Car commercials are not always as they appear. While many new car launches feature vehicles being driven to their limits on picturesque roads, the truth is that the car in question may not even be on set.

As we discovered last year with a behind-the-scenes clip at how CGI was used to morph a Bugatti Chiron onto the skin of a Veyron, a new video by effects studio The Mill shows how its advanced multi-purpose rig can be transformed into any car imaginable.

Named the Blackbird, the intriguing creation was shown to the world at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference and works in conjunction with the advanced Cyclops camera system to render a virtual car over the ride and overlay it in real time, such as the Camaro ZL1.

The most impressive feature of the entire system is that as the virtual car can be overlayed in real time, less has to be done in post-production. Additionally, it means that the virtual car is visible directly through the viewfinder of the camera, allowing commercials and promos of unreleased vehicles to be easily filmed without the real car ever hitting the street.

The more you know…

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