Tips For Designing Your Own Car With AutoCAD

At 40 years old, AutoCAD remains one of the foremost and most reliable designs and drafting software out there. It’s used by designers from all occupations like architects, engineers, urban planners, and car makers. The attention to detail and machinery is perfect for designing structures and machines. Perhaps you are in the car design business yourself or looking to break into it with a design. Without going into the hard-to-understand technical details of all the complexities of designing a car –here are essential tips that every car designer, aspiring or pro, should know.

Basic Car Design Tips 

What’s a better place to start than the basics? When it comes to beginning a car’s design, one of the first things to look at is the proportions, body, and wheels. Here are the most important tips when it comes to them:

• Sports cars should have a short square top close to the rear axle – This is done by condensing this part of the model in AutoCAD. 
• Storage vehicles have top squares stretched over from the rear to the front – This is done by stretching out this part of the model in AutoCAD. 
• Every surface of the car is curved – A rule of thumb is that all surfaces of the cars are curved from front to back because that is the direction that cars move in. This is why cars are so aerodynamic. 
• Car’s shoulders are horizontal – The area directly below the windows on the car’s doors is known as the shoulders. These should be as horizontal as possible. The best are horizontal and flat the entire length of the door and then wedge slightly upwards by the end. 
• Wheels should always be the same size – Unless you are designing a race car, all wheels and tires on your car should be the same size. The front tires should not have any space around them and must turn with the steering wheel. 
• Be aware of packing requirements – Packing of a car refers to absolute must-haves in the car design like the engine and passenger seats. It’s important to always make space for these when beginning to lay your design. Think about what the engine capabilities will be and how many people it will sit accordingly. 
• Keep safety requirements and laws in mind – Of course, this goes beyond just having seatbelts in your car’s design. There are car design regulations dictating factors like weight and certain features. You should design your car with these in mind from the start as well.

Drawing Out Your Car 

Before starting your design on AutoCAD, it’s wise to take it to the drawing board. Here are some tips while drawing the initial designs of your car:

• Start off on a whiteboard with the concepts you focus on – You can use the concept in which you put the most thought and work around it during the drawing phase. Other parts can come later in the brainstorming process. 
• Rough sketches should be done from a single perspective – The design may be rough, but everything should be shown fitting together from one perspective. Focus on finishing the body at this point. 
• Make adjustments and add little details – At this point, it’s time to think of the little things like mirrors, shoulders, windows, and more. You can take this opportunity to see what kind of these details do and don’t go with your car’s design. These can be related to essential functions and features and those just for aesthetics.  

Getting to Work on Your Car Design in AutoCAD

By moving into AutoCAD with your car’s design, you’re taking it to multiple dimensions now. So, you’ll be focusing on multiple perspectives as opposed to the single one you were using in the drawing phase. Fortunately, AutoCAD is the perfect design program for this. Here are some handy user tips:

• Use AutoCAD to create a realistic rendering of your car design with all the measurements – This includes height, width, and everything that would identify the actual size. In-program modeling tools like the slide, inset, and grid make this all easier to keep track of. 
• Use the color program – It helps to do this with the 2D drawing of your car beforehand to get a feel for what your car will look like as it comes to life. AutoCAD does have a mesh tool, so you can import textures to highlight important and aesthetic features of your design.  
• 3D print or make a clay model – A scale model of your car gives people the ability to look it over from bottom to top, and AutoCAD comes with 3D printer capability. If you do not have access to such a printer, you can always make it with your own hands with clay or plaster. Truly, a machine doing it is more precise in the measurements.

Your Car Design And Insurance 

Car insurance and its cost are often determined by a driver and their car. Some people go about their car designs with insurance in mind. A car with high insurance rates because of its features won’t be popular with the average consumer, so it helps to approach it from a business standpoint as well. Sports cars tend to have higher premiums so you can be designing a standard sedan with this in mind. The parts you use to design your car will also play a role in how much the car insurance for it will be. For this reason, your car design shouldn’t be anything too crazy to keep the auto insurance costs low.