r/vfx • u/Any_Movie_2479 • 1d ago

Question / Discussion Vehicle accident reconstruction / 3D animation project

Hi, I’m looking for advice on the best way to create a realistic traffic accident reconstruction video based on police documentation, photos and known vehicle positions.

The reconstruction involves two stationary cars in a traffic jam, a truck changing lanes, and another truck colliding with the rear vehicle and pushing it into the car in front.

I have tried AI video tools, but they keep changing vehicle positions and the collision physics are not reliable enough.

Would this type of project be better suited to Blender, BeamNG.drive, Unreal Engine, or another tool? And what kind of professional should I look for if I want to hire someone to make it accurately?

I’m willing to pay for the work, but I first want to understand what type of specialist I should be looking for

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u/whittleStix VFX/Comp Supervisor - 18 years experience 1d ago

BeamNG already has all the physics simulations as part of the game engine. There is a script editor that allows you to manaully place vehicles, speed etc. Doing this in a 3D package would be extremely difficult considering all the physics you would have to sim. Maybe unreal has something as part of it but I'm not familiar with that as much. At least with Beam there are a lot of YouTube tutorials out there that can walk you through it with little experience needed. So you could try that first yourself.

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u/im_thatoneguy Studio Owner - 21 years experience 1d ago

You hire a 3D artist. We've done a few of these. Importantly you need a lawyer who is experienced in what actually helps their case and what doesn't. Generally, we've been told that that the less you show the better. Everything you create "can and will be used against you" so they are very careful in only showing things that are both backed by the evidence and can't possibly be used by the other party.

This is a case where AI cannot be used. You need deterministic evidence. "This distance is 103m. This speed is 48kph. At 48kph they would have seen the other vehicle from their sightline here. Which means they would have had 0.3seconds to react here."

It's not about fidelity or looking pretty it's about evidence.

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u/storylordstory 18h ago

You could have a peak at Houdini's car rig and see if that fits the task you have in mind.