Similar to stock photography sites, CGIBackgrounds represent automotive and landscape photographers who provide background environments specifically for automotive print and motion advertising applications. “Clients utilize our web-based archive of 15,000 images to position computer generated, or photo-strip vehicles in photographic locations from around the world,” explains Chambers.

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When Chambers and Cumming launched CGIBackgrounds in February 2004, it was after years working in the automotive photography business as an agent and photographer, respectively. This experience gave them unique insight to the business, so when in 2002 2-dimensional strip photography and 3D rendering from design data started to become realistic for automotive manufacturers, they saw the writing on the wall: computer generated imaging, or virtually placing a rendered vehicle in a photographic background environment, offered two huge benefits to manufacturers that lens photography could not match - cost savings and advanced flexibility

The pair perceived that the existing industry method of using a costly photo fleet – a custom built prototype vehicle built ahead of mass production so that promotional materials and exposure can be created for the consumer market – would eventually become obsolete, so they spent a year building up their website library before launching, first concentrating on building background plates. Their belief proved correct: “We saw a dramatic decline in studio assignments of 30% over two years. Now many of these large facilities are struggling to remain productive.”

Computer generated images can be created far ahead of the actual physical prototype entity. By converting the engineer’s design CAD data into surface data, and rendering every detail of the car's interior or exterior, you can then strip them into CGIBackgrounds for use in ads, dealer catalogues and other promotions. Chambers describes the process as a puzzle with two halves of a whole: photographers, who provide the background and context; and renderers, such as Armstrong-White in Bloomfield Hills, MI, an independent group that works with the manufacturer's design data. Together, these two groups combine rendering and backgrounds to provide the finished product to the automobile manufacturers through their agencies.

CGI has the potential to save car companies millions of dollars in the construction of prototypes, and it enables ad agencies to ‘photograph’ cars where they never could before, avoiding costly transportation fees and production crews, a sizable cost and logistical challenge when you consider the location scouts, pro drivers, water trucks, security, riggers and various other members of the chain involved in a location shoot. CGI also enables car companies to put images out there and gauge public reaction before they even bend a piece of metal, in effect creating demand before the car rolls off the assembly line. Today, the technology has advanced to the point where trained professionals cannot tell it is not real; it no longer looks forced, as it did in the early days.

Three years later this shift in the auto industry has created a market niche opportunity for VR photographers who may already have a collection of hi-resolution exterior shots. As a VR image is a better tool than a static background plate, the company is now launching the second phase of its business plan and seeking 360-degree panoramic images and HDR panos. Chambers and Cumming state it is a real opportunity that is happening now.

There’s a misconception that only the rare photographer with a costly camera can participate. Not so. “We want to target photographers who may already have an inventory of suitable images, such as cylindrical, stitched spherical and HDRI sphericals,” Chambers says. There are many opportunities for photographers who don’t have such costly equipment and as the majority of VR photographers have not worked in the automotive market or considered its potential, this opens up a whole new venue for their work.

VRMag asked Chambers and Cumming a few questions to understand this shift in the automotive industry better and glean how VR photographers can benefit from it.

How and why was CGIBackgrounds started?

CGIBackgrounds.com represents automotive and landscape photographers who provide photographic background environments specifically for automotive print and motion advertising applications. Our clients utilize our web-based archive of 15,000 images to position computer generated, or photo-strip vehicles in photographic locations from around the world.

CGIbackgrounds was born as a result of insight into the automotive photographic industry. 3-D modeling and computer rendering of manufactured products had evolved from lower resolution applications for motion and interactive, to the higher resolution requirements of print media. TV spots and web applications had begun utilizing this technology in previous years, because of the nature of movement and resolution of the medium. The rendering speeds of the hardware and software improvements began to increase, and show realistic possibilities for print. Print medium is more demanding of detail than motion, requiring as high as 360 dpi . We became aware of the testing of converting manufacturing design data to rendering data in 2002.

Our existing business was representing automotive photographers who shot on location, or in their large stage facilities capable of shooting several vehicles at one time. Manufacturers would deliver vehicle prototypes ahead of production to locations, (typically in the western U.S), or to our studios where we would shoot film, or digital files for advertising, catalogs and other print applications.
Improvements in 3-D modeling or rendering advanced quickly. Manufacturers began using this new capability for applications such as trim updates and color variations, soon after, entire vehicles in studio settings. We saw a dramatic decline in studio assignments of 30% over two years. Now many of these large facilities are struggling to remain productive.

As the technology improved to applications of location settings, we defined a new niche market. We created CGIBackgrounds as a worldwide high-resolution archive of photographic locations for placement of these 3-D rendered vehicles.

3-D rendering allows a manufacturer to save millions in the production of a prototype Photo-fleet. They can bring photorealistic dimensional imagery of a product to testing without bending a single piece of metal. CGIBackgrounds allows them to place that vehicle on location, anywhere in the world.

When we met in Sedona, you outlined three applications: web based, panoramas, and HDRI. Can you recount them here?

VR photographers with different levels of equipment would be able to contribute images to the website. VR photographers have the experience necessary to know what make a great 360 shot. They also have the experience and technical expertise to produce good files. The web-based applications apply to lower resolution panoramas ranging in resolution from 1K to 5K in the long dimension. Print resolution for reflection start at about 6K in the long. It’s hard to put a resolution requirement on a panorama that is going to be cut up and used for background plates behind the car. It all depends on if the pano is spherical or cylindrical and how much of the pano they will crop out. A rough starting point for print size panoramas is around 12K in the long. HDRI spherical panoramas should land around 4K to 6K in resolution. Using these resolutions as a guide, a photographer could assess his or her library of images and know what the potential for use would be.

Can you outline the advantages of using CGIBackgrounds versus shooting the vehicle in a real environment?

Virtually placing a rendered vehicle on location opens up opportunities that were previously a logistical impossibility: Museum wall spaces, National Parks, Venice, or a bank vault. Now you can shoot anywhere, and place your vehicle in that impossible location, at much lower production costs. Creative opportunities are now limited only by your imagination. Smaller production crews, less impact on an environment, and no need to wait for prototype vehicles.

Can you elaborate how and why CG images are used in the automotive field, how they’re created far ahead of the physical entity, and how they are incorporated into an HDRI.

A CG image can be used anywhere a traditional photograph was utilized. The uses include national print ad campaigns, catalog, point of purchase or direct mail pieces, as well as interactive and web. CG images are now replacing everything from spot and features to entire location major shots found in automotive catalogs. Another logical use for rendered images is used as x-ray and reveals shots that show the inner workings of the vehicles components and structure. CG images can exist well before the product is ever prototyped. A CGI rendering is created by first extrapolating the necessary surface data from manufacturing design data (CAD, Catia, etc.). This data is then imported into rendering programs like Maya and Lightwave. The data creates a wire frame that can then be rotated and viewed from any angle. In the first generation of CG products the renderer would use virtual lights to illuminate the car. They can create a virtual studio with unlimited light sources and light types, including spots, floods, bounce flats, and light-boxes. These 1st generation renderings, though impressive, lacked the final degree of realism of true photography. The new trend is to light the product using a HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imagery) file. The HDR file format is a standardized file format that can be utilized by the rendering program to light the product. The technique is called image based lighting where the virtual product can read all the lighting and reflective data captured within that scene by the HDRI file. The type of HDRI file that works best for this application is spherical panoramas. These spherical shots surround the entire product with the lighting and reflective data.

Can you give a comparison, cost-wise, between using a CGIBackgrounds background versus physically placing the auto on location?

Even as an introductory technology with high development costs, the comparisons to traditional photographic production costs are dramatic. Custom-built prototype fleets can cost tens of millions for a manufacturer. Transportation, maintenance, trim and color modifications can be millions more. Add to that the marketing potential of consumer testing & reaction before any tooling is scheduled, and the cost savings is significant.

Are there any industries outside of the automotive that use or would have a use for your backgrounds?

Yes. We have worked primarily with ‘Wheeled’ vehicles- Automobiles, tractors, motorcycles, and RVs, but we also market to the sport and leisure industry; Bikes, tents, and camping equipment. Some symbolic applications of roads also work for insurance, financial planners and other companies who use ‘down the road or ‘vista’ imagery.

What opportunities are there for VR photographers in the automotive marketing fields?

High-resolution panoramas and 360s are very desirable for print applications. An ultra-high-resolution panorama may be sectioned up taking a sweet spot as a background plate for the product. A typical background plate section needs to have the resolution on the order of 5K by 3K pixel count to hold up to the standards used by automotive agencies. The other use for panoramic images is pure reflective data in a CG product. As mentioned earlier HDRI will impart the light and reflective information onto the surface of a CG product, but a regular panoramic image can be used for reflections only. This is accomplished through a technique called ray-tracing. Renderers can mix and match HDRI files for lighting with different panoramic images for reflections. Lower resolution executions will be useful for web and interactive.

Licensing Model:
The licensing model for photographers is comparable to stock houses like Getty and Comstock. Images are rights-managed with a 50/50 commission split paid 30 days after the company is paid and is based on exposure, timeframe, etc. They require a three-year commitment with exclusive rights to images specific to an automotive environment and wheeled vehicles. CGIBackgrounds offers directed comps to shot specific environments with a two to three day turnaround, if not shorter, directly targeted for the client.

CGIBackgrounds also represents photographers for HDRI assignments and is prepared to hook up photographers with a renderer so they have a produced piece, and they can also direct custom requests their way.

The company is interested in locations both inside and outside North America.
Email Ben Chambers: ben[at]cgibackgrounds[dot]com