This Weird Naked Vehicle Rig Can Mimic Almost Any Car Through Mechanical And CGI Trickery

The Mill 'Blackbird' may look like a giant Tamiya RC car with no shell, but it's actually a very clever platform which is intended to make shooting car adverts much, much easier
Remote video URL

If you’re going to shoot a car advert, you’d think the actual car would top the list of things you’ll need to proceed. But, that’s not necessarily the case thanks to this electric-powered filming rig from a company called Mill. You can extend and reduce the width and the length, swap the wheels and play around with the suspension geometry so it behaves - according to the company - like whatever car you’re supposed to be shooting. It even mimics the right body movements for gear changes. A realistic CGI ‘shell’ is overlaid, and boom: your subject is in the video despite the fact it actually isn’t.

When you think about it, the concept makes a lot of sense. Getting hold of brand new models for adverts isn’t always going to be easy, something that this rig solves. Plus, you could easily update an older advert to a refreshed model or even an all-new one.

What the company doesn’t mention is if the drive layout can be changed. Indeed, the promo video above shows a very front-wheel drive Chevrolet Aveo doing smoky drifts…

Comments

Martin Burns
06/24/2016 - 14:05 |
412 | 0

You know those picture adverts you see in magazines? Most of those are 100% CGI as well ;)

06/24/2016 - 17:11 |
48 | 0
RoyP
06/24/2016 - 14:06 |
20 | 6
Anonymous

In reply to by RoyP

So what begins?

06/24/2016 - 14:10 |
14 | 2
Anonymous

Great! Maybe now they will stop destroying rare cars for a 2 hour movie.

06/24/2016 - 14:11 |
172 | 6
Rocco 1

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I think they make replicas of the car and crash them instead not the actual cars

06/24/2016 - 16:20 |
88 | 0
Duellym

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Would you two please go back to aruing on youtube.

06/26/2016 - 22:26 |
0 | 0
Caro

While it says it can replicate driving dynamics easily, you just can’t get exact driving dynamics down, without what is actually an exact replica, or the actual car. In fact, with this system, it’s extremely easy to see when something’s up, because even just looking at a car drive, you get a general idea of its specifications and a general idea of what should be happening. You just can’t replicate a car’s driving dynamics with the same shell that has small adjustments. Some cars will take much more to slide than this chassis, and other will take much less, even on the same tyres. You can’t perfectly replicate a gen 1 Elise, Lamborghini LM002, TS050 and a Honda City Turbo II, with the same, slightly adjusted chassis. Hell, they probably can’t do a new Civic Type R at its limit without making the new Type R look bad.

06/24/2016 - 14:18 |
30 | 2
Ricardo Mercio

In reply to by Caro

Also, this has only double wishbone suspension, so it’s impossible to replicate cars with multilink like the 911, MacPherson strut suspension like the Fiesta and Focus ST, or swingarm like certain BMW’s. Not to mention it doesn’t have vtec, so that can’t kick in either.

06/24/2016 - 16:51 |
34 | 2
Anonymous

In reply to by Caro

Well, most people won’t notice that especially in a 30-second commercial. Even in movies where they do car chases, the speed they are running is actually slower than what is portrayed on screen, so yes, it doesn’t matter.

06/25/2016 - 00:14 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Caro

You would need to look really closely to notice any difference.

06/25/2016 - 00:23 |
4 | 0
Nissan 420sx

I would love to own one! It’s the perfect troll - if your friend ask you for a picture of your car, you can overlay it with a realistic cgi of your dreamcar. When he asks you: „do you own that for real?“ you can say yes, because the cgi is just a cgi over your car lol

06/24/2016 - 14:21 |
78 | 2

It’s probably just as expensive as your dream car anyway though…

06/24/2016 - 23:01 |
38 | 0
Willie

I guess it’s not you’re average run-of the-MILL car then

06/24/2016 - 14:38 |
32 | 0
Max Schröder

Why wasn’t this developed earlier?
Would’ve shooting some movies much cheaper.

06/24/2016 - 15:03 |
4 | 0
BusaTurbo

So this YT video is a car advert for a car for car adverts…

06/24/2016 - 15:14 |
196 | 0

Yo dawg…

06/24/2016 - 15:50 |
100 | 0

Precisely

06/24/2016 - 16:29 |
4 | 0

Woa…

06/24/2016 - 20:43 |
8 | 0

ADVERTEPTION

06/25/2016 - 08:01 |
6 | 0
[ Insert Name Here ]

Sell this to Universal Studios ASAP!!

06/24/2016 - 15:16 |
2 | 0

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