Narrator: Every automobile you’ve ever seen once started as a full-size carefully sculpted clay model. Constructing these models can cost automakers hundreds of thousands of dollars per vehicle. With major advancements in 3D imaging and virtual reality (VR) technology, why are automakers still investing so much money in giant hunks of clay to design their cars?
James Gillies: Typically, inside a clay model they have it’s just usually a steel frame with with your wheel hubs attached to it. On top of the steel frame, it will get get blocks of foam glued to it and then from there we’ll pack one to two inches of clay on that, which will be machined, which then we start sculpting on or refining the design.
Narrator: From there the details vary based on how intricate of a model it is. Still, a full-size clay model may feature 20 thousand dollars’ worth of materials. And the hours of labor contributed by digital designers, sculptors and milling by CNC machines add up. Depending on how many adjustments are made to the model, it can take a couple of years to finalize.
The origins of clay modeling can be traced back to General Motors in the 1930s. Harley Earl, head of GM Styling Studio, was the first to turn sketches into full-scale models using malleable clay.
It changed the industry by how much it simplified and sped up the design process. Designers could now visualize shapes and forms that were difficult and time-consuming to create in steel. But in the 21st century, the age of all things digital, why is clay modeling still worth it?
Robert Fallo: As much as you can do on a screen, digitally, mathematically, it’s still in essence a 2D image. So, at some point in the process very early on we need a 3D image so we can see we can touch, uh, we can evaluate proportion. It’s very difficult to evaluate proportions of a car on a screen. And the thing is with a 3D model, you can’t lie. There’s no cheating. It is what it is. What you see on a on the tube or on the screen, it might look great, even in VR for example. But when you mill, it out there’s always a lot of surprises. For example, certain lines you know on a digital model, they may look sweet, but when it’s milled in full size they might hang and the proportions might look wrong. Like I say, you can’t lie with 3D.
Narrator: Clay models can also be useful for aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnels, where engineers evaluate a car’s drag or how easily it passes through the air around it. They’re the perfect time saving tool.
Robert Fallo: Well, ultimately, you need to lower the drag coefficient, you know particularly in an electric car, you know the lower figure, the better obviously, this is more efficient. And the thing is with the winter it’s very expensive to rent per hour. It’s thousands a time sometimes. So, we do work on the clay model in the wind tunnel, so we can quickly implement changes, because time is money basically. And although we have computer models for aerodynamics, we still need to double check to see can be 100% sure.
Narrator: Perhaps most importantly what clay models reveal that digital imaging doesn’t is what the vehicle will look like in natural light. One of the crucial tests is taking it outside where designers can see what the car will look like where it will actually be driving.
It’s here that they can see how the sun bounces off of its curves and whether it looks like they imagine, or just plain wrong.
This doesn’t mean clay models are an ancient design method that hasn’t changed. Decades ago, when the entire model had to be developed by hand, it could take weeks upon weeks to create a model to begin working within testing.
Today, with CNC machines and data driven systems, a detailed model can be milled overnight for sculptors to begin working on. Just like the entire car industry, it’s evolved to be faster.
Jenny Ha: In our design process too, like we make many variants quickly in data and digital data, and quickly review in VR, um, every single week but whenever we need a validation, we always mill it out again, in clay, overnight and check it again. If it needs some hand work, we do it quickly.
Narrator: Despite how much quicker computers have made carving whole cars out, there’s still an area where human modelers have the advantage: finesse. Sometimes, a detail on a car’s body may need to be changed as little as a millimeter. An edit like this can be tedious but using the malleable clay allows designers to visualize and make multiple changes with real-world proportions, something a computer rendering can’t compete with.
Even if digital technology continues to make car design less labor-intensive, only clay models finished by human sculptors will help car companies achieve what they’re aiming for.
Source: Business Insider
WORD BANK:
automobile /ˈɑː.t̬ə.moʊ.biːl/ (n): ô tô
sculpt /skʌlpt/ (v): điêu khắc
clay /kleɪ/ (n): đất sét
major advancement /ˈmeɪ.dʒɚ ədˈvæns.mənt/ (n): tiến bộ lớn
virtual reality (VR) /ˌvɝː.tʃu.əl riˈæl.ə.t̬i/ (n): thực tế ảo
hunk /hʌŋk/ (n): khối, đống, miếng, khúc
attach sth to sth /əˈtætʃ/ [B1] (v): gắn cái gì với cái gì
foam /foʊm/ (n): xốp
machine /məˈʃiːn/ (v): gia công (bằng máy)
refine /rɪˈfaɪn/ [C2] (v): tinh chỉnh
intricate /ˈɪn.trə.kət/ (n): phức tạp
adjustment /əˈdʒʌst.mənt/ (n): điều chỉnh
malleable /ˈmæl.i.ə.bəl/ (adj): mềm, dễ uốn nắn
simplify /ˈsɪm.plə.faɪ/ [C1] (v): đơn giản hóa
visualize sth /ˈvɪʒ.u.əl.aɪz/ (v): hình dung ra cái gì
worth it /wɝːθ/ (idiom): đáng giá
in essence [C2] (adv – formal): về cơ bản
proportion /prəˈpɔːr.ʃən/ [C1] (n): tỷ lệ
aerodynamic /ˌer.oʊ.daɪˈnæm.ɪks/ (adj): khí động học
wind tunnel /ˈwɪnd ˌtʌn.əl/ (n): đường hầm gió
drag /dræɡ/ (n): lực cản
coefficient /ˌkoʊ.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/ (n): hệ số
implement /ˈɪm.plə.ment/ [B2] (v): thực hiện
bounce off /baʊns/ (v): phản chiếu
ancient /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/ [B1] (adj): cổ xưa
overnight /ˌoʊ.vɚˈnaɪt/ [C2] (adv): nhanh chóng
evolve /ɪˈvɑːlv/ [C1] (v): phát triển, tiến hóa
variant /ˈver.i.ənt/ (n): biến thể
validation /ˌvæl·ɪˈdeɪ·ʃən/ (n): xác nhận
finesse /fɪˈnes/ (n): sự tinh tế
tedious /ˈtiː.di.əs/ [C1] (adj): nhàm chán
rendering /ˈren.dɚ.ɪŋ/ (n): thực hiện, sự thể hiện
labor-intensive /ˌleɪ.bɚ.ɪnˈten.sɪv/ (adj): nặng nhọc
ỦNG HỘ READ TO LEAD!
Chào bạn! Có thể bạn chưa biết, Read to Lead là một trang giáo dục phi lợi nhuận với mục đích góp phần phát triển cộng đồng người học tiếng Anh tại Việt Nam. Chúng tôi không yêu cầu người đọc phải trả bất kỳ chi phí nào để sử dụng các sản phẩm của mình để mọi người đều có cơ hội học tập tốt hơn. Tuy nhiên, nếu bạn có thể, chúng tôi mong nhận được sự hỗ trợ tài chính từ bạn để duy trì hoạt động của trang và phát triển các sản phẩm mới.
Bạn có thể ủng hộ chúng tôi qua 1 trong 2 cách dưới đây.
– Cách 1: Chuyển tiền qua tài khoản Momo.
Số điện thoại 0947.886.865 (Chủ tài khoản: Nguyễn Tiến Trung)
Nội dung chuyển tiền: Ủng hộ Read to Lead
hoặc
– Cách 2: Chuyển tiền qua tài khoản ngân hàng.
Ngân hàng VIB chi nhánh Hải Phòng
Số tài khoản: 012704060048394 (Chủ tài khoản: Nguyễn Tiến Trung)
Nội dung chuyển tiền: Ủng hộ Read to Lead
Lớp luyện thi IELTS online
Bạn đang có nhu cầu thi chứng chỉ IELTS cho đầu vào đại học, đi du học, xin việc hay xin cư trú và đang phân vân chưa biết học ở đâu?
Nếu bạn đang tìm kiếm dịch vụ luyện thi IELTS online với giáo viên uy tín và chất lượng, cũng như học phí phải chăng, thì thầy Trung và Cô Thủy (Admin và dịch giả chính của Read to Lead) có thể là một lựa chọn phù hợp dành cho bạn.
Hãy liên hệ (nhắn tin) tới trang Facebook cá nhân của mình (https://www.facebook.com/nguyen.trung.509) để tìm hiểu về lớp học và được tư vấn cũng như được học thử nha!
