Introduction#
Recently, I was asked by a friend to help with technical training for some undergraduate and current students. The course content is "Rhino3D Product Industrial Design Practical". I have a background in animation, but fortunately, the underlying technology is similar, so I agreed. When preparing for the course, I needed to prepare some case studies. When working on the Apple Watch case study, it led me into another familiar and unfamiliar field. The specific course content will be updated on the backup site, and the cover image is from publicly available Apple Watch design drawings.
Product Industrial Design#
At the beginning, I couldn't directly teach students the technology. I needed to know some basic theories. I found information and learned that product industrial design is a comprehensive discipline that aims to meet user needs and enhance product competitiveness through innovation and optimization of product appearance, functionality, and user experience.
The general process is as follows:
- Market research, investigating market demand, targeting target audience, etc.
- Concept design, based on research, develop product concepts and key messages to be conveyed.
- Detailed design, drawing product sketches, dimensions, evaluating solutions, etc.
- Industrial design, creating 3D models and physical prototypes of products.
- Validation, testing design solutions, iterating and improving.
- Production
- Mass production and quality control
On this planet, there is only one company that has achieved extreme product industrial design and has been well-known by everyone, and that is Apple. It is natural to use their products as teaching examples, and it is also a challenge for me.
From Rounded Corners to Rounded Corners#
Friends who have experienced the iPhone X series products may be familiar with rounded corners. I say "after the iPhone X" because the iPhone has a larger user base, and this generation of iPhones divides Apple's design into two concepts: "rounded" and "sharp".
The cornerstone of "rounded" is rounded corners.
Taking the iPhone X as an example, rounded corners are visually manifested in the body contour, buttons, screen borders, and app icons. It is easy to feel the designer's pursuit of the ultimate "integration". These large and small rounded corners are derived from an invisible curve.
This is the direct factor that makes the iPhone visually "integrated" in terms of hardware and software. Because its screen edges and body surface are designed and constructed uniformly by such curves, this highly unified and minimalist aesthetic easily makes people ignore the complexity and triviality behind the appearance at the cognitive level.
The use of these rounded corners in the iPhone began with iOS 7 (perhaps the iPhone 4's rounded corners as well, but this needs to be verified). The above image shows the weather app icon in iOS 7. Before iOS 7, icons were drawn with rounded rectangles as mentioned earlier.
In general graphic design software, a rounded rectangle drawn is usually obtained by executing the "bevel" command on each of the four corners of a regular rectangle. In other words, it is actually composed of four straight lines and four arcs spliced together. These rounded corners can clearly feel the existence of the seams, and the intuitive feeling is that they are not cohesive enough. However, the rounded rectangles drawn by Apple's designers are a continuous curve.
Curves also have different levels#
In the field of design, there are three types of curves that computers mainly deal with: Bezier curves, B-spline curves, and NURBS curves.
These names are derived from mathematical concepts. For designers, it is only necessary to know that in terms of controllability and accuracy, Bezier curves < B-spline curves < NURBS curves. In industrial design, NURBS curves are naturally used.
If we consider a straight line as a type of curve (which it actually is), then it can be said that it is a curve with a curvature of 0. In industrial design, for the sake of convenience, the industry has divided curves into different levels. Correspondingly, curves also have different levels of quality, and the unit is called "degree," which is also a mathematical concept used to distinguish the equation level of calculating curves.
For example, in Autodesk CAD or Rhino, curves of different levels from 0 to 11 can be drawn. The higher the degree, the smoother the curve, and the more complex the modification and calculation. The commonly used degrees are 3 and 5. You can search for specific usage methods.
Similarly, the connection between curves is also divided into levels. As shown in the above image, curve continuity is divided into G0/1/2/3/4, a total of 5 levels. The higher the level, the better the continuity, and the smoother the curve.
In Rhino, the continuity of curves can be checked using the curvature analysis tool. As shown in the image above, the left side is a continuous curve, and the right side is a regular rounded rectangle. The white lines that look like combs represent the curvature of this curve. It can be seen that the curvature of a continuous curve is also continuous. The rounded rectangle will have a curvature that instantly changes from a constant value to 0 at the junction of the arc and the straight line. This is the difference in curve quality.
According to the materials provided by the Apple Developer website, the curves used for iOS 7 icons are approximately 9th degree 10-point curves. The actual curves used are more complex, and they are composed of five 3rd degree curves. However, a 9th degree curve drawn manually can achieve a realistic effect that is indistinguishable to the naked eye, which is sufficient for producing renderings.
The outline of a phone is not simply made by combining a few 3rd degree curves, it will be even more complex. From this, we can see the rigor of Apple's design. (Here, I want to complain separately that I am willing to pay for this kind of design, but I will always protest against doubling the memory for an additional $1500)
Compared to phones, watches are more personalized and have more jewelry-like attributes as they are worn on the wrist and exposed for a long time. (I also had this feeling when the iPhone was first launched, but it is more obvious with the Apple Watch). The size of the watch is also smaller, and the requirements for precision are more demanding.
In fact, the first-generation Apple Watch was released in 2014 as a "One more thing", three years earlier than the iPhone X. I believe that the iPhone X borrowed the exterior design approach of the Apple Watch. If you only focus on appearance, the iPhone X is just an enlarged and elongated version of the Apple Watch.
The above images show the Apple Watch model and edge curves created by me using Rhino. The main body of the dial also uses two 9th degree 10-point curves. The front profile curve is used as the path, and the side curve is used as the shape to rotate and generate a quarter surface of the overall shape. Then, the closed model of the main body is obtained through mirroring.
For surface detection, the industry also has a tool called "zebra analysis". As the name suggests, when this tool is opened, the model surface will generate zebra-like patterns. By rotating and observing these patterns, the smoothness of the surface can be tested. Flaws cannot be seen with the naked eye alone.
As mentioned earlier, not only the main body of the dial but also every component of the Apple Watch is drawn using curves of the same level.
Furthermore, although Apple is responsible for the overall design of the product, production comes from all over the world, yet it maintains astonishing precision and consistency. It is as if these components are taken from the main body and have no physical connection between them. From a business perspective, you may not like their approach, but from a design perspective, it is still worthy of respect and learning.
Conclusion#
The above is only the tip of the iceberg in the field of commercial product design. It is only aimed at people like me who have just stepped into the field and are hesitant to call themselves beginners. Professional players are welcome to discuss and exchange ideas.
For an object that is used every day, as a designer, I am naturally curious about what it looks like inside, how it works and is manufactured, and what information it is conveying to me. Rounded corners and curves drawn with rounded corners are just inconspicuous details. Like other areas of design, if you don't care, there is no need to go to great lengths. Once you care, care about whether a line is perfect, even if it only looks perfect, the pursuit will be endless.
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