The pace at which automakers are integrating digital technologies throughout the entire supply chain to drive efficiencies and innovate has accelerated significantly.

BASF is leveraging its virtual portfolio and digitally enabled processes to help customers streamline the design and development phase.

Visualizing automotive paint colours virtually

BASF’s Coatings division offers AUROOM, a digital platform where OEM designers can access a database of photo-realistic vehicle colours. BASF produces hundreds of colours and scanned the whole portfolio by cameras to create this authentic colour database. Designers can virtually paint any colour on their vehicles’ exteriors to gain realistic impressions of how it could look. AUROOM also highlights different facets of coatings, such as sparkling or lightness flop, on a 3D shape that simulates specific vehicle models.

To also help with colour visualization, designers can use BASF’s virtual Automotive Vehicles of Trends shapes (AUVOTs). There are four AUVOTs that represent distinct automotive features, from compact cars to SUVs. AUVOTs give a realistic impression of geometry, light, surfaces or effects, along with an accurate appearance of paint, on a complete vehicle. One side of the shape illustrates standard automotive elements, while the other side shows the unique properties of colors.

Both AUROOM and AUVOTs are part of BASF’s virtual paint portfolio. These virtual tools help OEMs make the automotive colour decision process quicker and more efficient, as they no longer have to wait for physical samples to be painted and shipped.