As the Renault example reveals, the automotive industry has relied on advances in three-dimensional modeling for decades

Just like cinema, video games and cartography, the automotive industry has also relied on the advances in technology for several decades. 3D modeling to bring your projects to life.
Today, to produce a car, it must first be created in three-dimensional format. It is one of the tasks of the designer, who can count on ever richer digital tool boxes.
One of these tools is based on the “3D Sketching", a revolutionary technology that allows you to draw without a pencil or a desk. Welcome to the future!

Video, the three-dimensional modeling of the Renault group

Gesturing in thin air to touch design 4.0

Guyancourt Technocentre, December XNUMXst 2021. A man, with a VR helmet in the head and two controllers in hand, gesticulates in the middle of a room. He seems to draw invisible lines around him. A funny scene, which immediately makes one think of the virtual reality experiences of video games.
Yet, Hischke Udo (that's what he's called) he's not a gamer at all, he's a designer! And he is engaged in a work session. His latest discovery? A software of “3D Sketching”, a method of drawing that is being developed at the design center of Renault group.
“With '3D Sketching', you are immersed in a space where there are no longer any constraints or limits”Says Hischke Udo, in its capacity as Chief Designer.

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Like Pablo Picasso in 1949, in the dark with a… lighter

The "3D Sketching” is an intuitive technology that consists in the “draw in the void”, around him.
What does it mean "draw in the void", so? It is a technique that already Pablo Picasso was experimenting in 1949. The famous Spanish artist used a lighter as a pencil to create "bright choreography".
These ephemeral drawings have been immortalized by the photographer Gjon Milli. The technique was known as "light painting" (or "light drawing”), an art form which, already in those days, allowed to conceptualize an idea in the form of representation in space.
Today, with the "3D Sketching”, a bit the same thing happens, but without a lighter or a camera. The technique is based on the use of a VR helmet, Where VR stands for Virtual Reality, Namely virtual reality.
Invented fifty years ago, it became democratized around the 2010 with the marketing of models for video games intended for the general public.
After wearing the helmet and turning it on, the designer finds himself completely immersed in a design studio.
Using two controllers (one in each hand), choose colors from a graphic palette, draw lines, create shapes, fill surfaces, etc. All movements are modeled and recorded in real time by software.
To experience the "3D Sketching”, therefore one is enough VR helmet, two controllers and an Internet connection.

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An almost limited digital and creative freedom of work

Already at the end of the The nineties, the profession of the designer had undergone an initial transformation, with the increasing diffusion of drawing on digital tablet.
Today, the "3D Sketching” goes much further, allowing the designer to do without a tablet, pencil, mouse and even a desk to work.
Design enters a new era: that of digitization placed at the center of vehicle design.
“Groupe Renault has been working digitally for a long time. Today, a new era is opening for designers”.
Thanks to increasingly better tools, digitization leaves the designer full freedom, making his projects even more accessible.
It has never been so easy to quickly create three-dimensional sketches, create in perspective, model shapes (even on a 1:1 scale) or fill volumes. “This saves time”, he specifies Udo.
“It takes at least four weeks to send a scan or data to a machine, while here we are working in real time. It's a huge plus.".
In short, the "3D Sketching” opens the door to new experiments, as it allows the user to easily transform any idea into reality.

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Eyestrain, headaches and pains the only troubles

The downsides to all of this are eyestrain, headaches and other back and joint pains which, after prolonged use, can plague some designers.
“To draw at 360 degrees you need to be in good physical shape and take a break every hour”, points out Udo.
Engineers are already brainstorming ways to make the experience more enjoyable and less constraining. In general, they focus on making the helmet lighter.
For example, helmets of “mixed reality”, which allow you to draw in virtual reality, but also to see what is happening around you ed interact with colleagues.

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Collaboration 2.0 with other designers beyond distance

The "3D Sketching” adds another string to the designer's bow: the ability to collaborate with a colleague, live, on the same project, regardless of the distance that separates them.
“An Internet connection is enough to overcome all geographical limits. You can have the feeling of being together, even if you are thousands of kilometers away”, he continues Hischke.
The two designers can confront each other through the interface created by the "3D Sketching”, using the earphones and microphone built into the VR helmet.
They can thus communicate, share the work created individually and collaborate on joint projects. All this without having to move from home, office or anywhere else they are.
Result: the imaginable combinations are infinite and the misunderstandings much less frequent than before.
“Thanks to VR, which opens the door to 3D reality, we are able to express ourselves more precisely”, he adds Udo.
But that's not all: even the workflow is improved. After making the modeling with the "3D Sketching”, these are exported in the form of files, which can also be used by the other links in the vehicle design and production chain.
The designer can entrust the rendering of his work to a modeler (in charge of obtaining a physical model) or to an engineer who, for example, will evaluate its feasibility.
Just like digitization, the “3D Sketching" it eliminates obstacles to communication and progressively brings down the barriers between the various professions.

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But the "augmented" designer cannot give up on physicality

For some years now, digital drawing has been offering design the opportunity to move the process forward faster and go further, right from the initial intentions of the designer. This trend has been accentuated by “3D Sketching”.
In addition to reducing costs and implementation times, the new technology facilitates development and provides a preview of the designed contents.
Concretely, the designer now has the possibility to focus on a part of the design with more precision, experiment with the surfaces as he pleases, produce "At the mirror” (duplicate a 2D face to obtain a 3D object), obtain a better rendering of sketches and models, directly present your projects in real time and bring your drawings to life thanks to the compatibility of this technology with 3D printers.
With these many advantages, new skills and ever more disparate ways of expressing his ideas, the designer has transformed himself into a “augmented designer".
“We will always need physical models because our customers want to buy a real product that they can touch.”
“'3D Sketching' is one more tool, but traditional methods are still valid”he concludes Udo.
The digital approach is complementary to the physical one, both have a role to play in the vehicle manufacturing process.
Modellers continue to use synthetic clay to make their models. Ideal for drawing up the lines of the vehicle, they are crucial in the final phase of the project to judge its quality.
Similarly, the "3D Sketching” does not replace the drawing skills of the designer, a cornerstone of vehicle design.

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“3D Sketching” has set off to conquer new areas

The designers of the Renault group they are not the only ones experimenting with this technology.
Already adopted by various design schools, it is now used by the designers of motorcycles, sports shoes, bicycle helmets and backpacks.
We can bet that, in the future, it will allow many projects to be carried out in disparate sectors, including fashion, interior design, medicine, architecture and video games.

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