Center stage
Print the customer story (PDF: 715k).
Company
Orange County Choppers
Montgomery, New York
Challenge
- Maximize creative freedom, artistic flair, and efficiency in designing custom motorcycle parts
- Showcase cutting edge technological capabilities on the popular television series, American Chopper
- Offer clients value-added services such as memento DVDs
Solution
- Use Adobe® Photoshop® CS and Illustrator® CS to design custom motorcycle components
- Produce DVDs with Adobe Video Collection software detailing for clients how their bikes were made
Benefits
- Increased bike production for OCC by dozens each year
- Designed and manufactured more original and innovative custom motorcycle parts than in the past
- Provided more value-added service to clients with DVDs showcasing the bikes' building process
- Enabled designer to bring creative ideas to life
Toolkit
- Adobe Video Collection.
- Products used include:
- Adobe After Effects®
- Adobe Premiere® Pro
- Adobe Creative Suite.
- Components used include:
- Adobe Illustrator CS
- Adobe Photoshop CS
- BOXX Technologies workstation running Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
- Wacom Cintiq interactive pen display
- SolidWorks modeling software
Adobe software plays vital role for Orange County Choppers and the popular television show "American Chopper"
More people may be familiar with Orange County, California, than they are with Orange County, New York, but probably not for long. Nestled in the Hudson Valley in New York's Orange County is Orange County Choppers (OCC), a motorcycle shop that has garnered worldwide praise and recognition for its custom choppers. The shop is also the focus of the popular television show, American Chopper, airing on the Discovery channel.
Set in OCC's motorcycle shop, the series focuses on the colorful antics of Paul Teutul Sr., his sons, and crew as they design, manufacture, and paint custom choppers, often for notable celebrities like Will Smith.
OCC's Jason Pohl sketches chopper designs in Adobe Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS software. Shown here are his initial sketch and a photograph of the completed bike.
Artistic vision plus technological innovation
Teutul's three sons all work in either his steel business or bike shop. Danny Teutul is the general manager of the steel business, Orange County Ironworks, Paul Teutul Jr. is the chief fabricator at Orange County Choppers, and Michael Teutul answers phones and orders parts at OCC. Behind the scenes, and increasingly on the set, OCC Graphic Artist and Designer Jason Pohl along with Adobe software also play a starring role in helping OCC design awardwinning choppers and create takeaway DVDs for clients detailing how their bikes are made.
"We're combining artistic vision with technological innovation using Adobe graphics and video software. The result is that we can design and manufacture even cooler custom parts than we could in the past," says Pohl. "And, we can offer clients a service they love: DVDs of how their bikes are made."
“With Adobe Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS software, in addition to the Adobe Video Collection, I can work more efficiently, and I have ultimate creative freedom. It's awesome, because expressing myself through still artwork and video is what I like to do best.”
graphic artist and designer, Orange County Choppers
Custom bikes, from the ground up
Previously, OCC did not have in-house manufacturing machinery so the shop had to outsource fabrication of most components - from kickstands to wheels - to other chopper shops. Now, using Adobe software and specialized milling machines, OCC can custom-manufacture more parts on-site, faster and with more creative control over the end product.
Pohl designs custom chopper components in Adobe Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS software. He creates both graphical components of bikes, such as organic-looking flames painted on fuel tanks, as well as custom parts like wheels and shifters. Once the parts are designed, Pohl creates a solid model using SolidWorks modeling software. From there, the parts are produced on a water jet cutter or milled on a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine. A vinyl cutter creates the graphics templates used for painting designs on the choppers.
Pohl designs traditional and modern choppers - and creates DVDs for clients documenting the creation of their bikes - all using Adobe software tools.
Turning artistic visions into reality
Before using Adobe Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS software, Pohl drew all his designs by hand. Now, he can either scan artwork and then finesse and color it digitally, or he can draw designs digitally from scratch using a Wacom Cintiq interactive pen display tool that allows him to draw right on his computer monitor. By using the pen directly on the screen in Photoshop CS, Pohl can take advantage of natural hand-eye coordination to work quickly and intuitively.
"Photoshop CS is a natural extension of my creativity," says Pohl. "Together with the Wacom Cintiq, I can draw as fluidly as I could on paper."
Streamlining fabrication
By creating designs digitally, components can be manufactured with speed and ease based on digital information fed directly into milling machines. Once designs are completed in Adobe Photoshop CS, Pohl brings them into Adobe Illustrator CS where he exports Drawing eXchange Format (DXF) files that can be brought directly into his solid modeling program without time-consuming file translation or workarounds. Using SolidWorks, he then generates models that are cut or milled on one of OCC's machines.
According to Pohl, the new digital design-to-manufacturing workflow at Orange County Choppers is far more efficient and enables him to maximize his creativity. He can scan or develop artwork, and then quickly experiment with a variety of ideas. He uses Photoshop CS to try different colors, bounce light off gas tanks to make them look more realistic, and conceptualize the bike with different materials, from shiny chrome to more subdued brushed metal. "Using Adobe software, I can produce a rough drawing in under a minute," says Pohl. "In the past, it would have taken me up to an hour."
Jason Pohl is the creative force behind the choppers and parts that come out of Orange County Choppers. His preferred design tools are components of the Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Video Collection.
OCC-original parts
The digital design process also enables Orange County Choppers to manufacture an increasing number of bikes, all with more stylized, OCC-original parts. When OCC does outsource manufacturing, the digital designs - complete with accurate coloring and textures - help parts fabricators achieve just the right look.
"Using a digital pipeline, the manufacturing process is smooth and efficient, from initial digital designs to accurate specifications that feed directly into our manufacturing equipment. Or, we can pass detailed designs along to fabricators," says Pohl. "It's enabling OCC to produce dozens more bikes each year, all with more OCC-custom components."
Creative leeway with Adobe Video Collection
Pohl uses Adobe Video Collection, including Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro software, to create bike-building memento DVDs for clients who want to see how their chopper was made. The DVD contains footage of how custom parts were designed and manufactured, as well as shots of the Teutul family in action. Pohl uses Adobe Premiere Pro to cut video and After Effects to enhance the video with graphical elements such as the OCC logo.
Pohl says Adobe Video Collection is easy to use and learn and he adopted the software without having to use a manual. Components of Adobe Video Collection also offer smooth integration, giving Pohl a cut-and-paste workflow that lets him leverage and combine graphics, footage, artwork, and logos with ease.
“I love using Adobe Video Collection software because it's so easy to use and offers a ton of creative leeway.”
graphic artist and designer,
Orange County Choppers
"In addition to feeding the OCC parts line with cool, OCC-original parts designs, I'm producing DVDs for clients documenting their bikes being built," says Pohl. "That's where Adobe Video Collection comes in. I love using Adobe Video Collection software because it's so easy to use and offers a ton of creative leeway."
Bringing ideas to life
Increasingly, Pohl is appearing on American Chopper showcasing his part designs for high-end bikes such as the I Robot movie theme bike for Will Smith. No matter what his idea, Adobe software helps him bring it to life.
"I love to come up with the concept for how a bike's going to look and then draw it," says Pohl. "With Adobe Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS software, in addition to the Adobe Video Collection, I can work more efficiently, and I have ultimate creative freedom. It's awesome, because expressing myself through still artwork and video is what I like to do best."
