From sketch to 3D model: the amazing journey of designing a digital race car
We’ve been working really hard on the 3D model of our first GEN1 race car. We wanted to share the whole experience with you.
Hey, guys!
For the past four weeks, our team has been 3D modeling the winning design of the CryptoMotors Challenge.
We wanted to share with you the results of our efforts, and tell you a bit about the exciting process of designing a car.
We just finished the 3D modeling stage. And for the next two weeks, we will be working on the visualization, where our team will be creating beautiful photorealistic shots of the car.
Believe me. You’re gonna love it.
We want to thank @joonyoung_koo, the winner of the Challenge, for bearing with us through the whole process and providing valuable feedback 💪
A look at our process: creating a digital car
We had one goal: create a 3D model of a race car that met the strictest professional standards, while maintaining the look and feel of the original sketches.
Four people embarked in this amazing journey: the designer who won the CryptoMotors Challenge, two of our professional 3D modelers and one visualization artist.
Since this was a conceptual car, we had a huge challenge ahead. When you design a real-life car there’s a solid ground to step on. There are thousands of designs out there you can search for to have a clear reference of the volume, spaces, shapes and any other detail.
We didn’t have a point of reference from where to start from. And we wanted to create a race car that could comfortably transport a human-size VR avatar.
So, the journey began.
Sketching & Design
As you may already know, the Design and Sketching stage was the CryptoMotors Challenge. More than 90 designers participated in the competition, submitted their works and the community voted for the best design.
The winning design included three key sketches.
- A side view
- A ¾ frontal view
- A ¾ rear view
These three key sketches are very important for the 3D modeling process. They allow our team to have a full view of the car the designer imagined. This way, when creating a three-dimensional model of the race car, we can preserve the intended aspect and feeling of original design.
3D Modeling
The first step in the 3D Modeling stage was to create a package drawing, which included all the hard points and main characteristics of the car:
- Wheels size
- Wheelbase
- Overhang
- Car width
- Driver position
- Dummy 95th percentile
The package drawing is a crucial step because it allows us to create a car that meets fundamental engineering and design requirements.
Of course, feedback is also essential in this part of the process. During this stage, the designer and the 3D modelers have to work side by side. This is important because 2D sketches are a great way to express design ideas and feelings but they are not geometrically accurate.
That’s why we conducted two instances of feedback with @joonyoung_koo in order to review the work in progress of the 3D model and polish the details.
After four weeks of hard work, we finished the final product. Ladies and gentlemen say hello to our first GEN1 race car!
For the 3D modeling stage, we used Alias and Maya by Autodesk.
Huge thanks to Autodesk for sponsoring us with 3 years of official software 🙌
And for the visualization stage, we will be using 3ds Max (Also by Autodesk) with Corona Renderer plugin.
Next steps: Rendering & Visualization
For the next two week, we will be applying textures, lights, and shadows to the digital model in order to give it an artistic and photorealistic visualization.
We will share the renders on our Instagram account, so be sure to check it out!
Also, we will open the sale of our GEN1 race cars very soon. There will be a limited amount of them, so don’t forget to grab yours!
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