Toyota Prius - Full CGI Animation

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This full CGI animation of the new Prius AWD model showcases its ability to be driven and parked in all terrain, especially steep and snowy conditions, whilst also handling perfectly on the road.

Why CGI? At first, you might think this is simple enough to shoot for real. However, these cars were ‘code red’ - still under top security prior to their public launch. So there are huge logistical problems and costs in getting them to the location and shooting them.

At the same time, there was an unexpected lack of snow in the desired location, so CGI was the only option to get the animation completed before launch.

How we did it: We began with scouting a real location that was ideal, and extracting the 3d data for Google Earth to create an initial mockup to pre-visualise the shot for the client. Once we were happy with the basic structure of the environment, photographer Paul Barshon (a certified drone pilot) was able to photoscan the location with his drone for us, so we could use CG to rebuild the location in high quality.

Scattering trees, vegetation and rocks over the base and then adding the blanket of snow, brought the 3d location to life.

Once the CG environment was completed, we had complete freedom with the camera movements and light direction, and were able to go through multiple rounds of revisions with the client on those – which would have eaten a lot of time up and money on set for real.

The final result shows the concept perfectly with dynamic camera movements in a spectacular landscape.