BMW z4

[WaffleGod]

885Hey this is my first post so...hi,
this is my first attempt at modelling a car, took me a long time so far, would love some c&c please:thumbsup:

Thanks, Lindsay

[fantasymaster]

Interesting.

Can you post some different views of your car. The perspective looks strange for me.
Some shaded version as well, if possible.

Cheers

[PascalR]

:welcome:WaffleGod !
Cool stuff, is this supposed to be rendered as poly or subd? I agree other angles and rendered views would be helpful.

Keep it up:beerchug:

[WaffleGod]

hey is for subd....why do you ask? I hope the other views help you out anything in particular that will help please tell me cheers

[PascalR]

Cool thanks for the shaded views.
So I am no car expert, but I think what you need to check is the curves of the car overall. Basically you get some pinching in some areas, and some surface discontinuity from one panel to another.
I would really add specular in the renders to check it's all clean. You need specular and reflection to check the curvatures more accurately.

Not sure if you were going with this reference (probably not) but here is a paint over to show you what I mean.

Cheers

P.

891

[JohnSG]

Hey WaffleGod

Good start. I would be nice to see a render some a few different view.

There are a few areas that i think need a bit more love though.


The roof, rear window is quite different and the arch in the roof seems a bit high.

The body generally looks good, but there seems to be alot of stretching points. If you like i can highlight some of these areas for you.


Can I ask about your approach to modelling this car. Did you start with curves or straight to polies.

I am not sure if you saw it but there was a thread where i was posting some tips and tricks on modelling hards surface, and i also posted some wire-frame of a car i was working on. Check it out.

start of the thread
http://www.cgfeedback.com/cgfeedback/showthread.php?t=124

page 5 has the posted car images
http://www.cgfeedback.com/cgfeedback/showthread.php?t=124&page=5

[WaffleGod]

hey thanks for your help guys, the paintovers the critique here is extremely helpful and i will check out that hard surface modeling thread immediately, any views that you would like to see in particular?

johnSG- Would love to take you up on that offer for highlighting the area, i really see your point on the roof curve, cheers : )

As for my technique i started the body with nurbs and then went to poly, most other features were straight polys

[JohnSG]

I will put together a list of pic with highlighted areas to be aware off. And areas to look at on your model

As for your technique, I find going from nurbs to polies can sometimes be a bit awkward due to the shape of the car, and the resolution sometimes starts to drive (no pun) the model instead of you.

I find the quickest and easiest way (personally, I would love to hear other peoples techniques) To create most of the car in curves and using these curves start building a very low poly cage over them, adding resolution where needed. This give me alot more control over areas that require more resolutions.

If this is your first car i have to say bravo clap, as it is a very good first cg car. A cg car is one of the hardest thing to model, not due to the skill level needed in 3d but due to it being an object people are so used to seeing, it becomes quite easy to see areas that are not perfect. This is why spaceships are easier, as we have not form of reference.

[JohnSG]

This is another car that was posted a while back where i gave some feedback. It might help to highlight see the kind of details that you need to look out for.

http://www.cgfeedback.com/cgfeedback/showthread.php?t=219


I will post the other images as soon as i get a chance

[JohnSG]

Hey

I took the wire-frame you posted and highlighted some areas that you should take another look at

909

All of these notes come from what I have seen in the ref images below. I understand its still WIP :D


The roof bar across the front is covered by the roof allot more.

The bmw grills sink into the front bumper more and is curved to match the bumper.

Bmw badge missing from front bumper. ( I understand its still WIP)

There are allot of hard lines along the front bumper, under the front light and sweeping down to the bottom of the bumper.

The arch across the front of the bonnet seems to dip in the middle of the wire-frame pic

Running along the side of the bonnet, and where the side panel meets the door I notice alot of the wire-frame seems to be nice and smooth but then you get these kinks in your geo, these can cause stretching in place and will show up with a spec render.

The side of the door, where the bmw badge and the indicator are located, there is a large circle in the bodywork, with a sweeping arch though it.



Some Ref images that I found (not sure if its the right year or not Bmw z4 2006) The newer models have alot of different shapes in the body.

906

907

A close up of the front bumper, It is a very complicated shape and pieces such as this is why I tend to build the shape with curves and then using the curves as a guide start modelling with polies, this gives you a chance to place the geo where you need it for these tricky areas.

908

Same story again for the rear bumoer.

Keep up the good work. I hope some of these notes have help you to see these tricky car problems :banghead: in a different light. :D

[WaffleGod]

just an update....finally on what i have been working on in between my assignments.1824

oh, and i loved the c&C last time, keep it coming, it really helps :)

[fantasymaster]

The rendering need definitely more deepness, it is very flat. How about an ambient occlusion? Try to use not much different materials. One for the car lack, one for the plastic, one for the chrome...

It seems your headlights are using a different ambient as the rest of the car. This is strange

Improve the shut lines. They should coming out nicer.

keep it up man!

[JohnSG]

Hey

The model is looking good, in CG terms about 80% there. The problem now is the last 20%, which anyone will tell you is the hardest bit.

The reason why this is the hardest bit is because the object you are modeling is a very common object that we see every day. The more we see of it the more detail we notice and the harder it is to recreate in CG. Hence why CG humans are the hardest thing to recreate, so many small details to recreate, some that we don't even notice we do.

With the model of the car i think you have made the task harder by adding customs parts straight away, like the different wheels. So straight away you have made the task of matching the real car details harder. What you should do is find some picture of the standard factory car, setup a lineup within your 3d package, and match the stock factory car before you move on to adding customs pieces.

A camera line up with a couple of pictures is the main thing you will need to focus on, as they will highlight the small details that you may have missed which can get you over the last 20% hump.

Keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

[WaffleGod]

fantasy, i completely agree on all your points and plan to do my best to remedy those problems :)


John, Hey cheers for the feedback, really helping me to improve my eye for finer detail and cleaner modeling, much aprreciated.I will keep you updated on my progress on my work, and in future models i will certainly adhere to that advice of sticking to a factory model to start with. :)

Lindsay:notWorthy: