Westwood, Calif.-based SWAY Studio relied on NVIDIA Quadro graphics processor solutions to produce photo-real animation in real time for one of this year’s anticipated Super Bowl commercials. The 60-second spot for automobile manufacturer GM will debut during the big game on Sunday, Feb. 4.
The commercial revolves around a small robot that accidentally drops a bolt while working on the GM assembly line. The mistake causes the line to shut down, and the robot is ultimately banished from the company premises. Forlorn and uncertain of his future, the robot does his best to move on with life.
‘Our biggest challenge was to seamlessly create and integrate a realistic CG robot into footage of the actual robot we filmed on set,’ said Mark Glaser, owner and creative director of SWAY Studio. ‘NVIDIA Quadro-based solutions allowed us to easily work at this high level of resolution and detail in real time, which saved us a considerable amount of time throughout the project.’
In creating a CG replicate of the real assembly robot, the artist at SWAY shot basic photography of the robot in various positions and also recorded High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI) from multiple angles to generate a simulated render of what the CG robot would have looked like had it been filmed in real life. SWAY found that while animating the highly detailed 3D model of the robot, with all the detail necessary for HDTV resolution, visual interaction was solid and unshakable due to the reliability of NVIDIA Quadro graphics.
SWAY also had to fill the usually dry Los Angeles River with CG water, created by using multiple layers of procedural textures. The effect was achieved with D2 Software’s Nuke, a high-end compositing software that utilizes Quadro graphics technology.
‘When it comes to compositing with Nuke, NVIDIA is the only option,’ explains Glaser. ‘Its Open-GL driver interface displays flawlessly on NVIDIA graphic cards. With other graphics board solutions, you can expect to have interface rendering problems, but that is not the case with NVIDIA Quadro graphics. The key is that NVIDIA delivers the best quality drivers’always stable and dependable.’
‘We use NVIDIA Quadro solutions for all our projects and are thrilled about the power of the latest NVIDIA GPUs,’ Glaser adds. ‘They generate an opportunity for us to be more creative and efficient in our work. We get excited about faster CPUs, but what is truly exciting is the advancement NVIDIA is making with its GPUs, as this brings us closer to our vision of producing real-time photorealistic CG.’
NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. and has offices throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. For more information on the company and its suite of products, go www.nvidia.com.
Win a Funko X Lilo & Stitch Prize Pack!
