Digital Legacy Scanning Aids New Bronco Design Development
After 25 years, the all-new 2021 Ford Bronco has officially returned as the flagship of a new all-4×4 family of rugged SUVs, with a classic two-door and a first-ever four-door; both are engineered with Built Wild™ Extreme Durability Testing, Capability and Innovative Design for segment-leading 4×4 capability, long-term off-road performance and dependability.
“We created the Bronco family to elevate every aspect of off-road adventure and equipped them with class-leading chassis hardware and exclusive technologies to raise the bar in the rugged 4×4 segment and take people further into the wild,” said Jim Farley, Ford chief operating officer. “They’re built with the toughness of an F-Series truck and performance spirit of Mustang – and come wrapped in one of the most stunning and functional off-road designs that’s true to the original Bronco design DNA.”
Though many vehicle designs start out as 2D sketches and then progress to 3D clay models, the all-new Ford Bronco began its life a bit differently. Many have noticed from the recent vehicle launch images that it shares a lot of key design features with the 1966 original. What they may not know is Ford VP of Design Moray Callum’s personal 1976 Bronco inspired the all-new Bronco design — and it all began using 3D scanning technology on his classic SUV.
To develop the design, the team 3D scanned Moray’s Bronco to capture all the design details. The 3D scanner allowed Ford to capture the smallest details, even recording the ‘orange peel’ imperfections in painted surfaces down to thousands of a millimeter. Then, using virtual reality, the team was able to compare Callum’s Bronco side-by-side with the new Bronco themes.
Though the all-new Bronco was designed throughout frigid winter days in Dearborn, Michigan the last time the designers saw the vehicle was through an Oculus virtual reality headset, where they were sitting deep in a sun-drenched desert entirely made up of hundreds of millions of tiny polygons and pixels.
