In an industry first, Ford uses all digital photographs for initial concept car media release; Pilot project paves the way for new approaches to vehicle PR, marketing

LOS ANGELES, California, January 9, 2007 – BUNKSPEED, a leading provider of high-end visualization software and services, today announced that Ford Motor Company used BUNKSPEED’s patent-pending software solutions to create advanced media images for the Ford Interceptor concept.

In a special collaboration between BUNKSPEED, Ford and international photographer David Burgess, the team created a collection of digital images of Ford’s modern American muscle car, so media could start reporting on the concept even before it was fully built.

“Leveraging BUNKSPEED’s technology and David’s talents as a seasoned photographer, we were able to offer media a complete set of digital images that brought the data of the Ford Interceptor concept to life in a real-world environment, complete with natural light and proper reflections,” said Jennifer Flake, Ford Motor Company’s director of Global Brand Imaging and Design Public Affairs.  “This was a first for Ford, giving us greater flexibility and helping save time and money.  But even more importantly, the feedback on these digital images has been as positive as it has on the Interceptor itself.”

Ford already uses BUNKSPEED’s visualization software to help quickly render data and see how vehicle designs look – and virtually “drive” in naturally lit 2-D environments while under development in its global design studios.

But Flake wanted to push BUNKSPEED’s software applications to see if the team could create high-quality press images for Ford’s newest concept car – which was revealed Sunday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

While other software packages allow automakers to use digital data to create vehicle images, most still require teams of people to invest in expensive, labor-intensive retouching to blend photographed environments with the digital models.  With BUNKSPEED’s software, the “production team” was reduced to a crew of one:  Burgess.

The photographer and his assistant shot backgrounds for the car outside of Las Vegas.  Using a spherical camera, they captured a 360-degree environment, including full lighting data.  Burgess used his digital camera to shoot back plates of the main area he envisioned for the backdrop of the car.  Then, Burgess – who had never used BUNKSPEED rendering software – cranked up his laptop and merged the concept car’s data file into freshly captured environmental image files in just a handful of hours.

“Being able to test the creative theory – and having the flexibility to make changes quickly – was liberating,” Burgess said.  “I’ll admit, I was skeptical that this application would really deliver what was promised.  So many times in the past, computer-generated images have come up short – either requiring tremendous amounts of retouching or taking weeks to achieve the right results.

“Delivering such high-quality images that happen to be computer-generated has opened up photographers’ worlds.  We now have a new tool that allows us greater creative freedoms within a more realistic time frame – without compromising images’ realism or quality.  It will be interesting to see how this application might further push the creative frontier for photography within both media and marketing.”

Said BUNKSPEED’s Founder and CEO Philip Lunn:  “We are very excited about the success of this project.  This collaboration represented a benchmark for further use of our solutions at Ford.  We proved that BUNKSPEED’s visualization solutions are easy to use but still deliver highest quality.  We are looking forward to helping Ford continue to forge new ground in how it creates and captures vehicle imagery with a complete implementation of BUNKSPEED’s solutions.”

Images and additional information about the Ford Interceptor concept can be seen at http://autoshows.ford.com.

About BUNKSPEED

BUNKSPEED is a leading global provider of visualization software and services for design, engineering and marketing. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company is advancing visualization by developing paradigm shifting technologies for decision making in the digital design process, as well as bridging the gap between design, engineering and marketing. BUNKSPEED’s customers include Nissan, Ford Motor Company, Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Pininfarina, and Mercedes Benz Advanced Design North America.  For more information on BUNKSPEED’s products and services, visit www.bunkspeed.com.

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