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Vehicle design for films is a whole other world coming from the car studio business. Lynette Clee talks to Daniel Simon about how his dynamic designs have made the big screen

Designing vehicles for Hollywood blockbusters would be a dream job for most. Invited by director of TRON: Legacy Joseph Kosinski to work as vehicle designer on the feature film in LA, Daniel Simon made an intercontinental shift from Berlin to live the dream - and hasn't looked back since.

With so much expectation behind Disney's high-tech adventure sequel to the Eighties classic, there is a certain commercial pressure for it to perform. The updated TRON universe demands an appeal to a vaster audience than the original's cult success - and following in the
legendary footsteps set down by Syd Mead's incredible visions of the future designed for the original is no mean feat either! But Daniel isn't exactly one to shy away from a challenge. When 3D Artist spoke to him early in 2010, he confidently told us, "I guess I will be proud of no more than three movie projects before I die, and this is one of them... It will look incredible!" Several months, a few hundred emails, plenty of  overseas calls and a ton of TRON-related excitement later, we can finally appreciate how Daniel's sleek interpretations based on the classic iconography give the next-generation audience a modern, Hollywood depiction of the future. Taking advantage of a unique opportunity to talk to Daniel in depth about his role as vehicle designer on TRON: Legacy, this showcase features just a few of an entire fleet of vehicles that he worked on for the film.

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