Royal Oak, Mich. - Audi commissioned RTT to develop a virtual, interactive 360-degree tour of a specially constructed exhibition building for this year's Frankfurt IAA Motor Show.
In close cooperation with the client, RTT provided a one-stop service, from the creative design right through to final implementation. The entire presentation was executed in photorealistic quality for the Internet, and as a mobile exhibition app and touch-screen solution for use on site. Additional, comprehensive information enriches the virtual tour of the show. Innovative features provide a simple, intuitive user interface. Users can really experience the car manufacturer up close and completely independent of time or location. The official launch of the online tour took place a few days before the start of the motor show.
Every two years, the international automotive industry competes in Frankfurt for the favor and attention of experts, media and visitors. For the first time, Audi is presenting itself with an exclusively designed exhibition building complete with an integrated test track. Audi wanted to ensure that everyone could experience the brand three-dimensionally, in addition to visitors of the show. And so, the idea was born to digitize the brand appearance and present the trade show experience, full of emotion, to countless people virtually via the Internet.
The project was also to be made accessible to the public before the official start of the IAA on September 15, 2011. For the realization, Audi turned to the 3D visualization experts of RTT. With its many years of experience in the automotive industry, RTT is the perfect partner for visualization solutions that require technical expertise, creative consulting and technical skills. The assignment: design the brand experience to be as immersive as possible so that the viewer can realistically experience the product.
RTT created an excellent, 360° virtual tour where the online user can move independently within the virtual IAA stand and is free to look in all directions. Depending on the viewing perspective, interactive points appear in the image. When selected, these points provide additional information about a displayed car or explanatory notes about new technical developments such as Audi e-tron, Audi connect and Audi ultra.
RTT integrated a number of features to make the application interactive and intuitive. Part of the tour includes, for example, the unveiling of show cars by means of a finger swipe. Technical challenges included the web transfer of huge amounts of data from a 360-degree camera in 4k quality and the rendering of show cars, including all details, in a single image.
"With our trade show presentation at the IAA 2011 we have created an interactive tour that appeals to the viewer emotionally and is also very personal in nature. The immersive platform provides a compelling, tangible brand experience for everyone. The great success of this online tour confirms that we have really appealed to current trends and tastes with the virtual staging of the brand. RTT has made a major contribution to the success of the project in its role as a strategic partner and a leading provider of high-end 3D visualization solutions," explains Danijela Vasic, project manager of Digital Marketing at Audi AG.
The project was presented to the public on September 9, 2011. The production is based on the interaction of highly complex technologies and processes by RTT and is absolutely unique in the automotive industry in terms of its high quality.