Clay modelers form the future of auto design

In an era of computer-aided design and 3-D printing, one traditional craft remains in automakers’ design studios: full-size clay models.

For eighty years, clay modelers have used their arms and devices to make real the two-dimensional car designs sketched on paper. Clay is utterly malleable. It permits modelers to fair a line here, to tuck a curve there, until the figure design is perfected.

“We’re good with the technology, but nothing speaks to 3-D like a clay model,” said Joe Dehner, head of Dodge & Ram Truck exterior design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, inwards the automaker’s Dodge design studio in Auburn Hills.

At FCA US, formerly Chrysler Group LLC, advanced software and innovations such as milling machines that can duplicate a clay modeler’s design overnight, help aid modelers and designers — not substitute them.

“We work with the fresh technologies and digital modeling groups,” said Advanced Design Studio clay modeler Nate Facciolla, standing next to a Five,400-pound clay mock-up of the two thousand fifteen Chrysler 200. “It’s not that they’re attempting to take over what we do — it’s more so they’re helping us along, helping make our job lighter.”

Twenty-five years ago, as milling and computer-aided design programs transformed the design process, it seemed clay modelers would be all but extinct. Bean counters witnessed the fresh technologies as a way to shorten the design process and cut costs.

But carmakers found they were turning out lackluster vehicles due to a lack of hands-on interaction and being incapable to effectively evaluate styling.

“There was an infatuation with the technology where there was a rush to do totally digital,” Dehner told The Detroit News. “I still think there’s a desire in the design ranks to be more technically savvy, but the one thing about this is you’re adding the human element.”

The importance of that human element has made clay modelers such as Facciolla and Todd Wilburn, of the Dodge and Ram Design Studios, very coveted by automakers. The number of skilled workers in the field has fallen because of digital processes, and not many universities suggest training.

FCA US concentrates on six design schools when looking for fresh clay designers. One of the top institutions is the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

CCS has suggested automotive clay modeling for more than twenty years, and is known as a proving ground for those looking to inject the automotive industry.

Clay courses commence with rudimentary introductions to the materials and how to mold the surfaces, followed by more advanced structures and practices. Students cannot earn a degree in automotive clay modeling, but they do receive a certificate upon completion.

Cars and trucks are lighting up like billboards in an effort to improve safety, increase efficiency and suggest things never before seen on fresh cars and never before seen from behind the wheel.

Ford F-150 trucks haven’t just lightened up with their military-grade aluminum frames. The top trim levels.

Cars and trucks are lighting up like billboards in an effort to improve safety, increase efficiency and suggest things never before seen on fresh cars and never before seen from behind the wheel.

Ford F-150 trucks haven’t just lightened up with their military-grade aluminum frames. The top trim levels.

“Talented clay modelers, physical sculptures, are in indeed high request,” said CCS undergraduate transportation design program head Paul Snyder, an internationally recognized automotive designer and alumnus. “These guys can basically write their own ticket if they’re indeed that good.”

FCA officials, including head of design Ralph Gilles, regularly talk up good-paying auto industry careers such as clay modeling to students who might not know they exist. Clay modeling positions can pay a salary of more than $100,000.

“Some of the youthful artists that do become aware of it realize this is a truly good living and environment,” Snyder said. “Working in the studios of the (automakers) is actually very creative, very relaxed.”

Clay modeling is a meticulous process that involves modelers and designers working closely with one another, repeatedly redoing the details of car and truck exteriors.

“It’s an interpretive dance, basically,” Dehner said. “It’s the part that amazes people when they come in. You see a sketch and you see a sculpture, how do you get from there to there?”

Exterior designers commence with computerized sketches of different designs. From there, puny clay models that can fit on a desktop are produced.

Modelers and designers communicate via the process to ensure the puny clay models accurately reflect the designer’s vision before moving to what FCA US calls a “design bake-off.” That’s when managers look at the models and determine what designs should budge forward. Typically, Dehner said, one or two designs advance, which then gives modelers the go-ahead to sculpt a full-size mock-up.

To make the full-size model, modelers embark with a framework of the vehicle, typically made of foam. Over that, they slick thousands of pounds of clay over one half of the car.

Designers proceed to work with modelers, who can spend hours sculpting a single panel or lump of a vehicle, and then have to do it all over again if switches are made by management or designers.

“It’s all about switch,” said Dodge-Ram clay supervisor Gene Paye, who spent a decade as a clay modeler for the automaker. “You don’t fall in love with a surface, because you’re going to switch it.”

Once designers have half a model accomplish, they use an optical scanner to digitize the design. A milling machine replicates the design to the other side of the vehicle, which can be done overnight. Modelers and designs then dance inbetween clay and digital renderings.

To give modelers an idea how a design will look painted, they may open up lean, colored film over the model.

The entire process can take months. The clay model can be fully replicated for a 2nd model to be used for wind-tunnel testing.

At the end, clay models are typically stored to reuse for refreshes or redesigns.

“It’s a profession that’s still going to proceed, and there’s a lot of chance out there,” Dehner said. “But a lot of people just don’t know about it.”

An AP Member Exchange story collective by The Detroit News

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