Personal - Mustang Boss 302

I came across a nice HDR set that was shot by Jeff Patton (www.jeffpatton.net), one of the best automotive visualization artists in our industry. He has some great tutorials on how he shoots the scenes and prepares them for digital use. It is quite impressive. I have been meaning to give this a shot but just have not had the time, or the equipment yet, to do so. For this composition, I started with a base HDR map, but added numerous lights and sunshade to really sell the light direction. Check back soon for some more renders!

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for viewing!

(HDR Environment and Backplate from jeffpatton.net. Model from TurboSquid.)

Client: Getaway Car Customizer

 

Thanks to the great guys over at Rubber Pixel, I had the opportunity to work on this crazy fun car customizer, for the upcoming Warner Brothers film, "Getaway". Be sure to visit http://apps.warnerbros.com/getaway/carcustomizer/us/ for your chance to build a custom ride, share it with the online gallery or via social networking, and enter for a chance at $20k!

We initially worked on developing a generic looking muscle car. I made some basic concept sketches and we eventually moved forward with modeling. I was responsible for all of the modeling, and there was an ambitious to do list in a short duration of time. The list included multiple hoods, wheels, skirts, lights, spoilers, exhausts, and bumpers. Did I mention the car itself? Yeah, that too. It was definitely a fun modeling peoject.

Below you can see the vehicle model with my favorite options. We still maintained a decent topological workflow even with the time constraints. Once again, a special thanks to Rubber Pixel for giving me the opportunity to work on such a cool gig. Go team!

Personal - BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe

Thanks to a new course by Digital Tutors, I was able to get a hold of some new assets to put together this BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe render. The course was aimed at the software package KeyShot (which appears to be fairly intuitive), however, I went to town on this with Maya and Mental Ray. On a side note, for those who have not tried it, Virtual Rig is a must for background blurs. If you have not checked that package out yet, now is the time. The render turned out really nice and there were actually a couple of elements I picked up from the course that I incorporated into my Photoshop workflow. I was originally going to have the BMW white, with carbon fiber accents, but the elegance of the Frozen Bronze Metallic paint did it for me.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for viewing!

(HDR Environment, Backplate, and model from digitaltutors.com.)

Personal - Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

This is my first render using the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera that I modeled. I finally feel like I accomplished something with it. I have been modeling it on and off since last year, and never thought the day would come where I could use it in a render. The interior is still left to model but that is something I will slowly tackle over the next few months. As for this piece, I was originally planning to have the color of the car orange, but the yellow works much better given the colors of the environment (thanks Josh :P).

This will be one of many compositions using the Gallardo, so if you see something that is off or could be improved, let me know so I can make some adjustments for future renders.

Feedbck is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate from myhdri.com.)

WIP - Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

Since last year, I have been working on modeling a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera (on and off). I am finally at a point where I am almost done with the exterior, and I decided to do a grayscale test render to see how the geometry and seams are holding up. I think it is going to look really nice when it is complete. I have the rear assembly left to do (rear bumper, exhaust, grills, etc.). Once that is done, the last step will be to get a lower polygon interior modeled. I am anticipating to have it done over the next few weeks. After that, I can finally put together some awesome renders, so keep an eye out!

Here are a couple of screenshots from Maya to show some of the topology. As usual, comments and feedback are always appreciated.

Personal - Ferrari 458 Italia

I bought this HDR set a couple of weeks ago waiting for the right car. I think it paid off. I saw an awesome render on the website from another company called DI-Studios, and I wanted to match the look and feel of their compostion. I have a feeling this might be the best rendered vehicle image that has come out of my hands.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate purchased from hdri4u.com. Model was provided, but needed rebuilding.)

Personal - Volkswagen Golf

Every month HDRI4FREE (hdri4u.com) releases a free HDR set with backplates. It is a great way to expand your portfolio as the locations tend to be diverse. I purchase sets from them regularly, but I was pretty happy that a set as good as this one was free. I tried to go fairly realistic with this render. To be quite honest, I think it is one of the best ones that I have done. Everything seems to work about it. The color palette, perspective, feel, and composition. I cannot stress enough how much the Maya 2013 IBL workflow has improved my work, so if you have not had a chance to explore that, you need to. As mentioned before, Digital Tutors (www.digitaltutors.com) has a great course for it.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate from hdri4u.com. Model was provided.)

Personal - BMW 1 Series M

Another attempt at a more stylized render, in motion. The challenge in this setup was getting the car to feel grounded and part of the environment as it is a stylized look. Thanks to some feedback from a couple of co-workers I made some last minute tweaks to the brightness and saturation of the backplate. Another challenge was getting the person inside of the car driving, after the comp was done. Overall I am happy with the results.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate from smcars.net. Model was provided.)

Personal - 2013 SRT Viper

I woke up this morning and saw a foot of snow outside. Render time. I tried to go a little more stylized with this composition, really pushing hues, saturation, 2D painted elements, as well as loads of optical flares! I also decided to try something new, yellow paint. The official color is called Race Yellow Clear Coat, and I actually think it suits the car nicely. For the lighting, as last time, I implemented Maya 2013's new IBL workflow. This is probably the last time I will mention it since it is my new standard for vehicle setups.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate from moofe.com.)

Personal - 2013 SRT Viper

With the production release of the new SRT Viper so close, I decided to put together a render of the color combination I would get if I were ordering one (in my dreams). For the lighting, I used the new IBL workflow from Maya 2013, as explained in my previous post. I am really happy with the results of the new system so far and will continue exploring it.

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

(HDR Environment and Backplate purchased from hdr4u.com.)

Personal - IBL Lighting without Final Gather

It has been a while since I have posted a render, but it has been a crazy couple of months. What better way to start off the new year than by demonstrating an interesting new workflow for Image Based Lighting in Maya 2013.

For the past while I have been hearing about this new IBL workflow designed in Maya 2013, that creates stunning results without using Final Gather. Too good to be true I thought. Until I tried it.

Above is the render I came up with the first time trying the non Final Gather approach, thanks to a new video training series courtesy of Digital Tutors (www.digitaltutors.com). Although the vehicle provided was not the best model, it was capable of demonstrating the power, accuracy, and potential of the new IBL workflow. Below is an image of the actual vehicle in the environment, which served as a reference point to the look and feel of the lighting I was trying to achieve.

Keeping up to date on new workflows and strategies is important in our industry. It enables us to keep pushing the boundaries of quality. It was definitely exciting to learn the new workflow, get lost in the process for a few hours, and watch a new render come to life. I will definitely be implementing this method in future renders, so keep your eyes open!

Again, thanks to Digital Tutors for providing the great training course, model, HDRI, and backplate!