Modelling the Nissan R390 GT

Foreword

Why the Nissan R390 GT1? I had just modeled my Peugeot 206 (not that I own one) in Rhino3d, and wanted to try out a different technique (poly in 3ds max) so I could choose the best one for me (guess which one I like most?). I didn't want another everyday life car, and I wanted to paint some textures too. I searched for some Le Mans websites and found many great cars to model, and I was lucky enough to find blueprints for this particular one, so the choice was made.

This tutorial should be suited for mid to advanced users.



I will assume you know all the basic 3ds max 5 UI and tools. I don't like step by step tutorials because i think you learn more when you have to figure something out (step by step tuts also take too much time to write, eheheh), so i'll just give you a general idea of the process i followed. If you're reading this, i don't think you really need to model an exact copy of my Nissan R390 GT1 (which, by the way, has already been greatly modeled by other guys), but you just want to learn how to use the available tools to model any car, or anything else for what matters. Anyway you can feel free to send me an e-mail and ask for clarifications, if needed. In no way this is THE way to do it right, it's just one of the many ways to get a mesh out of the many (great) tools given; i am writing this tutorial just because i find it a quite simple and logical workflow for my tastes. I am a self-taught maxer, so you might recognize techniques you've already seen in other tutorials: there's really nothing new here, just some outlines to guide the starters. In fact, i'm writing this also for me: by putting it in html format i get a scheme i will use again in the future: when i started i really was improvising from what i learned in the past from other guys out there (the 3d community is something incredible, almost everyone is wiling to help you out, with this tutorial i'm trying to give a little, a very little, in change for the many great tips and helps i received from the people out there).
I divided the 1st part in 7 sub-sections, each one well distincted from the others by the tools and techniques involved. I hope to be clear enough for everybody, keep in mind i am not english and i am doing this in my free time, so i might rush some stuff too much.

Two last things

a) You will need just 1 plugin to complete the tutorial (and you could away without): it's called "solidify", just search for it on the "max 4" section of www.maxplugins.de and install it (it's totally free).
Even if not necessary to follow the steps I write here, I feel you should install and use also the fine Meshtools from Laszlo Sebo. With the new 3ds max 5 poly interface they are not important as before, but still you might need some tool which is missing in the max interface (I mainly used the selection tools). To download and install them point your browser to http://www.scriptspot.com/, search for "meshtools" and follow the instructions.

b) I need to thank a couple of guys for their help and support: Luca "Lucky" Balsamo (mind refueler, great supporter and great maxer and architect), Laxina (for providing a wireframe of a part I really didn't know how to model), the guys at www.maxforums.org for just being great and always being there and always helping me out when needed. You guys rule.

So, we should be ready to start by now:

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 1: Before we start with the serious stuff

The very first step is finding as many reference images as possible. Any search engine is ok, I personally use http://images.google.com/ a lot to find good images (the advanced search function lets you restrict the search to only mid to big size images). Then you obviously need some good blueprints: more and more sites are offering this stuff, I won't list them here.

Fig. 1: setting up blueprints is pretty easy - be as precise as you can

Fig. 1: setting up blueprints is pretty easy - be as precise as you can

Once you are satisfied with your references and got blueprints, you have to cut and resize the latter so they represent the car in the correct scale (many times i found different blueprint views don't match properly, so you have to resize them accordgingly). That's easy enough.
Now it's time to put the blueprints in 3ds max's viewports. Open max, create 4 planes using the pixel dimensions of your blueprints as references (you can scale the planes later if you want), align them properly and assign them the maps (just make surem you click on "Show map in viewport" in the material editor). Everything should be self explanatory from Fig. 1 above.

As I said, you should also scale the planes (all together) so that they match the real lenght/height of the car, in the units you are using (I usually use cm., but it really doesn't matter that much if you're not goin to use radiosity). You can move the front and back plane wherever you want on the lenght axis, to help you in the modeling phase.
Next I always right click on the bottom-right viewport icons to open up the option menu, and check "default lighting", "2 lights" and set the transparency to "best".

This concludes the easiest part, now we can move on to something more interesting.

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 2: Section 2: Splining

Now we have to lay down the main car curves using splines. I use different colors for every spline so I can later find which to modify and where to click much easier. Also, I use only "corner" points (just before creating a spline, be sure you have "corner" selected in both initial type and drag type in the create panel).

Fig.2: drawing splines - try to figure where you will need points and edges

Fig.2: drawing splines - try to figure where you will need points and edges

Try to identify the main contour shapes on the car as well as the main panels (doors, windshield, headlights etc.): I usually start from the side view, then front and top, check everything, add another spline and so on. When creating splines, try to already figure out where to put vertices (ie. where 2 splines cross, you should have a vertex on both, and possibly using snap make sure they are coincident). You can always move/add/delete vertices on a later stage anyway. Also, model just one side of the car, we will mirror it later. It's a good idea to use grid snap to align the middle vertices too. Use Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 as a reference to see how I started laying the splines in the 3d space.

Once you have the main lines in place, it's time to add some details and "volume", and to refine vertices positions. In Fig. 4 you can see what I mean: start taking a look at your reference photos to see where a car panel bends or if there are important lines you couldn't notice on the blueprints. Then start adding lines (I mainly use 2 points splines in this part) and start forming a "quad cage" (quad means you should try to have a 4 sided cage wherever possible): you should try to imagine where polygons will be, and they will need to be 3 or 4 sided later when we apply the "surface" modifier.

Fig.3: drawing splines check that the perpective view makes sense

Fig.3: drawing splines check that the perpective view makes sense

Fig.4: adding more splines start adding detail and "volume" splines

Fig.4: adding more splines start adding detail and "volume" splines

Fig.5: last splining steps try to keep all quads and check vertices positions on the various intersections

Fig.5: last splining steps try to keep all quads and check vertices positions on the various intersections

TIn all this process you don't need to be 100% precise with the blueprints, all the vertices you are placing will be more or less moved on a later stage, believe me.

The next part is quite slow but fairly easy: keep adding splines untill you get a reasonably dense cage, trying to get splines where you think they will be needed (for example, noting the depressed area of the front bonnet in a photo, I added a spline a bit lower than the contour spline). Don't be afraid to delete a spline you don't like. Notice the mistake I made here (Fig. 5): the bright red circle shows an area where I laid the splines badly: the bright red line shows where I should have put a spline which is missing at this stage of the modeling, also in the circle there are 3 usless splines, the purple, the green and the blue ones. They do not identify any particular geometry, moreover they somewhat "break" the regularity of the cage. God knows what I had on my mind. Also the headlight spline is not fitting properly in the cage: I will not use it in the surfacing phase, so it can be deleted: there's already a quad in that area, which later will be easily adjusted to make room for the headlight. Once you feel you have enough splines to describe the main car geometry, you are ready for the next section.

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 3: Caging and Surfacing

So, now we are going to finally connect the splines, which already form a visible "cage". At this stage we don't really need a 100% accurate cage, it's just there to give us a good starting point. Adding and deleting edges will be quite easy later.

Fig.6: last splining steps attach all the splines together!

Fig.6: last splining steps attach all the splines together!

Remember to keep the near vertices coincident in space for the next steps: when you have all of them good splines layed out, select them one by one, enter in vertex sub-object mode (shortcut is "1" on the keyboard, very usefull) and check that you have vertices at the intersections. Again use vertex snap to make intersecting splines vertices coincident. Again, this is quite important as later we will apply a surface modifier which operates only on 3 and 4 sided closed splines. Once you have double checked all of your vertices, it's finally time to surface the splines.
First off, select one spline. Then click on "attach multiple" and, from the panel that pops up choose "all". Now you have 1 single object made of several splines (Fig. 6). For the last time, you have to be sure all (as usual, don't be afraid if you miss one intersection or two, you can always fix it in the next step) the intersecting splines have coincident vertices at the intersecting points, so you can proceed to the next step.



Add a "surface" modifier to your object, and lower the "steps" to "0". A mesh will magically pop up in place (no, it's not your finished car, you x**§|ç!!!) (be sure to be in a shaded viewport, F3 on the keyboard, or you won't notice any differences). Probably you will get some holes here and there (at least, i always do!)(Fig. 7): this means that there's either a part with more than 4 sides, or that some vertices are not in the same position. In some cases it's obvious how to fix a hole (just go in back to your spline in the modifier stack and then in vertex mode, snap-move the incriminated vertex to the right position and voilà, a face is created). In other situations it can get complicated and time consuming (especially if the hole is caused by having more than 4 edges for a polygon). If you cannot fix it now, once again you are lucky so don't worry, just try to keep the holes to a reasonable number, we will cap them in the next section!

Fig.7: surface modifier: notice the the damn holes!!!

Fig.7: surface modifier: notice the the damn holes!!!

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 4: Poly modeling

Soooo, we've already done a big part of the tutorial!...anyway what you just finished is the fastest part in modeling a detailed car. Nevertheless this part was also really important: having the right proportions and the right curves where you need them, will greatly help in the following sections. Now that we have fixed all the holes...eh...wait, we still have holes! OK, let's fix those buggers.

Fig.8:lfixing holes create faces where needed: here I am clicking in "create polygon" mode on the numbered vertices, to cap a hole in the hood

Fig.8:lfixing holes create faces where needed: here I am clicking in "create polygon" mode on the numbered vertices, to cap a hole in the hood

Fig.9: the fixed mash after fixing all the holes you get this

Fig.9: the fixed mash after fixing all the holes you get this

Fig.10: mirroring starting to look like a car!

Fig.10: mirroring starting to look like a car!

First of all, select your car, right click and convert it to a editable poly (whoo-ahhh!). If you haven't used poly before, you should find plenty of tutorials to get you started out there. Anyway the basic concepts are easy and very similar to regular mesh modeling, so you should still be able to follow without any problem. You will still have your holes there, and see isolated vertices right where you need them to create new faces. If you see 2 (or more) vertices very near, that's why you have a hole (remember from previous section). Delete one of the 2 (or more) in this cases: you just need 1 to build a new face. Switch to polygon sub-object mode (shortcut is "4") and click on "create" in the "edit geometry" subsection. Now all you have to do is create a face where you have a hole (always create four sided faces where possible), clicking on the right vertices in a counter-clockwise manner (Fig. 8)(start from any vertex you like, there's really no difference). Once you get back to click on the 1st of the four vertices, a face will be created. Easy uh? Cap them all now!

Once you have closed all the holes (Fig. 9), you must be sure that no isolated vertices are left in your object, so just switch to vertex sub-object mode and click "remove isolated vertices". So, take a look: the car is slowly shaping! This is usually when I start getting excited and keep working for hours, when I see for the 1st time the shape of the car, and i can already feel where I will finish up :-)

Now you mainly have to use the "cut", "connect", "loop" and "ring" poly-tools. Bind a key to each of this tools in the "customize UI" menu, you will end up saving hours and thousands of mouse clicks :-). What you are going to do is add lines to detail up the basic shape. Instead of explaining the process step by step, i'll show you some screenshots of my progresses here with a short description of what i did: wireframes are really better than a thousand words in this case.

Just keep in mind that you should keep the mesh as "quad" as possible (4 sided polygons), the final result will be greatly influenced by this. You can also bind a key to "switch NURMS (poly)" (in the UI preferences) so you can check the smoothed version from time to time (1 iteration is enough for now). It's also time to add a "simmetry" modifier if you want (or use the hold trick of mirroring an instance of your half car..but "simmetry" is faster and easier to setup imho), so you can get a better feel of the volumes (Fig. 10 and Fig. 11). One last thing before you start detailing: take a look at the blueprints and references from time to time to be shure you are going in the right direction. It might be usefull to apply a semi-transparent material (70% opacity) to your car, so you can see them through your model.

As you can see from Fig. 11, I already started working on the mesh. I removed some wrong edges re-building the cage in some areas. The way you do it is: select one or more edges you don't want and hit "remove" in the "edit edges" panel. Then "remove" the vertices where the deleted edges intersected. To add edges I use 2 methods: the 1st is selecting 2 or more edges (often using "ring" in the poly selection panel") and hitting the square button besides "connect", to choose how many edges I want to build. The 2nd in switching in vertex sub-objects mode (optional) and use the "cut" tool. As you can see from Fig. 12, i added 2 rings of edges (highlighted in red) on the upper part of the side of the car (so that i get a smooth corner but yet not too rounded on the profiles) and on the bottom windshield area. I also worked out some errors in the highlighted circles, by removing wrong edges and building new ones.

Fig.11: smoothed version: turn on "use NURMS subdivision" with iterations set to 1 to check the smoothed version

Fig.11: smoothed version: turn on "use NURMS subdivision" with iterations set to 1 to check the smoothed version

Fig.12: modeling starting to model in poly mode

Fig.12: modeling starting to model in poly mode

Fig.13: subpanels: different colors for different parts!

Fig.13: subpanels: different colors for different parts!

Fig.14: the wing: this was easy :-)

Fig.14: the wing: this was easy :-)

Fig.15: the poly wing: this was easy :-)

Fig.15: the poly wing: this was easy :-)

Fig.16: the wing detail: just some cutting to refine the edges

Fig.16: the wing detail: just some cutting to refine the edges

Fig.17: the wing mountings: same as before

Fig.17: the wing mountings: same as before

Fig.18: low detail wheels: add 4 cylinders as wheels

Fig.18: low detail wheels: add 4 cylinders as wheels

While adding details, I tried to follow not only the shape but also the topology of the different panels. To help me identifying the different parts, I assigned a multi-subobject mateial to the car, then started selecting polygons and changing their material IDs properly (in the "polygon property" section of the editable poly panel). The result of this operation is showed in Fig. 13. While being an optional, this process made my life a lot easyer in giving the right shapes to the panels, and is also usefull later when it comes to tweaking the mesh (you can use "select by material ID").

Having the car at a good point, I now modeled the rear wing. This is quite easy: just outline the contour of the 2 main wing components with 2 splines (using "corner" for vertex creation) and extrude them according to the blueprints. Convert them to poly and do some cutting as shown in Fig. 15 and Fig. 16, then check if NURMS with iteration set to 1 gives you a good mesh with smooth edges (this is always important to catch highlights and proper reflections). You can always do this part with other methods (a regular poly, then add the "bevel" modifier to get smooth edges). As you can see i kept the 3 elements separated (as I suppose they are in reality, but i am not really sure). I then modeled the 2 supports for the wing in a similar way (Fig. 17). Notice that the mounting and the wing are not matching properly: just refine the mounting mesh so that it fits reasonably (look at Fig. 18 to get an idea on how I did it).

Before going on with the car modeling, I also created 4 cylinders to be used as a reference for the wheels: this helps you in keeping a well rounded mesh in the wheels areas, where you will have a lot of vertices later (and that surely doesn't help in keeping things smooth). Check Fig. 18 also to have a last look at the mountings mesh before you proceed (you can see them both smoothed and unsmoothed).
 

Now the main parts are done, so we can proceed onto the next section and start detailing up the car. With "detailing" I mean separating all the various panels, giving them thickness and good smooth edges, adding lights, wheels and interiors, as well as always keeping an eye on the references to make subtle changes here and there when I notice something wrong. By the end of next section, we should have an almost final version of our car.
This will be the longest part of the process, so be prepared for hours of maxing. For displaying and browsing purposes next part is split in 2 pages (Detailing #1 and Detailing #2).

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 5: Detailing 1

Fig.19: solidifying: add a solidify modifier to give thickness to the panels

Fig.19: solidifying: add a solidify modifier to give thickness to the panels

Fig.20: deleting useless faces: delete interior faces and the ones on the simmetry axis

Fig.20: deleting useless faces: delete interior faces and the ones on the simmetry axis

Fig.21: cutting edges: ring select border faces and connect them once

Fig.21: cutting edges: ring select border faces and connect them once

Fig.22: refining panel borders: check fig. 23 to see where i added edges to keep geometry the way i wanted

Fig.22: refining panel borders: check fig. 23 to see where i added edges to keep geometry the way i wanted

Next step is to detach all the various panels as single objects. To achieve this, just go under "polygons property" (polygon sub-object mode) in the poly panel and use "select by material ID". Select the various ID and each time hit the "detach" button, deselecting "detach as clone" and "detach to element" in the panel that pops up. Name the various parts properly. Now it's time to add thickess to the panels: the way i choose for this is selecting a panel mesh, add a "solidify" (look for it on the "max 4" section of maxplugins.de) modifier and set the thickness to a reasonable value (for me 0.5). I then collapse the stack beck to editable poly (right click on the object and "convert to..."). Now i start deleting all the interior faces (which will not be seen in the final renders, so no reason at all to increase the poly count by leaving them there), as well as the faces in the middle line between a mirrored mesh. Do not delete interior face on glasses (ie windshield) because we want correct thickness for refractions. An example of what you will achieve with all the panels is shown on the bonnet in Fig. 19 (with interior faces still there) and Fig. 20 (with deleted faces). I then select all the edges giving thickness (just select 1 edge and then hit "ring") and connect them once to get a proper edge smoothness for the borders (Fig. 21). You will notice that some panels are not keeping the shape they are supposed to. This is because the poly topology is wrong. Start cutting the mesh properly to keep curvatures the way you want (Fig. 22 and Fig. 23 show the border of some panels: you can see where i added edges to keep proper geometry ). Do this to all the panels.

When you need to modify the position of vertices on the boundary of a panel, you have to move the vertices of all the surronding panels as well, to keep things right: what i do is attach the panels back together, select the vertices, move them, then go in "element" subobject mode, select the various panels and detach them again (if needed). You can do this as many times as you want, or just keep everything detached and move vertices accoirdgingly, just choose a method you fell comfortable with.

After all this process, you can have a look at the smoothed version of the car: see how all the panels have a nice smooth border (Fig. 24). Take a look at the unsmoothed wireframes if you are confused (Fig. 25) and try to get a similar cage. In Fig. 25 you also see 2 areas where i had to cut the mesh to get proper "tight" curvatures (almost 90°).

Onto with further detailing: adding the headlights.
Adding headlights was a bit time consuming (getting the shape right was the main problem). First select the polygons as shown in Fig. 26, then bevel them twice and then extrude them inwards, just look at the figure to see how to do this.
Now it's just a matter of moving and welding vertices, as well as some more edge cutting, to get the shape right. If you don't know how to do it, just look at Fig. 27 and try to get a similar mesh with correct smoothness once you activate NURMS subdivisions.When i add edges in a particular place, i try not to break up loops and rings, thus i add edges on the whole panel so that i keep my quad scheme in the mesh. This can lead to some problems (ie in Fig. 25) because you get extra-detail where you don't need it: it's just a matter of keeping vertices properly positioned so the mesh remains smooth and clean.

As you can see, the more i progress with the modeling the more i get differences in the topology of adiacent panels (ie the bonnet edge is no more coincident with the door panel in Fig. 25). This is not a problem as long as the smoothed version leads to aligned panels. Anyway try to keep topologies similar whenever you can (your life gets really easier this way).

To model the headlight glass i did this: select the headlight and go in "edge" subobject mode (Fig. 28). Loop select the boundary of the new panel to be created and hit "create shape from selection" and select "linear" in the pop up. Now select the newly created shape, name it "headlight" and convert to poly. This way you have a bunch of vertices in the right positions. Go in "polygons" subobject mode and hit "create". Pick all the vertices one by one counterclockwise: a new face is created.

Now just connect vertices and cut edges to get a proper mesh (pretty intuitive, anyway look at Fig. 28 to see how i did it). As previously done with the other panels, add a "solidify" modifier to give thickness to the glass: do not delete interior faces this time, as we obviously want a glass to refract correctly. Activate NURMS subdivisions on the body and the glass to be sure they fit correctly, and adjust vertices if needed.

Fig.23: refining panel borders: i used the "cut" tool to add egdges near the borders of the various panels

Fig.23: refining panel borders: i used the "cut" tool to add egdges near the borders of the various panels

Fig.24: smooth panels: the result of panel smoothing

Fig.24: smooth panels: the result of panel smoothing

Fig.25: wireframe so far: take a look where i added edges to get the right shapes

Fig.25: wireframe so far: take a look where i added edges to get the right shapes

Fig.26: the headlights: step by step here ;-)

Fig.26: the headlights: step by step here ;-)

Fig.27: the headlights: move and weld vertices to get this!

Fig.27: the headlights: move and weld vertices to get this!

Fig.28: the headlight's glass: follow the steps to model the glass!

Fig.28: the headlight's glass: follow the steps to model the glass!

Fig.29: the headlight's smaller panel: just cut and rebuild

Fig.29: the headlight's smaller panel: just cut and rebuild

As you can see from reference photos, there's a small plastic panel over the headlight, which at first i didn't consider. Anyway this is easyly builded by cutting the headlight glass panel (i used "quickslice" in vertex mode to get a new row of edges where the new panel will be detached, then i selected the smaller panel faces and detached them from the headlight glass), creating faces on the cut area (in fact you get a hole on the border when you detach the panel but it is easily capped by creating faces to get a closed mesh) and adding edges on the borders to retain proper curvatures. You can take a look at the wireframe and the smoothed (NURMS) version in Fig. 29.

The inner part of the headlight (the actual lights) are modeled as separate components: they are very easy as we don't need to be very precise here: i just modeled a rectangular spline and 2 more spline (a circle and a rectangle), converted all to spline, connected them and extruded. Then i placed a sliced box (meshsmoothed) and a half sphere in the holes (inverting the normals with the "normal" modifier), and covered them with a thin box and a thin cylinder (glass material). You can refer to the image to see the final result.

That's it for this section. In next (and last) one, we will cut holes for the air intakes, model the front bumper, cut holes for the exausts and model them, cut holes for the taillights and model them, add real tyres, rearview mirrors, an antenna and the interiors (engine, seats, wheel, various stuff). So, if you are ready you can proceed.

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 6: Detailing 2

Fig.30-31: cutting air intakes: a lot of cutting here: try to keep the mesh clean or you'll mess up something!

Fig.32-33: cutting air intakes: notice the increase in the poly count after all this cutting!

Next step is cutting holes in the bonnet: there are 2 main air intakes and 4 smaller on both sides. Basically what i did was cut the mesh with the aid of the top blueprints, trying to get the contour of the hole. Then i cut it more and more trying not to loose a basic quad structure. After i had the shape i needed, i just deleted the hole's polygon. After that i started moving vertices to get the shape as close as possible to the original, giving a bit of depth and a good roundness to the top edges. Look at Fig. 30 and Fig. 31 to see where and how i cut the mesh. The other holes are done in a similar way, just cutting with the help of the blueprints, then tweaking the mesh with more cuts to keep it clean. In Fig. 32 and Fig. 33 you can see an overall view and a detailed view of the 4 new holes. Notice that the increased density in the mesh leads to some problems, as keeping the surface smooth is more difficult and you have to be sure vertices are well placed. Also notice that i made slight changes to the big hole are as well. This is normal in my workflow: i often notice areas to improve when i am rotating the model in the viewports to work on another area.

Now let's cut the front bumper to get the proper shape for the main air intakes: first i cut the mesh placing edges where the holes will be, then i selected the relevant polygons and extruded them inwards (in 2 steps so i get a sharper edge). After this, just select the inside polygons and delete them (always delete isolated vertices when asked). To create the horizontal bar i made use of the "connect" tool of the meshtools script. Basically you select 2 or more facing polygons, hit "connect" and you're done: a very handy and intuitive tool. You can see the result in Fig. 34.

The bumper also has 2 holes for the front "fog-lights". Getting a perfectly round shape here can be quite difficult. After you have made the basic hole (refer to Fig. 35 to see how i setup the mesh), place a cylinder inside it as a reference, activate NURMS subdivisions and try to get the shape as precise as you can, by moving vertices where needed. After this, build a half sphere, invert the normals and place it inside the holes. This will be the chrome reflecting part. You can also put another sphere inside or actually model the light bulb if you're a real maniac: i just put a sphere there, with all the reflections on going nobody will hopefully notice the difference!). Don't forget to cover the holes with a glass covering: i just used a chamfer cylinder (very thin) for this purpose. The final result (with NURMS on) is in Fig. 36.
I now switched back to the bonnet air intake: there are 4 small bars inside it. I tried to model them as a part of the bonnet mesh, using the "connect" meshtools option, but i didn't quite like the result i was getting. I reverted back to a previous save file and tried another way: i just made 4 chamfered boxes and placed them in the hole. Then i added 2 "bend" modifiers and tried to make them fit exactly. A test render was enough to confirm that this trick was working pretty good, so i thought: for now it's ok, if in the final image i get a bad result, i will model them that day (which never arrived ;-)). Refer to Fig. 37 to see the result.

Fig.34: modeling the front bumper: make use of the meshtools "connect" option to create the horizontal bar.

Fig.34: modeling the front bumper: make use of the meshtools "connect" option to create the horizontal bar.

Fig.35-36: cutting light holes: try to get a perfectly round hole, helping yourself with a reference cylinder

Fig.37: bonnet air intakes detail...yes, i cheated

Fig.37: bonnet air intakes detail...yes, i cheated

Fig.38-39: the back: same procedure as the front :-)

Fig.40-41: the exhausts area: a quite difficult task, as my references were not so obvious

Fig.42-43: the exhausts area: adding details to the exhaust area and the final mesh
 
At this point i was ready to get to the back area and detail it. I spent some time on adding shape details to the mesh, using mainly the reference images i have (and they are not very good for the rear btw). After the usual cutting i got the mesh ready to receive holes for the 4 rear lights. The workflow is exactly the same as the front bumper: refer to Fig. 38 to see the final result. The rear lights are just easy chamfer cylinders with different materials and a "oil tank" primitive as the top: click here to see the rearlights.

I also cut the holes where the rear wing is mounted. The difficult part was to keep sharp corners (all 90°) on the borders: this was achieved by adding edges near the borders. Refer to Fig. 39 to see a detailed wireframe of the area, and check that you get the desired output by activating NURMS subdivisions.



The lower rear area is a bit weird in its shape, anyway it's quite easy to ahchieve the right look. Luckily i had a good outline from the starting spline, so i had to do a little work. Just make sure you make the vertices well aligned by looking from a side view, so you have a planar surface on the back of the surface. You can have a look at the wireframe here and atthe smoothed version here. (Images are not in the usual place because at first i forgot about this part :-P).

Time to add the side exhausts: this part of the car is quite complex, not even 100% clear from my references. There's a hole for the exhaust outlet, and there's another probably used as an air intake which brings down the exhaust temperature so it doesn't fuse the car's surface. Anyway, once i figured out in my mind how this part could be, i started by cutting the main hole and extruding it inward, as showed in Fig. 40. I then modeled the air intake as i could see it from the references: in Fig. 41 you can see the mesh after all the cutting and vertex adjusting. After modeling the 2 holes i meade the exhaust duct by creating a cylinder, applying a bend modifier, converting to poly and extruding some rings of faces as shown in Fig. 42. In the same image you can see the exhaust's outlet (i started from a box, then selected the exterior face and started beveling it inward and bending it towards the exhaust tube) and another surface for the interior (just take a look at the image and everything should be pretty clear). In Fig. 43 you can see the smoothed area.

We are now ready for the wheels, which are luckily not to difficult (the rims are nice and easy to do with poly). Start by creating 2 concentric tubes with 40 sides and about 10/11 height segments for the outer one and 20 sides and 3 height segs for the inner one (Fig. 44). Convert them to poly. Pick the outer one tube, cut ring ("quickslice) on the outer side and extrude the external polygons to create the border. Then select all the inner polys except for 2 exernal rings and extrude them inside, getting the shape in Fig. 45. Then pick the inner tube, select polys as in Fig. 46 and bevel them once, then bevel them again till half of the outer tube radius. Now select the edges 2 by to on the top of the newly extruded shapes and connect them creating 3 polygons on each top, and then bevel them a little (Fig. 47). Now create new polys on the outer tube by using the same procedure. Now you can select all the poly you need to connect the outer and inner tube (after attaching the 2 poly objects). Refer to Fig. 48 to see the result you should get. Now just add a disc brake (i recycled the one i did in Rhino for my Peugeot 206, anyway it's really easy to do one by extruding some circular splines), cap the inner tube on the inside (i just made a fitting cylinder, attached it and welded all the coincident verts), model a simple bolt and the tyre. To model the tyre i referred to the nice tutorial by Error404 (Daniel Buck) which you can read at http://www.danielbuck.net/tire_tut/tiretut.htm (i made slight changes in building the tyre but that doesn't really matter). Well done and easy to follow tutorial by the way.

Another important part is the car door: it has a peculiar shape which at first i didn't notice. Giving the meshsmoothed door the right shape was not an easy task: i did this part by trial and error. The final mesh in itself is quite simple, but having the right cuts in the right places was quite a pain. Anyway you can save some time by taking a look at the wireframe and the meshsmoothed version in Fig. 50 and Fig. 51. Also here i have to thank Laxina, a guy from CGtalk forum which really helped :-)

So, the main parts of the car are now finally done. We just need to add the final details and then we will be ready for Part II of this tutorial, texturing. I think now it would be a good idea to save your work for the 1st time and proceed to the next and final section.

Fig.44-45: rims: start with 2 tubes

Fig.46-47: detailing the rims: select polys and extrude

Fig.48-49: finishing the rims: connect the 2 tubes and add details and tyres

Fig.50-51: the door mesh: quite easy once you know how to cut it

Part 1: Modeling the Nissan R390 GT in 3ds max 5

>> Section 7: Finalizing

This last section will be quite fast. It's all about adding small details to the car. I will just point out how i started, then you can refer to the images to see the results. If you arrived here, you should already know how to use poly modeling and that's how i did the small details.

Fig.52-53: the windshield wiper: nothing more then bent and tapered primitives! Be carefull in the touching area between the wiper and the windshield

Fig.54: antenna: nothing spectacular here....

Fig.54: antenna: nothing spectacular here....

1) Windshield wiper: I did this part by looking at one of my car's wipers and making it similar, considering that the one i had to model was a single and slightly different one. As you can see from the image (Fig. 52 and Fig. 53) it was quite easy (even if time consuming): i just created and positioned some boxes with enough setments, then fiddled around with the taper and bend modifier. I then edited some smaller details and added other parts (alway primitives anyway). Just try to be very precise where the wiper touches the glass or you'll mess up the reflections: use a side view to position you vertices correctly.

2) Antenna: This was the easiest part :-). Look at Fig. 54 and don't ask me anything :-P

3) Turning lights: Same as above, just a squashed sphere and an edited chamfer cylinder, look at Fig. 55. Just carefully position them!
 
4) Engine: I had very little references for this (just a shot from a little plastic model) so i tried my best. I have now a nice image of the real engine (without the car!) so maybe i'll do it again from scratch in the future. So, i tried to figure out the main parts and used primitives and splines with little editing to add some details (anyway nobody will see them from the ouside), and i also used the "grreble" plugin on a couple of boxes to add fake detail. You can look at the engine in Fig. 56 and Fig. 57

5) Interiors (seats, roll-bar, wheel, dashboard): I found some references images of seats and driving wheels, and modeled them with a medium detail as this will be enough. The driving wheel is modeled with the same technique as the rims, with an outer torus primitive and an inner cylinder: the mesh in Fig. 58 should speak for itself. The seats and small details are all built starting from boxes and editing/cutting in poly mode as usual: there's nothing very special about this parts so just take a look at Fig. 59 and Fig. 60.
In Fig. 61 you can see the roll-bar, which is never really well seen from the outside: it's just a bunch of renderable spline. You can also see the other interior parts: very easy box modeling with no particular detail: just make them fit properly.

6) Rearview mirrors: Same story as the other simple part, a couple of edited boxes and a couple of cylinders is all you need. Take a look at the wire in Fig. 62 and a closeup in Fig. 63 and Fig. 65. Just be really carefull in positioning the reflecting surface so it doesn't intersect the outer mesh.

7) Screws: These are so small nobody will notice the difference, anyway i found it nice to model these at an average level. Look at Fig. 64 and Fig. 65 to see some screws (wow!).

8) Refueling inlet: I outlined the thing with circle and rectangles, joined them and added a "bevel" and "bend" modifier. The "bevel" doesn't add any geometry on the front and back face, so i had to manually cut the mesh ("quickslice") so i could use the "bend" modifier. It won't be meshsmoothed so i didn't really care if the cage was a bit messy so didn't waste time in welding vertices or such. I added 2 chamfer cylinders inside the holes, with a snaller radius. Look at the inlet in Fig. 66.

Fig.55: easy details: model 2 separate surfaces with different materials, or one surface with a multi-subobject material

Fig.55: easy details: model 2 separate surfaces with different materials, or one surface with a multi-subobject material

Fig.56-57: the mighty engine: quite believable, considering the only reference image i found.

Fig.58: the driving wheel: similar technique as the rims

Fig.58: the driving wheel: similar technique as the rims

Fig.59-60: seats: plenty of references on the net, so it was quite easy

Fig.61: interiors: very fast and low detail parts

Fig.61: interiors: very fast and low detail parts

Fig.62-63: trearview mirrors: one of my favourite songs from Pearl Jam, and an easy part as well!

Fig.64-65: a screw driver please: quite useless but easy enough to be done

Fig.66: fuel? i had no decent reference for this, anyway shouldn't be too far from reality

Fig.66: fuel? i had no decent reference for this, anyway shouldn't be too far from reality

Fig.67-68: thiddem parts: don't waste time on these, nobody will really see them!

Fig.69: other hidden parts: the main purpose of these surfaces is to get correct GI lighting on the interiors...

Fig.69: other hidden parts: the main purpose of these surfaces is to get correct GI lighting on the interiors...

9) Additional surfaces (front grid, bottom, inner mudguard): These are low detail surfaces: nobody will ever see the bottom (it's just there for the GI calculation to be right) and the wheels are covering the "mudguard" parts.
The bottom (Fig. 67) is an extruded spline, i then adjusted vertices and sliced where needed. The mesh is a bit messy, i don't really care.
The mudguards (Fig. 68) are chamfer cylinder primitives, converted to poly. I then deleted the faces i didn't need and moved some vertices to make everything fit correctly.
The front grid is simply a bent plane (i used 2 "bend" modifier for 2 different directions) with many segments, then i added a "lattice" modifier adjusting the settings to have the less geometry possible. I also put 2 similar grids under the small bonnet air intakes, but still i have to find a view where someone can actually notice them ;-).
I also separated the engine area from the driver's area and put a surface in the back under the engine (Fig. 69).

CONCLUSION

Wheeeeeww!!! This was harder (and longer) than i thought! I really hope you found something usefull to you in this tutorial. Modeling a car can take a very long time, and there's always one more detail you want to add, but you have to come to a stop. I felt this car to be complete for what i had in mind (i actually modeled more than i expected in the end) when i positioned the screws, and it has taken more than 2 months of my spare time to complete it. Anyway when i finally saw the final renders i was really happy for the time i dedicated to this project: completing a big project is really difficult when you come up with a new project idea every day, and that happens to every 3d passionate, i think: i can understand all those never finished wip we see around, i have a ton myself. I found this tip usefull: from the start i decided that i didn't want to post this car on any forum until it was 100% finished. I just got some feedback from friends. In fact, when i post a wip i often loose interest in it, i can't explain why in a few words, anyway maybe it's the same for some other guys.

Some final words of wisdom (not that i feel i am in a posion to offer some, anyway after all this typing some more lines won't hurt...):
If you find a very hard step in your project, keep trying for some time and if you can't solve the problem, go on with another part of your project or take a break and go outside with friends and drink a lot of beers (and don't try to model when you're drunk: you'll think you're doing a great job, but the day after you'll see thousands of errors and you will ask yourself who the hell came in your room at night to mess up your surfaces! I tried it!). Than after a couple of days get back to the problem: things will sometimes appear easier than they did.
And ask on forums for help. There's a lot of great talented people which are there to help (if you already tried it hard by yourself, of course).
Another life-saving tip is: save your work. Now. My save folder for this project has 155 files, for a total filesize of 0.97 Gb: today hard disk space is not a problem, and you will thank god when you will realize you messed up a mesh and you can recover it from a previous save. Moreover if i didn't have those files i wouldn't have been able to get the images for this tutorial!

If you find a difficult section or feel i can correct something or explain better, or for anything you want to ask me, mail me here. I'll try to help as fast as i can.



That's it. Now i need some serious sleep. The next part (painting the car) will be done in a near future (i am already working on it) and will be really shorter (and easier) than this. Stay tuned.

HAVE FUN !!!

A huge thanx goes to my gf for putting up with me and my 3d illness, which takes up so much of my life: my next short will be in her dedication.

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