BMW X7 2019
A study project focused on the photorealistic integration of a CGI vehicle into a photographic environment. The goal was to achieve an indistinguishable level of realism, with a focus on lighting accuracy, materials, and compositing.
The Challenge: Absolute Realism
The main objective of this project was to seamlessly merge a 3D model of the BMW X7 with high-quality photographic plates. The challenge was to identically reproduce the lighting, shadows, and reflections of the environment so that the vehicle truly appeared present in the scene.
This required a meticulous approach to material creation in Redshift and a multi-pass compositing workflow in Nuke to refine every detail.
Final Render
The result is an image where the boundary between real and virtual is blurred, highlighting both the vehicle model and the quality of the integration.
Creation Process
The 3D model of the BMW X7 was placed in the scene. Materials such as metallic paint, glass, and chrome were developed in Redshift for Maya. The scene was then lit using an HDRI captured from the environment to achieve realistic lighting and reflections.
Several render passes (beauty, reflection, shadows, ambient occlusion) were exported to Nuke for the final compositing, where they were layered and adjusted for perfect integration.
Breakdown Video
This short video shows the different layers and steps that make up the final image, from the raw backplate to the final grading.