The Wizard of Whiz
Canadian designer Jean-François Jacques of Météore Design has a passion for making users come together as one with their products. From among Jacques’ many innovative designs he won Grand Prize from the Palm enRoute Awards in Mobility Design for the On-Track airport electric scooter. The Palm enRoute awards honor ingenious ideas designed to take flight.
The On-Track scooter whisks passengers through international airports at a brisk 6.2 miles/10 kilometres per hour (about jogging speed). The sleek vehicle features an electric motor that is easily recharged at convenient docking stations and includes a GPS system for easy navigation between tight connections.
Jacques used the Organic Workflow™ design process in Cobalt™ CAD and 3D modeling software to develop almost everything on the On-Track. As he tells it:
One of the most important things in the design process is the freedom to explore many paths. Cobalt’s tools are perfect for this. It’s so easy to create concepts, then rapidly explore them in 3D. It’s easy to put parts in place for evaluation without some cumbersome assembly module. If I’m not satisfied, the on-demand history tree and parametric constraints make it easy to go back and modify my ideas.
Like many Ashlar-Vellum designers, Jacques uses any number of design software tools as the job demands, but he prefers Cobalt. “We’ve tried other CAD and 3D modeling tools but the problem was the learning curve. With Cobalt it’s possible to be operational in one day.“
He continues, “With Cobalt’s comprehensive tools, we can create any shape, but its real strengths are the 3D Drafting Assistant™, the user interface, the intuitive approach and the pleasure it is to use. These things are fundamental, the real spirit of the software.”
Learn More
See more designs by Jean-François among those in these Galleries:
See more of Météore Design’s work on their website.