Even in the more calm and serene setting of Radiator Springs, some impressive achievements were accomplished.
One of the film’s most stellar and complex moments occurs at the end of Act II, where the neon lights are turned on again, as the town is revitalized and a parade of cars cruise down Main Street. With its bright, bold, brilliant lights coming from numerous sources and accompanying reflections, this sequence proved to be enormously complicated but one of the film’s most rewarding and luminous moments.
To enhance the richness and beauty of the desert landscapes surrounding Radiator Springs, the filmmakers created a department responsible for matte paintings and sky flats. Technical director Lisa Forsell and her team worked their magic in this area.
“Digital matte paintings are a way to get a lot of visual complexity without necessarily having to build complex geometry and write complex shaders,” says Forsell. “We spent a lot of time working on the clouds and their different formations. They tend to be on several layers and they move relative to each other. The clouds do, in fact, have some character and personality. The notion was that just as people see themselves in the clouds, cars see various car-shaped clouds. It’s subtle, but there are definitely some that are shaped like a sedan. And if you look closely, you’ll see some that look like tire treads.
“The fact that so much attention is put on the skies speaks to the visual level of the film,” she adds. “Is there a story point? Not really. There is no pixel on the screen that does not have an extraordinary level of scrutiny and care applied to it. There is nothing that is just throwaway.” Steve May, the effects supervisor for CARS brought that same level of scrutiny to nearly all of the film’s 2,000 shots. Among the numerous effects created for the film were dust clouds trailing behind cars, tire tracks, skid marks, water, smoke, and drool (from Mater’s front end).
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