A Second Study Work : full design of an Audi A1

I’m CG Artist, video game and graphical software programmer, multimedia developer and composer. I’m living in France.

This design is a know-how demonstration. It takes 3 weeks of full time work to complete this project: 5 days for the design from scratch, 6 days for the NURBS modeling, 4 days for rendering and animation.

If you are interested for contract in the field of car design, CGI, programming, contact me.

The Audi A1

The Audi A1 is a small, low cost car that will be on the same market as the Mini. The Mini is a neo retro car based on the original Mini Cooper. The A1 must be classic, larger, with a personality that can seduce lot of people. It’s a very high design challenge. As a low cost car, the freedom in the design is reduced by production cost: small wheels, classical architecture, and the VW Polo platform on which it will probably based.

Feministic and attractive

I think key point is the urban philosophy. This car must be attractive, feministic, sympathetic, and not too aggressive, not to complicated but classic. It must look like a practical toy, with an image of youth and distinction. It must remain in Audi design distinction and language but reach the target of a small urban car cost.

All this constraints make me defining a car that is compliant with the Polo platform, with particular proportions that are specific to the near future Audi language. The design is inspirited from the Shooting Break concept car.

A First Study Work

I’ve started this modeling to learn complex surfaces modeling with high curvature control. I have done the entire project, from design to rendering in approx. twelve days. Technically, it permits to me to evaluate the process of modeling curved surface usually used in automotive industry, described as polynomial NURBS curves with high degree, from 5 to 9. This is the only way to have perfect continuity between surfaces.

This car is the result of an intuitive work without any pretentious but a high rendering quality: I have done most of the design directly in 3 dimensions, on the basis of few roughs to define ideas. The absence of a real design work still visible: there are a few ideas, but the whole design is awkward, the language is not clear, the curves and volumes are not perfectly balanced, and numerous details are not realistic. This model is not the result of an advanced work of design with numerous roughs, a reflection to define perfect volumes and a new Audi design language. The design was the matter of only few hours.

But I think the result is good proof that fast virtual prototyping is a reality: I have used one of the best render engines to reach a high quality in lighting simulation, and I was inspirited by the classical Audi concept cars presentations, like the one of the Nuvolary to build a studio like view. And actually, it seems to produce studio like picture from an idea, the longer processes are design and modeling, not rendering.

From this rendering setup, it’s easy to build an animation and make it realistic moving in a virtual road, or in a real road with a final composition process to mix real pictures and virtual car pictures.

The design

The global look is four doors coupe that can be similar to the coming A7. The main idea is the mid curve on the side of the car that is inspired from the 70’s muscle car. This curve is near what has been done on the A5, but with a wider curvature. This curve is looking like a feline body before a run, with eyes that look at its prey.

To define the volumes of this model, I was starting with the automotive definition constraints: headlamp position, engine compartment space, seats position, rear passenger space, roof, boot volume, realistic wheel size… I started from an RS4 modified to take care of visible evolutions of the B8 platform mules: reduced overhang, larger wheelbase, wider track, engine backward.

This model is a little bit realistic about technical specifications.

I think this model design is not extraordinary. But the rendering is good, and I can say it’s one of my masterworks. Going far beyond in rendering sophistication is not an easy thing. I have used a global illumination model finely tuned to have a large color frequency specter and rich gradients. The lighting was made to enhance the understanding of shape trough specular highlights.

More about me and my works.

A Second Study Work : design of an Audi A1

I started to work in order to define my vision of the Audi A1. The Audi A1 is a small, low cost car that will be on the same market as the Mini. The Mini is a neo retro car based on the original Mini Cooper. The A1 must be more modern, larger, with a personality that can seduce lot of people for urban use. It’s a very high design challenge. As a low cost car, the freedom in the design is reduced by low cost production: small wheels, classical architecture, and the VW Polo platform on which it will be based.

I think key point is the urban philosophy. This car must be attractive, feministic, sympathetic, and not too aggressive. It must look like a practical toy, with an image of youth and distinction. It must remain in Audi design distinction and language but reach the target of a small urban car cost.

All this constraints make me defining a car that is compliant with the Polo platform, with particular proportions that are specific to the near future Audi language. The design is inspirited from the Shooting Break concept car.