Day: Oct 22, 2015

Concept Cars and One-Offs

So, rapid prototyping is accelerating the design process. This comes with pitfalls as well as advantages. 

2008 Rolls Royce Hyperion: madle.org
2008 Rolls Royce Hyperion: madle.org

As someone pointed out, the Hyperion concept car could be said to have an unfinished or immature look to it. What is this quality exactly? It has to do with the reduced time available to evaluate the forms in the cold light of many days. While a design is a finished and static thing, there is a dynamic and iterative process leading up to its creation. Designers begin with raw ideas and select from these the most plausible concepts. The process goes from a sketch to a clay model to a final, definitive version and in so doing the designers must Continue reading “Concept Cars and One-Offs”

Theme: Economy – Cost Cutting the Digital Way

Every month that a project runs costs a car company money. In the ’80s a major car project could last 8 years, of which four was probably fully manned. These days the figure is 36 months but it could drop to 24. How?

There will be less of this in future. It´s a hand-modelled shape: ophelia.sdsu.edu
There will be less of this in future. It´s a hand-modelled shape: ophelia.sdsu.edu

One aspect of the drive to cut development time is in rapid prototyping. This has been going on for quite some time. In 2006 it was normal practice to mill quick models of car interior trim prior to tooling so as to see how the form looked in three real dimensions. Non-visible parts have also been made quickly so as to speed production. Even CAD modelling itself is a time-saver (or can be) which is now taken for granted. Continue reading “Theme: Economy – Cost Cutting the Digital Way”