wip classic VW beetle

[airdogg01]

come on guys. I know its not perfect yet. You gotta have some sort of feedback. this is my first ever car model, I wanna add some hdri stuff but i'm not done with the modeling so i figures all the cool shiny stuff could wait. So come on, bring on the critiques!! please. I gotta make changes and turn this is really soon!! I'm a student you know.
-Thanks

[Gremlin]

dont make a big deal out of it, very often do threads get little to no replies. But, I know I hate it when that happens to me, so thats why I post anyways.

I think that the interior needs to be modeled, or the windows need to be tinted, because the interior shows that the car has no thickness, and that its totally empty, so either make it so I cant see the thin empty interior or model it.

second, i think that car material is too matte... make it shiney, and show off the awesome env map you have going that I see in the chrome on the wheels.

Its lookin' good, specially for your intro to maya
Cheers,
:beer:

[hypercube]

Yeah, there's so much of cgtalk right now it's very difficult to even read it all some days, let alone reply, so do try and bear with it..keep posting/updating a thread and it'll get hit eventually.

Are you making a specific variation/year of the beetle? Would help to know your reference as far as details and forms go.

Off the bat the headlights seem very flat and also like they're 'tugging' out of the fenders instead of being built into them, ie it's disrupting the curve a lot.

Things in the front are also seeming a bit squared off, like the front of the car ends in a box instead of rounding. It could be the perspective, but the windshield seems a touch small as well, or it's just not rounding in the right direction.

I think one thing that could or would help immensely is if you broke it up into pieces..real cars are made of seperate panels and parts, and even though you need to line up the shapes to form the whole body, having it all as one piece is really going to add a lot of modeling problems and things smoothing into each other that shouldn't.

I agree an interior would help as well, but as you said, one thing at a time :D

Keep on..

[airdogg01]

thanks hypercube and gremlin. Tahts great advice, I'll try to make some changes and post some new pics soon. As for the year modle, its sort of a conglomerate of the 1967 and 73 models, and there are lights hat i have nor put on yet that sit on topp of the curves over the tires. if its all polys, how should I go about breaking it into pieces, since i didn't start it that way? any tips?
-Thanks again and keep em coming.

[boxcrash]

Great job so far.:)

The front does need to be rounded more, where the fenders are mounted that should have a rounder curve to it.
Also the front is squared and looks like a Nash Metropolitian.

Also I would bring the bottom of the windsheild down to the door window sill.

hood and fender line examples.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/andybeetle74/hpbimg/beetle%20front_side.jpg

http://homepages.enterprise.net/iainvw/vw/forsale/joycebeetle/fos.jpg

http://www.manxclub.com/botm/botm_images/buggies/baker5.jpg

About the lines and splitting up, I know in Max I would select the edges and chamfer then bevel inwards where I need seams in your case. Or I would cut new edges and bevel thepolys where I cut, etc.

[Gremlin]

there is actually a great tutorial on modeling a classic beetle, dont know the link off hand, and the URL in my favorites isnt working (its prolly moved or being hsoted somewhere else now) but look around, its a GREAT tutorial. (might be for 3ds max tho, but regardless of the application, you can still follow the steps... every app pretty much has a matching tool) :D
Cheers,
:beer:

(hehe, now look, plenty of posts!)

[Aaron]

I don't have much to add to the crits so far that hasn't been said; I agree that the car paint shader needs tweaking, the windows need to exist, some sort of interior should exist. I also agree the car needs to be split up -- the door is really conspicuousby its absence.

Otherwise, it looks good. I'm actually in the same class as you =) I'm working on a head for this one -- http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59772 if you're interested.

Good luck with the model -- I'll probably run into you sooner or later.

Gremlin - http://www.suurland.com/gallery_stills_newbeetle.htm Thomas Suurland has his model and a making-of that's pretty informative. It's for 3dsmax, but it applies to Maya easily enough. Hope that helps =)

Peace,
-A.

[Gremlin]

no, thats not the one I was refering too (thats the new beetle)... There is a tutorial floating around for the classic beetle, which I thought would come in handy for airdogg1... not me, I dont need it. (but im checking it out anyways)
Cheers,
:beer:

[maje3d]

That looks pretty good, airdogg! I see you're in Savannah, by any chance you wouldn't happen to have Kirt Witte for Surfaces, Shaders, and Lighting, would you? I just posted by Blue Angels F-18 render in the Finished Work Forum.

For any adjustments to the Beetle, I would probably push the headlights in a little, they tend to stick out to far. The windows should have a reflective property so you can't look inside (unless you are going to model the whole interior).

Also, for the doors and hood, I would recommend using a texture to define the curves in the doors shape, then bumpmap.

Overall though, this is looking pretty good!

[airdogg01]

Thanks for all the comments guys, Sorry I havent posted any new pics, i havent had much time to make the changes yet, but I am workin on it. To all of you who also have kirt, good luck and I'll see your stuff tomorrow. This forum stuff is pretty cool. Let me know if you find that site on the classic beetle. I did reference the suurland one but ut uses a muc different technique han I did, but his tire stuff is vey informative. Thanks again everyone.

[airdogg01]

heres a newer pic with some of those points fixed and i'm starting to play with the lighting usijng hdr maps, which is still a foreign concept to me. any ideasfor a setting for the background?
-Thanks

[BiTMAP]

car looks cut out cuase the back window is so bright... it doesn't look right.. wireframe?

and fer backround, i dunno, a street.

[airdogg01]

Hey, I took a break from the Hdri stuff till I can figure out what I'm doing. I've also started messing with backgrnd Ideas, i thihnk I might add a pickett fence and a house behind it and tweek out the depth of feel. i sorta used a stylized glamour lighting glowy finish, let m know what you think!
-Thanks

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