Category: STORIES & INSPIRATION


  • 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,…


  • Ford’s realtime design review in virtual space

    CarDesignNews.com is doing a series on their livestream broadcast about how various design studios are adapting to the global lockdown, finding new and creative solutions in adversity. Their May 21 broadcast showcased Ford’s live design review in virtual space. Ford’s designers have taken hardware and VR setups home (with permission!), so they can design and…


  • Porsche Taycan realtime GPU raytracing with VRED 2021

    Autodesk released Realtime GPU Raytracing in VRED 2021. This video shows the quality of Realtime GPU Raytracing in Full Global Illumination while maintaining the variations and complexity of the CAD dataset. Thanks to Porsche to provide us a great Dataset of the Taycan, that helped us to demonstrate the performance, flexibility, and quality of our…


  • ShotGrid and the design studio: Virtual launch

    I wanted to share how easily ShotGrid can solve major challenges for the automotive design studio and give interested customers the confidence to start using ShotGrid today. Enjoy this 10 mins. video from our Virtual Product Launch on April 22 2020. *Note: since this post was published, Autodesk changed the name of the software to…


  • Tobias France: Automotive sketch to render in SketchBook

    Tobias France of Bias Design is back again with a time lapse of his sketch-to-render journey.  In this video, Tobias demonstrates his process of turning a fun doodle into an elaborate rendering inspired by the GT40 Shelby Daytona Coupe. From cleaning up his sketch, to laying on base colours, adjusting structure, and adding highlights, Tobias…


  • Automotive design in ShotGrid

    After many years of ShotGrid being the trusted production management platform for Animation, VFX and Games, an increasing number of automotive & product design studios have begun adopting ShotGrid for the problems it helps solve. At Autodesk, we hear from our customers the pain they experience every day. Design files are stored on disk, often…


  • Next-level immersive design experience with VRED

    User-centered interface design increasingly gains importance in modern mobility- and product designs to provide sophisticated experiences for the end customer. Looking at advanced display technologies and the growing possibilities for human-machine interaction, Autodesk wants to ensure that users are able to create a fully interactive product experience. Therefore, it is more important than ever to…


  • How modern automobiles are driving engineering innovation

    Researchers from Mercedes-Benz R&D center. Image Source The automobile industry has been a driving force in many areas of industrial innovation for the past 100 years. Modern car manufacturers are continually innovating and designing, so what innovative engineering solutions have been the result of modern automobile manufacturing? Transportation vehicles are at the core of our…


  • Simulation and the future of self-driving cars

    Self-driving cars are going to change many things about our daily lives, and simulation technologies are right at the center of that innovation. When you think “self-driving car,” you probably envision a car mounted with tons of sensors and computers that drives itself down the road. While that is certainly the external picture of the…


  • How cloud computing will impact automotive safety

    The cloud isn’t just for backing up your phone’s photos or storing work documents, it might soon be used to make driving safer. Modern cars aren’t made like they used to be, they’re connected and they’re filled with technology. The average new vehicle has a state of the art infotainment system with navigation, satellite radio…


  • From F1 to regular cars: What’s next for the automotive industry

    In the automotive industry, new technology seems to flow from the top down. Groundbreaking concepts for new engines, steering wheels, braking efficiency, much of the new technology we see in our new cars had its root in racing. F1, in particular, is known to be a proving ground for automotive tech, which allows us to…