This one just for fun.

While preparing a 3D environment for a client and friend, I couldn't resist the temptation to drop the ME geometry into this early fall Pasadena environment I photographed yesterday. Although Autodesk Showcase is a better tool for static renderings, there is still something magic about watching a design one knows slowly rotate inside a street composed of nothing more than 140 individual images.

It's not 100 percent perfect, but it's not too bad for just a few hours of work.

[Image credit: Renault]

The fantastic Renault Twizy is the most significant new vehicle in the lower end of the market since the introduction of the Smart ForTwo over a decade ago*. It is also the very first vehicle from a major manufacturer to be designed from scratch as an electric car (Leafs and Volts carry over many parts from other vehicles).

The little Twizy is, of course, a tandem two seater, which is one of its biggest assets but also, in my opinion, one of its liabilities. Let me explain.

Despite the fact that most of us do most of our trips alone, we still see driving as a communal experience. Solo trips tend to fade from our memory, and we prefer to remember the good rides: holidays with the family (as a kid or as a parent), romantic let's take the long road home, honey strolls, nights out with our friends... a minimum of two seats seems, therefore, essential. As essential, perhaps, as the capability to drive 300 miles any time any day (although the so called range anxiety should be a topic for another day).

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[Image credit: itMoves]

The recent AltCar Expo in Santa Monica gave me the opportunity to finally see, sit and briefly sample the Nissan Leaf. My opinion? In their effort to seriously undercut any possible competitor, and to firmly position the car as a mainstream model, Nissan might have pushed a little too hard in a couple of aspects of the vehicle.

It is undeniable that Nissan shocked many people when they announced their $32,780 price for the Leaf back in March. Following anecdotal evidence (Mini-e lease price, some rumors regarding the Smart EV, GM openly talking about a $40k Volt), I had been saying for over a year that $40k was going to be the entry price for any mainstream EV. The announced price, paired with the generous federal and state incentives (which drop the price in California to around $20k) was therefore a very nice surprise.

Unfortunately there is no free lunch, and since Li-ion batteries have not dropped their price 50% overnight, Nissan had to make certain compromises. Two stand out in my book, one technical and one emotional.

The technical compromise has to do with the lack of thermo management for the battery pack. Many people have complained; Elan Musk called them primitive back in August, and a recent chat with Coda executives confirmed that they see their bigger, actively thermo managed battery pack as a competitive advantage for their $44,900 sedan. On the other hand, the quite knowledgeable woman explaining the Leaf's technology at their Electric Drive Event pointed out that Nissan has been extensibly testing in Arizona, and that the chemistry used in their batteries is less sensitive to heat than some of their competitor's.

Whose PR is right? I personally find it hard to believe that Nissan would come out to the market with a battery pack that would perform so dramatically different in warm climates. Cars are not mp3 players, and although first adopters might accept limitations from companies like Aptera and Coda, I don't see Nissan risking their reputation that easily, specially since they seem to be betting the company's future on EVs. All in all, I am cautiously on Nissan's side.

The second compromise regards design, and as a professional I can't give Nissan a pass here. The thing is hideous.

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[PS image credit: itMoves]

What would the world of electronics look like if Apple behaved like a car company? What products would Jonathan Ive dream up if he had to deal with the same compromises that car designers have to deal with on a daily basis, from carry over components to carry over managers to carry over imagination?

A friend of itMoves, Steve F, pointed me towards this Autoblog Green post where the recently departed BMW head of design Chris Bangle talks about avatars, EVs, golf ball shaped cars and even sharing (gasp!).

I don't want to single out Mr Bangle. I have many friends who worked for him, and unlike other personalities in the industry, I am not aware he left any trail of discontented subordinates. But since he spoke out, I will use him as an excuse to discuss why highly talented, even visionary people, get drown out inside the car industry. Let's start with the obvious question:

Why didn't he do anything about it while at BMW?

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They really understood how to combine efficiency, practicality and appeal in a very nice design," said Beiker. "It's easy to use, fun to drive, looks gorgeous and it's efficient. This is what a modern vehicle needs to be.

Uhmmmm.

You can find the rest of the post here.

Next steps, SLA suspension (so the wheels are easier to position) and maybe (maybe) paint.

Big day tomorrow at Rustic Canyon Partners, where we will be presenting our new, LA-centric proposal. Even in its work in progress state, the scale model will be a great prop to have.

Everybody is curious about how can we get in and out of the vehicle, how does it work. I have to admit that I haven' t done a good job at explaining it, since nothing short of peaking at the computer while zooming and rotating seems to show it properly (at least until the seating buck is finished).

Here is an attempt at showing how it works.

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I went down to Torrance today to check on the 1:4 scale model that our friend Paul is milling at Viperteck. As you can see, the SLA wheels are finished, and they look like they are from a different planet (!). The two foam parts have been hollowed out to save some weight, and tomorrow they will start milling them, a process that could take a couple of days. More info soon.

One of the programs included in the $60k Autodesk Clean Tech Partner package was Showcase, a rendering software that neatly integrates with Alias and some of their other programs. Like its rival RTT, Showcase is designed to produce fantastic results right out of the box, taking you 80% there very quickly. Also like RTT, it becomes increasingly frustrating if you are highly picky and want to extract the last 20%, like I always do. Countless hours can be wasted tweaking an infinite amount of light, reflexion and refraction characteristics that you didn't even know existed...

This little clip is a quickie, even thought I spent several hours getting everything ready. It shows the level of quality that can be achieved real time, opening the possibility of using it during funding meetings. Whether VCs would even care is another matter.