Behind the scenes with Mike Turner series 02, episode 01: LiuGong industry case Study

Brandy Ryan Brandy Ryan April 26, 2022

1 min read

Last year, we watched DGDesign Senior Designer Mike Turner explore backplates, data import, and specialized backgrounds.

Top half of frame is a white man in VR goggles moving VR hand controls. Bottom half of frame is interior view of a bulldozer cab and control panels.

This year, we’re moving off highway for insight into design work supporting large, off-highway vehicle design.

Episode 01 goes behind the scenes at DGDesign to hear about a small range of bulldozers, a battery electric vehicle concept, and a radical mid-cab dozer project.

Off-highway Vehicle Design Highlights

Grid of yellow and black construction vehicles.

1:03 – Mike talks about how he got into off highway vehicle design and began working with LiuGong.

Interior view of bulldozer cab: seat, controls, dashboard.

4:10 – The intensive, iterative process of online digital reviews, exchanging data and going through feedback (first time Mike used VRED for interior renders).

White man sitting down, computer monitor behind him. He's wearing VR goggles and using VR hand controls.

5:17 — This project also required regular VR reviews in order to assess the cab’s interior.

Sightlines from within a bulldozer cab.

6:54 – The mid-cab dozer project, what Mike calls a radical departure from conventional thinking; this major shift in design involved shifting the cooling pack so that operators can have a better sightline and an unrestricted view of the blade.

Digital illustration of a wheel-loading shovel. Back-end purple area for electric battery.

10:23 – The next project the team took on was a wheel-loading shovel with a radical new package: battery electric vehicle design required designing a whole new rear end to the vehicle.

Digital sketch of wheel-loading shovel back-end.

11:11 — The bodywork was a fabricated initial prototype, which delivered a quite brutal aesthetic.

Rendering of wheel-loading shovel, black, white and grey.

11:49 — The team had an incredibly tight turnaround, from receiving the battery package concept through to releasing the Alias surfaces for fabricated prototyping.

Rendering of three construction vehicles: small bulldozer at left, medium bulldozer with larger cab at centre; electric battery wheel-loading shovel at right.

12:34 – The team develops initial animation for that vehicle and two other battery electric vehicles. These animations were the first VRED animations Mike had done. What seemed daunting at first because a fantastic realized project.

Photograph of construction vehicles at construction exposition in Las Vegas. People standing around vehicles looking at them and talking.

13:35 — The animations and prototypes were shown Con Expo, a construction exposition in Las Vegas.

For the full story behind these projects, check out the video below:

Yes, there will be more! Bookmark the Autodesk Design Studio blog to access these videos as they’re released. You can also subscribe to our VRED YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook.

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