相关链接地址如下：http://aliasdesign.autodesk.com/learning/articles/details/Going_Deep_in_Cosmic_Motors_An_132960/
文章下面还有几个设计网站。可以查看
Daniel Simon is a German automotive futurist and concept designer. In 1997 he attended the University of Design in Pforzheim, Germany. After completion he went to Barcelona and designed concept cars for Bugatti and Lamborghini, followed by five years in the VW Group’s Advanced Design Department. In 2005 Simon left the Volkswagen Group as a Senior Designer after completing supervision of a concept car. In 2006 he founded Daniel Simon Studio, his Berlin based design consultancy, that offers design services to major clients within the automotive industry as well as movie studios. In parallel Simon designs futuristic virtual vehicles for his brand Cosmic Motors. Simon is also part of the Hollywood Concept Design Group.
His futuristic vehicle designs were exclusively released by California-based publisher Design Studio Press. The book Cosmic Motors contains text in English and German. This 176 page design portfolio was also released in Japanese by Japanese publisher Born Digital. The book is supported with commentary from design icons like Chris Bangle, Freeman Thomas, Syd Mead and Ryan Church.
Alias Design Community (ADC): Ryan Church, art director of Star Wars: Episode II & III said, "Daniel has taken concept design to the next level with this book". Cosmic Motors is packed cover to cover with rich and stunning imagery. For this article, we had the opportunity to sit down with Daniel, but rather than talk about his book in a general way, we had him dig a little deeper into a single concept.
ADC: Hello Daniel. With so many different stories and designs featured in Cosmic Motors, can you tell us a little more about one of your favorite pieces from the book? Do you have a favorite?
Daniel: Hi! Thank you for having me here. The selection of vehicles you experience in COSMIC MOTORS is a collection of my favorite pieces – so there is no specific favorite. But I really like the cover shot, probably because it was the hardest to do. I had to find a single scene that describes the entire story of COSMIC MOTORS – a vehicle factory in a universe almost similar to our own. It’s a universe somewhere out there in space, driven by the need of travel, thirst for speed, desire for competition and obsession for beauty. All this had to reflect in on single image. I have chosen a car-like vehicle, flipped over to the side (which as a technical background I explain later) , so the image gains a touch of surrealism. The proud pilot, half human half droid, stands for the beautiful citizens of that universe.
ADC: What type of vehicle is on the cover?
Daniel: What you see is a high-performance race car - the CoMo GRAVION. It’s built for the Gravion Cup, a daredevil race event on GALAXION’s planet Glancory. You see the car in it’s pit stop mode - flipped over 90 degrees to the side to allow for easier access of the hugh engine. The Gravion’s most eye-catching feature is its asymmetry. The powerful turbine is the star, with its cylindrical shape dominating the design of the vehicle. You also clearly see the rotating cockpit. Very high side-g-forces are possible in a Gravion cup race, so the cockpit rotation is a welcome relief for pilots’ physical strain. Locked at 90 degrees, it also stays accessible for the pit crew. Many other thoughts are integrated in the vehicles, as for example the rubber heating wires in the rear tire.
Female pilots are every day life in the GALAXION universe. They have highly developed instincts for competitive racing. Fortunately that gives me the opportunity the illustrate them whereever I can and viewers on earth have their fun too. This pilot here has artificial legs, as it is a fashion item on her planet. She takes them off to fit into the tiny cockpit of the GRAVION racer.
ADC: Even though all your designs are completely digitally generated, you chose to fabricate a 'making of' image. Can you tell us about that?
Daniel: Hehe....caught me. The image is not always perfect enough. I had the idea for that shot one day before the book’s deadline, so I had to rush it. Fortunately, I found a picture from the real photo shooting of the model and me discussing something on her leg, so it made a perfect image source! Illusions like that add lots a “synthetic believability” to my work. What ever I do on the computer, I feel like I would do it for real – setting up the lights, finding the camera angle, choosing the model, the outfit, the colors, etc. I love photography and have done some real show car studio photography. So even if CG is now a virtual replacement of my photo hobby ... in the end I felt like I have spent a day in a real photo studio, and that’s how it would look like!
ADC: All of your artwork demonstrates your sensitivity to detail, not only in the minute elements, but also how your express the forms in your designs. How important is this to you?
Daniel: Passion for detail is essential in my work. Of cause you need to see the big picture first, only if that’s right you can start investing in details, both literally as also in the details of illustration. Most of my detailing helps to relate to the futuristic vehicles I design. You see that in Cosmic Motors. Many of Cosmic Motors vessel for example have countless rivets - no cyber glue or nano technology! In the future! Why? Because if you apply advanced thinking to every single detail, the viewer does not understand the purpose or size of the object you designed. You have to stick with a certain amount of real world features. To find that balance is a steady challenge, wandering between retro look and futurism. The other kind of detail is how I stage my designs. Of cause its true that a vehicle has to be considered in it environment, racing trough space, landing on a platform or grumbling in the pits. But these illustrations might be so complex that the main character - the vehicle - is not the first read. I like design and wanna put in the first place. So, studio shots with seamless backgrounds or vast sets are a classic way to do that. The challenge here is to add subtle drama in perspective or composition.
ADC: Throughout the book you have a terrific blend of CG imagery and hand drawn sketches. Can you tell us a bit about how you work and how you use the different techniques?
Daniel: For a long time I was not a fan of CG. That sounds weird from a guy that spends so much time on it now. I grew up drawing every day, and I try to do so until today. I consider classic hand drawing still as the one and only media to express quickly your thoughts to share it with people. Hand drawn lines have better curve quality, better tensions. Translating that into 3D is a fantastic opportunity, but I have to start on paper. My current workflow blends both worlds. After a few pen doodles I start sketching simple volumes in AliasStudio, to double-check surface intersections. While I tumble the model around I tweak the proportions – shifting volumes and graphics back and forth until it looks right from all angles. I produce simple models fairly quickly, but to present the design the next day for a pitch, I go back to paper, overlay the 3D model and adding details, figures and precise curves with pen and templates. The result is a crisp hand drawing, but with the proof of feasibility in 3D. And it’s a personal, unique peace too, which is a good feeling in this digital cyber world! 
ADC: Daniel Simon's Cosmic Motors is available before Christmas online via DesignStudioPress.com or later at finer bookstores.
A Behind the Screenz interview can be found on AREA: area.autodesk.com
To find out more about Daniel and Cosmic Motors:
www.danielsimon.net
www.cosmic-motors.com