2012 Stunt Driving Reveals the Future of VFX

CULVER CITY, Calif.--Friday the 13th has a built-in terror factor, but this weekend the scariest thing out there may be how much stunt driving and VFX have progressed with the advent of the Drive-A-Tron™ software from SWAY Studio. “2012,” Roland Emmerich's apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, charts the Mayan calendar prophecy about the end of the world. Among the many chaotic events in the movie is a jaw-dropping sequence in which Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) races through LA as the city crumbles beneath the wheels of the limousine he’s driving. It is an astounding sequence, one that somehow distinguishes itself amidst 158 minutes of non-stop action, and it's likely producers will now have a tough time shooting a car chase the old-fashioned way.

“2012” co-producers Unchartered Territory approached SWAY Studio after hearing about the company’s proprietary Drive-A-Tron™ software. “Given the nature of this sequence, live action wasn’t an option,” explains SWAY’s Founder/Creative Director Mark Glaser, “so the work was bid out in traditional animation, as well as using the Drive-A-Tron™.”

Developed over several years and used in countless car commercials (including the new Lexus Hybrid campaign), SWAY Studio’s Drive-a-Tron™ software simulates the physics of cars in full 3D, taking into account not only the physical properties of the car body but also the engine, suspension, and even the dynamic deformations of the tires riding over rough terrain. This all happens in real time, with the artist literally in the driver’s seat. The result possesses all of the bumps and wobbles of a real car in motion, which would take a traditional animator days on end to reproduce convincingly, if ever. In short, this technology allowed Emmerich to exercise his vision in terms of what cars do, instead of what animators can do.

Time was a factor on “2012,” and SWAY Studio was able to work within those constraints, thanks in part to the Drive-A-Tron™. For example, a ten-second shot takes three days to animate. With the Drive-A-Tron™, however, “A ten-second shot takes ten seconds to simulate,” Glaser says, “so many takes can be done in a short amount of time.” Additionally, the risks and costs of getting a crew out to shoot real cars was eliminated, as was the guesswork and time associated with traditionally animating cars.

Anyone familiar with Emmerich’s films knows that he is determined to outdo himself with each new effort. As remarkable as SWAY’s previous work had been, “2012” presented unique challenges to Glaser’s team. “Before ‘2012,’ we had never simulated a car driving over moving terrain,” Glaser notes. “The interesting thing about the Drive-A-Tron™, though, is that the software was uniquely designed to be expandable, so its options are really limitless. Once approached to do the work, we wrote new code to make the road interact with the physics of the car.”

SWAY Studio is the only company worldwide using this cutting-edge technology.