Ever since the dawn of man,
CG Artists have been looking for ways to painlessly animate cars.
Today, the search is over!
(Sorta...)
(Sorta...)
Story time!
In 2022, I found myself with some extra time on my hands, and I decided to start working on a car rig for personal use. I wanted a flexible tool that would work well in any pipeline and for any type of car animation.
Not a video game simulator!
There were already a ton of great tools out there, but most of them were "simulation-based". And hey... Physics and gravity and centrifugal forces are cool, yes, but sometimes all you need is just to make your car follow a boring, ordinary curve.
"I wanted a tool that gives
the artist ultimate control."
Rather than relying on physically correct simulated data, Launch Control gives the artist all the tools needed to make their cars do whatever they want - getting to the result as fast as possible. It's iterable and flexible and easy to get into.
"Exhaust gases go into the turbocharger and spin it,
witchcraft happens, and you go faster."
- Jeremy Clarkson
This is the expected knowledge-level for anybody who wishes to use Launch Control. There are no crazy sliders for accurate physical values, track width and camber angles, but rather a simple "1, 2, 3 Interface" that takes you through rigging, animation and physics calculations with helpful pop-ups.
If you do want to go advanced, you can open up the "Manual Gearbox" to tune Launch Control to your liking.
I am excited to create more animations using Launch Control and to push the tool further.
For now, I will just leave you with these few gifs to show off some of the cool inner workings of Launch Control.
You can see more over at:
https://blendermarket.com/products/launch-control--auto-rig-for-vehicles
https://blendermarket.com/products/launch-control--auto-rig-for-vehicles
Thank you!
