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Project Requirements

Before going into the details, let me explain the requirements of this project, which are mainly split into two parts but worked in parallel to get the best results.

The first part of the deliverables that the client wanted were still renders and videos that would then be used on the official DAB Motors website, as well as on social media platforms and for marketing purposes. For this we would need to create a high-poly model—a digital twin. Then we would use Substance 3D Painter to fully texturize the model with 4K textures in order to achieve high quality and realism. Finally, we would render nice still and moving shots.

The second part of the deliverables was going to be a 3D real-time WebGL configurator accessible from your web browser across any mobile or desktop device which would be placed on the office website, allowing users to customize the bike of their dreams by choosing the color of each part, as well as the suspension, tire types, etc. The final step would be making an online order.

Since the deliverables were targeted toward the web, we needed to create a low-poly model. We needed to try to keep the visual as close as possible to the high-poly rendered version. A lot of clever baking and texturing was needed to optimize the visual quality and performances. Luckily, using Substance Source and Painter allowed me to save a lot of time and get the best result.

CONCLUSION

To summarize everything, working with Substance products is very straightforward and intuitive but, more importantly, allows us to quickly and efficiently make multiple iterations on the design of the textures. Since the materials and presets are non-destructive, it is very easy to adjust the parts halfway through the project. The ability to save Smart Materials for future use is a huge time saver. This capability made this complex project easier to manage and allowed us to create a seamless pipeline for our two very different use cases with very different requirements. We are happy with the results it produced and would recommend it to everybody who wants to make texturing jobs easy and fun!

Simon Dabadie, Owner & Head Designer of Dab Motors:

“Customization & new technologies are the essence of Dab Motors, and I always want to do more for my customers in terms of experience. I want them to customize their LM-S with the ease of a video game and then we are taking care of building the bike of your dreams. Basically, this is the NikeiD of custom motorcycles. The LM-S is designed and assembled in the Basque Country in a whole new way that has never been used in the motorcycle industry.

Thanks to the online 3D configurator developed by Visionaries 777, the realistic 3D model created by Alexey, and the insanely realistic textures created with Substance, we are now able to establish a new product/customer relationship and we are moving from the era of mass production to that of mass customization.

It‘s the motorcycle factory of the future. Motorcycles are no longer stored but manufactured directly to order. They adapt to the tastes and needs of our customers. Big thanks and congratulations to the VZ777 team!”

All images courtesy of Visionaries 777 LTD. and art by Alexey Afanasyev.