This project taught me one important thing: There are few greater tests of commitment to detail than modeling something that is as constantly accessible as the car you drive.
Such proximity to reference material was to be blunt, excruciating as each time I looked out of the window, went outside or drove anywhere, I would notice something else that wasn't quite realistic enough.
The model was constructed from reference blueprints, photographs and observation using 3dsmax.
As a means of illustrating a variety of modelling skills, every element of the car from the headlight lens grooves to the notches on the tyre inflation valve caps was modeled.
Although this is obviously not the most efficient process, it allowed poly, box, spline and compound modeling techniques to be illustrated and fully explored in a single project.
A clean, quad based topology was maintained throughout, as illustrated by the edged faces view below. Smoothing group assignment primarily controlled the smoothness of the bodywork as opposed to mesh smooth and/or turbosmooth.
The below image is a render of the model prior to the application of materials.
Materials
The materials for the car were produced using Vray materials and accurately replicate the surface finished of the real life car.
Replicating the pearlescent finish and glow of the real car's paintwork proved to be particularly challenging due to the very slight green glossy element under certain lighting conditions. This is mostly visible along the sides of the car from this angle, as per real life and involved a lot of tweaking various parameters to mimic falloff correctly.
Another challenging element was the headlight glass material. Achieving the right balance between transparency, reflection, refraction and tint on a car with quad headlamps and prominent indicators proved to be even more crucial as more of the car's 'face' is occupied by the 'eyes' than on most other cars.
The materials for the car were produced using Vray materials and accurately replicate the surface finished of the real life car.
Replicating the pearlescent finish and glow of the real car's paintwork proved to be particularly challenging due to the very slight green glossy element under certain lighting conditions. This is mostly visible along the sides of the car from this angle, as per real life and involved a lot of tweaking various parameters to mimic falloff correctly.
Another challenging element was the headlight glass material. Achieving the right balance between transparency, reflection, refraction and tint on a car with quad headlamps and prominent indicators proved to be even more crucial as more of the car's 'face' is occupied by the 'eyes' than on most other cars.
