Webinars: Autodesk – Concept Modeling with Maya

Autodesk presented its third Webinar in the series entitled ‘Concept Modeling with Maya' that illustrates how the software helps to create concept models. Martin Emila of Autodesk showed how Maya could accelerate the development of a design concept with the help of polygonal modeling workflow, and how it can be integrated into common workflow - starting with first ideation sketch, move to polygon model and continue to surfacing and visualization. Emila's four-year career at Autodesk has largely focused on conceptual design and visualization.

Jay Leno gives us the lowdown on his McLaren P1 (video)

Jay Leno drives his new McLaren P1 Jay Leno has no shortage of cars to play with in his collection, but if this video of Jay and his new McLaren P1 is anything to go by, the P1 is his favourite car by far (at least for now). Jay meets up with McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt at his garage and there’s plenty of chat about what makes the P1 special, and how it compares to the legendary McLaren F1 (a car Jay also owns). Then it’s time for a drive out in the P1, first with Mike Flewitt as a passenger and then with Jay on his own as he takes the P1 round the winding roads near his home, and Jay reveals that he put nearly 900 miles on the clock in the first five days he had the P1.

Design Services: Car Menu launched

Within almost every automotive design department throughout the world, their comes a time when a junior designer is dispatched to find a picture of some new model's tail lamp, the side view of a particular class leading competitor or examples of several new cars' colour and trim packages. Whilst looking at the competition is not necessarily a healthy way of finding ideas, it is often essential to demonstrate what is feasible, check in-house proposals are not too derivative, or show how advanced a design theme is relative to the same type of cars on the market. But even if the particular aspect of a car can be found, press packs and magazines typically show cars in the flattering light of an exotic location or being drifted around a corner on opposite lock; rarely are these images particularly useful.