Is purely digital modeling the future for the car industry or is the full-size clay model still the best design tool? Traditionally sculptors would use modeling plastcine for making small models or ‘maquettes’ before starting to carve in marble. Carving in stone requires great skill because, not surprisingly, once cut from the block, material cannot be put back on to the sculpture. Plasticine was invented in 1897 by William Harbutt of Bathampton in England, it was a mixture of oils, waxes and clay minerals. Unlike modeling clay used by ceramicists and sculptors plasicine could not be fired in a kiln, heat caused it to soften and disintegrate. It could however be easily worked with simple wire tools and material could be added, removed or used again, although plastcine does slowly loose its malleability and cannot be very smoothly finished. To overcome these shortcomings a different material, ‘Plastilin’ was developed and patented in Germany by a scientist, Franz Kolb, in 1880; ‘Plasteline” was developed in France by Claude Chavant in 1892, and became a registered trademark in 1927. These materials became known as ‘Industrial Plasticine’ but today they are known as modeling or styling clay and are widely used in automotive design studios for producing both scale and full size models of future products. Until recently the modeling process was entirely done by hand; a thick layer of pre-warmed styling clay was laid onto a buck or armature made from wood and high density polystyrene or polyurethane foam. The clay was then carved by highly skilled clay sculptors using ever more refined tools until a perfectly surfaced form was produced. In recent times computer aided machining is used to create a basic design form from data derived from an initial Alias 3D CAD model. The clay sculptors then take over the model development guided by the designer. The relationship between designer and model maker is a crucial element in producing an outstanding design. The designer has to demonstrate that he knows exactly what he wants the form to be and the clay sculptor needs the skill to interpret that concept into three-dimensions. Quite often that successful understanding of the designers intensions by the clay sculptor and the development of a close working relationship can ‘make’ a designer just as a poor working relationship can limit the career prospects of a young designer. Three dimensional design using just the computer and a CAD modeling programme can easily produce very badly resolved forms and surfaces but a skilled modeler will have the experience to guide the designer and point out surface treatments that cannot be made to ‘work’ in three dimensions. Harley Earl, founder of General Motors Art and Colour Section is credited with introducing clay modeling to the automotive design studio. In the late 1920s and 1930s the executives at GM viewed Earls conceptual ideas as flamboyant and without any sense of reality ,Earl struggled to legitimize his design methods against the conservatism of production-oriented executives. As head of the newly formed section in, he was initially referred to as one of the pretty picture boys, and his Design Studio as being the Beauty Parlor. But with the support of GM President Alfred P Sloan he persevered and these days all designers owe a debt of gratitude to this colourful man. One of the problems with working with styling clay is that it is not an easy material to ‘read’ unless you are used to the flat appearance of a model. For people in the automotive design industry clay is simply a means of communicating or evaluating a form, it is a language that they understand; whilst those for whom the medium is new or ‘foreign’ it is a dull shape that is undecipherable. Some help is at hand for those people, a thin flexible plastic sheet, Dynoc, which is almost like a sheet of paint, can be carefully stretched over the model to give the impression of a painted vehicle. Dynoc enables the designer to observe and develop and gain control of reflections on the surface, a lengthy but extremely satisfying process. The career opportunities offered by becoming a clay sculptor are often overlooked or not understood by teachers at secondary schools, the chance to be so closely involved in the design process, and a good modeler can play a large part in developing a successful automobile design, can be very rewarding. It is a troubling fact that many design colleges no longer consider clay work to be an essential part of the development of a design student, believing that everything can be done using CAD. There needs to be a proper, affordable training course for young people who love the idea of being part of the creative process but perhaps cannot afford the very high student fees being asked by design colleges. Such a course would have to have a design element as part of the curriculum so that the students would have the opportunity to understand the complete design process. It is important to remember that the computer, whilst being a useful tool, is just a box filled with wires, plastic and sand; there are no ideas inside that enclosure. They are in the designer’s head and in the sculptor’s hands.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:30:00 +0000