Solidworks Surface Modeling

 Having gotten used to the Solidworks workflow I decided to move on to something a bit more challenging - surface modelling. For the subject I chose to model a car. I began by sketching out the profile, and then by sketching guides to extrude this profile along (using the boundary surface modifier):

This resulted in a mesh (having 3 dimensions but a thickness of 0). The blue and lines coming out of the mesh, "combs", show the curvature at that particular point. During manufacture this would correspond to the amount of bend that point would have to undergo to achieve the required shape:

 Having brought this mesh into photoview for a test render, I realised that the scale of the mesh was incorrect. To fix this I added a scale modifer to the stack. From there on I added thickness to the surface and modelled a cockpit and adjusted some of the colours. The image below is a screen shot of the finished shell part, and therefore will not be identical in colour or geometry to the render.

This was opened up in photoview for the following render:

But what is a car without wheels? I started a new assembly with the car shell and a new wheel part, which was built seperately:

The wheel was locked in place by using perpendicular, coincident and concentric mating pairs. I only added wheels on the back to begin with. The following renders were calculated in photoview:

Front 3/4

 Right

Rear 3/4

Rear Tyre, Depth of Field

 This is where the problems began. I wanted to incorporate front tyres too, but the current ones looked too small (on both the front and the back). The front of the car also dropped lower than the base of the rear tyre, meaning that I would have to enlarge the rear tyre to sustain the profile. However to do this I would need to alter the initial sketch profile of the surface cage. When I tried this I got many rebuild errors due tot he scale before adding the other features. So in the end I decided to bring the wheel out from the body of the car, resulting in a caricatured/remote controlled look. The front tyre was a copied version of the rear tyre with the scale changed. The wheels were then rigged to the axles, and then an assembly belt was added. This meant that if and wheel was rotated (i.e if it were moving along the ground), the opposite tyre would rotate at the same rate and the other tyre pair would rotate at the correct speed (faster or slower depending on the diameter ratios). The final assembly and belt can be seen here:

Opened in photoview for the following renders:

 Satin Finish Front

Gloss Finish Front

3/4 Black

3/4 Final

More Attempts in Solidworks

In this image I attempted to replicate a windows flag. The flag was constructed using the following steps:

• An equation-driven spline (using y=sin(x) between 0 and 2 pi) was sketched on the front plane.
• This curve was offset, and then the ends were joined.
• This face was then extruded by a distancce of 2 pi [mm].
• Two rectangles were sketched on the top plane, and an extruded cut feature with a through-all distance parameter was applied to this sketch plane.
• This resulted in the part being split into 4 bodies, which I then apllied textures to and rendered in Photoview 360.
  

Here I was experimenting with recording and using macros. I recorded a macro to offset the boundary of the selected face inwards 10mm, and then to extrude cut this new sketch inwards the same amount. The object is meaningless, but in creating was useful practice for becoming a more efficient Solidworks user.

A Quick Word On Post-Processing

Having realised that almost any renderer will churn out a washed out image, I've decided to post-process my renders from now on.
This is done by importing the .jpg file in photoshop (although any program with a histogram will do), the black threshold is then defined in the levels dialogue box either by using the colour droppper or moving the black slider to the right. This is then repeated and adjusted with the white point. This has the effect of squeezing all colours available in to between the two markers, contrasting the image. The curves and gamma are then adjusted to meet my requirements. Here is an example of what this method can be used to do:

Early Days in Solidworks

For these images I build the mesh in Solidworks and rendered in Photoview 360.
This model was not made to represent any object in particular, but came out resembling a mix between a tyre hub, an ash tray, and a cylindrical bearing axle. It was my first attempt in Solidworks, and so it uses most of the basic sketching and featuring tools. To name a few (roughly in order used): circle, polygon, extruded boss, fillet, chamfer, shell, extruded cut, dome, circular array.
The model is not fully dimensioned, as I was just getting used to the interface and malleable workflow of Solidworks. A screenshot showing one of the sketch dimensions is posted above.

Here I used a checkered studio material, and applied Depth-of-field to the PhotoView 360 Camera. The scene is a 3 light set up with a soft HDRI image for an environment. I feel the DOF may be too strong.





Here was my first go at adding materials, a flecked car paint. Environment was altered, and gamma slightly adjusted.




Here the environment was again altered, and I changed the focal length to enable a more realistic DOF in a later render. A bloom of 95% threshold and 4% radius was also applied in post processing.





Here is my final image. The material is shown to be the correct scaling on the mesh and the differences between the filleting and chamfering can be seen on the top faces and edges of the hexagonal extrusion. Diffuse reflections are also well shown. Bloom was added for a more "showcase" image. The render size is 1600x900.

Powerplant Study

This is one of my most complex models to date. The tanks were modelled in Sketchup, imported into Max in 3ds format. The materials (where shown) were applied to sub-object groups which I defined by hand. The pipes were built around the tanks in sketch up, and imported separately.

Materials are all mental ray, as is the lighting system (when a sky is visible). I used the architectural materials in mental ray, experimenting with brushed, satin, polished (etc.) metals. For less important parts I utilized the MR wood and porcelain templates, and modified them until they gave me the image I wanted.

One very important thing to remember is to set up many cameras, instead of moving a single one around, its just a lot more practical.
Speaking of practical, I used the Mental Ray "render region" and "render selected" to great extent in this project.

In order to develop the image some more, I referenced industrial design objects using google images, and sketched them in sketchup. These were then merged into the same Max scene. It was therefore important to keep an eye on scale. To do this I kept a 2d "person plane" visible when modelling in sketchup.

Again, I couldn't help using my orthogonal clay render technique...but I added a twist. I left the pipe material as a MR Metal, which to me really makes the complexity and design stand out.

Racer

(Click For High-Res Version)

Another go at editable polys. Here I worked off a cube, using a mirror down the middle so I only needed to model half of the racer....so surely there should be the same number of exhaust fins on one side as the other...right?

*Lighting setup - the MR usual.
*UVW's need a touch of re-mapping.
*Postwork done in photoshop.

Large Scale Greeble

Cityscape build and lighting set up described below (scene was also used for blog banner):









To create the cityscape I created a ground plane a few kilometers squared, with a high mesh density. I then applied the greeble script until I had the look I desired. In all cases I used an MR lighting set up, except for the below images. For these views I reassigned a standard material to the city and added a simple skylight with Light Tracer enabled and rendered using the default Scanline Renderer.


Here I show the difference between perspective and othogonal cameras:


I feel an orthogonal camera could show more complex designs more clearly when dealing with large structures, similar to a floor plan.