The Substance Show Car “X-Taon”

As simple as taking a 2D drawing from Takumi, into a 3D model… More seriously, it’s all about understanding the intention of the designer, the shapes of the lines, the quality of the volume; and as much as possible, trying to emotionally translate the original idea into the final model, plus taking care of the engineering package, requested by Substance, and communicating with the interior designers/modelers, Arthur Coudert and Maxime Daguet.





Design and Modeling: a Complex Industry Process

Autodesk Alias can be used from the very first sketch to the final Class-A surface, valid for production. In the industry, even if the costs have no comparison with our digital show car, we try to work with efficiency: A bunch of specialists on each domain.

The project goes from a single modeler at the beginning, to a team of 15 modelers for an interior/exterior project. Personally, I'm more a generalist with an overview of many things. But all projects start with a target customer, a package, then designers start their job on 2D drawings.

Every project is different, but sometimes, a week into the project we have a first 3D model intention. It can be very fast in the first stages of an industrial project. Then a competition starts between the 2 or 3 chosen designers; about 2 months are needed to achieve a car design. It’s like a fruit: if you take it too early, it’s poor in taste, if you wait too long, it rots… Time is needed to achieve a nice shape, for the modeler as for the designer.

When the design is chosen for a production car, the Class-A production process that defines the parts for the fabrication process for pricing starts. Every modification on one part has an impact on the surrounding parts. This ping-pong can last more than a year.

An unbelievable amount of loops is needed between the designers, the modelers, and the engineers, in order to keep the original wish of the design. This is what the Class-A process is about.