Independent Design Focus: Audi A7 and A1 by CG Artist Gabriel RABHI

Design is a paramount tenet of the Audi brand, and given its success in that field, it’s no surprise that many independent designers and design students choose Audi as the subject of their projects. With that in mind, Fourtitude publishes an ongoing editorial series focusing on an independent spin on Audi design. Designers and students outside of Audi’s numerous design studios offer an alternative slant, sometimes but not always different from Audi’s own corporate design language. As the second subject of this series, we take a look at French CGI artist, video game and graphical programmer, multimedia programmer and composer Gabriel Rabhi and his approach to the much-rumored Audi A7 four-door coupe and the also-rumored Audi A1.


Rabhi originally began his A7 modeling in order to learn complex surface modeling with high curvature control. From start to finish, he completed this entire project in approximately twelve days. Technically, it permits Gabriel to evaluate the process of modeling curved surfaces commonly used in automotive industry, described as polynomial NURBS curves with high degree - from 5 to 9. In CGI, this is the only way to achieve perfect continuity between surfaces.

This interpretation of Audi’s upcoming A7 is the result of an intuitive work without any pretentions, but a high rendering quality. Rabhi performed most of the design directly in three dimensions, on the basis of few roughly defined ideas. With the absence of a real-world design to base off of, Gabriel admits that while the design shows some good ideas, the design retains some awkward elements, “the language is not clear, the curves and volumes are not perfectly balanced, and numerous details are not realistic.”


This model is not the result of an advanced work of design with numerous rough versions, a reflection to define perfect volumes and a new Audi design language. The design was the matter of only few hours – a quick take on something we might see in the future.

“But I think the result is good proof that fast virtual prototyping is a reality,” says Rabhi. “I have used one of the best rendering engines to reach a high quality in lighting simulation, and I was inspirited by the classical Audi concept car presentations such as the Nuvolari to create a studio like view. Actually, it seems to produce a studio-like picture from an idea. The longer processes are design and modeling, not rendering.”

From this rendering setup, it is quite easy for CG artists such as Mr. Rabhi to build an animation and make it realistically move down a virtual road, or in a real road with a final composition process to mix actual filming and virtual car pictures.


The design

The goal for the overall look of the model was that of a four-door coupe, much like the rumored upcoming Audi A7. A main theme is the strong, curved shoulder on the side of the car that is inspired from 1970’s-era muscle cars. Based on previous spy photography, this pronounced curve is similar to what appears to have been designed into the Audi A5, however it has a wider curvature. This line bestows the car with a subtle form of a feline before a run, with eyes on its prey.

To define the volumes of this model, Gabriel began with the automotive definition constraints: headlamp position, engine compartment space, seat position, rear passenger space, roof, boot volume, realistic wheel size. The designer began with an RS4 modified to best estimate the visible evolution of previously-seen B8 platform mules: reduced overhang, larger wheelbase, wider track, engine set further back into the chassis.

“I think this model design is not extraordinary. But the rendering is good, and I can say it’s one of my better works. Going far beyond in rendering sophistication is not an easy thing. I have used a global illumination model finely tuned to have a large color frequency specter and rich gradients. The lighting was made to enhance the understanding of shape through specular highlights,” commented Rabhi.


Passion in car design in Rabhi’s own words

When I was a child, like many children, I was fascinated by the automotive world. I loved spending hours to draw, so I used to draw cars, and refine expressive shapes, with big wings and enormous wheels. A friend of my parents had an Audi, helping me discover the Audi brand in 1980’s. I was really impressed by this car, and it left me a fan of the Audi brand many years later. Following this childhood passion for cars, I started to make video games, programming and computer graphics for numerous companies.

This work is like a return to an old passion, but this time with high computer graphics skill.

This modeling work is probably not the last one. Designing a car is a long task, but virtually makes it living is a funny process. I would like to take more time to make the modeling of really well drawn virtual industrially realistic cars. My next project is probably my vision of the future Audi A1.

I’m not a professional automotive designer. It’s a new dream to become one for a brand like Audi. I currently am a computer graphic artist that works for many companies and projects. In automotive design, I think the most complicated task is to define a brand design language that brings a personality to the cars and an emotional experience to those who view them.

I think drawing cars more and more aggressively goes nowhere. It’s the simpler path to produce emotions, but humans like power against aggressiveness, smoothness against violence, swiftness against coldness, harmony against disorder. When we start from neutral ideas we can define a design language that fits for a sport car, a business sedan or a small car for the city, and they will bring all a particular emotion. To find these neutral ideas, to find this idea that brings emotional serenity, to be near what future customers will love, we have to look at the industrial design in all markets: fashion, electronics, buildings, material, etc. I think that when you have found the design rules and language, to design various cars is a simpler task.


A1 speculation

Rabhi recently started to work in order to define his vision of the rumored Audi A1. The A1 will likely be a small, low cost car that will compete in the same market niche as the Mini - a neo retro car based on the original Mini Cooper. The A1 must be more modern, larger, with a personality that can seduce lot of people for urban use. It’s a very high design challenge. As a low cost car, the freedom in the design is reduced by low cost production: small wheels, classical architecture, and the VW Polo platform on which it will likely be based.

Rabhi believes the key point for the A1 will be the urban philosophy. “This car must be attractive, feministic, sympathetic, and not too aggressive. It must look like a practical toy, with an image of youth and distinction. It must remain in Audi design distinction and language but reach the target of a small urban car cost.”

All of these constraints make Gabriel define a car that is compliant with the Polo platform, with particular proportions that are specific to the near future Audi language. The design is inspired heavily by the Shooting Break concept car.

“I’m working both on hand made rough drawings, pen tablet, and 3D curve definition. I am constraining my design by technical specification (passenger, seats, track, wheel base, etc). The combination of the three-step mind-to-paper process permits high feedback of the design improvement. The main goal is to synchronize hand-made roughs with 3D curves. Printing 3D curves and manually refining them from various points of view with roughs is a fast step by step loop-based design process.”

“I think that producing eye candy drawings of cars with enormous wheels, small windows, nervous curves, aggressive look and Japanese toy-like proportions is not a really difficult task. However, it is difficult to draw cars that are compatible with the industrial constraints.”

These roughs of Rabhi’s A1 interpretation are the reduction and adaptation of a much larger car he has drawn, which can be described as a gorgeous concept sport back Audi, something between the A3 and A4. Gabriel hasn’t yet decided which one he will model and render, but he does expect the final result to be far better than his initial design work shown here.

source: fourtitude