Car design is harder than I had thought... help please

Your design is good, but the front could be cleaned up abit, the back is too flat looking, besides that its pretty cool !
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The reason to work in something like Alias is so that you can develop complex surface cross sections and work the transitioning forms. You need to start thinking of how reflections move across surfaces.

For clay you want to get it from Chavant.

Jeff

 

You need to put down your mouse and pick up a pencil.

Cars are designed by doing thousands of sketches and then narrowing it down to a theme. Once you have a grasp of your final form you can take it into alias or 3d software but it isn't necessary. Google sketchup is not a viable option for this. Concepts are never done off the bat with 3d modeling. You need to be able to sketch cars with your eyes closed until you should a jump to 3d. The reason is if you can't draw forms you'll never understand enough about them to model them in the tube.

I would recommend sketching and then doing a front and side tape of the final design if you really want to do a clay. Then you can mock up your buck and start spreading the clay.

 

+1000 & 1 !!

 

Patrick - Pretty cool so far....I'm shocked you got this far in skup!
I use it a lot for architectural design, and I've never had much joy trying to model the subtle curves of an envelope body!

My suggestion (if you don't think your hand sketches are great); print some of your skup's and sketch over the top of them; you can really begin to model the shapes without losing the overall form if you're happy with it....

extruding stuff in skup is way more time-consuming (for me) than just a quick pencil over an underlay. The subtle curves and intersections of form are what makes a body design stand out...those will flow out of a pencil quicker & more freely.

However you go, show us some more!

 

Getting your design on paper is definitely a good start, it can help solidify what you are thinking of quickly. That way when you start to build a 3D model, you know what you are trying to make as opposed to trying to visualize it as you build. Building models is very helpful in understanding where things are in space. Designers who only sketch can easily draw things that do not actually make sense in 3D. Building clay models is the best for understanding surfaces and how they relate and transition. Building computer models is much more difficult.
Of course you want to build computer models, so you should. But I would recommend that you use different software (I don't know anything about Sketchup but I don't think it will do what you need it to, at least not very easily). Unfortunately there is no simple way to build complex 3D models. Complex models, and all realistic cars are complex, require complex tools to make complex surfaces and transitions, so it takes a commitment to learn the software if you really want to build car data. I would recommend getting the free trials of Rhino3D (www.rhino3d.com/) and Alias (http://usa.autodesk.com/alias/) and watching all the tutorials on their websites. Start simple to learn the tools. Then learn how to add complexity. Continue drawing sketches of your design so it becomes more thought out. Having shapes on paper that you understand will make building them much easier.

 

Google Sketchup is simply the wrong tool for the job. It would be like using Legos to build a life size Ferrari. Fun, but limiting.

I'd say if you haven't developed a skill for visualization using markers, then approach it with clay. At first the mockups may look rudimentary, but it may just motivate you to seek instruction on conventional Industrial Design methodologies & really ignite your imagination! What do you have to lose?

 

I'm sorry but if you want to design cars you HAVE to draw. Other disciplines may very but if you can't draw cars you will never design them. I'm not trying to discourage you, just trying to put you on the right track to a solid foundation. Ask yellow 439, he's a transportation professor at CCS.

 

I am pretty sure that no one is disagreeing with you.

 

Sorry. I wasn't trying to be arguementive. I just thought the statement below was misleading. I come across a lot of high school kids who want to be car designers and tell themselves that same statement as a crutch to poor drawing skills. Just like to make sure I get it across early to aspiring designers that it all begins with the pencil.

Again, my apologies. Sometimes I just get a little too enthusiastic.

 

No worries, I wasn't trying to discount the importance of sketching, at Art Center everything else was secondary. I was more addressing that making computer models is difficult because you need to know where things are in relationship to each other and that learning form relationships in clay is very helpful in understanding how surfaces work. I think I sort of glossed over the drawing aspect as you had already discussed it and I also felt that the OP wanted to make models.

 

I would just like to add that I think it's great to have a passion for wanting to design vehicles,and if you enjoy doing it,by all means,enjoy yourself.But,I'll also say what I tell aspiring students that spend over $100K,and study for 4+ years:"if it were easy,anyone could do it". And trust me,it ain't easy.
I would encourage you to keep working with whatever medium you are comfortable with,i.e.,computer,pencil/paper,pens,markers,clay,foam,plywood,whatever.If it's something you just have to do,by all means,have at it.But to the OP's original comment:correct.......it's not easy.Hard work & perspiration are usually the means to that end.

 

Just received this in the mail and thought it might be of some value to aspiring car designers/would be "stylists". I have no affiliation with the creator of the video other than some brief conversations,and I have no stake in the sale of the videos,but I believe it's a good place to start for someone who might be curious about drawing/sketching cars.I think it will get someone that has very little or no experience in drawing vehicles a fundamental starting off point.There is also an associated website: www.howtodrawcarsnow.com
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Is P40 still the go-to clay for auto sculpture ?

Back in the 90s I did side work for Honda in LA on the 5th gen Civic. Sculpted a few different concepts and I believe it was P40 chavant.

These days I use Chavant NSP for stuff outside auto design.

+10000

 

Bingo.

 

Forgot to add the website for the instruction video :
www.drivenmavens.com & www.howtodrawcarsnow.com

 

Yeah I use Chavant NSP (no sulphur content) for toys and effects but I think even the hardest grade would be too soft for auto sculpture.

I also use some art products from Japan. They have a great selection of sculpture epoxies and seem to take the craft of sculpture more seriously then the US.

I didnt know you started as a sculptor. Thats cool. My brief foray was in the very early 90s. I was freelance sculpting for Imagineering and one of the guys there said that Honda was looking for some fresh blood to do some sculpting. I went in and got the gig to work on sculpts of a couple , fairly radical, designs for a new Civic.

I had never done anything like that but I loved cars and they gave me a shot. It was fun for a couple months but I went back to movies right after.

 

Did any of your work end up on a "finished product" car?

Jedi

 

I was wrong,we are currently using Chavant.My former employer stopped using it,but the place I'm at now uses it.At school,I think we are using another mfg.

The Honda guys in SoCal were always up to some cool stuff.I walked around the Det. Auto Show with Dave Merek from Honda R&D (Acura showcar).He was explaining the car to our group of guys.

Watching you sculpt on the show,I figured you had some form of training because your stuff looked so good.The sculptors I work with now are all veteran "styling" guys,and their work always amazes me.
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Not directly for Honda. The ones I worked on were concepts.

However, I did meet a guy who on the side was creating aftermarket body kits for Hondas and I later went and sculpted some that did make it into the marketplace.

A little surprised to see you guys use the I-307 since it still has some sulfur in it. The P-40 and Y2 clays, also from Chavant as just as good and sulfur free.

Honestly I cant remember the names of anyone from Honda except for my direct boss who was Evan.

I learned alot about sculpting clean and symmetrical there. Great experience.

 

Man I hated that egg smell that chavant had back in the day. That was some nasty stuff that would stick with you for day's. It was nasty but it did finish up great. We used to just shoot sandy fill right on top and then paint. The downside was longevity.

 

You're right.People that didn't work in the studios all day always complained about the smell of the clay.I was so used to it I couldn't smell it.Kinda like garbage collector's inability to smell their work I guess....

Still scrapin' the clay off the bottoms of my shoes at my current jobs.Always envied people that had shoe bottoms that were clean.The stuff gets in the grooves of the gas & brake pedals of my cars.That sh.. gets everywhere!
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