inspiration - a little inspiration, I wanted something that had the mass and power of an old locomotive, but the subtle organic sculpting and polished details of a fine roadster
inspiration 2 - the hearth shape was from the beginning an icon we knew people associated with food, aromas, warmth.
first concept sketch - The first concept sketch became the chosen design. All my ideas come from pen on paper, I never start in CAD. I feel that it's the most free way to initially get ideas from out of your head to reality. This will then be scanned and taken into Painter for 2D rendering
first concept 2D rendering - Taken into Painter, this 2D style takes about a half hour to complete. Painter is preferred over photoshop for this because of the richness of the brushes, which give slightly unexpected but desirable results, as well as the ability to rotate the canvas. I've found clients really respond to this painterly style because it brings a bit of a sense of craftsmanship back into the presentation, where the CAD they usually see is a bit lifeless...
initial concept sketches - We generated about 8 sketch concepts for an initial review, all done over about a 2 week time. I wanted to explore a range of finishes, using castings, coppers, powder coatings, trying to break up the stainless steel monolith as best I could...also exploring subtle stamped sculpted forms, something totally unique to the oven world, but not from the automotive world...
Chosen concept CAD rendering - This is an Alias rendering of the chosen concept. You can see how little it actually changed from the initial sketch. This is something I try to maintain in all my projects: the initial concepts have a purity to them that comes from your unconscious mind's response to the boundaries of the problem. I find the first concepts are almost always the best, and as I "think" about them more, they get less pure, less iconic, more complex, more confused....
1st prototype model - This Ren-shape model was cut from the Alias file used to generate the rendering. the frog model shop does great work. There was one other model built of another concept, but when this one was seen in 3D, the client really solidified around it.
clock detail on initial prototype - a litke this clock detail a lot...almost looks better without the glass and clock graphics....another example of bringing an automotive detail into the oven world...
milled REN shape testing model - we made a semi-working prototype to put the oven in front of users. We had a laptop behind the display area to simulate cooking interactions. And real working knobs and buttons to select menu items
testing prototype being assembled - getting final assembly before shipping to New York for testing
back of the testing prototype - you can see the various electronic bits we cobbled together to make this unit work...
testing prototype display - theres a laptop display behind the model to simulate the menu...The UI team did a great job carrying the flavor of the ID into the UI as well...
Clock detail - The detailing and sculpting around the clock is very sweet...a point people just come up to and want to touch immediately (as well as the handle)...the subtle swelling around the clock took about 5 minutes in Alias, and about 2 days in ProE...
Men's Journal shot - This view is also beautiful...you don't get the orange door as an iconic stand-alone element, but you do see the overall design as a cohesive whole, very powerful, very massive, but still inviting the human touch.
Final Turbochef Oven - This is a studio shot of an actual working production unit. I like this shot because it makes the oven seem very imposing, like bowing down before an idol, but an idol that cooks tasty things. You can see the automotive and locomotive influences really came through. Again, it is remarkable to see how similar the final is to the original sketch...
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TurboChef DWO