2022 Car Render Challenge - Civic EF9

Slow and steady progress, trying to lock down the shapes in rough and low-poly.

I got quite good blueprints out of Aoshima model-kit, using those and photos to eyeball it all in place.

Going to add polys and detail when the shape looks good enough. Lots of work to do...

More and more of trimming and shaping. Is it starting to look like a Civic yet?

Worked on the front bumper, trimmed doors, side skirts, roof and other small things.

Added front indicator cuts, windshield and first iteration of door seal trims.

Smoothed out the side mirrors, but the shape's not there yet.

Worked on the rear bumper, side skirts and rear lights.

Cut the door, applied simple textures to lights to get better handle on if the shapes are correct.

Applied gradient reflection and fresnel to paint too for the same reason.

Upper part of the sides, and side rear window are still quite wonky.

Rear bumper is missing the licence plate cutout, door handles must be cut, tailgate upper edge is wrong... Lot to do still. but I guess it looks one step closer like a Civic.

Trimming, cutting, shaping, rinse and repeat.

Added few details and cut few panels. added lots of polygons to critical areas to get smoother edges and reflections.

Once again small step forward...

Some detail work and more trimming done.

Tested first studio-light render in Blender Cycles to get better view how correct the surfaces are.

Also quickly modeled a seat that's replicating Bride Gias III- it's not all that accurate but close enough to do its job.

I'm bit stuck right now with what to do next, guess I just have to keep chipping on forward.

Testing reflections with a HDR image. I never seem to get them look nice in Blender, no matter what. So this is just a test setup, I may have to do some trickery in the actual final scene.

More shape trimming and detailing in many places.

Slapped on wheels and tires that I took from old projects - but don't worry, I'll model proper ones for this one later. Perhaps SSR MK.III's?

More and more of tweaking, might not look much but lots of small places are touched.

Created some of the inner body, edges of the door jambs and rear hatch too, so it looks more correct through glass now.

Added simple roll-bar inside for test. Created the base/reflector parts of headlights and indicators.

I guess I'll do a dashboard and doorcards next, and cut the door handles in too.

Cut door handles, added more stuff inside so that the car looks more solid, super simple dash and doorcards - I'll improve them if I have time, it seems to get very tight this year again. Always does...

Modeled and added SSR MK.III's on it. They're horribly unoptimized, will do some work on them before texturing.

Tested some lighting and materials already, to get some first steps of the feeling of the final image.

I intend to add a beach-bar and few palm trees and such. Trying to get a warm sunset-type of feeling most likely.

You know the Outrun "The Last Wave" could be playing on the background, distant sounds of the sea. Night running on city streets is coming, but there's the calm moment at the bar just before.