For example, the hood on this thing had to be raised to meet some pedestrian impact standards.
We could show the car digitally, but you can't actually feel a digital model on the screen.Īnother reason is because we make a lot of changes to this as we're going through the development. Number one is, the evaluators want to not only see the car, but feel it.
Can you talk about why?Įveryone asks, why do we still use clay, and there's a number of reasons. Digital tools have changed the car design process over the years, but one thing that's the same now as it was 50 years ago is clay. Then we'll make actual changes to the clay model while it's in the wind tunnel. You get figures for drag, lift, yaw, all kinds of different forces. In our wind tunnel in Ohio, we'll have car mounted to these posts and as wind blows over the car, those posts are measuring the forces being pushed on the car. How do you reconcile that with real-world performance?įor one thing, we do wind tunnel testing. So we think about things like, how does air flow over an eagle? And how does the water flow over a shark? The animal inspiration is fascinating. The eagle is a very aerodynamic animal and aerodynamics on a car is very important. We tried to do that same thing here, make the body look really lean and nimble, and put the fender flares on the car to try to emphasize where the power is coming from. Or look at a cheetah: It's really lean through the middle, the power is over the shoulders. I'd look at the hips of a horse, and you can see that's where the power comes from. I ask myself "How does that relate to cars?" As a clay modeler, I'm trying to make the car look attractive, and I get a lot of proportions from the animals that I've observed, on or off the farm. Sometimes looks a little funky and weird, so then we go back and forth changing the proportion of it, the image.Īs you're interpreting the sketch into the clay, what are some of the things that influence or inspire you as you're shaping the clay?īeing an artist that grew up on a ranch, I'd really studied the forms of the animals that we had. It's my job to take that sketch and put it over the package. When we get started, I'll get these sketches from the designers, and a package drawing from the engineers.
Where do you come into the car design process here? I always loved Honda because of the dirt bikes I rode as a kid. I was recruited by another auto manufacturer and worked there for about 10 years before coming to Honda. I went to school at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and that's where I learned clay modeling. How did you get from there to car designer? But it's not all artistry with no science the clay modeler will even optimize the exterior for the sake of aerodynamics, coordinating with wind tunnel testing facilities for validation. In Acura's process, the clay modeler plays a significant role in determining the final form, using old-school hand tools, aesthetic judgment and expertise. But at that point the all-important clay modeler jumps in. Some studios accomplish that by handing the rendering off to a computer modeler, who then interprets the drawing to realize the form in his or her screen.Īcura's recipe, however, is to go from concept sketch to clay, almost directly in between, a computer modeler does interpret the sketch to get rough dimensions, estimating mechanical fit, and then a digital milling machine carves a rough approximation of a 1/4-scale model using the digital modeler's files. Most studios start with 2D concept renderings, which then have to be translated into 3D. But the sequence and the manner in which each team is utilized may differ from studio to studio. No matter the studio, a half-dozen different design teams are all required to provide a complete design.
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