to make sure you're not in the photo you will have to do a bit of photoshop manipulation but if you set the camera as far away (on a tripod) as possible, use a telephoto lens (if you have one) to zoom in on the area and remotley set it off then you will only have to take the camera out of the photo. I think that's how it's done. Check out tutes on making HDRI pics cause they suffer from the same probs.

:)

Alan

or just use a camera stand and set a timer

exactly;)
it sure cuts down on non-animated rendering time, though.
another issue i thought of is how you'd get the reflections to appear seamless between the different parts of the car, cuz not only the lighting would be a bit different, but from different angles the reflections would appear a little different, i think.

you could easily use those pics as reference for making some nicely shaded textures, or just model everything super-detailed and let well-done rendering do the photo-realism for you.

sorry brian, i know this is ur thread, but i have a question for all u car modeling experts... does it matter if the model stay seperate? or i have to connect them back into one piece after all the modeling is done? like...the wheels and some headlights, spoiler, exhuasts...etc, or is it ok to just let it be alone? or is it even ok to have it cross each other when they're not combine as one object?

Cool truck.......WHy isnt it in my what do you drive thread :):):)

lol. Dr. Know, I will email you back in a few hrs. Umm wow there are alot of replies over the weekend, sorry I didn't have access to a computer to reply. I personally allways keep the parts of the vehicle seperate. for alot of reasons. I try to model it like it is in real life...so I keep the body parts seperate. There is no way I could have everything on at once and still be able to work smoothly in maya, so by keeping everything seperate, i can create layers and stuff for quicker rendering and working on maya because I only have visible what I am working on, like in this case, the side of the truck... Well.. This is my first HDRI test.. needs alot of tweeking sorry. but wanted to get your opinion... what do youthink so far? the dust needs to be a lighter color sorry. Thanks,
Brian

hold crap that looks great! I think the dust colour isnt too bad actually, there seems to be some artifacts at the top of the door frame though. Is that the JPEG or the render?

Looks great Brian.

One thing though, the dirt sticks toghether a bit more from what I know, it creates more of a streaklike pattern (not wholly so, but a bit more than you have right now). I guess it depends a bit too, if its a bit muddy, the splashes creates streaks, but if its just a dirt road, its more speckled. Hope you understand what I mean, my brain is not completely attached right now. Good luck :D

fredriksson,

Thanks for your comments. in a perfect world, it would actually rain here, and I could go get my truck really muddy and take photos so that I could use it as my mud texture.. i figured if I tried to draw the streaks and stuff it wouldn't look as realistic. So for now I am just making it dusty, I know its also hard to tell that right now, cauz my bump is so high making it look like i am trying to make mud... kinda like a truck driving down a really dirty/dusty road that is slightly wet...lol. sorry. Talk to you later, updates soon
B

update...

Nice....I love the realism youve got goin on there :)

Any chance of a wire shot?

Also, how did you make the bars that covered you last jeep/car you made.

NICE, are the rims too bright or is it just me? and...the body looks kinda like a flat surface, don't u think? but those are just opinions, i truely think this is looking really nice and realistic so far, keep it up, and btw, thanks for explaining the seperating body part stuffs

sweet work brian :D
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any chance of the tire tut being made or wasnt there enough interest ?

Brian, as allways, fantastic work. Nice truck i like the blue