Renault reveals the secrets of his design office: 3D Sketching

By drzwioknarzeszow12/09/2022561 Views

The method of car design has changed over the years.Modern technologies such as 3D Sketching are increasingly used.Renault presents the secrets of its design office.

Like cinema, video games and cartography, the automotive industry, in order to realize its projects, has been using progress in 3D modeling for several decades.Today, to produce a car, you must first create it in three dimensions.This belongs to the designer's tasks, and its digital tool set is constantly increasing.One of them is based on 3D Sketching, a revolutionary technology that allows you to draw without a pencil and desk.

Technocentre research and development center (Guyancourt), December 1, 2021.A man with VR glasses and two joysticks in his hands, gestures in the middle of the room.It seems to draw invisible lines around him.This funny scene immediately brings to mind experience with video games in virtual reality.And yet the thigh - because his name is - he is not a player at all ... he is a designer!And I'm just working.His latest discovery?3D sketching software.Drawing method, which is currently being implemented in the Renault Group design department.

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Thanks to 3D Sketching, you move in an unlimited space - says Udo, the main designer

What is 3D sketching?

3D Sketching is an intuitive technology involving "drawing in a vacuum" around you.

Drawing in a vacuum?Pablo Picasso has already conducted such experiments in 1949.The famous Spanish artist used a lighter instead of a pencil to create "light choreography".These fleeting drawings were immortalized by the GIBIE Mili photographer.This technique was called light painting (with Ang.light painting or light drawing).This form of art already enabled the shape of a certain idea by presenting it in space.

Currently, 3D Sketching is more or less duplicating this idea, but without a lighter and camera.This technique uses virtual reality glasses, also called VR glasses (from Virtual Reality).Invented half a century ago, OK spread.10 years ago thanks to the introduction of generally available video games models.

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After putting on and turning on the glasses, the designer is located in a virtual 360 ° design studio.Using two joysticks (one in each hand), chooses colors from the graphic palette, draws lines, creates shapes, fills surfaces etc..The computer program models and records all its movements.

Creative freedom of designers

At the end of the 90s.The profession of designer underwent the first transformation with the spread of design on the tablet.Today, 3D Sketching goes even further, because it allows the designer to do without a tablet, pencil, mouse or even desk.Designing enters a new era: the era of digitization as a key element of car formation.

The Renault Group has been working in the digital world for a long time.Today a new era opens in front of the designer.

Thanks to constantly improved tools, digitization significantly increases the designer's freedom and makes his projects even more available.Quick sketching in 3D, creating three -dimensional projects, shape modeling - even on a 1: 1 scale - and filling forms has never been so easy.This is a big time saving - says Udo.-The digitization of the project and data sending takes at least four weeks, and now everything is happening on-line.This is a huge advantage.In short, 3D Sketching opens the door to new experiments, because it allows the user to easily realize every idea.

The downside is only eye fatigue, headaches, as well as back and joints, which take their toll on some designers after a long work.Drawing at 360 ° requires good physical condition and hours of breaks - emphasizes Udo.

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Engineers are already thinking about how to make this experience more pleasant and less demanding.The main thing is that the glasses are lighter.For example, work on mixed reality glasses is underway, which allow you to draw both in VR and see what is happening around and interact with colleagues.

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Cooperation style 2.0

3D Sketching gives the designer one more advantage: it allows cooperation with another designer, live, on the same project, regardless of the distance dividing them.

If there is an internet connection, there are no geographical restrictions.You have a sense of being together, although we are divided by thousands of kilometers - says Udo.Two designers can talk via the 3D sketching interface thanks to the headphones and microphone built -in VR glasses.In this way they can communicate, share their individual works and combine forces, implementing joint projects.All this is done without leaving the house, from the office or from any other place on earth.

As a result, the number of possible combinations is infinite, and misunderstandings are much less frequent than it used to be.

Thanks to the VR, which opens the 3D door, we can express ourselves more precisely.

But that's not all: workflow is also taking place more efficiently.Models created thanks to 3D sketching are exported in the form of files.They can be used by other cells in the car design and production chain.The designer can, for example, entrust his work to a moderator (to do a model) or an engineer who will estimate the enforceability of the project.

Like digitization, 3D Sketching removes barriers in communication and gradually blur the boundaries between the professions.

New pencil "extended designer"

The digital drawing has been offered for several years to renew trials during design, faster implementation of the entire process and the wider development of the original idea of the designer.This trend has been deepened by 3D sketching.In addition to reducing costs and production time, this new technology facilitates refinement of drawings and gives a better idea of them.

Specifically, the designer now has the opportunity to focus with greater precision on a fragment of his drawing, experimenting with surfaces at his own discretion, work with a mirror reflection (doubles the 2D plane and create a 3D object from it), obtain a better mapping of your sketches and models, presentingyour projects directly in real time and even reviving your projects thanks to the compatibility of this technology with 3D printers.

Thanks to these numerous advantages, new skills and more diverse ways to express their ideas, the designer became a "extended designer".

We will always need mockups because our client wants to buy a real product that can touch and feel.

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3D Sketching is another tool, but traditional methods still count - sums up Udo.The digital and physical approach complement each other.Both play a role in the process of car formation.Modelers still use synthetic clay to make mockups.They are ideal for developing a model line and play a determining role in the final phase of the project to assess its quality.Similarly, 3D Sketching does not replace the designer's drawing skills that are at the base of the car design.

Not only the Renault Group

Not only the Renault group designers experiment with this technology.Implemented in many design schools, it is currently used by motorcycle designers, sports shoes, bicycle helmets and backpacks.Everything seems to indicate that in the future it will enable the implementation of many projects in such different fields as fashion, interior design, medicine, architecture and video games.

Press information: Renault Polska