Modeling cars, 20th of November, 2011.
In the post >> Doll people I wrote about computer modeling of people. This is a similar
post which shows how I (in the year 2008) made a model of a car. Modeling cars is a big business and there are professional
graphic artists, designers who specialize in this activity. The problem of the car design in a complex one because it
involves aesthetical, ergonomical, functional and aerodynamical aspects, so the one who deals with it, even if he
specializes, still must have a relatively wide perspective (a good start for the continuation of this theme is the
article in Wikipedia, >> Automotive design).
My car didn't have to drive and it will never be made "for real", so it was much easier for me. The mesh (3D model) that I
made in Wings3D modeler is shown in the image above, and the image below shows the same mesh from another viewpoint.
Making of a mesh is only a first step toward the digital, raytracing representation of the object. For a convincing digital representation, one should assign textures to triangles (or quadrangles) of the mesh, i.e. one should specify the way they behave with respect to light. Making of textures is also a special job in computer 3D industry (games, movies, models ...). In the context of making the digital model of a car, one should e.g. convincingly model the properties of a metal, color of the car, skin (e.g. on car seats), plastic, glass and so on. The image below shows the finalized model rendered in PovRay (as usual).
The automobile is set up in some sort of a "display area" and the plants in the cork pots are bonsai olives.
The model is pretty detailed in places as can be seen in the image below (the displays around the steering wheel).
A detail of the wheel cover is shown in the image below.
The making of this model has an interesting background story to it. The model was made for demonstration of the stereoscopic
image and movie. The movie I made was about balloons falling down on the model of the automobile, bouncing from its parts
in accordance with the laws of physics (restitution coefficient), and all of that was made in the anaglyphic stereoscopic
technique. The movie was shown for the first time in my lecture on stereoscopy during the Open day of the Institute
of physics in 2008, and the kids who watched it were particularly thrilled when some of the balloons headed in the "direction
of the audience" ("out of the screen").
Unfortunately, both the movie and the PovRay code for the physical simulation of the collisions (collision detection
algorithm) were lost while I was curing my previous computer from the viral infection (I got it from a USB stick of a
silly colleague of mine who "just wanted to show me something").
I also found out two photographs from my lectures on the Institute (I think they were taken by dr. Ivica Aviani).
One can see kids with anaglyph (red-cyan) eyeglasses and yours truly (below). As far as I remember, they liked my
lecture.
| << Palette shadow illusion | This is a song of colour >> |
Last updated on 20th of November 2011.