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Meet Jaroslaw Blahuta

We love to give you an insight into who we are at REALTIME and we are our people, so say hello to our new automotive artist Jarek.

 

Tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Jarosław but people call me Jarek. I come from the beautiful city of Rzeszów, Poland but I spent most of my life in Reczpol. My first experience of 3D was projects I did in high school and I am also a big fan of Star Wars! So the R2D2 and Storm Trooper in the studio are pretty cool 🙂

 

What made you want to go into CGI?
When I saw Star Wars for the first time I knew that I wanted to create something from my imagination, I was always drawing spaceships when I was younger and was told by my teacher I had a really big imagination. When I saw the behind the scenes feature from Star Wars and realised the spaceships were created in 3D, that was it – I just had to be a 3D Artist.

 

What’s your role at REALTIME?
I am a 3D Artist in the automotive department and my role is quite technical. I work on the development of car configurators, using unreal and blueprints.

 

What have you learned since you’ve been working in the industry?
I have been working in the industry professionally for 7 years and every day I push myself to learn something new. But the biggest thing I’ve learned recently is a programming language and to code using blueprints.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you get around it?
Around 2 years ago I was working UE4 project, the engine wasn’t as advanced as it is now. My manager wanted me to create a soft shadow and it just wasn’t possible, there wasn’t any ray tracing or anything like it. I tried and tried and then I got lucky, Unreal released a new function and I managed to make it work. My manager was so impressed  even the TD came over to ask me how I had figured it out. I was quite proud!

 

What has been your favourite project to work on?
At the moment my favourite project to work on is my personal project. It’s based on the Tesla power receiver engine and it’s inspired by the conspiracy story of the creation of the engine by Nikola Tesla.

 

Did you know about REALTIME before you joined?
Yes, I heard about this company many years ago, it’s great company and quite well known, and I’ve always wanted to work here.

 

Are there any upcoming things in the industry you think people need to keep an eye out for?
I think real-time ray tracing technology is the future and it will be standard for every CGI company. Some software like UE4, Unity or Project Lavina from Chaosgroup have great potential be standard tools in the industry.

 

What’s the best thing about working at REALTIME?
Working with amazing artists who challenge and help each-other, we also get to work on some really cool projects with world class brands, who I can’t mention…

 

Tell me a fun fact about yourself?
Believe it or not, the first 3D software (3dsMax 6) I ever owned was bought for me by my grandmother 🙂

Here’s something I’ve been working on the last few days…

 

Why the cars of the future aren’t coming from the brands you expect

There was a time when the mere suggestion of starting your own car company would single you out as an amateur in the industry. But that was some 30 years ago. Today, the notion of an automotive “startup” (for lack of a better term) is a widely accepted concept.

Look no further than the world-famous Tesla. It’s the brainchild of Elon Musk, whose prior experience was PayPal and SpaceX. Now they create one of the leading ranges of electric vehicles on the market. But they are far from the only example, with many exciting projects on the horizon.

 

Rivian

Rivian’s mantra was to create something that doesn’t exist. Founded in 2009, they now have locations across the US and here in the UK. At the helm is CEO Robert “RJ” Scaringe who created the company after graduating with a PhD from MIT. The two electric vehicles currently on the table – the R1T (a pickup truck) and the R1S (an SUV) – are built for exploring nature, a passion of many of its staff.

In their own words: “It’s a pickup truck that performs like a sports car, does well off-road, and has a range of a gas vehicle.”

They aren’t a small company either. They have over 750 employees, many of whom have come over from the likes of Tesla, Ford, and McLaren. Their Chief Technology Officer is even ex-Apple Mike Bell, who helped bring the iPhone to the masses.

 

NIO

Chinese auto manufacturer NIO has already made an impression on the market. They came roaring onto the scene with electric supercar the EP9 which broke records. Now their consumer electric SUV model, the ES6, is rolling out to early adopters.

Founded in 2014, the company has thrived in a short space of time. They now have over 9,000 employees working across Asia, Europe, and North America. Early signs look good, with the company leading in EV quality amongst its Chinese competitors.

 

Rimac

Rimac Automobili – named for its founder Mate Rimac – have set their sights on something more extreme. Their first car, the Concept_One, was built to be the best electric sports car around. Its focus is on sheer power, with a powertrain that can deliver the performance you would expect from a supercar.

Now, with the C_TWO, hypercar is a more accurate term. 0-60 in 1.85 seconds. Top speed of 412km/h. Still electric. Rimac’s technology is mind blowing. The current rumour is that Bugatti is looking to use Rimac tech for its own electric SUV. They deny it, of course, but you know what they say about smoke and fire.

 

Dyson

Holding their cards close to their chest, Dyson has at least admitted they are entering the automotive arena. There is no car yet – not to the public’s knowledge at least – as it’s all behind closed doors at their £200m restored hanger in Hullavington.

Recently revealed patents are all we’ve seen of the elusive electric vehicle, with many now speculating it’ll be an SUV. They’ve also been busy bringing veterans of the industry on board. This includes former BMW and Infiniti executive Roland Krueger. The car isn’t expected to launch until 2021 but surely an official reveal can’t be too far away?

 

The future

This is what makes the auto industry so electric in my opinion. That companies can spring up from almost nowhere and bring world-class concepts to challenge the status quo straight off the bat – exciting for any auto fan. But if these companies want to thrive, they need more than an excellent car and an unwavering passion. They need the marketing chops to break through to the wider market, as Tesla did.

They might not consider their CGI assets, both for internal and external use. Advertising renders for posters. Car configurators for their website. These ideas can be pushed aside in favour of making the launch. But this isn’t an either/or scenario. They can do both.

 

At REALTIME, we have worked with many well-known automotive brands to deliver startlingly accurate CGI models for a variety of uses and several launches. We are an extension of your company, sharing in your passion. If you would like to discuss a future partnership, contact me on [email protected].

An interview with Paul McSweeney on the future of the automotive industry

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with our very own Paul McSweeney to pick his brains on the future of the automotive industry. Paul is our Automotive Account Director and undeniable fan of all things four-wheeled.

So what does Paul think of the continuing rise of electric vehicles? What will happen to traditional petrol and diesel models? And is ride-sharing going to change how we buy cars?

 

Thanks for joining me, Paul. Let’s jump right in: as an expert in the industry, why is now an exciting time for the automotive industry?

We’re at a turning point in the industry, both in terms of propulsion technology and the retail model. With the advent of the electric vehicle and how many manufacturers are challenging the retail model, it’s exciting to see where it’ll be in five or ten years when these things have settled down and the trends have established themselves.

I guess what’s most exciting for me personally is the powertrain change. EVs are gaining more traction – if you’ll pardon the pun – as the range increases and the cars themselves become more and more exciting with each launch. 

 

On the topic of electric vehicles, do you think there will be mass adoption of the technology?

Well, my kids are car fans like me, and they take an interest in every single car that drives past. And to them, electric vehicles are just a part of the overall landscape. That might not be the case for my generation, but for the younger ones, they aren’t a trend – they just are. So yes, I think we will see mass adoption.

New legislation and general demand will drive sales. As batteries become denser, lighter, and more powerful, the packaging challenge of batteries will decrease and will drive more and more new concepts and more and more interest. It will happen from a customer and legislation perspective, I’m sure.

 

Then what about traditional petrol and diesel cars? Do you think they will go the way of the dinosaur?

Ultimately they will. Fossil fuels are a finite resource after all, so they will run out and we will have to find other ways. But I think we’ll see them hang around for a long time yet. And really, we don’t know how the industry will innovate. So it will happen, but I think it will be a slower process than some predict.

For the car enthusiast, the feel, the noise, the feedback, the engagement of an internal combustion engine is something that EV manufacturers aren’t able to replicate, even if the likes of Lotus, Rimac, and Pininfarina are indeed developing some very exciting looking EV hypercars. It might be, in the end, that vehicles with an internal combustion engine become a small – but stable – part of the market for customers wanting that particular feel on a track day or something like that. EVs would take 95-98% of the market for people who simply want to get from A to B.

 

How will this affect traditional manufacturers and their classic lineup?

They’re all pretty much developing their own EV strategy, which is great to see. Every single manufacturer has released some sort of communication about how and when they’ll be fully electrified, or at least partially so. I guess the thing the mainstream manufacturers need to look out for are the new “startup” manufacturers, like Rivian. They will make very convincing, properly funded and developed vehicles that will have a credible, world-class reputation straight off the bat.

Companies like Dyson haven’t completely shown their hand yet but you can bet your boots that will be the same. Both organisations have recruited the right people who wouldn’t be working with them if they weren’t doing something game-changing.

So the mainstream manufacturers have their strategies but EV design and manufacture are allowing startups to join the game more easily than if they had to sort out an internal combustion engine, for example, by themselves.

 

These new companies, how do you think they’ll fit into the market?

They’ll probably start off with a fairly low-ish volume in comparison to the biggest players, but I think customers tend to be less brand loyal these days. Media plays its part in that it’s much easier to establish a reputation for reliability – it can happen much quicker today. So if they are strong competitors – and I think they will be – they’ll be adopted reasonably quickly.

 

So Tesla might be one of the most well-known examples so far.

Yeah, exactly. A few years ago it was a small name but now they’re mainstream in their own right.

 

One technology that Tesla and others are working on is self-driving cars. Do you think they will change the landscape?

I’m not sure about self-driving cars. I think full, level five autonomy is a long way away. We can’t be mixing fully autonomous cars with self-driven vehicles – I don’t know how that would even work. It’s good that the world is having this debate, though. Traffic is getting worse and worse, there are more and more cars, so something has to give.

 

How about ride-sharing apps? Or services where you basically rent a car? Will they have an impact?

Yeah, those I do think will have an effect. I think the general ownership model of cars is going to change over the next 20 to 30 years as people become less brand loyal. And the idea of having a big hunk of metal sitting on your drive six days a week doing nothing becomes less desirable, so instead, you would hire a car just for the journey you’re taking.

If I were to be bold, I’d predict manufacturers would be worried about that. A lot of car purchasing is based on emotion, desire, and want as opposed to need. I think it might be a worry to manufacturers who think it will become less of an emotional decision. But I still think we as humans will find a way to add emotion into any ride-share transaction, as it continues to make a statement about you and manufacturers will indeed ultimately benefit from that.

 

I’m putting you on the spot here a bit: if we did this interview again in ten years, what solid prediction can you make about the automotive landscape?

If I had to stick my neck out and guess, I’d say electric cars will have a significant portion of the market but diesel and petrol will still be around. It’s tough! I don’t know if I can see a whole lot of progress in the autonomous process, but I do think ride-sharing could well be the new big thing. So progress in two out of the three topics we’ve talked about isn’t bad!

What I will say about electric vehicles is they’re much quieter than petrol cars; you can’t hear them coming. So that has safety implications that I don’t think the industry has quite solved yet. So if you’re about to cross a road you might listen for an engine, but with an EV it doesn’t have that. Will EVs beep as they go along? Do we create an artificial engine sound? I don’t know, but there’s definitely a discussion to be had about what noise these cars should make to herald their arrival around the corner.

It was a very strange experience to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed recently and see a drifting demonstration. The first car the driver used was a Jaguar F-Type with a V8 engine, so you had the roar of this engine and the screeching of the tyres. But then he did the same thing in an electric car and there was just the screech of the tyres, which was very strange to watch!

 

I guess it’s a bit ghost-like.

Yes, exactly! You’re almost looking at the car thinking, “how’s that moving along the road?” You’re so used to seeing cars one way through your whole life. It’s a weird sensation.

 

Well thanks for your time, Paul. It’s been enlightening. Before we go, one last question. And it’s another difficult one: if I had to make you choose, what’s your one favourite car of all time?

That’s the impossible question! People who like cars and dedicate their life to cars never have just one. So the only way I would answer that is, if I had unlimited funds, I would enjoy making that choice. I can’t give you a straight answer I’m afraid!

 

Good answer; I’ll let you off. Again, thank you, Paul.

Like the entire automotive team at RealtimeUK, Paul is a lover of all things automotive. It’s just one of the many reasons we’re a trusted partner with many well-known manufacturers. You can find examples of our stellar work here. If you would like to discuss your latest project, feel free to get in touch at [email protected].

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019

The 26th edition of the ever-growing Goodwood Festival of Speed closed on Sunday after another four days of West Sussex’s answer to ‘What happens when you cross a global motor show with a quintessentially British garden party?’

Apologies to those who were only present on the Sunday, my visit completely avoided the rain and I’m pleased to be boasting the bronzed extremities to prove it!

This year saw centre stage occupied by Aston Martin, to mark 70 years at the festival. A simple but beautiful central sculpture was supported each day with a short musical and automotive showcase, taking in fireworks, Land of Hope and Glory and, of course a certain James Bond.

For me though, the manufacturers’ stands are the main draw and first mention has to go to the fine men and women of Potash Lane, Hethel. Lotus Cars of course and they were signalling their serious ambition with a thumping, green-and-yellow-tastic stand, showing the full range of current production cars and the obligatory historic F1 car. Not just any F1 car this time around though; this year’s display included the very special Lotus Type 25 – the fabled 25/R6 – the actual car in which Jim Clark set the best ever time of 1:20.4 for a lap of the Goodwood circuit, all the way back in in 1965. Still unbeaten! A very pleasant surprise for a very lucky few was a behind-closed-doors preview of the Type 130 EV Hypercar, the Evija. Give me a call and I’ll take you through the correct pronunciation…

From there is was off to Jaguar Land Rover, a stand resonating to the screech of expensive rubber as visitors are given the opportunity to observe the local flora and fauna at close quarters through the side windows of a fleet of oversteering F-Types. For me though, the highlight of the stand was just set apart from it, as it happens, with Land Rover teasing a camouflaged brand new 110” wheelbase Defender, just in advance of its planned launch in the autumn. An equally-disguised 90 also ran up the hill. Still a British icon, even if manufacture is planned for Slovakia? The debate rages on!

Over to the other side of the bridge to catch up with the latest news from everyone’s favourite orange-coloured supercar brand, McLaren. I think they really get it right, bringing the best of their offering to the fans at the show as well as the VIP owners. This was epitomised by the placing of the genuinely beautiful Speedtail front and centre in the public area of the stand, making for perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime personal viewing for so many. Why is it that so many other new cars are just not particularly beautiful these days?

Famous Italian brand De Tomaso took the opportunity to debut its brand new P72, an homage to the 1965 P70 prototype racer brought bang up to date. Absolutely one of the stars of the show and that was before we were all able to experience it firing up and going up the hill!

There was just enough time to catch the Lamborghini stand, very cleverly positioned right in the very middle of all the action. The company is currently riding on the crest of a wave with the new Huracan EVO, the evergreen Aventador and now the Urus, which has effectively doubled the company’s sales, all on display. Any self-respecting Lambo owner has to these days also give garage space over to the official Lamborghini massage chair, ‘road’ tested by yours truly and available in colours to match your latest four-wheeled Italian thoroughbread!

See you all next year!

 

Paul

[email protected]

 

 

What is brand loyalty when it comes to cars?

Brand loyalty is another corporate buzzword that gets thrown around many a boardroom. But what is brand loyalty? Is it some caveman-like basic urge to be part of a group? For something as amorphous as the concept of brand loyalty, it’s quite rigid in practice.

As a term, it’s the affinity customers feel towards your brand and how likely they are to choose you over competitors. But what is it in a psychological sense? According to Kotler et al, brands can exhibit five traits: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. Consumers are drawn to brands that exhibit at least one of these traits and line up with their own internal beliefs. But how can companies use that information, especially in the automotive industry?

 

Familiarity

Brand loyalty could simply come down to prior experience. File this under ‘competence’ and ‘ruggedness’. It could be as simple as cereal – it tastes good, ergo I will buy it again.

In relation to vehicles, you might be loyal to a brand that has worked well in the past. Cars are such a huge investment, you want something that will last you a long time. You’ll want one that performs just as well.

But sometimes it’s familiarity. Humans are creatures of habit and stepping outside of what we know is daunting. Even if you’ve never driven a car before, you’ll have perceptions about particular brands. “My Mum’s Fiat looks nice” or “my friend loves their Kia”. Plenty of Americans would tell you that Dodge is one of the best car brands in the world. But if that’s true, why do they not sell as well elsewhere in the world

There’s a famous study that tested people’s ‘Coke vs Pepsi’ bias. It found that people preferred it when they thought they were drinking Coke, despite what was even in the glass. The two drinks are near-identical, but if you dare say such a thing you might start a fight. Maybe brand loyalty is just as simple as ‘better the devil you know’?

 

Aspirations

Or not. That’s too narrow a definition and doesn’t account for people’s appreciation of a brand they don’t even know. You may have never driven a Bentley Bentayga but you know what the name Bentley represents.

It plays into the idea of ‘excitement’ or ‘sophistication’. Brand loyalty can also be aspirational – you want something because of the prestige of it. Apple products have that effect on people, despite their market-leading prices. Over three-quarters of people would replace their iPhone with another one, and even more of them couldn’t even imagine having something else.

We see our products as an extension of us. We never stop being kids in that sense, chasing brands that get us the most attention. But it’s a chicken-or-the-egg scenario: did wealthy people buying brand X make it so prestigious, or did they buy into it because it already was?

 

Creating brand loyalty

Some companies engender loyalty by actively making them feel like part of an exclusive club. Both in the sense that by owning a brand you are part of a minority and in the literal sense – a reward scheme. Why eat anywhere else when another three meals will get you a free starter at Nandos?

It’s harder with cars since you can’t quite say “buy five Fords and your next one’s free!” You could offer an app like ‘FordPass’ though that gives people a reason to stay in your ecosystem. There are plenty of examples of it – each one making you feel like your part of an exclusive group that’s being cared for, provided it has the ‘sincerity’. Kia even refers to it as the ‘Kia family’.

If you want to foster more loyalty you have to work to change already established behaviour. Van Praet described seven steps to this process. You need to interrupt the pattern, create comfort, lead the imagination, shift how they feel, satisfy any critical questions they might have, change their associations, and take action.

So while brand loyalty might differ from person to person, there’s a core to it that you can tap into. Every brand can find loyalty and an audience it’s just a question of can you do it?

At RealtimeUK, we understand the importance of brands. We know what your brand means to you and have a strong history of representing companies in the best possible light. If you’re interested in working together on a future project, get in touch with me at [email protected].