Virtual tuning

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Virtual tuning, colloquially known as 'chopping' or 'VTuning', is the 2D graphical modification of automobiles, with the use of raster graphics editing software. Modifications such as aerodynamic and aftermarket body-kits, wheels, front mount inter-coolers and carbon fibre body panels, as well as interior or race car modifications, are super-imposed on a stock image in order to increase its aesthetic appeal. Whilst some designs are realistic in nature, one of the reasons why virtual tuners chop is to try modifications that may not be technically feasible if translated to real life . [1] Virtually tuned cars are the complete and comprehensive makeovers of ordinary cars. [2]

Contents

Artists

Artists who undertake virtual tuning, usually refer to themselves as 'choppers' though this term is fast disappearing as many try to improve their professional appearance. For the most part, they do it for their own pleasure – as a hobby – however, there is a small percentage of artists who earn an income from their talent.

A large number of choppers come from highly developed economies such as the United States of America, the UK and Australia. However, a majority of choppers stem from European nations such as the Lithuania, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Serbia as shown by the existence of a number of virtual tuning forums dedicated only speakers of these languages. In addition to this, large numbers of choppers originate from South America, particularly from Brazil and Argentina. [3]

The gender distribution is heavily weighted toward males.

Adobe Photoshop is the tool of choice amongst most choppers. [2] Other raster graphics editing software such as GIMP and Corel Paint Shop are also used by choppers as an alternative to the highly priced Photoshop.

History

Virtual tuning is a relatively new art, gaining popularity since the start of the 21st century. Largely fuelled by progress in computing in the digital era, virtual tuning has become far easier with online tutorials widely accessible. Throughout this time, a large amount of artwork has been produced in this style, with many artists producing technical renders for respected car and automotive tuning companies. When a manufacturer releases speculative artwork of their next model, there is a high probability that the person who produced this artwork was once a member of the ever-growing chopping community. Currently, active choppers are known to have completed promotional imagery for Lexus, Audi, Chevrolet, Volvo, Ferrari, and Ford. [4]

Internet Success

Chopping has been prevalent amongst a large variety of automotive based online communities for a number of years. One of the first online forums to feature virtual tuning in some form was GTPlanet, [5] for which a thread was opened in May 2002 and is still currently active.

However, the first mainstream and popular website to feature this type of art as a hobby, was Digimods, [6] which closed down in early 2009. This is known to be the first established international virtual tuning community. Since the opening of Digimods there was a significant gain in interest in the art, with many new websites established such as PS-Garage, [7] which opened its gates in 2004 and was considered home of enthusiasts and designers across the world, in time developing into a more professional approach, having features and appearances in both global newspapers and automotive magazines. Photoshopedup, as well a host of other websites dedicated to speakers of one language, such as Photochoperos (Spain), Sanal Modifiye (Turkey) and VirtualTuning.pl (Poland).

Autemo has gained notoriety as a place to find up and coming talent as well as some of the most respected artists in the style, and often has random user-generated projects and collaboration artwork, often by artists who have established friendships with other artists. Due to its international users, it is seen as the modern day 'home' of Virtual Tuning.

Competitions

World Team Battle

The concept of the World Team Battle (often referred to as WTB) has virtual tuners competing in teams for their country. [8] The idea originated on the website PhotoshopedUp in 2008, where the competition was moved to PhotochopWorld in 2009 but only the first round was completed. Since 2009 and the subsequent closing of PhotoChopWorld, the World Team Battle has been hosted on autemo. Results for 2008/2009 are unavailable due to the loss of data in the closing of PhotoshopedUp, but the results of WTB 2010 and 2011 are as follows: [9] World Team Battle 2010 Top Four

CountryPlacing
Belgium1st
Slovakia2nd
Poland3rd
Germany4th

World Team Battle 2011 Top Four

CountryPlacing
Czech Republic1st
Poland2nd
HungaryTied 3rd
TurkeyTied 3rd

Other competitions

Many Virtual tuning websites will host their own competitions on a regular basis. These typically consist of a base image chosen by either staff on the website or the previous competition's winner. The competitors are then given a period of time to complete a "chop" of this base image and submit it for judging. The contest entries are usually judged by members themselves in a very democratic system, or sometimes by judges given authority due to their expertise in the art.

An example of a competition which follows this basic principle is the Autemo Championship Competitions. [10]

Careers

Choppers do a lot of their artwork simply because they enjoy virtual tuning. However, with the skills built from virtually tuning cars, there are a number of ways artists can make money with their skills. Most advanced choppers have at least once done freelance work for car owners or a design project on Autemo. Some also work for tuning companies, and car magazines. [11]

Related Research Articles

A Photoshop contest, or sometimes Photoshop battle, is an online game, in which a website or user of an Internet forum will post a starting image — usually a photograph — and ask others to manipulate the image using some kind of graphics editing software, usually Adobe Photoshop, however other editors are commonly allowed, such as Corel Photo-Paint, GIMP, PaintShop Pro, Paint.NET or even Microsoft Paint. People can also use video editing software to create these images, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Kdenlive, OpenShot, or NCH VideoPad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixel art</span> Form of digital art

Pixel art is a form of digital art drawn with graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers, arcade machines and video game consoles, in addition to other limited systems such as LED displays and graphing calculators, which have a limited number of pixels and colors available. The art form is still employed to this day by pixel artists and game studios, even though the technological limitations have since been surpassed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chopper (motorcycle)</span> Type of motorcycle

A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in the US state of California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames, very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheel. To be considered a chopper a motorcycle frame must be cut and welded at some point. I.e. the name chopper. The "sissy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corel Painter</span> Raster-based digital painting software

Corel Painter is a raster-based digital art application created to simulate as accurately as possible the appearance and behavior of traditional media associated with drawing, painting, and printmaking. It is intended to be used in real-time by professional digital artists as a functional creative tool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Car tuning</span> Modification of a cars performance

Car tuning is the modification of a car to optimise it for a different set of performance requirements from those it was originally designed to meet. Most commonly this is higher engine performance and dynamic handling characteristics but cars may also be altered to provide better fuel economy, or smoother response. The goal when tuning is the improvement of a vehicle's overall performance in response to the user's needs. Often, tuning is done at the expense of emissions performance, component reliability and occupant comfort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Roth</span> American artist, cartoonist and custom car painter

Edward "Big Daddy" Roth was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Import scene</span> Car subculture

The import scene, also known as the import racing scene or tuner scene, is a subculture of modifying mostly Japanese-import cars, particularly in the United States and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinstriping</span> Decorative painting technique

Pin striping (pinstriping) is the application of a very thin line of paint or other material called a pin stripe, and is generally used for decoration. Freehand pin stripers use a specialty brush known as a pinstriping brush. Fine lines in textiles are also called pinstripes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drifting (motorsport)</span> Driving technique

Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner or a turn. The technique causes the rear slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn. Drifting is traditionally performed using three methods: clutch kicking, weight transfer, and employing a handbrake turn. This sense of drift is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Mann (artist)</span> American painter

David Mann was a California graphic artist whose paintings celebrated biker culture, and choppers. Called "the biker world's artist-in-residence," his images are ubiquitous in biker clubhouses and garages, on motorcycle gas tanks, tattoos, and on T-shirts and other memorabilia associated with biker culture. Choppers have been built based on the bikes first imagined in a David Mann painting.

Renntech Inc. is an American high-performance automotive aftermarket tuning company founded in 1989 in with headquarters in Stuart, Florida. RENNtech specializes in engineering, designing and manufacturing parts for Mercedes-Benz, AMG, Maybach and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicles as well as European luxury vehicles. RENNtech also operates a full Motorsport division named RENNtech Motorsports fielding a Mercedes-AMG GT4 racecar in SRO's North American GT -series. RENNtech Classics was founded to offer a wider range of services for owners of early RENNtech, Pre-Merger AMG, and Classic Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custom car</span> Passenger vehicle that has been substantially altered in its appearance

A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been either substantially altered to improve its performance, often by altering or replacing the engine and transmission; made into a personal "styling" statement, using paintwork and aftermarket accessories to make the car look unlike any car as delivered from the factory; or some combination of both. A desire among some automotive enthusiasts in the United States is to push "styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor - to truly craft an automobile of one's own." A custom car in British according to Collins English Dictionary is built to the buyer's own specifications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GIMPshop</span>

GIMPshop was a modification of the free and open source graphics program GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), with the intent to imitate the look and feel of Adobe Photoshop.

Trick It Out: MTV's Tuner Challenge is an MTV reality television show focusing on automobile modification. The show airs primarily on MTV2 and is hosted by award-winning car tuner, RJ de Vera, and narrated by MTV news personality, Sway Calloway.

Hot Import Nights (HIN) is an auto show featuring domestic, compact and tuner import cars. The show originated in California and has been hosted in various major cities throughout the United States.

ESPN2 Garage was a new ninety-minute programming block dedicated to the automotive and motorsports world on ESPN2. Debuting Saturday, January 6, 2007, the programming will air on ESPN2 from 5pm ET to 6:30pm ET on weekdays, from 10am ET to 12pm ET on Saturdays and from 10am ET to 11am ET on Sundays. This programming block will be the preceding the new daily automotive news and analysis program, NASCAR Now.

<i>Car</i> (magazine) Automotive magazine

Car is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republic of Korea, Brazil, China, Greece, India, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Middle East, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand and Turkey.

<i>NZV8</i> (magazine)

NZV8 is a monthly automotive magazine and website that focuses on V8 cars, car clubs and the related culture predominantly in New Zealand, but also Australia and the USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top Secret (company)</span> Japanese automobile tuner and parts manufacturer

Top Secret Co., Ltd. is a Japanese automobile tuner and parts manufacturer. The company was founded by Japanese automotive engineer and driver, Kazuhiko “Smokey” Nagata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akira Nakai</span> Japanese car tuner

Akira Nakai is a Japanese car tuner, founder of Porsche tuning company RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF (RWB), which specializes in the design and installation of custom wide-body kits for classic Porsche models. Earlier examples sported a sticker "Sekund Entwicklung" on the back which was later changed to "Zweite Entwicklung" to fix a German language mistake.

References

  1. "Chop Shop", Banzai Magazine, Issue 98(2009)
  2. 1 2 Patton, Phil (2004-10-27). "CUSTOM BUILT; Dad to Virtual Rad? Call the Digimodders". The New York Times . Retrieved April 5, 2010.
  3. "Members by country at the world's largest virtual tuning community". country data reference. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  4. "The Chop Shop", Hot4s Magazine, Issue 195(2010)
  5. "Photoshopped cars". 11 May 2002.
  6. "Home". digimods.co.uk.
  7. "Home". ps-garage.com.
  8. Official Blog of the WTB
  9. Official WTB 2010 Press Release
  10. "Autemo Login page" . Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  11. "Autemo.com: transform your car … virtually". Yellowwheels. Retrieved April 5, 2010.