Tell a bit about the Tracker ad.

Imagine, if you will, 30,000 cars stacked on top of one another. The camera tracks in on a man dressed in a high-tech sky diving suit, pulling back to reveal him standing on a pile of cars 52,000 metres high. The voiceover tells viewers that a freefall of this nature would take approximately 14 minutes to complete, illustrating the vast amount of stolen cars successfully recovered by Tracker over the last 10 years. The Agency screened the first 30" ad starting with the hero jumping from the pile of cars and then plummeting to Earth - but the viewer doesn't see him reach the ground. In the 5" spot, shown at the end of the same ad break, the diver is still falling, passing a distant jetliner travelling at 35,000 feet. Roughly 14 minutes later into programming, the 10" conclusion shows the Tracker parachute opening, revealing the company logo, and the hero safely sailing towards the ground. In the viewer's mind, the ad lasts 14 minutes, exactly the amount of time it would take someone to sky dive from 30,000 cars.

Once we had the footage, our compositor began the task of keying the skydiver off the bluescreen while Brendon and myself started on layout, lighting, texturing and matchmoving. Once all the 3D elements were completed, everything was handed over to our compositor, Robert, who comped everything together under the guidance of the director.

Did you have to model all 52k m of cars? ;)

Well, with my background in vehicle modelling, I'm sure the some people would have wanted me to :)

We actually had three high-resolution cars approved for the close ups, and about 10 medium-resolution cars for the wider angle shots.

Is the ad still running in its entirety on TV now, or have you had to make a cut-down version?

The ad ran as a 3-part commercial for the first two weeks, thereafter it was cut down, eliminating the 5 seconder, and re-cutting the 30 seconder to accommodate the 10 second conclusion.

What was the first car you modelled professionally?

The first car I did in a professional capacity was the Hyundai Sonata. The rest of my cars were purely a learning experience. Modelling a car with splines and subpatches was one of the first things I learnt to do in 3D (Hey Lewis!!!) Since I had no further use for the cars, I decided to release them to the online LightWave community.

Was that Sonata you modelled the one used in the Hyundai ad?

Yes, that's my Sonata. It was my first big job here at Luma. Having only modelled a monkey for a commercial when I first got here a few weeks earlier, I was not sure what to expect from such a large scale advert. It was a great learning experience.

Do you model cars "for fun" now, or is it purely work? If the former, what are you modelling for yourself now?

The majority of cars I do these days are for work, both at Luma and on a freelance basis. I recently wanted to sit down and model the Renault Clio 3 Sport, for fun. I made good progress, but never completed it before being booked on another commercial. Time is a luxury when you are in the commercial business.