in the Dukes of Hazzard TV show, it was a ridiculous amount.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    It's painful being a teenager (as I was in the 80s) and seeing all those cars destroyed when I wanted one of my own. :innocent:
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2016-06-27 22:14
    Yee-Haw! Another advantage of a CGI car instead of a real car? The "General Lee" had a rebel flag on the roof, which is passe, non-PC, and banned since June 2015. (Don't get me started on how silly the rebel flag ban is. I was born in Charleston SC.) The syndicated "Dukes of Hazzard" show was doing well in syndication until then, but no one would show it afterwards from public outcry. Blackbird's CGI could wipe that flag out easily as flags, car colors or body styles fall from favor.

  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    Seeing those cars do a nose dive landing, was a lot easier to watch than the dumb oversteering and curb bumping, they done in the car chases on Starsky and Hutch. I bet there was just one car used in that series.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    erco wrote: »
    The "General Lee" had a rebel flag on the roof, which is passe, non-PC, and banned since June 2015. (Don't get me started on how silly the rebel flag ban is. I was born in Charleston SC.)

    Sad, isn't it? There's a lot of things that were in TV shows in the 70s and 80s that are now considered non-PC. Shows like, "All in the Family" and "Married with Children". Yeah, we best not go down that path, huh?

    :innocent:
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    I'll go down that path. I think it's a serious intellectual problem.

    Oh, boy, Archie Bunker and Al Bundy. Back in the day over in Blighty we had "Till Death Us Do Part" with Alf Garnett as head of the household.

    All such things are not allowed now a days.

    Political Correctness is a tyranny that will lead us back to another Dark Ages. Have an opinion? Better keep quite about it.

  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2016-06-28 18:40
    A CG standin wouldn't be very useful for a "practical" prop like the General Lee, since the actors are shot inside it, coming in and out, bashing someone's head against its hood, and so on. You really do need a real car for that. It would not be unusual to use a real car for interiors and closeups, and a CG standin for distance stunts.

    Whether or not the standin is really required depends on the stunt. Having the standin do a dangerous stunt is also expensive -- those standins have to be very costly if it's damaged in the stunt. Here's a stunt that was quite expensive for its day (drop in the bucket today), and something that could now be done with pure CG, no standin required (or desired):



    Heater will be pleased the barrel roll was famously done in a single take -- all the producers had money for -- by a British stunt driver, Bumps Willard.
    erco wrote: »
    TV shows in the 70s and 80s that are now considered non-PC. Shows like, "All in the Family" and "Married with Children".

    Yeah, but the latter two shows were meant to be outlandish and push buttons. All in the Family was a satire, and as revenge is best served cold, satire is best served still biting back.
    Archie Bunker never prevailed in the end. I don't think Carroll O'conner (a steadfast and unapologetic liberal, BTW), would have tolerated that. Archie was meant to be an ugly reflection of society, and there's no point to the show's premise if had said acceptable things.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2016-06-28 20:13
    Although for stunts, wide shots often don't show much interior detail since it's a stuntman in harness & helmet, as your James Bond clip shows.

    Another classic stunt below, the big jump from "Hooper". I forget exactly why everybody's driving so badly and everything's blowing up, but jolly good redneck fun. Fitty-cent gas and mashed Mavericks & station wagons. Watch out for bad language, kiddies. Real men don't talk like that.



  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    erco,

    You mean this rebel flag: https://www.google.fi/search?q=General+Lee+rebel+flag&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=835&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju67Xws9DNAhWnIpoKHTglD-MQsAQIGA ?

    Don't worry, I know a few guys proudly flying that flag around here.
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