PPG's Automobile Digital Styling Program Tests Light, Colors

PPG (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has launched a digital styling program, enabling automotive designers to perform realistic three-dimensional modeling of automotive colors and effects on virtual car designs and surfaces.

The company included its proprietary “speed shape” technology, which incorporates automobiles’ complex shapes, edges, curves and flat surfaces. PPG designed its digital vehicle model to depict the interaction of color, geometry and light, creating authentic renderings of a vehicle’s surfaces — including its wheels and interior components.

In addition to speed shape, the digital styling program offers automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) complete access to PPG’s library of digital color files. It is also fully compatible with industry-standard color-rendering software, enabling OEM design teams to collaborate with PPG directly, remotely and in real-time on the color design process.

PPG says the program’s launch is the first step in digitizing the entire color styling process for its customers.

“Throughout the pandemic, PPG has recognized our customers’ increasing need for digital tools and technologies,” says Federico Menta, PPG’s global technical director of customer development for automotive OEM coatings. “Our industry-leading color experts have already used the program to conduct color styling sessions with several major OEM design teams. Many of those customers believe our program offers an effective alternative to managing the color-styling process in person. We believe it will enhance customer intimacy and create an opportunity for a collaborative color-creation process.”

“The ability to integrate new color ideas directly into the customer design process allows our customers to extract time and cost from color-rendering activities,” adds Rebecca Liebert, PPG’s executive vice president. “There are also other financial benefits associated with the program, including enhanced speed to market.”