the art of
robotics
The Embassy’s original Transformers-style Citroën C4 spot became a worldwide cult hit. With the studio just having
finished work on a sequel, we asked its CG team to reveal some of the ad’s technical secrets
ABOUT THE ORIGINAL AD
Created for the launch of Citroën’s C4 range,
The Embassy Visual Effects’s original 2004 ad,
‘Alive with Technology’, opens with a hand-held
camera shot of a car that transforms into a robot,
performs an impromptu series of dance moves
and then reverts back to vehicular form.
As well as making other VFX teams green
with envy, the spot proved to have unexpected
longevity. A full two years on, it was regularly
appearing on TV, picking up fresh awards, and
inspiring numerous spoofs and tributes, including
a memorable parody replacing the C4 with a rather
less glamorous Citroën 2CV and a viral for Danish
bacon. The Mill even got a shot at producing a
follow-up, before The Embassy itself jumped back
on board for a third in the series.
“It’s hard to say what it was about that original
ad that hit people,” says studio president Winston
Helgason. “Technically we did a good job, but
something else struck a chord with them. While the
ad has that geek factor, it’s just really fun to watch.”
http:tinyurl.com/2nm6d8
052 | 3D WORLD September 2007
TDW94.t_trade 052
CASE STUDY
BY MARK RAMSHAW
elevision audiences got their first taste of
T vehicular dancefloor magic back in 2004.
A relative newcomer to the field of CG,
Vancouver-based VFX studio The Embassy
Visual Effects had already turned heads with its viral
short film Tetra Vaal and some impressively photoreal
ads for the likes of Nike. But it was the Citroën ‘Alive
with Technology’ ad that really put the studio on the
map – and a spring in the step of CG-based car ads.
Fusing perfectly believable virtual visuals, directorial
flair, and some seriously cool dance moves, The Embassy
created what is now regarded as a genuine classic.
Now the studio is back on board for the third spot in what
is becoming an increasingly long-running campaign, and has
been working hard to push the concept of a car that
transforms into a robot (see ‘About the original ad’, left) to
even greater heights. In contrast to the original spot, for
which director Neill Blomkamp utilised a virtual camera and
3D environment constructed from photographs, the new ad’s
director, Trevor Cawood, chose to undertake a live shoot in
South Africa – a location chosen principally for its favourable
lighting conditions. A new transforming CG vehicle was then
integrated into the plates with the help of elements rebuilt
in 3D to aid the creation of shadows and reflections.
“The brief was pretty open,” says The Embassy president
Winston Helgason. “The idea was to have the robot running, but
other than that, it was simply ‘make it look cool’. The client did
come back and ask if we could find something else for the robot
to do, though, so we came up with the rail slide [which the bot
performs along the restraining barrier by the side of the road].”
Over the course of the next five pages, the studio’s 3D and
compositing staff reveal just how their cybernetic star was
rigged and animated to perform such a stunt. They also explore
some of the shading and lighting techniques used to generate
the photorealistic renders of the modified car necessary to
composite it seamlessly into the background plate.
Helgason reveals that the studio’s preferred tool for this
kind of work is LightWave 3D’s own renderer, its raytracing
proving particularly well suited to hard surface lighting.
Dropping HDRI set data into the program and adding additional
lights, the studio is able to get a scene fully lit in a matter of
minutes. But ultimately, he says that the real secret of
photorealism in the Citroën ads is simply attention to detail.
“The most important thing is to understand how lighting
really works, and then learn to match the way it reacts to
metallic surfaces,” he says. “That, and then adding loads of
extra model detail is what makes the results so effective.”
The new Citroën ‘Runner’ spot is now broadcasting in the
UK, Germany and France. Overseas readers can view the
ad online at The Embassy Visual Effects’s website
www.theembassyvfx.com
3/7/07 12:25:46
 Olivier The art of robotics | TUTORIALS

MODELLING | From sketch to skeleton

Sketches and references

01 “The original robot, designed by
[ad director] Neill Blomkamp, was
first sketched out in 3D using a bunch of
robot pieces lifted from machinery we’d
modelled for other projects,” says modeller
Paul Copeland. “We then bought a bunch
of Transformers robots and ripped them
apart to see how they worked, looking in
particular at how the cars broke apart.”

Increasing the detail

04 Additional mechanical detail was
added both for structural reasons
and to improve the look of the final shot.
“We work with highly detailed models,”
says Paul Copeland. “We find that the shots
achieve a level a realism that is only possible
when light reacts with complex geometry.”

Breaking down the form

02 “The next step was then to look at the
Citroën, cut a scanned model of the car
apart and attach pieces to our robot model.
We’d apply the motion capture, see how it looked,
and do more back and forth. One of the key things
was to get the front of the car – a very recognisable
element – to transform into the robot’s chest.”

Balancing act
05 “We went through a series of
revisions with the head and leg
pieces to find the best balance between look
and functionality. Adding moving gears,
joints, springs and hydraulics helped to bring
the model to a higher level of detail and add
secondary motion.”

Reworking the ankles Rigging the model

03 “For the new spot, we had the task
of updating the robot to make him
functional for the motions he would be
required to perform. The ankles are totally
different on this model. On the old design
they were so far back that they’d never have
06 “The rigging of the robot is
extremely simple. It uses a standard
skeleton of around 20 bones. The aim was
not to build a robot rig that moved in a
clunky manner. Instead, it had to move in
the same way as the motion-captured
▲

been able to handle the running animation.” actor – quickly, fluidly and efficiently.”

September 2007 3D WORLD | 053

TDW94.t_trade 053 3/7/07 12:25:47

 TUTORIALS | The art of robotics

ANIMATION | Getting the robot up on its feet and back down onto four wheels

Mixing mocap and keyframe animation
01 “The robot starts as the fully CG car, then transforms
into a mocap-driven robot,” says The Embassy’s
Tristam Gieni. “This transformation required that we build a rig
that was both used by mocap data and keyframe animation.
Sections of the robot had to switch from mocap to keyframe
animation on demand, while others continued to use the mocap.”
Blocking and refining the animation
02 “It was important that the transformation was both
physically accurate as a real machine and looked
great to the viewer,” Gieni adds. “A low-resolution model
was used for blocking out the initial animation. Numerous
versions of the transform were created before the final
version was selected.”
Making final tweaks
03 “When the animation was approved for the next
stage, we moved to the hi-res version for first light
and added all the secondary animation such as the hoses and
hydraulics. Problems like geometry intersecting were fixed with
a little tweaking. Animation was also tweaked to reflect areas
of the environment that looked best on the surface of the car.”

Folding the model back up

04 “The final shot [of the robot folding up] was the only
animation where an FK/IK rig was used to animate
the transforming car,” continues Gieni’s colleague Marc Roth.
“The end framing, where the robot was folded up, was posed
approximately to match the final [shot of the] car, and the
beginning framing was set up in a pseudo-stretch pose.”

Positioning the bones All geometry is fixed

05 “The final CG car was imported as a background
object. A few days were spent first positioning
the boned objects to match as closely as possible to the
final car position,” adds Roth. “Then each car panel and
object was keyframed to line up to the car. Keyframes of
the panels were offset a couple of frames after the bones,
06 “There were several objects from the interior
of the ‘Transformer’ car that broke through the
geometry. To hide the penetration, these objects had
their visibility animated off. Interior objects, such as car
seats, were animated separately to form into final
position. Modelling updates to the ‘Transformer’ were
▲

to settle the animation.” substituted into position as they were completed.”

054 | 3D WORLD September 2007

TDW94.t_trade 054 3/7/07 12:25:49

 TUTORIALS | The art of robotics
LIGHTING AND COMPOSITING | Generating a photorealistic render to match to the live plate
Shooting HDR references
01 “A pano head was used with a digital SLR and a fisheye
lens to capture a hi-res, 360 degree image of the
surroundings in about 10-12 stops of exposure,” says VFX
supervisor Simon van de Lagemaat. “The stops were later
stitched together into a HDR image, which was used as a source
for reflection and extrapolation of light intensities and colour.”
Using archive footage
04 “As well as the CG elements that were created for
each shot, we dug deep into our vault of live-action
effects element,” adds Casey. “We looked specifically for
dusty and atmospheric elements that would help blend the
car into the plates. We also added foot hits to give a sense
that the car was interacting with the dusty mountain road.”
Live-action glare elements
05 “A car is a very reflective object, so we took care
to add subtle flares and glares when needed,
always trying to use live-action flare or glare elements over
CG-generated ones. The car not only reflects its environment,
but it also reflects light onto real objects in the plate. We had to
mimic this effect [during the points in the ad] when the car
passes the crash barrier and when he runs past the cyclists.”
056 | 3D WORLD September 2007
TDW94.t_trade 056
Lighting to complement shaders
02 “Real car paint consists of two layers: a metallic base
coat and a clear gloss coat. The base coat consists of
small metal flakes in regular paint. These sit at varied angles
and cause light to spread as it reflects, hence the soft reflective
quality of the car on top of a diffuse shading effect. A common
mistake is to light this layer as if it were purely metallic.”
Bringing everything together
06 “A final photoreal challenge was to blend the CG
into the in-camera flashes in the edit,” says Casey.
“The new car is bright silver, which made things quite
difficult overall, as it’s easier to make reflections stand up
against a rich, dark colour.” The realism of the CG car paint
helped here. “We used a soft reflection layer that reproduces
the metallic flakes in the base coat, a diffuse layer that
Compositing render passes
03 “All our composites began with the live-action plates,”
continues compositor David Casey. “Some of these
needed touching up, including re-orientating road signs and the
removal of signs on buildings. The CG department supplied a
fully lit car and multiple lighting, shading and shadow passes,
which allowed us to control contrast on a shot-by-shot basis.”
simulates the regular paint the flakes are mixed with, and a
specular layer,” says van de Lagemaat. “The specular layer
was used to simulate the action of the sun on metallic paint,
as soft reflection shaders do not replicate this effect well.”
As a final touch, the composites were given an overall grade,
both to ensure uniformity between shots and to achieve the
overall look requested by the director. ●
3/7/07 12:25:52