Audi City – The future of 3D Configurators here today

When it comes to exploring the technology landscape to discover what 3D Product Configurators are out there, why not start with the cream of the crop, Audi City.

This is 3D Product Configuration done properly.  It’s the gold standard of what can be achieved when you push today’s technologies to the limit (watch video).

Audi spent around 2 years developing a state-of-the-art digital cyberstore to bring the showroom experience to city dwellers.  After a successful London launch in July 2012, carefully targeted around the Olympic Games for maximum exposure, Audi has opened 2 additional stores, one in Beijing (January 2013), another in Berlin (February 2014) and a forth is planned for Moscow this year.

The cyberstore’s are comprised of giant digital screens known as “Power Walls”.  With the help of 32in multitouch displays, you can select any Audi model in their entire range and view the full 1:1 scale, 3D photo-realistic vehicle, in all it’s digital glory.  If you prefer to get physical, you can alternatively navigate the options by walking in front of the wall, and letting the Kinect camera’s sense your motions.

Visualising the life-size 3D cars replaces the need for large, expensive showrooms full of vehicles, but this is just the beginning of what the technology has to offer.  Using the touch screen and motion sensors, you can explore every detail of any model by rotating and zooming in on the car as if the real thing existed in it’s true physical form.  The magic really happens when you decide to customise the Audi by choosing which colours, parts and accessories make up your perfect car, and watching as the virtual representation changes in real-time.  Every possible combination of all the options are too numerous to display in any showroom, so this is where Audi has made the impossible, possible.

Here is a great video from Audi’s technical lead Amit Sood, demonstrating the design.

So, is there value in interactive 3D product visualisation and customisation?  Audi City answers that question with a resounding “yes”.  The multiple technologies and integration not only add tremendous value to the customer experience, but it also allows Audi to cut costs in new innovative ways and increase their customer exposure to the urban population.  This is proven by the fact that Audi’s flagship London store’s sales are up 70% since opening, and Audi plan on having 20 of these cyberstores open by 2015.

In it’s entirety, there are many layers of design and technical excellence, with much of it hidden behind the curtains to keep the complexity invisible to the customer.  We are not just talking about the achievement of  creating a realistic full sized vehicle to view, but the entire end-to-end customer purchasing process has been accommodated.  They have precisely analysed the stages a buyer goes through when choosing their perfect car and have re-invented it with a tantalisingly slick flow, which leaves the customer with an elite feeling of being part of the future.

A full analysis of every aspect of the design is another post in itself, so this is more of an overview to introduce the concept of what’s possible, and to get the design juices flowing.  It is however, worth highlighting some of the main areas of design that have been incorporated and linked together seamlessly.  This is not an exhaustive list but it illustrates the inter-dependence of multiple systems and technologies.

Here’s an overview of some key areas of design:

• The vehicle 3D visualisation, including materials, lighting, animation, sounds and real-time rendering
• The touch screen user interface to select cars and customise parts, colours and materials
• The flow of stepping through each stage of customisation process, from choosing the car model, to selecting exterior and interior features
• The Power Wall display and links to the touch screen device and body motion sensors for interaction
• Linking in to Audi’s Internet configurator, so you can continue to customise at home
• Full integration to the back-end ordering system, including updating the price as you choose options, and highlighting any additional accessories that may be required
• The ability to sample real physical materials to help picture the final product

This is a wonderfully bold step by Audi, and to commit to 20 stores by 2015 shows that they have a solid design that they are confident about replicating.  They have invented a successful recipe they can re-use, and since it is software based, a good portion of the user experience can be upgraded over time as they find better ways of taking the customer on the journey towards their perfect car.

As Audi stands for innovation, the most recent cyberstore in Berlin allows customers to view their ideal Audi in Stereo 3D.  What will Moscow bring?  I look forward to seeing how each store evolves and how long it will be before we are using virtual reality at home, to customise and drive our perfect Audi without even leaving the couch.

 

Further reading

Driving the future of car sales

The high-tech cyberstore that could be the future of buying cars

Audi launches world’s first Kinect-powered car dealership in London

Audi City Virtual Showroom Expands

Audi to add 16 virtual showrooms in 2014

Audi, BMW, Mercedes look for edge with virtual showrooms

 

 

 

3D Configurators – Seeing is believing

Hello and welcome to my blog on 3D Product Configurator Design.

I’ve created this blog to explore, share and discuss the present and future of visualising products with the use of 3D technology.

To me, and I’m sure many of you, it seems like such a natural progression to be shopping for products by interacting with a 3D life-like representation of them.  Essentially we are talking about Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality or 3D Interactive Applications.  We all know the 3D technological capabilities are out there, so it seems like the next logical step to be able to see and customise products as if they actually exist, right before our very eyes.

So why aren’t we habitually buying the latest home furnishings and gadgets by gesticulating Minority Report style?  That’s what this blog is here to investigate.

I want to find what’s out there and gather it together in one place .  I’d like to compare and contrast these to study what are the key attributes that make up a well designed interactive 3D application for visualising products.  I’d like to uncover and discuss the future, the trends, the challenges, alternative product visualisation technologies, and any other info that is of relevance.

I’m passionate about 3D, good design and technology working for you.  This is one area that is of great interest to me as it brings all of these 3 elements together and it complements the building blocks I have developed over my career.

We are at the frontier of a new wave of applications that are designed to give us a simpler and more intuitive experience, primarily built on 3D technology.  There are actually many highly advanced applications already in use today, but these haven’t reached the mainstream as of yet.  I’d like to help move that forward.

With that in mind, who is this blog aimed at?  This blog is for anyone interested in how interactive 3D technology can be used to help us in our every day lives.  It’s mainly focused on visualising products, but the contents will be of use in a variety of ways for many other 3D interactive areas.

The goal is to keep it simple, so it’s accessible to a wider audience.  Feel free to join in and share your thoughts, knowledge and experience as this is about shared wisdom, to help bring some exciting new technologies to all of us.

So, without further ado, let’s start taking a look at what’s out there!