Ford Motor Company and Gravity Sketch have combined forces to revolutionize the development process for designing vehicles. Co-Creation, which was developed by Gravity Sketch in collaboration with Ford, allows designers to collaborate as they create and evaluate vehicle designs in real time through virtual reality—even if they are thousands of miles apart.
Gravity Sketch is a 3D virtual reality tool used to create more human-centric vehicle designs. Designers use virtual reality headsets and controllers to imitate sketching with pen and paper. The virtual environment allows designers to have complete control over the 3D sketch, allowing them to draw, rotate, expand, and compress the sketch. Using the Co-Creation feature, multiple designers can collaborate and make real-time adjustments to vehicle designs.
"The Co-Creation feature adds more voices to the conversation in a virtual environment, which results in more efficient design work that may help accelerate a vehicle program’s development," says Ford Design Manager Michael Smith.
The vehicle design process is faster with the use of Gravity Sketch, allowing designers to skip the 2D stage and start with a 3D model. While using Co-Creation, designers can switch perspectives to another designer’s point of view, which is useful while training designers to use Gravity Sketch.
Co-Creation can be used to design vehicles that are appealing in different global markets. Designers around the world can work together and evaluate a 3D sketch to match consumer purchasing trends within a specific region, allowing important decisions to be made early on in the design process.
Being the first automaker to work with Gravity Sketch, Ford is improving collaborative efforts during the design process. Around the world, five Ford design studios are experimenting with Gravity Sketch. Interior and Exterior designers are using the virtual environment to test workflow feasibility along with real-time co-creation and collaboration.
"Our collaboration with Ford designers has enabled us to get immersed in their creative process and discover ways to help fine-tune this application to better suit their needs so they can build the best possible vehicles for their customers," said Oluwaseyi Sosanya, Gravity Sketch CEO and Co-founder.