Hydrow Wave (Core77 Awards)

[luca.de.simone]

Hi everyone!

As I continue to share some of the awesome work we do here at PA Boston office, next up is the Hydrow Wave which was awarded runner up in the Sports and Outdoors category as well as winning the Keyshot Visualization Prize.

Working with Hydrow, we aligned around the following goals: it should be lighter, less expensive, shippable, and portable. Our team collaborated with Hydrow on this, sharing mood boards, ideas, and sketches. We took inspiration from analogous architecture like bridges, construction materials, and other products with similar attributes like bikes and furniture.

Since the new rower needed to fit into a standard shipping box, we took those requirements and reverse-engineered a frame that could be broken down and reassembled easily.

Seeking to reduce cost and weight, we explored using plastics for structural components. The primary material was further identified to be glass-filled plastics. This provided the weight and structure and served to reduce assembly and fabrication costs. In further alignment with this being a purpose-built, low-cost product we embraced the functional glass-filled material aesthetic. This approach and clever use of materials resulted in a design that celebrates this structural functionality as a core aesthetic principle for Wave.

Keyshot was an incredibly valuable tool early on in the design process to convey to the client that glass filled plastic could be a beautiful material to use.

Additional lightweight translucent plastic covers were strategically added to the frame in areas needing protection from sweat, dirt, and user interference. We chose this material not only for its lightweight and easy-to-clean properties but also to allow users to continue to view every functional aspect of the Wave, including the eddy current brake system that controls the resistance.

To facilitate easy storage, our team also created an optional stand solution, that provided safe upright support when not in use.

Any feedback/questions are welcome!

Basement Interior: Momnt.co.uk
3D assets: Poliigon, Dimensiva
Textures: Poliigon, Custom made

[oscar.rottink]

That looks amazing, great textures as well but Poliigon has really nice ones! Also nice to hear about some design choices and how it can be stored using very little space. And that exploded view is also crazy!

[oliver.yu]

These are all some amazing renders and a pretty neat product! Only thing that kinda bothers me, which is a little nitpicky are the light reflection here.

The square pattern reflection is a distraction to me, to an otherwise perfectly executed render. Because the light reflection is so busy, it kinda takes away from that really cool octagonal pattern in the plastic.

[luca.de.simone]

Thanks Oscar! I use Poliigon for the majority of my textures, but couldn’t find a good glass filled plastic anywhere. It took me quite a while to get it looking right with so many trial versions but it was worth it in the end.

[luca.de.simone]

Thanks for the feedback Oliver!
The reflection on that piece was one of the harder things to get right in this scene. Not enough and it like a black hole, too much and it was the only thing you wanted to look at in such a dark render. Decided on the grid in the end as a sort of happy medium but i agree it could use another pass!

[oliver.yu]

A possible solution is to duplicate that environment and adding a blur to the HDRI to get rid of the hard lines of the grid just for that specific angle. Or even potentially even adding a pin light that covers just that area for a cleaner fall off of light.

[oscar.rottink]

Not sure if it’s what Oliver means as well. But you can use ‘negative’ lights (black pins) which are of course not realistic but perfect to cover up some weird reflections you don’t want. I often forget you can create light absorbing pins.

[oliver.yu]

That could also work as well!

What I was referring to was the actual Blur slider in the environment HDRI editor though.

[oscar.rottink]

Yeah well, you also said adding a pin light and wasn’t sure if you meant a white of black one.

[herman.carlsson]

Great work, and I would love to have one

[bartosz.skórski]

Really one of the best Keyshot product renderings last time.

[luca.de.simone]

A possible solution is to duplicate that environment and adding a blur to the HDRI to get rid of the hard lines of the grid just for that specific angle. Or even potentially even adding a pin light that covers just that area for a cleaner fall off of light.

Thats a good idea, I’ll have to try that out! the lighting on that specific part is coming from a physical light source with a grid pattern applied. I was struggling to get the right feel with HDRI alone but maybe your suggestion would fix that!

[luca.de.simone]

That could be a good solution as well. Like I mentioned to Oliver, I used physical lights in combination with HDRI for this shot. I might have been able to accomplish this solely using the HDRI with the “negative” lights.

[oliver.yu]

Oh that actually probably makes it even easier to adjust as physical lights often make more sense to me than HDRIs as I am originally a photographer. If you like how the lights are affecting everything else, you can use another plane to flag off the checkered area on light casting the checkered reflection and create another light to light just that part the way you want. For the object shape which is more circular, I would probably use a disc geometry over a plane though as it will have a better edge for that shape of reflection.

[zeltron.zeltronic]

Physical lights are fantastict when well-adjusted, but the issue persists that they consume more CPU/GPU resources in KeyShot. I understand that this isn’t necessary a problem for a still shot, but it’s also more delicate in terms of positioning. On the other hand, HDRI and pin lights are much easier to set up and are less demanding on calculations