VSFX 768 - Photo-realistic Modeling

CG Hard Surface Model - Ferrari - 1958 Dino 246 F1


Project Summary:
Using NURBS and polygons, create a model of a Ferrari vehicle. The main body must be built with NURBS via primitives or curve-based surfaces. Other hardware may be polys as needed. Emphasis should be on reliable photo references and generating the surface via modeling instead of bump or displacement maps, except where they make more sense.

Results:
Click on the image to the right to see a turntable of the finished model.

Wireframe

Reacquainting myself with NURBS definitely took the majority of time on this model. It's been a long time since I last used NURBS as an end unto themselves instead of a stepping stone to a poly model. Though they make curves easy, getting ACCURATE curves, particularly the compound curves on this old racer, proved to be a challenge. The order of construction became vitally important, much more so than polys, so that following steps and their dependanices would function properly.

The other major stumbling block came from the lack of good reference material. Though there are numerous photos and blueprints for Ferrari's racing stable, for some reason this year and model had a particular dearth of material. The years preceding and following it had photo reference but this for car I was only able to find 4 small, grainy, newsprint photos and one or two sketches. Orthographic blueprints from a scale model helped but were still somewhat off. Granted, it would have been easier to pick another year but I liked this style in particular for its combination of over-wheel exhaust, intake shape, and cockpit hood. That and I'm stubborn. I was able to build the body from the reference I had and borrowed cockpit and suspension styles from other cars very close in time and purpose to this one. One or two cutaway images of this car do exist but can be rather confusing so the suspension pieces are as close as I can make them. The rear is accurate to this year and model: a DeDion/multi-link combo.

Wireframe 1 Wireframe 2
Wireframe 3 Wireframe 4
Wireframe 5

Occlusion Renders

Occlusion render 1 Occlusion render 2
Occlusion render 3 Occlusion render 4
Occlusion render 5

Texture, Lighting and Renders

For now these rendrs are done with some VERY basic metal and paint shaders. I plan on returning to this with better shaders and file textures to really flesh it out and age it a bit. Despite the difficulties it has become one of my favorite models and will serve as a nice counterpoint to my Sunbeam motorcycle.

final render image 1 final render image 2
final render image 3 final render image 4
final render image 5