I’m sure you remember Michel Desjoyeaux project. We blogged about it previously. I thought you will be happy today to know that the virtual visit of the FONCIA 60ft monohull in real-time 3D has been adapted to the MACIF one.

François Gabart, Michel Desjoyeaux co-skipper during the last Barcelona World Race, decided with his sponsor MACIF to build exactly the same 60ft monohull. As Michel, François wanted to invite everyone on board and have them visit the interior of his boat.

Don’t wait! Run at the Salon Nautique in Paris, from December 3rd to December 11, and experience, at the MACIF stand (Hall 1 – Allée AB – Stand 71) an immersive and pedagogical visit of the MACIF 60ft monohull!

You will be able to “Fly” over the boat in a helicopter, sit down in the living area at the control screens, crawl through the sail locker and experience different weather conditions!

Try the storm mode and let me know how you feel about it!

Cheers,

Agnès

What is seducing a designer to use 100% digital equipment to documenting and developing ideas?

Capturing creativity is a sensual act with decisions taken within micro seconds. Nothing must disturb the magic moment when the ideas flow from brain to the documentation support. For centuries or even back to the stone age designers have relayed on a pencil and a box of color crayons to serve the purpose of documenting their design intent.

I recall the mid ‘90s when I visited at the Opel/GM development center in Rüsselsheim, Germany, for a business project. Open space offices were hung with impressive hand-made sketches and drawings of vehicles on transparent paper, thus manifesting the team’s creative outbursts.

Now a new generation of designers has been raised who are drawing directly on computer screens. And they seem to prefer this approach as their natural way to go about their job. In addition, with a digital input there are some advantages on the down-stream processes: the possibility of applying changes, the effectiveness of re-use and transfer to other media, as well as the ease of enriching content, such as varying colors, further detailing  or adding background for presentations up until photo-realistic rendering.

At the Dassault Systèmes European Customer Conference which took place two weeks ago in Paris we were able to observe what seems to be a breakthrough in this path of development towards a comprehensive approach: Designers now can use CATIA with a pen and tablet device from WACOM to directly draw in 3D.

WACOM has been a partner in our Emerging Technologies Program since last year and has been working with the teams from CATIA and the Design Studio to develop this integrated solution.

With the availability of this functionality the door opens to a closed digital loop from documenting the first idea to developing a product design which is ready to be manufactured.

This sounds like science fiction to you? It still does it to me. But it’s nevertheless real. Have a look at the video:

Listen to the 3D drawing experience of Julien Fournier, who is using this technology to design Haute Couture:

Up to the creative people of the world to check this out.

Best,
Michael

When we welcomed Michel Desjoyeaux and his team in the Passion for Innovation Program, we had two challenges. The first one was to help Michel to design a new 60 feet monohull for La Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale and the Barcelona World Race in record time. Michel’s team succeeded with the help of our solutions and our experts.

The second one was to produce a 3D experience because Michel was willing to share his life on board with the general public. We produced a 3D visit of the virtual boat and a serious game with an online contest. You can read more about it here.

The time had come for our two winners, Quentin and Thomas, to get on board with Michel Desjoyeaux and his crew. After the virtual experience, they had to taste “the real thing”, and the Dassault Systèmes project team as well.

We enjoyed perfect conditions, with a sunny weather and just enough wind to get fantastic sensations on Michel’s new MOD 70 multi-hull. We also had a chance to sail on the new MACIF monohull, a sister-ship of the FONCIA IMOCA boat and compare the virtual boat we made to reality. Although we found them pretty close,  nothing can replace the wind in the sails and the thrilling sensation of speed when those sea-Formula 1 accelerate!

Our two winners had a chance to steer the MOD 70 and enjoy a private Deluxe Masterclass with Michel Desjoyeaux providing them with advice in person. An unforgettable experience, as you can see in the gallery below. Click on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

Stay tuned for an exclusive Quentin’s interview as well!

Keep 3D-ing,

Rich