3d art

When I render, I imagine being in a pricey
rental photo studio. I choose my angles, lenses,
colours, materials, backgrounds, etc wisely.
My life is too short to render images that
no one will remember tomorrow
b
202
Daniel Simon visualises vehicles
of all kinds for feature films in
Hollywood. Prior to his move to
California to work as a vehicle designer on
such blockbusters as Tron Legacy for Walt
Disney Studios, and The First Avenger:
Captain America for Marvel Studios, Daniel
worked for a number of years for
Volkswagen Design and its related sports
car brands, Bugatti and Lamborghini,
as an exterior designer.
Other clients have included Puma, for
which he designed a global print ad for
c
futuristic soccer boots. He also successfully
launched his own fantasy label in 2005,
Cosmic Motors, which is a ‘virtual studio’,
so to speak. It’s all about the lifestyle: palm
trees, blue sky and seductive pilots. But it’s
not all glamorous: to bring his visualisations
to hyper-reality he relies heavily on 3D
software and spends a fair portion of his
time indoors behind a monitor, where he
envisions a fantastical parallel world.
You design stunning vehicles and work with
beautiful women. What aspects of your job do
you enjoy the most, and why?
Daniel Simon: We all look for balance in
our lives. Mechanical beauty and female
attraction is haunting me all day, so I try
to combine it in my work. Nothing
extraordinarily new, I guess, but it’s
challenging. It’s not easy to stay away from
cheesiness and remain classy. But after
months behind a computer it’s a relief to get
outside in the sun and do a production shoot
with a real model.
What does working in concept design mean
to you?
DS: It’s being out of your comfort zone
almost every day. A concept designer
creates products that do not exist, yet makes
people believe that they could. It’s about
sparking dreams and fantasies in others –
and what would the world be without that?
So, it’s not about creating production data
(although if it comes to manufacturing a
vehicle for a movie then very much so), but
more about a spiritual impact. Your art will
be seen by a widespread audience from all
cultures. There is no package to start from,
no pedigree, nothing. You can get lost with
so much freedom!
A concept designer questions everything
in the beginning of a project and does
extensive research. It’s fun to know a little
about everything – aircraft, ships, cars,
space, manufacturing, architecture,
animals, anatomy, history, fashion,
photography, colour… I love this variety and
could never go back to a job that handles
only one of these things.
What are your general feelings about 3D
modelling and rendering for concepts?
DS: CGI is just a tool for me. Like a pencil.
But no one talks about their tool as much as
3D artists about their software. Sure, it is an
interesting subject, but don’t over-hype it.
It’s a tool and they change every year. Let
software engineers (and God bless them)
talk about it. For artists, all that matters