3DTotal asked me to write a Making Of my image Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, so I'm going to cover modeling, texturing, shading and lighting. I don't intend to make a step-by-step tutorial, but I think the big questions of the image will be answered.

This image started when I saw a news report on a special event (anniversary or convention) for the Alfa Romeo. Some really cool, old designs of Alfa Romeo's were featured and I thought that it could be interesting to create something like this in 3D, because it was a chance to improve my hard surface modeling skills.

First of all, I Googled some Alfa Romeo images and I decided that the 2600 Sprint was what I was looking for. So I went for it. I downloaded a lot of pictures and a blueprint, which didn't turn out to be much use.

When all the research was done, it was time to start the project. For modeling, I used Edit Poly. I started with a plane (converted it to an edit poly) and then began to drag edges following the shape of the blueprint. I made sure to I fitted the piece with the other views and I tried to avoid triangles as much as possible (Fig.01).


A good trick to check if you are producing a correct piece of work is to assign a material with a high specular and low glossiness to check the behavior of the mesh. If the brightness is constant and without strange artifacts, you're doing great! It's also good to add a Symmetry modifier to your mesh. Then you can check the whole mesh (Fig.02).



Symmetry is a great modifier and it made modeling the rim a piece of cake. All I had to do was model the part in red, then apply the Symmetry modifier several times to achieve the result I wanted. It was important to put the pivot point in the centre of the rim (Fig.03).


Another important tool that I use a lot is FFD. In this case I used it to fit the glass correctly (Fig.04).