Pininfarina Selects think3 for Automotive & Transportation Design
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--June 19, 2001--Pininfarina Studie Ricerche S.p.A "Amazed" by Power & Flexibility of
Global Shape Modeling for Design Modification & Experimentation,
Expects to Slash Design Time By Weeks with thinkdesign 6.0
Mechanical design software upstart think3 today announced that world-renowned design firm Pininfarina S.p.A. (Torino, Italy) has selected think3's single-environment 3-D solid and surface modeling software, thinkdesign 6.0, for automotive and transportation design, from concept through engineering. Pininfarina provides full-service product design services to industry-leading companies such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Honda and Peugeot-Citroen Group, among others.
thinkdesign is now being implemented by Pininfarina research and development teams led by Giuseppe Randazzo, responsible for automotive computer-aided styling, and Filippo Cappadona, responsible for computer aided modeling in the field of public transportation. The groups expect to slash product development cycles by weeks, due to the powerful combination of "high-end" 3-D functionality, ease of use and interoperability found in thinkdesign.
Today's news provides significant validation of think3's technology and market approach, and a vote of confidence in the R&D team's ability to advance the technology now and in the future to meet the stringent requirements of the world-class companies such as Pininfarina.
"We were quite impressed with think3 because of its young, modern, updated business philosophy, and its focus on simplifying the process of 3-D design with very innovative, powerful technology," says Cappadona. "The company has attracted the 'brain trust' of the CAD industry to the R&D team, most notably Alain Massabo, of STRIM and Styler fame. We quickly realized that think3 could be the kind of collaborative partner that will truly help us in advancing our CAD system environment, providing a bridge from the initial hand sketch all the way through to engineering. In fact, we expect that many of the features of thinkdesign 6.0, such as Global Shape Modeling, Smart Objects and the speech-enabled graphical U/I, will change the way we approach design."
Global Shape Modeling: A Pivotal Factor in Pininfarina's Selection of think3
During a live demonstration of think3's unique Global Shape Modeling capability, Cappadona says Pininfarina saw the evidence they needed to tip the scales in favor of thinkdesign 6.0. "On the fly" -- in just minutes -- the think3 team imported an existing Pininfarina model (a Nautilus automobile prototype) in IGES format, and executed a series of modifications to the hood of the automobile while keeping the rest of the design "fixed."
Each modification would have typically taken a couple of days for the design team to execute with any other CAD system, explains Cappadona. "We were literally stunned by the power of global shape modeling," he says. "With that feature alone, we knew we had the potential to save weeks of design time. In the past, making those kinds of design modifications was extremely time consuming. With thinkdesign, we'll be able to explore design alternatives quickly, which we ultimately expect to result in our ability to create better, more creative designs faster."
Already, adds Randazzo, the automotive styling team at Pininfarina has used thinkdesign to make sophisticated modifications to the front end of a brand new car design. "In just a half an hour, during our initial training on thinkdesign, we were able to make a modification that would have been nearly impossible with any other software package. In three days, we were able to modify it 11 times, saving at least five different versions of the car. From the first day of training, our designers were already using thinkdesign productively."
thinkdesign: Easy to Learn and Use & Compatible With Existing Tools
The company has found thinkdesign very easy to learn and use compared to other 3-D design software packages. "The simplicity of the speech-enabled graphical U/I gives our stylists a very natural, intuitive design environment for bringing their design concepts to life. think3's online approach to training and customer care is also very attractive to us. It's a big benefit to us that current and new employees will be able learn on their own schedules, as well as get assistance with problems that arise, without ever having to leave the office," says Cappadona.
Interoperability was another important factor since think3's software will complement Pininfarina's current CAD environment, which includes a variety of systems, among them ICEM, Alias, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA, Rhino, and StudioMax.
"thinkdesign could become a critical part of our existing computer aided environment, helping Pininfarina designers evolve to a new way of working," says Cappadona. "We believe that thinkdesign could help us share and exchange engineering data among the various Pininfarina groups, as well as with customers and suppliers that are located throughout the world. thinkdesign could play a critical role since we interact among multiple CAD platforms. Clean, concise data translation is absolutely necessary for us."