To promote the all-­new Chrysler 200, Wieden+Kennedy Portland partnered with Stopp and MPC Creative to deliver a first-of-its-kind interactive, photo­real virtual reality experience. ‘Beneath the Surface’ is a four-minute experiment, pushing the boundaries of what’s doable in virtual reality. Using the latest Oculus Rift DK2 headset, users are immersed in a beautiful rendering of the Chrysler 200 and taken on an audiovisual tour of the car and the state-of-the-art facilities that make such a vehicle possible.

The creative production challenge was to maintain maximum visual quality while creating an ‘exploding car’.  Together, Wieden+Kennedy, Stopp and MPC Creative achieved this. The user can experience it firsthand as the car flies apart and encircles them, showing off the quality and craftsmanship of the vehicle. The user interacts with the car parts in real-time, which allows the viewer to cue additional immersive film content. The virtual tour is augmented by an explosive soundscape that literally shakes the car beneath the user. 

The project used both the CG expertise and interactive VR development of the combined MPC LA and MPC NY studios to craft the photoreal environment and over 150 individual car parts. From surgical precision welding through to robotically aligned panels, MPC ensured the VR experience had a fluid sense of presence, with a careful eye on the balance of real-time 3D and video playback within Oculus Rift.

Technical details of the project include:

- Oculus DK2 is the latest development kit from Oculus, allowing the user to lean in to see details as fine as the wood grain on the veneered dashboard. 

 - Epic Games’ “Unreal Engine 4” enables the most realistic real-time rendering available in VR to date. The scene as a whole has nearly 3 million polygons, all rendered stereoscopically at 75 fps.

- The sound system combines custom soundtracks, voiceovers, spatial sound effects triggering all around the user and a 300-watt vibration servo for bass enhancement.

- The installation runs off of top of the line water-cooled gaming PCs pushed to the limit in order to squeeze maximum visual performance out of them.

- To augment the 360° videos we have boosted the frame rate, painted out all of the stitching errors common in VR video, and added game engine generated stereoscopic particles for an added sense of depth and realism. 

All images used with permission from Rut Sigurdardottir.