Introduction to Automotive Design Visualization

Course Description

This 1-day course will give students the opportunity to become familiar with the Unity Editor and the PiXYZ workflow. They will learn the basics of Unity to import CAD Models with PiXYZ and create beautiful 3D models and renderings for automotive industry specific content. Students will create an interactive scene featuring a concept car in a garage that can be modified and interacted with. Through this, students will learn to use tools such as: PiXYZ Plugin, High Definition Render Pipeline, Lighting, and Materials.

Who Should Attend

Anyone who is interested in using the Unity Editor to create or edit custom vehicles, whether professionally or personally.

Prerequisites:

• Practical working knowledge of computers and basic Mac OS X or Windows skills.

Course Outline

Note: The curricula below consists of activities typically covered in a class at this skill level. The instructor may, at his/her discretion, adjust the lesson plan to meet the needs of the class.

Lesson 1: Unity within the Automotive Industry

• Describe how Unity is being used in automotive design, training, and sales
• Explain the benefits of using virtual car models in a real-time application

Lesson 2: Navigation in the Unity Editor

• Identify Main Editor features and how to navigate in the Editor
• Import and configure assets for constructing scene environments
• Import and configure a car model for design evaluation
• Identify the steps to import CAD Data assets into a scene
• Import Unity Packages and CAD Data with Pixyz Plugin
• Set up and configure a High Definition Rendering Pipeline (HDRP) project

Lesson 3: Working with Materials

• Identify Material settings for project assets
• Configure imported materials to work with HDRP
• Edit Materials to create realistic models (car) and environment (garage)
• Prepare car mesh elements for animation
• Apply textures to materials to create a realistic look for the environment (garage) and (car) model

Lesson 4: Creating the Scene Lighting

• Configure scene lighting using Global Illumination for Realtime lighting scenarios
• Create Reflection Probes to simulate realistic scene reflection
• Identify light types such as Pointlights to use throughout the scene

Lesson 5: Creating Cinematics for Visualization

• Identify the need for and plan the design of Flyaround tracks
• Use Cinemachine Virtual Cameras to aid in focusing on scene targets
• Create Dolly Cart and Track Waypoints to create the Flyaround effect
• Test created scenes for accurate functionality according to design specs
• Use the Post-Processing Stack to create a stylized look

Lesson 6: Preparing for Visual Fidelity and Interactive Experiences

• Develop common interactive automotive applications such as a configurator or viewer
• Create and configure UI elements to allow users to interact with the project