'Softimage XSI'

In this image I wanted to represent the beauty that, in my opinion, all classic cars have. I have always been attracted by the cars of the early 20th century because of their beauty and the simplicity of their design - they are definitely the jewels of the automotive industry! This is why I decided to create a 3D image of the Mercedes GP 1908. This particular model is one of the first models of the motor world, and also one of the best cars ever made!

When designing, I like to look at every detail, and I aim to give my images a unique and professional quality. The phase of collecting information about the model is very important to me – reference photos, blueprints, history and anything relevant is necessary in order to make a good, deserving image and to get the correct measurements and proportions. Having said that, I also always take some artistic licence when creating my artwork, to create my own style and make the image as interesting as possible.

This design was created using Avid Softimage XSI 6.5. Modelling was simple because I used polygonal modelling; starting from primitives, or from a view, I created the profile and then made extrusions, adding polygons and creating edges, and so on (Fig.01).

As you can see, the rest of the objects were based on cylinders and spheres – very simple to model. The most complex parts to model were the wheels – especially the back ones as they have more parts and a system of chains, such as motorbikes and bicycles also have. I modelled the small gear wheel of the chain and the other gears, like the axes; I didn’t model the relief of the tyre because I added it by means of a bump map when texturing (Fig.02 & Fig.03).

The majority of the textures used were Phong and Blinn shaders, and I used the car shader for the bodywork. Classic cars like these do not have metallic paint, but I wanted to give this car such an appearance to give it a touch of modern design (Fig.04 - Fig.06).

The grid of the radiator is also a texture. I didn’t model some of the details of the radiator because it would have been extra work that wasn’t necessary. With the texture it looks perfect (Fig.07)!