New concept body

I've been designing a new body for the Aeon - these are the latest designs for it.

18th April 2008

Although this was rendered over last night (and I've actually been doing animations like this since December), I've only just got the web side of playing videos sorted out. I've shown a few people a slightly earlier version of this on my iPhone at the recent Detling show (it's a lot smoother on that!), and also a very very early version at the Aeon workshop open day.

Video playback with JW FLV Media Player.

Video encoding with ffmpegX, MPEG Streamclip.

17th April 2008

When I was building the Aeon, I decided that it took on a car persona when I put wing mirrors on it - so I've designed some (and also put the wiper blade on it).

15th April 2008

I've been doing some slight tweaks here and there - there isn't really anything major though.

I like doing different colours from time to time - it shows different aspects, and can highlight problems

14th April 2008

I found out a few things about making subpatches much smoother, so I went around the body fixing various things - there's still a couple of bits to tweak, but it's getting there. I also took the opportunity to move the intakes so that they're in a straight line. Note that there's a little dimple to the top centre part of the bonnet - this is deliberate!

9th April 2008

I've done a slight redesign at the front to allow some storage space - a bit like my Karma, although that wasn't waterproof. I now know how to make it waterproof, but the Karma's bonnet design precludes what I'll be doing.

29th March 2008

Keith Wood very kindly let me have a copy of a 3D scan of the Aeon GT3 (both chassis and body), which allowed me to firstly use the 'correct' windscreen, and secondly make sure that it would fit a more accurate model.

Luckily the chassis model I had was fairly close, so it only needed minor tweaks - and the body did actually fit. However, I found that the windscreen was significantly wrong, and also the roof was too high.

I've been stretching and moving things around - this is how the two now compare.

The black part is the scanned version of the GT3 body, and the white is my version - note that I'm using a technique called "sub-patches" to make it easier to control the shape, yet give a higher accurracy.

The roof (and windscreen) is about 25mm higher, and slightly wider (this will give more room for the occupants). The side glass is also larger to the side (but slightly smaller to the top - I'll correct that).

I've got a plan to put 4 radiators in the back, and remove the one at the front - in order to give some luggage space (although not a huge amount) in the front. Then, the front ventilation can be removed. I'll play with that idea tomorrow...

Here's two pictures of how it currently stands:

24th March 2008

Here's some more images - I've tightened the edge of the doors, and also put a rudimentary engine in it (although you can't really see too much of it). They're also higher resolution images to make it a bit clearer about some of the details.

23rd March 2008

I've done a bit of work on it - adding in the gull-wing doors, and giving space for the engine door to open (it would hit the sides of the buttresses).

17th March 2008

The rear is basically what I've started with:

Note that I haven't Frenched the lights in yet, so they stick out a bit too much.

This has lead to the front shape:

And the sides:

The front lights have lens covers on them (the images don't make this clear).

It's different to earlier designs - I've gone back to using 95mm headlaps (so the shape of the light area mimics those at the back), and also it's a Coupé because it'll make the doors easier to make (gull-wing). The rear wing has also been made higher because it looked too small against the roof.