Alright guys and gals here is another exploration into 3d and the good old VW Bus. It seems I can't get enough of this vehicle...
In keeping with my aversion to photo realism in my own 3d work, (this may be as close as I get) here is my spin on a cartoony proportioned and simplified retro styled vintage bus. Simplified to the point that there are no door hinges or doors for that matter, don't really need 'em here. Truth be told I've been working up to doing this for awhile now and am very happy with the results. It started out as a sketch in front, side and back views to use as guides and to stay true to my concept. I then slowly worked my way through it and actually it was a fairly easy model to create. I am planning on using it for various scenes I have on the drawing board. Might create an alternate version and change up the stock colour scheme and wheel set up down the road to something more customized or "beatnik" ;-) All done in Blender.
Here is a "clay" render which I like to see to judge the overall model without colour or materials. Sometimes I actually prefer these to the finals... because they just concentrate on the form or the "3d-ness" of things which is eye candy to me.
Here is a side view that really shows the cartoony proportioned shortened overall length. Also to help light the model and to have something for the shiny materials to reflect, I'm using a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) in the scene. This is a great way to get instant lighting setups that really help your models come to life. The image itself is set to not show up in the render but just to emit the lighting and reflection properties of the photo. The chrome material is set a bit blurry so the reflections aren't too sharp.
Front view. The HDRI really shines, literally, in this view. Incidentally the headlights are actually images of headlights mapped onto the headlight shape. Cheating? not really. I didn't need actual 3d modeled headlights for my purposes and this is more than adequate. ;-)
Enough room for the entire cartoon family.
I removed the roof in this image to show some of the interior. I model just enough to have something inside the see through windows...
I also modeled some detail on the back end where the engine compartment is.
UI screenshot showing the work in progress. Here you can see my drawing guide sketches in the front and side views and the background images panel open on the right side. Click to zoom in.
UI screenshot showing my use of a nice and shiny "matcap" to check the model for any "lumpies" or areas where they may be some dents or divits due to my poor modeling techniques. :-) Blender comes with a variety of matcaps to use as you work in realtime.
Another UI screenshot at the end of the project. The images of the bus here shows how nice the preview render is in the UI. This UI looks a little different compared to the screenshot above as I changed my UI theme. Blender comes with many different themes.
I was overall very pleased with the final outcome of this project and am looking forward to making a scene for it soon. Thanks for watching/reading.
