Ford’s Global 3D Model

While this appears to be a person wearing some sort of advanced headgear who is somehow entangled with a vehicle that has a rather cartoonish appearance, as though this might be something related to the Marvel cinematic universe, it is actually a Ford designer who is working with a product named “Gravity Sketch”:

(Images: Ford)

Gravity Sketch is a 3D virtual reality tool that allows designers to go directly to 3D modeling, with gestures taking the place of a stylus and tablet (or pen and paper for those who are less inclined to be wholly digital and have a slight analog bent).

One feature that Ford designers find to be particularly useful is Co-Creation. This allows designers in studios around the world to be able to interact with the “same” 3D model (i.e., same in the sense that it is the same data running both renderings).

Explains Michael Smith, Ford design manager, “The Co-Creation feature adds more voices to the conversation in a virtual environment, which results in more efficient design work that may help accelerate a vehicle program’s development.”

Ford is working with Gravity Sketch in five design studios around the world, with interior and exterior designers collaborating with their peers elsewhere in the world. It is expected that this Co-Creation capability will have a large effect on design time.