Ford virtual reality design studios a marvel

LAB MAGIC

Ford recently demonstrated two of the technologies it uses at its Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Mich.: the Ford Vehicle Immersion Environment (FIVE) and its Studio 2000X program.

The FIVE lab makes its magic by combining computer-aided design (CAD) data into one program. That includes not just exterior styling or the dash design, but “every nut and bolt that’s in that model,” says Elizabeth Baron, the Lab’s VR and advanced visualization technical specialist. This goes right down to the seat frames, wiring, and even the engine’s internal components.

Baron stands in the middle of the lab floor, wearing a virtual reality headset that shows a three-dimensional image of the vehicle to her. Using what’s essentially video game technology, along with an in-house bank of some 1,500 computer processing units, the program also broadcasts an image of what she’s seeing on a huge screen alongside, allowing others in the room to follow along.

By using special tools such as a pointer or a flashlight, which are connected to the program, Baron can highlight specific areas of the vehicle, or pinpoint light on them. She can open the door and step inside, sitting on a chair that becomes the car seat on the screen. She can even lie down on the floor to get a view of the vehicle’s underside. “I insisted on carpeting the lab floor, because I have to crawl around on it,” she says.

The purpose behind the program is to present the entire car, which is almost impossible to do at any other design stage — a clay model won’t have a driveline, for example — so it can be assessed for any changes. The program is used across Ford’s centres, and various teams can provide input on a design. “We can look at a car with designers in Australia, and they all see the same thing,” Baron says, adding that she believes Ford is currently the only automaker using this type of real-time design technology.

Virtual reality is also the cornerstone of Studio 2000X, Ford’s in-house animation studio. Using programs and techniques similar to those of animation moviemakers, the studio can handle everything from initial vehicle design, right through to the realistic-looking movies that will be used to sell the car.

“Virtual reality was a game changer,” says studio design manager Jerry Kearns. “Designers can sketch in VR, and the lines float in space. Now, instead of two-dimensional sketches, they start in 3D.”

In addition to creating a drawing from scratch — the traditional “sketch on a napkin” approach to creating a car — some designers use the program for poly modelling. Starting with a formless blob shape, they push or pull at it on the screen, coaxing a vehicle design from it. Kearns says it’s faster and gives designers more opportunity to experiment.

Ford has used animation for a couple of decades, but the new programs compute faster and allow for real-time interactive visualization, including the same global team collaborations as in the FIVE lab. Not every Ford studio has a Studio 2000X yet, but it will.

On a screen, a Mustang appears first as a sketch, and fills out to a completed vehicle. Shadows and highlights appear, the engine starts, and the virtual car does a very realistic-looking burnout before driving down a virtual road. At the speed of imagination.