Fab Cars

Fab Cars re-imagined car buying for virtual reality: a showroom, a configurator and a test drive that all work without a dealership, or a physical car.

Director: Candace Reckinger
Technical & art director: Jordan Halsey
Programming lead: Shaoyu Su
Lead developer: Stephanie Ng

A multi-year research project at the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Immersive Media Lab. Over three years the team built a VR automotive showroom with configurable cars, four VR driving experiences, an augmented reality app, a hardware driving rig and a large LED screen integration.

The showroom drew on three design sources: 1970s racing stripes, LA sculptor John McCracken, and the Mercedes showroom by Kauffmann Theilig & Partner. Every car spawns from one custom blueprint, so users change paint, interior and trim in the headset, while forward shading and baked lighting hold VR frame rate.

The four drives (desert, city, seaside and a fantasy world) each run through a full environment. Every terrain started in Houdini heightfields, and Houdini Digital Assets kept every environment updatable through production. A custom seat, wheel and pedals and a curved LED wall put the test drive in the room.

Years: 2021–2024
Lab: Immersive Media Lab, USC School of Cinematic Arts
Made with: Unreal Engine 4.27 · SideFX Houdini · Houdini Engine

From the project

Stills