In the early 1990s, amidst the burgeoning digital age, a unique project emerged at the University of Illinois: the creation of a three-dimensional computer model of a 1980 Chevrolet Chevette. This endeavor, born from a desire to explore the possibilities of transforming digitized photographs into accurate 3D representations, became known as the Chevette Project.
The process, conceived and executed in the summer of 1991, involved a combination of ingenuity and rudimentary technology. The creator, while working on a railroad track condition database, decided to apply image-based modeling techniques to capture the essence of his own Chevrolet Chevette. To achieve this, the car was strategically parked next to a tall building. With the assistance of a friend, Ken Brownfield, telephoto lenses were employed to capture images from various angles – front, top, sides, and back.
The next phase involved manually tracing the silhouette of the Chevette in each photograph. These silhouettes were then used to digitally “carve” out a voxel sculpture, effectively building the 3D form of the car layer by layer. The exposed voxels were subsequently colorized using the information extracted from the original photographs, a process known as texture mapping. This meticulous approach brought the digital Chevette to life, albeit with the charming imperfections inherent in early digital models.
Despite limitations such as specular reflections, challenges in capturing concave shapes, and minor image registration issues, the resulting Chevette model possessed a remarkable ability to evoke the real vehicle. A short animation was created, showcasing the digital Chevette in motion, further emphasizing the project’s success in capturing the car’s essence in a digital realm.
The Chevette Project garnered attention beyond the academic sphere. It was recognized in the Los Angeles Times in 1997 and highlighted in a 2002 CG World magazine article by Mark Ramshaw, which discussed its influence on later projects, including “The Campanile Movie.” The Chevette animation itself was made available in MPEG and Quicktime formats, allowing wider accessibility to this early example of digital car modeling. A mosaic showcasing frames from the animation and a color rendering of the volumetric intersection further documented the project’s outputs.
For the project’s 25th anniversary, the original Chevette model file was converted to the .obj format with per-vertex color, making it compatible with modern software like MeshLab. This conversion enabled users to explore the 1.5 million vertex model in virtual reality using headsets like the VIVE VR, offering an immersive experience of the vintage digital Chevette.
The Chevette Project, initially executed using a 386 IBM PC for modeling and a Sun 3/80 for rendering, laid the foundation for further research in image-based modeling. It directly influenced the creator’s Ph.D. work at UC Berkeley, focusing on “Facade: Modeling and Rendering Architecture from Photographs.” The project’s significance in the history of computer graphics was further underscored by its feature in two Japanese TV shows (NHK in 2003 and WOWWOW in 2008), both acknowledging its connection to the iconic flying DeLorean effect from Back to the Future, highlighting the cultural impact of early CGI.
Interestingly, the Chevrolet Chevette dataset even found its way into Hollywood. Special effects technician Karl Nettmann utilized it for a previsualization study for the 1999 film Inspector Gadget. In the film, the hero, played by Matthew Broderick, is depicted driving a Chevette before his transformation into Inspector Gadget, showcasing an unexpected application of this early 3D car model.
The Chevette Project stands as a testament to early innovation in computer graphics and 3D modeling. It showcases how, even with limited resources, creative individuals could pioneer techniques that would later become foundational in the field. From its humble beginnings as a personal project, the digital Chevrolet Chevette has traveled through time, influencing research, inspiring artists, and even making a cameo in popular culture, solidifying its place in the history of digital art and automotive representation.
