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In the driving seat Reducing both the time and costs associated with the automotive development process is critical, especially for smaller manufacturers, such as Morgan Motor Company. Based in Britain, it has a fairly small development team consisting of 12 people, including the designers, CAD technicians who do the component modelling, engineers and electricians. Within that team is an entity called Morgan


Design that’s responsible for every visual aspect, from the vehicle aesthetic design to the graphics, brochures and website, and when senior designer Jon Wells joined in 2009, he introduced the use of modelling and simulation tools. Having used Autodesk Alias for 3D simulation when studying Automotive Design at Huddersfield University, Wells was able to bring a level of familiarity and demonstrate how the suite of products can be used to visualise designs fairly rapidly. ‘Prior to that, my colleague, Matt Humphries,


would sketch a new concept for a vehicle, which would then be taken to one of our panel beaters,’ says Wells. ‘Using traditional techniques, they would then hand form a body as close to the sketch as possible before painting it and using it as a concept car to sell the design.’ Some of the difficulties with 2D sketch work, he offers, is that not everyone can read them and that they don’t always offer a sense of volume. Designing and manufacturing a car in this way is also a very time-consuming and complex process.


THE ADOPTION OF


SIMULATION TOOLS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE


INDUSTRY HAS BEEN A STEADY PROCESS


He explains: ‘Hand beating a car is something


you don’t get several shots at – you have to do it as best you can, first time. By implementing Alias we are now able to take those sketches and rapidly model surfaces. Simulation and visualisation is a very good tool for bridging that gap between the sketches and the final components. And it applies to everything beyond the car body; any new component that needs to have aesthetic considerations, such as steering wheels, can be modelled and then presented to the engineers.’ Wells describes this process as being akin


to ‘clay modelling’ on screen and adds that those models are then brought into Autodesk Showcase, a real-time 3D rendering soſtware, and Autodesk 3ds Max Design in order to create CGI visuals of what the car would look like.


www.scientific-computing.com


‘From that, we can apply paint colours, see how highlights lie on the surfaces, add to or decrease the panel volume and craſt the car in photo- realistic visuals,’ he says. Physical models do continue to have a place


within the development process, however. Wells notes that there is always an element of visuals on screen not giving a perfect perception of what the car is going to look like in real life, due to a slight loss of depth of field and sense of scale. ‘Oſten we will model a component and when seeing it for the first time will realise that it isn’t quite the size we were expecting,’ he says. ‘Tere is always a very good idea of what it will physically look like, but seeing things in real life can be a very different experience. To get around that we create a lot of prototypes using 5 axis CNC machining out of materials like foam so that we can get a real sense of the size and scale. Tose prototypes will then be rescanned into Alias. Over all, the process is sped up significantly by the use of simulation,’ Wells adds.


The personal touch In addition to aiding design and development, models and simulation provide useful images for use in promotional materials, such as brochures. Beyond that, companies like Morgan are using solutions to enrich the purchasing experience. ‘Sitting down with the customer, we will bring up a model of the car and then with a click of a button we can not only apply different paint colours, but can adjust to darker or lighter shades, or add more gloss or matt to the finish,’ Wells explains. ‘Te result is that in real-time we can present a very good photo-realistic representation of how the vehicle could look. A scope of options will then be put together, printed and bound in a leather coffee-table book so that the customer can take it home and peruse through it in their own time.’ Given that Morgan offers an infinite range of


paint colours, more than 800 leather options, thousands of stitch options and many different roof combinations, having this representation is incredibly beneficial for the customer. In fact, Wells states that before these modelling tools, multiple paint samples would have been sent out and people would oſten hold them up to the cars in an effort to try to picture what the end result to be. And the company is keen to explore further uses of simulation technology. ‘One powerful tool that we would like to have in the future is a 3D simulation booth,’ he says. ‘Customers would literally be able to stand next to a projection of their car and see it in an array of colours before coming out of the booth and witnessing the first stages being craſted by hand. Tat’s a really beautiful combination of modern technology and traditional craſtsmanship.’


HELPING YOU CREATE


THE FUTURE


2D/3D BEAM OPTICS & CHARGED PARTICLE TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS


Lorentz has been rewritten from the ground up. The bottom line is improved productivity.


For users familiar with Lorentz, the fl ow of the program is now quite intuitive with many new options readily available.


For new users, the speed, accuracy and ease-of-use have to be seen.


PUT OUR SOFTWARE TO THE TEST


Send us your model, whatever the level of complexity. We will show you how to get results from your exact design – no canned demos.


Contact us for an evaluation and start improving productivity today. A live demo is also available.


ANALYZE AND


MODEL: BEAMS


IONS


CHARGED PARTICLES


BEAM OPTICS


ELECTRON GUNS


BEM & FEM available in the same package


LORENTZ v9.0


Call +1 204.632.5636 email info@integratedsoft.com or visit www.integratedsoft.com/products/lorentz


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