Rendering technology from ARTVPS has helped one student win a prestigious design award. Jonathan Punter was awarded this year’s Best Overall Concept Car at the Royal College of Art’s (RCA) Automotive Design Show.
Jonathan, a student on the RCA’s Masters (MA) Vehicle Design course designed a concept vehicle for his final year project. His brief focused on designing a family car of the future with an interior optimised for social interaction between family members and combing functionality with design in order to create a stunning and realistic end result.
Jonathan, who is a Bentley Motors-sponsored student, took four months to perfect the design of his concept car entry which was modelled using Maya from Autodesk and rendered using ARTVPS’ leading edge technology, RenderDrive.
Commenting on the ideas behind his design, Jonathan Punter said: “The aesthetics of my design were based around the idea of natural systems. The resulting vehicle is meant to represent the way a flower reacts to environmental conditions. I included seats in the vehicle which rotate to facilitate a family environment and which also maximise an individual’s personal space. Child mobility was also considered with the incorporation of seats that can be removed and used independently of the car.”
In order to optimise the demonstration of his design, Jonathan chose animation. Without access to the technology required to render and animate, he approached his contacts at Bentley Motors, for assistance. With additional support from ARTVPS, the team were able to render around 1,000 frames in less than two weeks and add a further dimension to the student’s entry.
Richard Stevens, exterior designer at Bentley, said: “Having worked with Jonathan during his placement, it was great that he approached us to help with his end of year show. The ideas and design of the car were completely down to Jonathan, we just helped him add some extra magic to his entry. We’re over the moon that Jonathan went on to win what is a truly deserved award.”
Brian Tyler, CEO at ARTVPS comments: “Congratulations to Jonathan on an exceptional design. Photorealistic rendering is becoming integral to a number of industries, particularly in automotive design and visualisation. It’s great that students are gaining hands-on experience and developing the skills they will later require in their chosen profession. We are delighted for Jonathan and pleased that ARTVPS technology enabled him to bring his design to life and create an award winning entry. We wish him all the best for his career.”
RenderDrive is a network renderer designed for high volume or departmental ray tracing. Developed using custom hardware and dedicated ray tracing processors, RenderDrive delivers a powerful, flexible and reliable rending environment that can be used independently or operated as a dedicated rendering farm.
For more information, visit www.artvps.com
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