Poor little car. Its having a really bad day.

I'm really digging your efforts with this. Its looking quite good. I won't repeat what has already been posted about the elements of true physics and damage, etc. but I will comment regarding this most recent clip. Its a small detail, but I noticed it. As the car tumbles past the parked car on the right side of the frame, it should cast an obscured reflection in the side paneling of the parked car to put it more realistically into the composite.

Just an observation.

But its looking great.

-Jon

I will do that next!

http://www.cardenfilms.com/carhow.mov

It's not for a project, just tests...

WOW, it's getting really close to real now - I love that wheel falling off. Might be a good idea to back off a little; from a distance you can't see all of the (imperfect) details.

Now if you hit the top of the matchbox with a hammer before you throw it, you can even get the crushed look. Also, if you put some crushed glass pieces inside, you may get the debris in the picture.

Looking awesome, really impressive.

Maybe try with one of those diecast model cars that you have to build? You can sort of create a model with parts which aren't glued and will easily fall off. Wheels, doors, bumpers etc.

I like it - you're tempting me to start playing around with this stuff myself.

I was hoping the wheel would bounce off another car and roll down the street or something.... (-;

Lookig good!!!!

Re damage to the car - I wouldn't hit it with a hammer as these things are diecast and won't deform under shock anything like a sheet metal structure would - and the paint might flake off in strange ways as well.

But I guess you could always paint it over with some model paints.

You might try putting a couple of pieces of wood in a pair vise grip pliers and squeeze gently to see if you could get it to deform in a reasonable way. You might have to sacrifice a couple of these cars to get something you like.

I think if you cut away from the scene really quickly at the end people (normal people that is, not people like us who know how these things are done) would probably be fine with the illusion as it is. I think not leaving them time to think about it at the end is important.

Maybe a nice CG explosion with flame and smoke engulfing the car at the end would be just the thing.

Turbo Squid, Renderosity, Content Paradise, etc sell CG models of a lot of popular vehicles all ready to stick into your animation. I wish we could get the match box guys to sell CG models as well as the metal ones!

Add some debris coming off the car. Like bits of glass. A piece of chrome moulding, etc. The usual bits of junk you'd find laying around loose in a car.

Overall, it's looking good. Nice work!

I immediately thought the first video should be a commercial: Everything is quiet, soothing music, the two cars standing quietly - then the car is turned over and a loud voiceover screams something like "Company XY! Hits you real hard!" Something like that. It has this surprising comedy effect because it moves a little faster than a real car would.

Great stuff.

I think it would look sensational in slo mo though.

I am waiting patiently? for the next clip...

Grant,

I was thinking about how nice it would be if the car blew up at the end - if it happened quickly enough you wouldn't have time to notice that you were looking at the underside of a model.

I had a few minutes to play around last night so I made up a short explosion/fireball/smoke animation in Cinema 4D

http://www.j-e-andrada.com/flames.avi

This is only 320X240, but if you want it I can send you a hi-res version.

Maybe tonight I'll fool with having the doors and wheels blow off and fly through the air.

Just having fun!

Wow. This is great stuff. Kinda glad I came in when I did. Got to see the entire thing evolve :)

Grant - great job honestly. I really enjoyed watching this test's progress. I have to say I would periodically check in on this thread just to see what happened next! it was exciting and inspiring at the same time.

Would you do some other stuff for us?

We love entertainment here at DVINFO :)

What a thread! - entertaining, inspiring & educational. I really like the fact that others are chipping in with aditional ideas, examples - web based collaboration at it's best

Encore!!

I added a touch of fire and smoke, had to freeze frame to extend the time a bit, looks kinda goofy with the abrupt stop and lack of sound but fun none the less

http://prohosted.com/FlipFire.mov