Hi,
Great job. Congratulations for winning the contest.
I saw you add me a comment. Thank you again.
You are right , the front of my project is not as good as the rest of the car. I do not have enough time to express myself. You have excellent drawings skills.
Bye.
enhorabona per es teu podium! perdona per haver tardat tant a contestar-te. gracies per es teus consells, me seran de gran ajuda per intentar millorar encara que haver quedat a sa posicio 70 de 80 per jo es un gran triomf, ja que no tenc cap tipus de formacio en disseny ni tampoc ses eines adequades. estic aqui per pasar s'estona. m'encanten es cotxes. duc dibuixant cotxes a n'es meus apunts de clase desde que feia bup (llastima que els hagi tirat tots,crec que hi havia cosetes interesants). jo ja sabia que aquestes competicions eren dures i moooooooolt profesionals, basta veure es vostres portfolios, pero es saber que hi ha hagut 10 persones que segur que estan molt mes qualificades que jo per dissenyar que han quedat per darrere meu m'omple molt. crec que encara que no sapiga dibuixar (ja ho he canviat al meu perfil,no era serios) i que sa meva presentacio es penosa aqui tenc s'oportunitat de dibuixar (no de dissenyar, aixo ho feis voltros) lo que mes m'agrada, que son cotxes i que sa gent que mes en sap ho vegi i me doni sa seva opinio. tambe es una oportunitat de posar en comu ses meves idees. no tenc ni idea de mecanica, ni d'aerodinamica, ni d'hergonomia, ni de renders ni de 3D. he fet lo que he pogut amb lo poc que he apres de photoshop, que ni tan sols se si es el mes adequat per aixo, pero es el programa que conec. en definitiva, LM es sa forma que tenc de fer "public" es meu hobby. per cert, es resultat de sa competicio m'ha decepcionat un poc, crec que es cotxe guanyador no es res de s'altre mon i que hi havia propostes molt millors que han tengut una puntuacio molt baixa. es "politiqueo", no?. un saludo.
Hey Chris, I don't have any experience with solidworks, and Mike just took off for the weekend and will be back next tuesday-- I know thats almost a week. I'll ask our new engineer Alex if he has any idea since he has some experience with SW08. I'm sorry I'm not able to help out right now though.
Hi, Papagomp here. Thanks for your encouragement, are you new to LM, if so welcome. My choice of rendering material really is divided between Photoshop and also marker and biro sketching. I use Photoshop for renderings which need a lot more detail and refinement, although I am trying to do more sketchy stuff in PS so have some of that in my folio. I find the sketch wall here a great inspiration.
The stuff for the latest competition is mainly marker and biro, which I love, I am a real sketchaholic. I sketch on anything, and although I enjoy photoshop, I still love the manual stuff as well, some call it old school, but I think there will always be a place for it. I am also trying to do more sketching in photoshop, we will see how that goes....
You guys rock. This will be remembered as the most fun I've had in an LM contest thus far. A big congratulations to you Adam, Xavier, and Apollinar. To quote my late Father, who passed away this month, "we must find joy in our work. Without humor, without love, without perseverence, without extraordinary effort, we cannot make our lives complete".
I'm having some problems with the CAD files. I have to use the IGES files because i'm using SW 08 and as you know the files aren't backwards compatible. Ive been trying to open the IGES in my SW and it either crashes, or gives me errors every time i open it. I also have tried opening the IGES in catia but its blank. There is nothing in the tree and nothing in the modeling space. Do you have any ideas of what could be wrong?
Thanks Nyko for ur comment,appreciated !
Yo,brauny boy,wassup dud ,how have u been lately ? I don t know if the taillights are inspired from reventon but at the moment i was making them seemed to fit,if u take a closer look u ll see that they re like the front turnlight.
Thanks for dropping by!
Wish u a lovely day!
As promised, you can download the Illustrator file of the gauges by clicking this link. Bad point, the file is not as organized as I would, good point, I've only used global colors, meaning that you can change the black / white / gray elements into the color you want in only one click.
Hi everybody. Quick update of the day. As a good Frenchman, I've liked a lot Filski's and Chalk.'s idea about the metric system so I've worked on a new speedometer background that matches the MPH scale so the background can be replaced without having to reset the whole thing. I still need to do the same with the oil pressure and water temperature. Braun and BGreif, the font is customizable. I've tried to find the most simple one to match the thematic and made this proposal with Gill Sans (Regular). My points of focus were the clean shape of the "1" (like a "I") and the opening of the "6" to avoid possible confusion with a "5" or a "8". Concerning the size aspect, the compactness of the gauges will allow more flexibility to fit most of them (if not all of them) under the visor without changing too much the geometry from Mihai's design. The only concern I tend to have with these gauges concerns the bright orange needles but on the other hand this color has the great advantage to make the needles' angles easier to read without taking the eyes off the road (once you know the car well enough).
In any case, I plan to make the Illustrator file available tomorrow so everyone can modify it in the way he wants.
All, thank you very much for providing your feedback and recommendations, we really appreciate it. I have read your responses and wanted to respond to each of you to address your concerns/ thoughts.
To Filski and Chalk: Thank you for your recommendations of Km/H-- we would like to include this, however the gauges are a bit small to add those numbers without totally cluttering up the gauge faces, or without having the numbers too small to see.
Let me give you some more information that perhaps we should have shared a bit earlier-- it is hard to tell from the photos above, but the gauge faces are not as big as most "cluster pods" in production vehicles. The two large gauges here are 3 3/8th" inches, in diameter, and the smaller gauges are 2 1/16" in diameter. What you have in your production vehicle is usually between 3.5 inches - 5 inches depending on your vehicle.
The goal of re-designing the gauge faces is to make the gauges fit the aviation theme better while giving the gauges a clean, easy to read, customized look. If you look at the first picture, you will notice that while the gauges look nice, they do look like standard aftermarket sports gauges. We didn't think this fit the Rally Fighter, and because we have the ability to get these with custom faces, we figured we would do the work, and work with the community, to come up with the best design for the gauges we could.
Secondly, the window to see the gauges through is 6.5"x13". While that is enough room to see your gauges, it is not huge. That is why we went with smaller diameter gauges-- that and because we are limited by the space we have on the dash to place these gauges. With the smaller diameter, putting the Km/H would look cluttered. But there is good news here:
The gauges are fully programmable, so if you were somewhere that did use Km/H you could simply re-program the gauges so that the numbers corresponded to Km/H instead of MPH. In addition to this, we are considering the idea of offering a different face for Km/H.
These gauges are quite nice-- First, they are fully engineered and manufactured in the U.S. -- and one of Local Motors goals has been to use as many domestic made parts as we can. We looked at hundreds of different gauges, and it is not easy to find nice, clean, quality gauges with as many features as these ones have for a reasonable price. These gauges have stepper motors, which makes then very accurate and work well under bumpy, off road conditions. They are also fully programmable, with custom sweep settings, custom warning settings, the ability to attach warning lights, and also the ability to use peak recall settings (each gauge has memory of what the peak was-- so you could see what your top speed was, or the highest water temperature you had was. They are also very nicely made, (aluminum bezel) very simple to use and install, and they feel and look very nice in person. To tell you the truth I was pleasantly surprised when they came. They have a beautiful amber OR white illumination, and when you turn them on, the dials do a full sweep and then sweep back to their position--(looks really cool-- kind of aviation calibrating theme).
Regarding the Fuel capacity idea recommended by Chalk-- we all thought this idea was a very cool, very original, and very intelligent, and we are seriously considering it. One of our concerns is that some Rally Fighter owners may swap out their fuel tanks, but if they do that, I'm sure they would be able to swap out their gauges to match. While we haven't decided for sure on this, we like the idea so much that it is still on the table.
In response to Braunarsch: We are keeping the matte black face because it falls in line with the P-51 mustang interior look. The fonts are changeable if you have a better suggestion, as well as the tick marks etc. However the goal is to keep the gauges consistent as making each set customized per Rally Fighter would not be possible from a manufacturing and installation standpoint. I do like your ideas of a brushed metal-- maybe we could do that down the road for another LM vehicle, but the fact that we are trying to respect the P-51 and Mihai's interior sketch pretty much dictates the matte black.
To BentleyBoy: Thank you for sharing your feelings with us-- I am sorry you feel that these still look cheap even with the customized faces. These gauges were not pulled out of any Japanese tuner car-- they are made by a reputable company out of california that specializes in making high quality precision instruments. As I have listed above, we have to work within several constraints-- what is available to us, what the dimensions are that we have to work within, and how everything will fit together, and thus we are always trying to come up with the best solution we can. After looking at hundereds of different gauges, we felt that these were the best option. There are gauges made by Moal that look more aviation inspired, but they don't have stepper motors and other features that these gauges DO HAVE, and they are much more expensive.
Trust me, the aviation spirit of the RF will not be lost or "greatly diluted." Local Motors hired a senior engineer who is currently focusing 100 percent on engineering the interior so that we can maintain many of the design traits from Mihai's interior design as well as maintain the aviation spirit of the interior. I recognize that there is always a bit of anxiety when you see separate pieces of the puzzle, such as seeing the gauges above. But if you think about the exterior design of the Rally Fighter, and what we had to overcome to design the chassis to maintain some of the striking features of the exterior design, I think you won't have to worry too much about the interior. It is because the interior is where the driver spends his time, and the fact that it is such a crucial element of a vehicle that we are taking our time, and sharing so much information with the community, to make sure we do it right. We are in the beginning stages, and Aurel is working hard on coming up with the designs, while both he and I are working very closely with the engineering team to make sure the interior evolves in the right direction.
At the same time, the Rally Fighter is a different breed of vehicle-- the way many super cars are. The Rally Fighter is a street legal, desert racing vehicle. It is a beast that loves to jump, fly over rough terrain, and blast through the desert. It is not a Land Rover, or a Mercedes, or a Jeep Wrangler. It is a vehicle that has been specifically designed to live in the desert, yet be driven around town when you need to. It is light weight, and minimalist-- it only has what it needs, and nothing it doesn't--- just like the P-51. The P-51 had a wooden floor, and an incredibly uncomfortable seat, and then a bunch of instruments, gun controls and that was about it.
The Rally Fighter interior will be much nicer than the P-51's, and much more like the sketch of Mihai, but do not expect a lush, cushy Mercedes Benz, or even Land Rover defender interior. Instead it will consist of a sculpted dash board, a huge center tunnel, racing seats, racing harnesses, a two speaker stereo system, air conditioning and heating, and a back up cam/ in mirror system to help with visibility. It will be nice-- we are shooting for a clean, minimalist, but very nice, very functional, and very easy to take care of interior. We are even toying around with placing many of the control switches on the roof-- because of the aviation spirit, and it also works ergonomically-- but that idea is not final.
I hope that all of this helps all of you to better understand some of our decisions, and what direction we are moving with the Rally Fighter interior. I will be updating this build story on a daily basis, so stay tuned, and continue providing feedback. Your ideas ARE important and we did consider each of them-- for example, the fuel gauge idea from chalk, and that the reprogrammable feature on the speedometer was cool because it would allow you to reprogram it for Km/H vs MPH-- something we had not considered before your recommendations-- so keep them coming.
Hi Papagomp here. I just use regular AD markers, namely cool and warm greys, Pale Indigo, basic Grey 1 and 2, thats about it really. Might try to put together a breakdown of how I use them, as a number of people have asked. Your competition stuff was really nice, lovely sketchwork. Really nice delicate blue pencil stuff. Really nice.
Why not make the dials look more like the gauges in the P-51 or in the way that Bell & Ross interpret the vintage aviation gauges >> ? I mean, seriously - these look like just about any dials that could have been and probably were pulled out of a Japanese tuner car (which really means they are not special in any way, unlike the RF)
The Spindles are on the list of the next round of parts to be uploaded soon. It wasn't added initially since the data there needs a little more cleanup/detail to be useful, but it's on the list of upcoming parts. It was a part that we scanned vs. modeled from reverse engineering the original part, so there are holes in the surface, it still has the lower ball joint mount (we cut it off for use in the car), and the pick up points for the upper ball joint and the steering need a bit more definition to be easily used by all.
Dear Bentley Boy, thanks for your congrats, I know that results were not what you were neccessarily expecting, I know that you were a big fan of Sixtens entry (and I quite agree it was stunning). And the fact that mine was a highly modified Bentley and not based on a clean sheet design, might have been seen as less original, (to be honest I based mine on the 4 and a half litre, because the brief asked the question about what parts might come from other vehicles, and the time was running out fast, and some vehicles of that period were based on other exsisting platforms. Aston Martins started out as modified Singer cars.) But thankyou for your graciousness, and your encouragement.
Dear Bentley Boy, thanks for your congrats, I know that results were not what you were neccessarily expecting, I know that you were a big fan of Sixtens entry (and I quite agree it was stunning). And the fact that mine was a highly modified Bentley and not based on a clean sheet design, might have been seen as less original, (to be honest I based mine on the 4 and a half litre, because the brief asked the question about what parts might come from other vehicles, and the time was running out fast, and some vehicles of that period were based on other exsisting platforms. Aston Martins started out as modified Singer cars.) But thankyou for your graciousness, and your encouragement.
As the designer of the highly modified Bentley (I take it that you mean me Bentley Boy, and yes you would be right) I was sorry to not see this one placed a lot higher. As I said Sixten, this has real quality, not only in the amazing CAD work, but also the lovely sketches. I love the sheer shock value of it, and the spirit that it captures.
I know the majority of the RF customers are American but there are some international customers too. So will there be provisions to incorporate the metric system? Such as having an option to get a metric version of those gauges; or having both unit systems on the faces for the speed, pressure and temp?
Another thing thats always bothered me, is that it seems by tradition, fuel gauges are marked on a scale of empty to full. I've always wished fuel gauges were scaled by volume. My reasoning is that for people who have multiple vehicles, sometimes you forget which vehicle has which size tank. I also think its easier for when you get gas. My thought process at a gas station is normally; i want 1/2 a tank of gas > this tank has 20 gal > 20gal/2=10gal > the price is $3.00/gal > so i need ~$30. If the fuel gauge has the volume on it already, it cuts out an extra thinking step. I know it might be kinda of a moot point. I also realize fuel gauges are inaccurate anyways so it might be more annoying w/ the volumes scaled. But i thought i'd just bring that into consideration anyways.
are the fonts fixed or are the changeable? what about the black backdrop white font arrangement.. is that also a fixed arrangement? why not something like a brushed metal backdrop/ dark metallic paint colour matching that of the exterior of the corresponding LMRF, with a contrasting font, either printed in gloss or engraved (in the case of the brushed metal face) .... the brush metal face doesnt necessarily need to be real metal, it could be a laminate, so as to save costs, just adding my 2 cents.... what do you think?
hey thankx nyko, for both feedback and the manikin! well, now that im graduated, im looking for some prospective employment, or if i could get a scholarship for a masters in transport design, i would go for that. i have sent applications for both. im waiting for responses, still gotta send more applications
Braunarsch, this is amazing! The Druck has evolved and matured into something that is so cool, and so fun. What excites me is that I think there could be a market for this-- in the U.S. the only small pickup we have left these days is the Ford Ranger-- and that is 20years old, not safe, and has no modular capabilities. But there is a market for small pickups-- the problem is, is that the only choice people have is to get the ranger, or move up to the Tacoma/ Chevy Colorado-- and these are so ubiquitious-- especially the base versions that just look weird when they have smaller wheels and are lowered.
The Druck has style. It alludes to what the pickup truck was back in the early days in the 20's, and 30's, and yet it is useful (unlike that joke-- the chevy SSR). And now with the interior, and you taking a very clean, and intelligent approach to it-- this is really coming along!
The cutaway is very cool-- it allows me and everyone else to see how the interior fits with the exterior, which is exactly what I wanted-- and it looks like you have respected the packaging very well.
I will be sending you the manikin later today-- I have him fully articulated in my program, but you may have to play with the pivots to make him work for you.
Thank you for sharing this and for the speedy development. What are your plans now that you have graduated?
too beautiful ......this machine is the intro for the future /// i have had a similer idea but mine was for a Train and Buses ......here u presented it beautifuly 10/10....What software are u using ?????..i am looking for one i need to look for the good .one ..something that produces good quality ......
A big big thankyou to you all for support, encouragement, and the messages you have left. I am sorry not to have written until now, but I have been away and got back late last night. I had no internet access whilst I was away, and only by chance (and a very patient wife with her mobile seeking a signal) did I find out the result. Thankyou again to everyone. You make this community something very special to be a part of.....I will gladly swap marker pen tutorials with CAD tutorials any time......
Some of the LM team requested that i share the recent questions i've been asking them through email. So this is just FYI if anybody else is in the same situation.
The CAD files from LM are saved in SolidWorks 2010 therefore it can only be opened in 2010 or newer SW. I am currently using SW2008 therefore i cannot open the SW files they provide because they are not backwards compatible. But additionally they provide the IGES file!, which can be opened with almost any CAD software. The main difference with the IGES files compared to the SW files is that there are no steps in your tree. For example if your part was a plate w/ a hole in it, the tree will not show the extruding step and the cut step for the IGES file. It will just come in as a single part. When importing the complete vehicle files it took me about 20min to process; so be patient. Since its being imported into the same basic program (in my situation) the majority of the parts transfer over fine without SW getting mad. The parts that SW did get mad at was the surfacing parts which are the body shell and the rear axle. It will tell you that there are rebuild errors. I personally don't have any experience w/ surfacing in SW but i have been in a similar situation in CATIA with a different project; and had similar problems/errors. So I think this is normal. I sent some of the pics of the errors to Mike @ LM and although these errors do not exist on his files, he confirmed that there is nothing wrong with the model. There are just tiny gaps and overlaps in the surfaces that are introduced from the file being imported between the different versions. If you need to fix these it should be possible to use the import diagnostics feature in SW. I've been trying to do that but haven't had any luck because of my computer freezing; but from looking at the "errors" they are simple enough that i feel I could fix them manually. So its not a big deal.
CLIFF NOTES of everything i said above is that, if your importing the IGES files theres a good chance there will be rebuild errors. But its nothing to really worry about unless you need to work with the perfect surface. In which case it can be fixed manually or through the automated import diagnostics.
thanks for the feedback man!
When I saw this yesterday, I nearly jumped out of my seat! This is awesome Braun. Simple, clean, aesthetically pleasing, and looks very buildable. I am really digging it, and it looks like you have done your homework. Do you have a manikin that you can fit int-- no, not the stick dude you used in like checkup 23, but a manikin? I could see if we could get you a solidworks one soon, so you could design around him. But this is awesome. Any way you could maybe turn on like one side and half the windshield, so we could see a cutaway! I love this project sooo much!!!! Cannot wait to see what is next! Keep it up!
This is maturing nicely, but I still think it's a bit soft-- and that there is STILL too much going on. I am not a fan of the tail lights at all.. I really don't understand the 3 prong shapes, and think that a simple, clear lens with a simple LED pattern would look much better. I am thinking that you may be able to change the attitude of the car a little by reducing the tumblehome (lateral angle of the greenhouse) and making the cockpit wider. None of this is to say I don't like what you do-- to the contrary, I like this project a lot, but all I am saying is I think you can push it more! Great step, and very nice work Ely!
Sorry to hear you are having trouble sleeping, but the good news is.... THESE SKETCHES ARE GREAT! And a really good start to the project! Thank you for sharing them. I see some KTM, but not really-- because these to me look more of what Buells may have looked like if they had continued in some of their design directions. I had to design a motorcycle once, and personally I think that they are hard to design if you haven't had much experience with them. My problem was the proportions, witch you seemed to have attacked quite well--- the lowest middle column one is a bit long-- but that's maybe what you are shooting for if these are for the salt flats. In any case, very nice sketches! I look forward to seeing where you take this project!
What a beast! I think I prefer the second version with the stock front air intake.. The custom one (on the 3rd rendering) looks too funky for such a truck IMO. I really like the bumper. It is weird, because it is obviously a massive heavy piece but the way the tubes are organized definitely gives some dynamism to the whole thing. Do you have anymore renderings / views / modifications to come?
Sorry to get all buck about it put I run as fast as I can from anything "steampunk" so I'd like to make sure that tags stays as far away from my work
Freakin' steampunk kids with their leather googles and chain-mail jackets and Mary Poppins bonnets and Wizard of Oz flying monkey suits...
A Turbo Diesel in this thing would kick ass. No company has yet to make a durable, tough, cool looking, off-road passenger car in a long
time. Put that new ford 6.7 liter diesel in this thing and it would destroy the competion... or that new mustang 5.0 dam...
oh yea, a little detail about the dashboard design. the dashboard would have a brushed metal look, with a long black glass slit instead of circular dials and displays. instead, the thin screen is big enough to display the speed, rpm, etc in a digital format, thus simplifying the design. centre console is also glass (the black area) which would contain the main status screen which holds info for GPS/SATNAV etc. at the bottom of the console are 4 cupholders and 1 open compartment for things like change, cards, CDs etc. will still be working on the dashboard. feedback would be awesome!