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01/01/2011
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Anne Asensio,
VP design & brand experience at Dassault Systèmes, talks to Mark Fletcher about, among other things, the evolving role of virtual reality (VR), both inside and outside the bounds of the design function.
Prim.jpg "Reality check") As one of the leading vendors for CAD and PLM software in the automotive industry, Dassault Systèmes has an important role to play, not only in the introduction of its own new design technologies and methodologies, but also in catering for the needs of the ever-changing automotive design environment.
It's fair to say that, if you want to know what is on the automotive CAD horizon, then Dassault Systèmes' Anne Asensio is a good source to start with. Her infectious enthusiasm for all things car design is immediately obvious and is backed up by an impressive résumé.
After studying design methodology and industrial design at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués in Paris, Asensio began her career at Renault, where she was responsible for driving the design of small- and mid-size cars, such as the Megane. She then moved to GM where she held senior design roles, including executive director of design, advanced design, at the GM's Design Center in the USA. In 2007, she joined Dassault Systèmes where she is currently vp Design & Brand Experience.
On being quizzed about the future evolution of virtual reality (VR), she explains: "In order to understand where virtual reality is going, you need to understand where it has been. It all began with digital mock-ups and designers who were coming from a fictitious representation angle. At Renault, we subsequently developed a combination of VR and real backgrounds before moving to a full CG environment. Although this was immensely powerful visually, it was still centred on the concept of post-design decision making. I knew at that stage that VR was capable of so much more.
"Thanks to advances in GPU power, coupled with ray tracing and global lighting, we are now able to generate really impressive real-time images in CATIA," she elaborates, "complementing one of our key messages – 'real time... anytime'. Not only does this shorten the iterative loop that designers face at the creative phase of the design, thanks to being able to leverage the power of VR earlier, but it also allows other non-designers to use high visual quality collateral and simulations earlier in the vehicle's development phase. This is the 'life-like' paradigm. As the capabilities evolve, VR will no longer just be a designer's tool; during the latter stages of a vehicle's design, it will be a tool for everyone to utilise, even at very early conceptual phases."
Another step Dassault Systèmes is taking is in the use of VR to simulate real materials and allowing them to behave how they are supposed to behave. "VR, in the future, will be beyond representation; it will be real life," Asensio claims confidently. "You will be driving knowledge with you and will reach your major stages a lot quicker, as long as VR is allowed to use the science of real life.
"In many instances, the rendering of a design is a two-step process," she elaborates. "Designers have to export their designs from CAD and into a rendering programme before generating the life-like images. In CATIA, however, designers can generate really impressive real-time rendered images in the same package – cutting time yet further. I like to think that, in CATIA, a designer will be closer to real life."
One of the more exciting developments, which really seems to have gripped Asensio's imagination, is the development of a new tool, soon to be part of Dassault Systèmes' offering – namely a concept that will allow designers to access 3D from freehand sketches.
Her face lights up and she is clearly excited when talking about this. With her background, it is easy to see why. "We are developing an algorithm that catches curve data," she explains. "Imagine a typical multiple-stroke sketched curve, drawn by a designer. What the algorithm does is pick a best fit from the multiple strokes and then work towards combining them." This concept of predictive curves is almost certainly going to be a very important tool for designers, especially in the very early phase where they might not yet have progressed from the freehand sketching phase.
According to Asensio, there are many other emerging solutions; the issue is how to integrate them into the bigger picture. "It is hard to convert people, especially if they are 10-year proficient on a particular software. It is complicated to manage skill levels and sometimes new solutions do not get adopted, due to skills gaps. Attitude to innovation also plays a very big part.
"My role is push, provoke and propose," she continues. "Look at the Renault Megane. That's a great example. You either loved it or hated it, but it was certainly not dull. We need adventure and alternatives. The car industry is very siloed; designers do get inspired by other industries, but they soon revert to being back in the car industry."
The big question on Asensio's lips is: "What is next? Ford gave us different colours, GM created the concept of obsolescence and Toyota perfected mass production. What will the next step change be?"
In the world of design, augmented reality is a hot favourite, as is customer customisation. Maybe even the car industry will soon be able to say: "There's an app for that."
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Author
Anne Asensio
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