Reply To: BC4-1810 Homework, Dragonice

Kudos for modeling a car for this week’s homework! You’re doing solid work @dragonice69. Your materials are reading pretty well although I’m not sure about the darker hood and doors..kinda resembles the matte material I demo’d but it’s as reflective as the purple.

However something does feel off. Part of me wonders if the car model is slightly under-detailed for realism. Or perhaps it’s the lighting situation. I did some googling for photos of the FIAT 126p to compare:

I also think the environment is working better in the photo where the vehicle feels better integrated into the scene – obviously, it’s a photo. But in your render the car and ground feel noticeably separate elements.

This photo also reveals that there are some details missing that could make a difference: Door handles, the dark trim at the bottom of the door between wheels, side orange light above the front wheel, interior trim detail on the side windows, windshield wipers, license plate.. I’ve found that leaving details like this out often means realism isn’t going going to happen no matter how good the materials are. 

Now I know you were creating this from scratch and likely didn’t (and still don’t) have time for building all the details. And it IS possible to make a simple / stylistic render out of vehicles of this detail level. Take these for example, from Manu Jarvinen:

Still very appealing but also an intentional step way from realism. You could go this direction as well.