Category: STORIES & INSPIRATION


  • The Call of the future: Project Arrow and the winning team

    What does the APMA do in response to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s call to action for a net-zero emission economy by 2050? Engage young, fresh, and motivated minds. Cue Project Arrow. As Canada’s national association for OEM producers, the APMA has led several innovative and collaborative projects within Canada’s automotive industry since 2014. But…


  • Sketching in Create VR for Alias

    Over the last few months, we’ve shared what Autodesk Create VR for Alias offers designers and 3D modelers: an immersive virtual environment that can speed the transformation from 2D concept to 3D model. Colin Smith’s posts and videos demonstrate some of what’s possible with this technology. I’d like to share what this technology means for…


  • Ens of Year

    Saying goodbye to 2020

    2020 has been … quite a year. We asked our Automotive & Conceptual Design team members to share an image or two that sums up their experience of 2020. Time with family, new ways of working, and new habits have brightened an otherwise challenging year. From all of us at ACD, happy holidays! Here’s to…


  • Ford’s realtime design review: A conversation with the team behind the scenes

    Back in May, when the world was deep in the grips of the Covid crisis, Car Design News and Ford shared a look into their virtual design review process, which Lukas Faith reviewed in June on the Design Studio Blog. Since then, we have been working with the Ford team behind the scenes, to gain…


  • ALIAS Create VR: Creating a concept (video 1)

    We introduced you to our new modeling workflow, Alias Create VR, with a short overview. Now we get to go deeper. We start with Video 1, Creating a Concept. Here, you’ll learn how to get started and then dive into how to create a new layer for the curve network or a wheel design with…


  • Hill Helicopter’s HX50: A masterclass in design realization

    We know that our products are purpose-built to support modern automotive and conceptual design. We’re always thrilled to hear our customers share their stories of easier workflows, collaborative reviews, and high-quality visualizations. And, occasionally, we get to hear a story outside our usual world of automotive design, and it reminds us of why we do…


  • Varjo, KIA, NVIDIA and Autodesk are merging digital and physical worlds for automotive design

    We’re excited to announce the outcome of our collaboration with Varjo, Kia, Nvidia and Autodesk – the integration of Autodesk VRED and the VARJO XR-1 Developer Edition. This is a first step towards merging the best of the virtual and the real world by combining VRED’s rendering prowess with Varjo’s high-resolution XR technology. “You’d think…


  • Secrets of automotive designer elites: Vince Galante

    Vince Galante, Head of User Experience, FCA Vince Galante is Head of User Experience at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), where he has worked for 14 years. Previously, Galante was a senior manager in the Jeep Exterior Design Studio. He graduated from the College for Creative Services (CCS) in 2005 with a degree in transportation design,…


  • ShotGrid: Behind the wheel at Renault

    ShotGrid in Automotive Design Increasing business pressures.Disconnected communication.Globally dispersed studios.Lack of transparency.Challenges tracking data. These are the key problems plaguing all creative studios today. That’s why 2 years ago, we at Autodesk chose ShotGrid software as a solution for design production management in the automotive design studio. To learn more about how ShotGrid solves key…


  • Secrets of the automotive designer elites: Jordan Beckley

    Jordan Beckley works with the Ford training team to create design-specific courses and training in digital software. He is an expert in Autodesk Alias, VRED, Speedform, Gravity Sketch, and Adobe CC applications, specializing in 3D design, modeling, and virtual reality creation and visualization tools. He is also an adjunct professor of 3D visualization and rendering at…


  • 904e – a masterclass in collaborative digital concept design

    If you want to see industrial design, automotive concepts AND digital rendering all in one place, look no further than the portfolio of award-winning senior designer Mike Turner. I’ve enjoyed a 20 year+ professional relationship with Mike that comes with a high regard for the simplicity and clarity of his designs. It’s been a pleasure…


  • Autodesk Alias / CDN webinar: Alias Class A and Class A migration paths

    On Wednesday July 8, Phil Botley, Steve Cobert  and I (Barry Kimball) hosted another Car Design News webinar, we shared a short class A roadmap, demonstrated some new tools as well as generic best practice advice. We also discuss our suite of training material, migration courses and packages for contractors, suppliers, and OEMs alike. Alias…


  • A creative digital pipeline with Alias, VRED & ShotGrid

    On Wednesday July 22, Phil Botley, Lukas Fäth and I (Brandon Tasker) hosted another Car Design News webinar, where we shared our vision of a digital pipeline using Autodesk tools. The three of us often talk about our tools independently—we know, and like to share, the individual strengths of Alias, VRED & ShotGrid. But this…


  • The Holy Grail: GPU realtime raytracing

    Simon Nagel and I have made two Deep Dive videos on our new VRED GPU Ray Tracing technology that we’re really excited to share with you. But rather than just dropping the videos on YouTube, we wanted to give you the story about why we did it and how we got here. The Context I’ve…


  • Solving common design challenges with ShotGrid

    Autodesk’s Technical Specialist Daniel Wright, also known on YouTube as “Alias Guy,” created an overview video about how ShotGrid can be used in automotive design, and how it can help solve common challenges for users in the studio. Key Focus: Common problems for design teams This video covers the solutions to common problems key personas,…