In this episode of the 360 interviews, we have decided to focus to chat with Saurabh Shah- Automotive Digital Designer

 Tell us a bit about how you got started on your career and your career so far?

I’ve always had an obsession with cars and drawing, painting & sketching. Naturally, the two came together and I found while I was at high school that you could take up a career in Car Design.

What was your route into the industry?

I went to Coventry University, cancelling all other UCAS applications I was all in and thankfully made the cut! After a 4-year Mdes, I went onto work for an Italian Car design Agency based in Torino,  working on Projects from Audi and Lamborghini.

What big projects have you worked on and enjoyed working on most?

The most recent and most enjoyable on that I can talk about is during my time at McLaren Automotive, we worked on the 765LT. It was a great team and a very challenging program.

You teach as a guest lecturer, tell us about that and what you teach and what you hope your students take from your experience.

I like to provide the students with an understanding of the end to end process of car design and do my best to give them an insight into a holistic approach to the process. Sketching well is first and foremost a function, a communication tool in order for people to read what your vision is. You must be able to communicate your surfaces and volumes to modellers. Almost like a map. You can gain a better understanding of your work if you also put a decent model together.

We’ve launched our inaugural student awards in partnership with Symetri, how important do you think awards like this are for a students career roadmap?

I think awards which provide more than social media publicity is crucial, giving students a platform to accelerate their career is key to development.

There is an inevitable shift towards Unreal Engine and Unity gaming engines in the post-production and real-time image and animation workflows, what’re your thoughts on that?

They are both very capable tools and have opened a new dimension in vehicle development, but require an initial investment in time to develop something worthwhile and long-lasting, especially on a highly professional level.

Do you think UE and Unity will change workflow processes?

Its already started to do so.

As you know, we are big believers in the VR world of 360° images – do you enjoy the virtual immersive experience?

I do enjoy the VR immersive process, it can only get better which is exciting.

Where do you see the future of rendering and HDR development

I can’t say for sure as we are going through a real disruptive period in car design, not just what we are designing but also with the tools that we use. In short, I can see many elements coming together to deliver a truly immersive experience that elevates the human senses.

 Do you enjoy working with our Domeble content and do you appreciate the quality assurance that it delivers?

I think Domeble are doing a great job with some real quality content

It’s an ever-changing world, and an ever-changing industry we work in too, what do you think the industry will be like in 5 years time?

In 5 years I’d say it’ll be a more dynamic industry with talents from many different disciplines entering the scene. We’re already seeing that with the influx of game engine professionals in car design studios, so what’s next? Healthcare professionals on UI/UX teams?

Favourite software flavour, and workflow?

I love the basics, pen to paper is the most satisfying. The 2D to the 3D stage is also really cool you see everyone coming to life, and the cycle between the two is where all the magic happens. In terms of software, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Alias (and SubD) and UE4. On my iPad, I use sketchbook pro and Nomad.

What’s your thoughts on realtime rendering? and mainstream adoption.

It won’t be long before configurators start to deliver real quality to user interfaces, not only automotive but now due to the lack of high street shopping, clothing and homeware brands too.

You’re doing a bit of IGTV live sessions, tell us about that?

I feel that car design and the rest of the design world is sometimes disconnected, I felt this when I went to a design festival in 2019 and did not see or hear anything about car design or industrial design. So I want to talk to professionals from across the design industry with the hopes to make people aware of the challenges we face as a design community, as well as get to know some cool people!

Covid – how do you think it’ll change the industry – will we ever be the same?

I wrote an article about this in 2020. In short, no I do not think things will ever be the same, it accelerated a change across society and how we work, live and entertain. For example, I love driving but haven’t driven for over a week. I’d now go for a drive out of leisure, not necessity… so we can ask the question, how does this change the way we design cars if it were to be a trend that sticks.

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