Clay models stay relevant in era of virtual reality and 3D modeling

Digital imaging, virtual reality and 3D modeling have improved in the past decade but most designers and decision-makers are still unprepared to approve new designs without physical models.

It's partly a technical issue, coupled with the need and desire for managers and designers to touch a physical object before making key decisions. That's why carefully handcrafted clay models will not disappear anytime soon.

SangYup Lee, a Hyundai Motor senior vice president and head of design, said the automaker already has moved its commercial-vehicle design processes to digital and said top management is committed to moving passenger-car design there as well.

"Digitalization is key to making our design process faster and keeping up with the technology acceleration," Lee said. Today, he said, when a new vehicle reaches the market, it is, in a sense, already old, because it has taken two years to design. In contrast, a new cellphone comes out every six months.

The biggest hurdle along the road to digital design, Lee said, is that virtual-reality tools are not yet entirely up to the task. VR has to be as realistic as possible, and car designers are sensitive. Sometimes, success is a matter of 2 mm to 3 mm. Right now, 4K-resolution VR is unavailable. Moreover, projects involving multiple users require a lot of computer power, and VR technology is sometimes a little jittery, which can cause problems because precision become even more crucial when designers work together from different locations.

Marco Ivancich, head of the Virtual Lab at Italian design and engineering firm Pininfarina, said VR hardware instruments have not reached perfection yet. VR still lacks the sensory experiences -- primarily tactile -- that a physical model offers, Ivancich said. Another potential drawback is the possibility that with VR somebody suffers motion sickness. Despite these drawbacks, the move to VR is accelerating.

Ford Motor is cooperating with Gravity Sketch on its 3D VR tool which, Gravity Sketch says, allows designers to trade in their sketch pads for a headset and controllers to immerse themselves in virtual reality.

Imitating gestures through motion tracking replicates sketching with pen and paper. In general, physical models have been produced for a relatively long time using computer-aided design and 3D modeling.

"For all Lamborghini models currently in production, we had a number of physical models that were all derived from CAD," said Filippo Perini, who has headed design at Volkswagen Group styling specialist Italdesign since 2016 after working for 10 years at Lamborghini. "The main reason was that we never had enough time to use the traditional methods. We started in 2005 and never went back."

The same goes for most of Perini's competitors. Flavio Manzoni, head of design at Ferrari, said designers at the automaker's headquarters in Maranello, Italy, use both CAD and physical models because each technique has its advantages.

"CAS (computer-aided styling) helps us in the initial phase for the so-called 3D sketching -- i.e., trying different volumes in parallel," Manzoni said. "Later we work on 1-to-1 clay models. There's a continuous loop between virtual and physical. When we modify the physical model, we scan it to put it back into CAD -- sort of reverse-engineer it -- to verify the changes have not impacted the technical feasibility of the model."

Ferrari followed that path in designing the recently revealed SF90 Stradale supercar.

One of the main advantages of 3D computer modeling is that it speeds up processes and enables designers to work on projects together from faraway locations. It also quickens the back-and-forth between design studio and customer. What's really cool about VR, said Hyundai's Lee, is that you can look at the car not only in the studio but also on the street, in daylight or during the night. He believes it's best to see a car outside, with other cars. The useful side of VR is that a designer can add the innovation during an early stage of the design.

Modern CAD and VR techniques can also help creativity. Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar and senior vice president of design at Volvo Cars, said he realized when working on the Polestar 1 concept coupe that "the software and the tools we had could easily enable such a variety and such a level of artistry that previously only a clay modeler was able to create with his hands."

Italdesign's Perini said these tools have been used for a while in architecture. Zaha Hadid was one of the first to use 3D Studio Max to generate the shapes of her buildings, he said. Some building designs are so complex that they could not be translated into a 2D rendering. Instead, they are managed within a 3D CAD system. In the car industry, these new instruments enable designers to create entirely new shapes and forms. This so-called generative design, Perini said, is currently used for some components, such as grilles. Designers take a much more conservative approach, though, when asked whether physical models in clay or epowood could be cut altogether from the process. In the final validation phase, most say, 3D and VR can't yet fully replace physical modeling.

It's not a matter of cost. A 3D design apparatus is cheaper than traditional clay modeling. Today you can start a design by spending 50,000 euros ($56,500) on computer hardware and software, Perini said. It is already technically feasible to do without physical modeling, he said. Italdesign did it with a number of one-off or few-off models, as their business case does not allow the same modeling process. "Our typical process for a production car took nearly two years," Perini said, "while it took just four to five months to design a one-off."

At Pininfarina, the final validation still goes through a physical model, said design chief Carlo Bonzanigo. "From a biological and sociological point of view, I believe we can achieve a higher grade of aesthetic experience through physicality that comes from the way our brain works," Bonzanigo said.

Polestar's Ingenlath thinks clay models are still necessary. As a designer, he said, making up your mind about the design is not something you can do while just sitting in a presentation. "You need time to reflect, to digest and form your opinion," Ingenlath said. "For that reason, it definitely helps to have a model standing there."

Some automakers are adamant in their attitude toward physical modeling. Mazda Motor, for example, leverages design to try to differentiate from the competition. That's why, although eschewing clay models is technically possible, Mazda does not think it can get the same emotional feedback it needs for its reflection-based surfacing or for the design quality it wants to achieve, said Mazda Europe's design director, Jo Stenuit.

In the relation between design studios and customers, the latter decide, most of the time, that they still want to watch and touch a physical mock-up of the product. That can also work the other way around. "Once, one of our customers wanted to save money on the interior design of a new truck," said Giuliano Biasio, design director at Torino Design. "But our team managed to convince them to go for the physical model aside the computer one." It will depend of the decision-makers themselves, Perini said, whether "it's clear that having a physical model gives a manager more confidence."

Douglas A. Bolduc and Luca Ciferri contributed to this report.