Automotive designers at Ford Motor Company to use immersive visualisationKitchener 17 September 2002 For automotive manufacturers, large-scale immersive visualisation is bringing new efficiencies to vehicle design. Innovative users of the technology, such as Ford Motor Company, have realised the benefits of integrating immersive visualisation into various stages of the design process. The company has begun using the second of two state-of-the-art visualisation systems in its North American facilities. The first is a large-scale flat wall system in the truck design studio.
WorkWalls make it possible for multi-disciplinary design teams to review realistic models of new concepts early in the design cycle, when changes can be made with minimal impact. Much like physical prototypes consisting of clay, wood, fiberglass or plaster, virtual prototypes are used to provide tangible evidence of a design's features and potential flaws.
Compared to physical prototypes, virtual prototypes are far less costly and take almost no time to build. For example, a full-scale physical model of a typical automobile, with fiberglass surfaces, costs approximately $200,000 and takes six to ten weeks to build. Virtual models generated on computers and projected in the large-scale visualisation system can be modified throughout the design process to create multiple iterations for review. In contrast to working from blueprints and isometric drawings, virtual prototypes also provide a much deeper understanding of design issues. The simulations also make it easier to convey information to non-technical personnel, which can help to speed management level design reviews.
Driven by powerful computer systems, the WorkWalls at Ford display visualisations generated in software applications such as Opticore Opus Studio, Alias|Wavefront DesignStudio, EDS PLM Solutions E-vis 4.0, and SRDC I-DEAS. The systems enable design teams to view extremely accurate simulations and manipulate both two-dimensional and stereoscopic models as they work.
Each of the WorkWall display systems at Ford is configured with three digital, high-bright stereoscopic projectors that provide an expansive image area. To create the large, seamless image from several different projectors, the systems incorporate the latest in digital edge-blending technologies. Edge-blending modulates light in the overlap area to create uniform brightness and a smooth, continuous image across the full screen width. To create the stereoscopic depth perspective necessary for reviewing designs, special shutter glasses rapidly occlude alternate eyes so that, as in real life, each eye sees a slightly different image.
The WorkWall used in the truck design studio, installed in 2001 and upgraded in spring 2002 to a digital projection system with 2000 ANSI lumen brightness, is 8-ft high by 20-ft wide by and provides 12 pixels per linear inch for high-resolution viewing. In the NAC Design Studio, where it is used for automotive styling, the WorkWall measures 8-ft high by 24-ft wide and also provides 12 pixels per linear inch resolution.
Also based on high-brightness digital projection technology, its images are illuminated at 5000 ANSI lumens, enabling viewing in ambient light with no need for a darkened room. This allows NAC design teams of as many as 30 people to view and work with both "real-life" physical models and full-scale virtual prototypes simultaneously. Both the NAC design studio WorkWall and the truck design studio are driven by SGI platforms, with the NAC solution being an Onyx 3000 supercomputer with three InfiniteReality3 graphics pipes, eight 64-bit processors.
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