Take one look at a Morgan cycle car, and its iconic British racing style conjures up images of old-world craftsmen painstakingly sculpting clay models and bending wood forms and metal to come up with the retro designs.
That was certainly the design process years ago for the nearly century-old specialty sports car manufacturer, but at the modern-day Morgan Motor Co., it's a totally different story. Morgan has traded a manual process heavily dependent on 2D sketches and clay and foam modeling for state-of-the-art 3D visualization software that facilitates everything from early concept work to the production of marketing materials, all within an accelerated design cycle.
Morgan Motor Co. employs Autodesk visualization software to accelerate time to market for new car models, including the recently released 3 Wheeler.
Morgan officials told us they have been able to "apply speed, accuracy, and efficiency to traditional design and manufacturing processes" using Autodesk's suite of 3D visualization tools. The latest proof point: Morgan went from sketches of its new 3 Wheeler model to full production in five months while showcasing images of the final vehicle to potential customers, which led to 300 orders placed well before the car rolled off the production line.
"The power of that kind of tool for a small company like ours is incredible," said Matthew Humphries, chief designer at Morgan, which employs around 170 people, including fewer than 10 engineers. "People were able to visualize something in such detail that it gave them the confidence to put down a deposit on something that didn't even have a sale price."
Gaming advances the 3D cause
Thanks to some pretty sophisticated advances on the hardware side and the software side, more companies are mirroring Morgan's strategy and using sophisticated 3D visualization capabilities to design, optimize, and help customers experience products during the prototyping process -- well before any physical products are produced.
Earlier generations of visualization software primarily delivered lightweight viewing capabilities, allowing 3D CAD models to be presented in a form that held meaning for seasoned engineers or even dedicated CAD users -- not mainstream users or even potential customers. The early visualization tools were also limited by their tight coupling with specific CAD packages.
Conversely, a new genre of 3D visualization tools and novel hardware devices are enabling engineering teams to create a more realistic representation of a potential product design while sharing it with a wider audience in the context that it might be used and mimicking some actual behaviors. The increased realism helps facilitate feedback far earlier in the design process while helping engineers optimize designs and catch potential problems before making the investment in physical prototypes.
Morgan's three-wheeler is a great example of the power of this technology. To think that Morgan is designing and building a vehicle like this with a staff of ten engineers is mind-boggling.
It's the ability to visualize highly realistic models in 3D along with the highly advanced collaboration capabilities that enables these smaller firms to gain an edge and not have to pour all the time and energy into building expensive prototypes. That's really at the heart of the technology's promise.
Indeed, Beth, we've learned in our work with MediaLab 3D Solutions that an enormous amount of money can be saved by opting for high-quality 3D models over building prototypes, scheduling shoots, etc. The inevitable product spec changes and tweaks are also far less painful when using 3D — it's a matter of tweaking the 3D file, not starting back at the very expensive "Square 1!"
Hi Beth, My company is Well Planned Web and we've interviewed many of MediaLab's clients, such as Whirlpool, Black & Decker, NetGear and Kohler to learn more about how 3D models and animation has benefitted them. This was all part of the Case Study process. Their engineers have been thrilled with the results — especially in the warranty and customer service arenas. I don't want to seem like I'm pitching things too much here :) — but happy to post links to those case studies if you'd like. Extremely compelling stats and results of using 3D models, animation, etc. Just let me know!
Beth, I love computer visualizations. So many different iterations can be tested to find the right one, and not have a huge scrap heap of discarded models. That is the strength of 3D visualization.
Infinite-Z's product is going to open new vistas for this, and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on one (no pun intended).
However, there will always be physical mockups. At the very least, drivers will want to sit at the wheel. Pilots will want to climb into the cockpit. Just the act of walking around the real mockup makes the concept being viewed more real. Computer simulations suffer from the uncanny valley effect; mockups do not.
The way to take the strong points of 3D visualization and tie themt to phyiscal mockups will be the 3D printers we've been discussing this year. But for a full mockup of a vehicle, I see a future with large format printers.
TJ: I totally agree with your analysis of how things are evolving going forward with the marriage of stronger 3D visualization and 3D printing. I always think you are spot on with the notion that physical prototyping doesn't go away. Every engineering organization I've talked to that has moved forward with a virtual prototyping approach says the benefits are being able to pursue more design instances more quickly and get to an optiimzed set, which are further proved out in physical prototyping. Essentially saving the costly and time consuming physical prototypes for the good stuff.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Laura Sapiens' Ego! Smartmouse offers users a unique interactive experience by providing 2D and 3D connectivity, hardware identity authentication, data storage, and more.
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