Super Computer accelerates Superyacht design

by Richard Elliott on 6 Dec 2007
Urban Voyage, a New Zealand based 3D Design Studio have introduced Supercomputing power to the Superyacht industry through a recent collaboration with yacht owners and award winning builder ‘Yachting Developments’ in project ‘Bristolian’.

Bringing the 120ft (37m) Phillipe Briand designed composite sloop project to life, Urban Voyage were able to deliver overnight design changes and work 24 hour workdays to complete the project and its requirements. Utilizing an exclusive and ongoing partnership with Gen-i’s New Zealand Supercomputing Centre, Urban Voyage could process information with the power of the equivalent of over 1,000 cpus, thus dramatically reducing rendering time and allowing ‘on the go’ and real time changes to the project benefiting the owners, designers and builders unanimously.

Bristolian’s Project Manager Peter ‘Gooch’ Tabone comments, 'We have really felt part of the design of 'Bristolian' at every step and the animations created by Urban Voyage have enabled us to make some critical decisions on how the yacht will 'feel' to the owner and his family throughout the design and construction process.'

Ian Cook, CEO of Yachting Developments was impressed with the technology. 'This is the first time we have used advanced 3D renderings to communicate with our overseas customers on the design of a new yacht and it’s worked very well for us,' said Ian. 'Decisions on colour schemes, interior designs and textures are difficult to convey to customers remotely. This method has sped up the decision making process and allowed our customer to provide direct input at every stage of the design. The specialist team at Urban Voyage has provided an outstanding result,'

For Richard Elliott, Managing Director of Urban Voyage, 3D rendering and animation is a vastly superior way to communicate design. 'It’s a case of a picture being worth a thousands words,' said Richard. 'Shipyards need to communicate new designs and ideas to the yacht owners, the captain and interior designers, and demonstrate how the finished product would look before construction begins. You just can’t convey that with two dimensional plans and illustrations.'

The significance of what Urban Voyage can bring to the Superyachting market is unparalleled. In an industry where builders, designers and owners are often on separate continents, where time is of the essence and the varied interpretations between what an owner wants, designers design and shipyards build can become clouded, Urban Voyage is able to bridge this gap quickly, clearly and cost effectively.

Urban Voyage are currently developing the next-generation 3D real-time technology which will further revolutionize design within the industry and has developed a dedicated team for the Marine Industry servicing the needs of owners, brokers, project managers and shipyards.

Contact: Richard Elliott richard.elliott@urbanvoyage.com
Phone 24 hours +64-21-662-246
www.urbanvoyage.com