deep cut: chicago fire l-train race

Last spring, just a month before the pandemic abruptly shut down live sporting events…and everything else…we started working on a complex but rewarding 3-D project for a Major League Soccer team.

The Chicago Fire FC saw the Space Needle race we did in partnership with Old Hat for the Seattle Sounders (fun fact: the gold elevator has its own Twitter account) and wanted a race to play during games, featuring the iconic Chicago “L.”

The animation involves three trains racing around the Loop, a square of downtown Chicago where many train routes converge. With the route established, we selected landmarks to include. Consulting our friend Google Earth, we showed landmarks you can actually see from the elevated trains, like the Chicago Theatre, Willis Tower, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Chicago Transit Authority provided a lot of guidance with their maps and their Ride the Rails video series, real-time and time-lapse videos of actual train rides. That wasn’t the only thing we used with the help of the CTA: the Chicago Fire was able to get the same voice actor used for the L-train announcements, Lee Crooks (real name, as far as we know), to narrate the race.

The pre-production planning was almost as extensive as the 3-D production: creating a cityscape, building and modifying 3-D models, then animating it all together. Our many, many hours working on the race paid off, and now people can finally see it in action! Luckily this year’s a different story than last year, and MLS is proceeding, with fans in the audience to cheer on their teams – and their trains.

Check out the full race here: