Making Of 'Razper'

Introduction

I am big fan of designing machines; designing machines make me feel high! I've been wanting to design a bike for a long time after watching Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and so I came up with the idea for Razper (which means First Blade). Razper can function as an automated drone and a speeder.
 
It took me around two days - that's around 18 hours - to complete this image.

Please note: This Making Of is more about designing than modeling.

Day 1

I started with a rough concept with a very basic silhouette of the bike using Photoshop. At this stage I think it's good to just ground your vision on a sheet of paper so that you have some guidance throughout the designing process (it's better to get shapes through your own scribbles than through looking at others for inspiration. This way you get a more unique design).

When designing a bike or car, it's always better to initially design the side profile because it occupies more design space. I mostly used Max to design the bike completely, which helped me to get all aspects of the proportions and design correct (I was able to think and see all the sides while I designed). Then I went back into Photoshop to add detail to the bike. The design I chose is sharper and matches the name quite well (Fig.00).

Fig. 00

I started with laying out the wheels first. In this case the wheels were nearly twice the diameter of the wheel base (Fig.01). Then I used the Line tool to draft out the side profile of the Razper, following the concept thumbnail, and then extruded in Max (Fig.02 - 03). I don't mind overlaps when I'm working because I only use Max to design, not to model out a final image. I know I can fix any issues in Photoshop (which I'll talk more about later).

Fig. 01

Fig. 01

Fig. 02

Fig. 02

Fig. 03

Fig. 03


I detailed out the rough shapes I created with the Line tool using the Edit Poly option (Fig.04 - Fig.05). I then used the FFD modifier to achieve the desired bulges and curves.

Fig. 04

Fig. 04

Fig. 05

Fig. 05



After this stage I started building a library of parts and other important elements that helped to hold together the major elements of the bike. Rebuilding the bike helped with the scale and proportions (Fig.06 - 08).

Fig. 06

Fig. 06

Fig. 07

Fig. 07

Fig. 08

Fig. 08

I then started setting up the lights. I used a direct top-down light and a sky light to enhance the overall muscles of the Razper. I always think it's better to avoid long shadows for bikes and cars (Fig.09). I rendered the image it for 3000 res and this was the end of the first day's work.

I always take time to think about my designs because I personally feel we need some time to scan our design, reflect upon it and find mistakes that need to be fixed.

Fig. 09

Fig. 09

Day 2

I found the arm attaching the front wheel wasn't close enough to the concept thumbnail and so I added some plates over the arm on the front wheel to fix the form issues (Fig.10).

Fig. 10

Fig. 10

I color balanced the raw renders (3000 res png output) to fix the required tone (Fig.11 - 12). I then stared fixing any errors in the mesh that had been caused by intersections or bad polys. I followed the concept design for this, as mentioned before (Fig.13).

Fig. 11

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 13

Adding micro details and aesthetics to an image is a very important stage. It's very important to have scale issues in mind while adding details in Photoshop (Fig.14 - 15).

Fig. 14

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

Fig. 15

Next I added dirt and scratches to the bike to avoid having a CG look and make it more grounded and convincing. I wanted to suggest the bike belonged to somebody or was used in the army (Fig.16 - 17). I used a combination of Hard and Airbrushes with Scatter parameters to achieve the desired look.

Fig. 16

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

Fig. 17

The nature of the materials of the bike are mainly shown through the highlights. The design required less of a polished surface to make it more stealthy and sharp. To me polished vehicles represent luxury rather than combat (Fig.17).

I added decals to represent that the bike has been manufactured by a company for a squad or a team (Fig.18).The lights I added were to augment the aggressiveness of the bike, which is very important for a combat vehicles (Fig.18 - 19).

Fig. 18

Fig. 18

Fig. 19

Fig. 19

I made the background darker in a manner to draw more attention to the vehicle. It's always better to have a plain background with depth to highlight designs. I also added a little color balancing (Fig.20).

Fig. 20

Fig. 20

Here's the final image (Fig.21). I hope you guys enjoyed this Making Of and it was useful. Thank you very much for reading!

Fig. 21

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