BMW 330 CABRIOLET BROCHURE 2010 Wartungshandbuch PDF herunterladen (Seite 11)

The projection screen (top) shows, with millimetre precision, what the future automobile

will look like. Details can be enlarged to any desired magniﬁ cation.

EXPERIENCE

TOMORROW, TODAY.

To create the perfect automobile, BMW designers and engineers

do much of their work in a computer-generated virtual reality.

This enables early design veriﬁ cation, shortening development

cycles and saving resources.

The future automobile can be viewed from any perspective. You can zoom

in and out, and turn the car in any direction. You can open the doors, or look

under the bonnet. You can even get in and take a seat. But this automobile,

as convincing as it may look, is not made of metal and plastic – it consists

of data, an unimaginably huge amount of data, converted into spatial images

by high-performance computers. They feel as real as reality, even though

they are only a simulation. Virtual Reality (VR) is the watchword of today’s

automotive engineers. In the past, it was necessary to create several

prototypes in order to test various modules. Today, designers, developers

and product engineers in the BMW Research and Innovation Centre work

on a single digital model which they optimise on screen. This protects the

environment, lowers costs and shortens the development cycle. In addition

VR enables the early assessment of design alternatives. Each design can

be visually represented, evaluated and compared. A D model is generated

How to turn the two dimensions of a screen display into three: in the

so-called CAVE (below) the driver feels as though they were actually

sitting in a car and driving through a landscape. In this way, the cockpit

ergonomics for example can be tested.

based on the design. To do this, the computer subdivides the vehicle

into tiny triangles, or polygons, placing over the design a virtual grid which

describes the car’s geometry.

In this virtual world, designers and engineers can view the future automobile

and can move around in it. In the so-called CAVE (Cave Automated Virtual

Environment) the observer, sitting on a car seat, is surrounded by walls

that have real-time moving images projected onto them. In this way, the

viewer gains the realistic impression of a cockpit with all its switches,

displays and a natural landscape surrounding the car. A radio signal

provided by special D glasses tells the computers what the person is

currently looking at, and a data glove enables them to operate the car’s

controls. This allows veriﬁ cation of the cockpit’s layout and ergonomics.

The software is so clever that it even displays light reﬂ ections in the car’s

windows and the quality of the materials. In this way, the designers can

enjoy their ﬁ rst test drive before the ﬁ rst prototype is built.

Despite its amazing degree of realism, virtual reality is only one tool in

the design and development of a new automobile. It is no substitute for

creativity, experience and intuition. Even today, every automobile design

begins with a sketch – still the quickest way to visualise an idea. And of

course the designer also has to be able to see and work on a full-scale

clay model, to get a sense for the feel of the design and to be able to

develop and perfect the unmistakable character of every new BMW. The

computer has simpliﬁ ed and accelerated much in the design process,

but for a ﬁ nal understanding designers still need to be able to touch and

feel the actual design in the form of a physical model.

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