Hello there! My name is Carlos Bisquertt; I'm from Chile, and here's an overview of the first hi-poly CG-car that I have ever made.

Everything, except for the rendering, was done with Blender 2.45

Inspiration

Ever since I was first introduced into the world of 3d, I have intended to model the "mandatory” CG-car, but I never quite felt skilled enough for the task, and with so many beautiful renders showcased in almost every gallery I visit, my desire was always pushed aside.

Once I gathered the strength to finally do it, the first step was to choose the proper car, which had to have a relatively simple design which hopefully no one had already made (in your face, Ferrari Enzo!). Long story short: enter "The Homer”.

Research

The only references I relied on were a couple of pictures that I found on the Internet…


…and Homer's original blueprints:

Modelling

Here's a sequence showing the various stages of development, starting with a mirrored box with a few loop cuts, always keeping the mesh as simple as possible:


Sculpting and rounding the shape of the vehicle:


Adding The Homer's trademark "bubble”, and headlamps:


Simply select 4 polygons from beside the windows, make an inset extrusion and you get a door!


The headlamps were reshaped into a semi-sphere (instead of their original oval shape), and the wheels and final accessories were integrated.


It's always convenient to detach, from the main mesh, the parts that are supposed to be separated (doors, windows, etc.), as that way you won't have a gigantic mess of a mesh to work with later!

Materials & Texturing

Car Paint Material: A not-so-fancy green shader with bumps to make the surface a little rougher (it also reminded me of my grandfather's old station wagon).


Chrome Material : I used a clean, mirror-like chrome material for most of the shiny accessories of the car, except on the rims where it is slightly less reflective.


Glass Material : The most important thing to remember when making windows of any kind is to give them thickness; otherwise you'll end up with something that looks like a solid wall of glass.