Project Description
Working as a sub-consultant to 4cDesign, Loud1Design was asked to develop surface models for their client, Fake Bake’s spray tan at home system. The client was looking for a fluid and feminine look to the spray gun and its associated travel case. It was felt that using Rhino 3D gave more freeform and natural results, reflecting better the initial concept sketches. The brief for the aesthetics was fun and “barbarella-style” rather than the very functional equipment they were using at the time.
The associated case contained the compressor necessary to drive the spray gun as well as supplies and accessories.
You can see more information on this project over at 4cDesign’s website.
Below you can see the final developed product in action.
Orthogonal photos of these models and the spray gun components were then positioned in 3D space within Rhino 3D to scale. This allowed the key volumes and proportions of the main components and ergonomic surfaces to be quickly blocked out.
This enabled an iterative process whereby myself and 4cDesign alumni Charles Lancaster sketched over print-outs of the model in progress moving rapidly to a first statement of the aesthetics for the gun. The files were sent off to be rapid prototyped and within the week we had something in our hands to evaluate. This first iteration was slightly too large and underwent a series of refinements, however the playful styling remained. This reinforces the benefits of prototyping early and often in any product development.
Another area of involvement for Loud1Design was in the packaging and surface modelling of the associated carry case for the Fake Bake at Home system. The travel case had many requirements, containing the compressor and power control for the spray gun but also acting as a form of work bench for the operator during use and as portable storage for spray tan liquid and other accessories for the remaining time. Options were blocked out exploring how to fit all of these key elements into a compact package.
Storage of the flexible hose which feeds the spray gun proved to be tricky. To understand if the hose storage proposed would be successful or not, a physical cardboard model was created. The 3D Rhino CAD model had been composed of ruled surfaces, this allows them to be ‘unrolled’ virtually and printed out at full scale. This is a technique we often use at Loud1Design to test larger scale prototypes to accurate CAD data. Prototyping at this scale with Rapid prototyping technologies is prohibitively expensive, with some careful planning this technique allows accurate testing and quick iterations of form and ergonomics.
