The advent of this new technology, which takes computer-stored engineering drawings and turns them into photo-quality digital images, has spurred a grouping of new tech firms in Metro Detroit, many of them working with advertising agencies for the auto industry. The firms specialize in producing all-digital images for use in vehicle promotions, which can span everything from a glossy print ad to an interactive feature on an automaker's Web site.

The industry got a boost several years ago with the availability of cheaper and better technology for the shading and lighting of virtual scenes. The digital images have gained traction among ad agencies working with the automakers as they seek low-cost alternatives to what was once a multi-million dollar production expense. The movement also has helped to bring production work typically shot on the West Coast to Michigan, where virtual artists are now able to render, animate and place vehicles against various backdrops all from their computers.

Stone, a former design sculptor for General Motors Corp. who helped establish SpeedShape in 2003, said that Metro Detroit has become a 'hotspot' for this sort of computer-rendering work, with many companies moving to the area to be closer to the auto industry.

Among them are firms like Armstrong-White Inc. a special effects and entertainment studio in Bloomfield Hills. In 2003, the firm built Chrysler LLC's first 'virtual garage,' a line up of 68 vehicles that were all digitally rendered using engineering files. Since then, the company has done production work for Detroit's Big Three, as well as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.'s Acura brand.

'It's sort of been that Hollywood always had 3-D special effects, but it was really far away from the car market,' said Chuck White, president and co-founder of Armstrong-White. 'But now its becoming the normal way of doing business because it saves time and money.'

At the same time, more established video production and post-production studios, like Grace & Wild in Farmington Hills, are also jumping into the market. About 10 years ago, it spun off a separate division, called Division X, for creating special effects and computer-generated imagery. The division now works with a number of ad agencies producing digitally created vehicles for automakers like Ford, GM, Toyota, and Nissan Motor Co., said Fiona Kuzava, national account manager for Division X.

The savings of going all-digital can be significant. While a live studio shoot can cost upward of $1 million for an entire line of cars, to create the same images in the computer would amount to about half of that, Kuzava said.

'We don't have a crew. We don't have drivers. We don't have travel costs of getting it to the studio and prepping it once it gets there,' she said.