Personal Project: Volksrod- Vintage VW Bug Hot Rod Project - Work In Progress 3D Modeling PART I

 Volksrod Work in Progress 

3/4 Front shot shows the custom extended headlight buckets with 60's Peanut signal light on top.

Plan View directly from above shows the overall proportion of the chop. About 7" chop so quite a "Mail Slot" look, as I want that Bonneville Flats feel the Volksrod.

  Low Side View on the Cyclorama background stage gives a nice grounding to the blocking model with a simple dark surface with a lightly blurred reflective shader from Cebas Final Renders SE product.

  This underside view shows that the majority of parts have been blocked out. I recently rebuilt the rear trailing arms to be from an early 1957 VW, so all parts were modified from the Herbie blocking used earlier.

  Low Front view is one of my favorites I rebuilt the hood to add in the 54 louvers as well as adding a Safari windshield.

 

 Low Angle 3/4 Rear shot showcasing the newly built Early form 18" front , and 20" rear 30's styled Raw Steel Wire wheels and Pie Crust tires I plan to use.

 A High Birds Eye view a bit over the front louvered hood and Early Ford I-Beam front end.[taken from this model here]

Note: I will use a second set of doors to get the quarter windows to roll down using all stock mechanics, though they will be a 1-piece widow conversion and not have chopped vent wings like in the doors.

 A Birds Eye elevated Side view. Remember this is still a WIP[Work In Progress] so there is massaging of the virtual metal work to remove flat spots[ tops of door frames] and fix up the panel gaps[ Hood to front cowl] etc.

 A 3/4 view of the Side and Back showing the newly grafted in Split Window section and louvered Deck-lid. 

NOTE: the stock single 40HP engine in there is a placeholder for now , as I figure out the mill specs: Dual 48 IDA's , or maybe a DLI Supercharger, etc.

Personal Project

Volksrod

Vintage VW Bug Hot Rod Project 

PART I - Work In Progress 3D Modeling

     I have a few automotive personal projects I have tinkered with over the years along with many Business Automotive work. Being a Gear Head, and graduate from Art Center in the Transportation Design program I thoroughly love all things automotive, especially old cars and Hot Rods. Those who know me , know my passion for Vintage VW's as well. Having owned many cars with over a dozen being vintage VW's the subject matter is one that is very easy to get onboard with.

Link to Super Sized Image above is here on CG Society.

     Recently with the Covid-19 shutting down so much business, I have had too much free time , so when not looking for work, I am tinkering on my ongoing Volksrod project. A bit of history; I built a 3D VW bug [ 1963 Type 1]for the Herbie film 'Herbie Fully Loaded" while I was working as 3D Design Director at The Cimarron Group in Hollywood back in 2004. This was the first full model with interior and exterior as well as undercarriage and suspension I built. Since this model was rendered with cartoon shaders and used for both Print Posters , and 3D Animations in the TV Commercial spots it needed to have more than just the exterior skin built. 

 My 3D Herbie Fully Loaded work from a while back.

     I have since used this 3D VW model for two custom automotive projects, the first being my Bugster, which is a combination of a Porsche Speedster [ which I have also built in 3D here ] , and a Chop Top similar to the coach-built  Volkswagen Type 14A (commonly known as the Hebmüller Cabriolet of the late 40's. You can view PART I here , and PART II here.  The second is what I have posted today, the Volksrod.

 3D 356 Porsche Speedster [WIP]

 

 Bugster Custom VW
Hebmüller'esque with 356 Porsche parts.

     For those unfamiliar, Volksrods are a branch of the custom VW world that take their queues from the traditional Hot Rod world of the 1950's and onward. Similar to a Deuce Coupe, the cars are stripped of fenders customized with a Chop Top, or a Channeled Frame, and a sectioned body or a combo thereof. As with Hot Rods , you can find some are are High End customs , all the way to Garage "Rat Rods" some unfinished for life.

    This post is a WIP [ Work in Progress], so the work has many hours left on it. A few years back , I uploaded a short introduction video showing progress,and since then I have doubled my time into this personal project. 

     The purpose is to virtually build out the car prior to building one in real life , so I can work out the details before cutting begins. Think of this like a 3D Blueprint for the builder.

     If interested , I run a Vintage VW's Chop Top group on Facebook for all types of VW chop Top cars, there is a permanent link on the side bar, and you can click here as well.

Look for more posts as I continue with this personal project.

 

     If you have a 3D Design , Modeling, or Animation need Freelance, Part Time or Full-Time I am set up and and ready to go as I have been a remote studio for over a decade. All referrals are highly appreciated!

        Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Herbie-Fully Loaded MGFX

Client: Walt Disney: via The Cimarron Group
Art Director: Eric Counter
Project Date: Fall 2004

I had down time at my prior employer and decided after hearing that a new Herbie movie was coming out to practice my quad modeling technique after I modeled my first car the Lotus Elise. Now the VW bug is one of my favorite cars, and having owned over a dozen vintage VW's myself, I was excited to build out the car.

I started with the body and built out almost every part, including the floorpan, front and rear suspension, interior, engine, and most every little piece. A typical car takes about two weeks to build, or 80 Hrs from scratch. This one was right around that time to complete.

For the Trailer, I sent out the car to be rigged and animated by Dean Fowler at Machine Films. Once the animation was done, I rendered it out using a "Cartoon" shader to look like a posterized 70's feel that the Film Producers were wanting. I used Cebas' Top line GI Renderer, Final-Render and Final-Toon.[ Permanent Linked to the Right>]

A few years went by and I met with a fellow A.C.C.D. alumni Jerry Garns and we talked about automotive lighting as we worked on a few Honda Accord spots with the virtual Photography. I implemented what I had learned and I did "Herbie Black Tie". Funny now Volkswagen has incorporated the "Max" character a 1964 VW into the current advertising campaign.

Cheers, THOM

Link to Trailer is in Post Title above or Paste in text below into your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdNW3_Sh6E

Transportation [Car Design] 3D Rendering, Design, and 3D Printing for Automotive

A Sample of my 3D rendered Car Designs and Illustrations.

Transportation [Car Design]

3D Rendering, 3D Design, and 3D Printing for Automotive

Automotive design is what I was trained in at both CCS in Detroit, and finished up at Art Center in Pasadena California with a Degree in Transportation Design Fall of 1991. My first few jobs were sketching Car commercial mood boards and storyboard frames out of school, a typical path for many aspiring Entertainment Design seeking Transportation Design majors going into work in Hollywood. I worked on a dozen or so commercials in 2D for Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln, Ford, and others. The directors liked to hire car majors as we were specifically trained to get the product right, the car. so we also ended up developing the futuristic set designs behind the cars as well as most of us were all Science Fiction geeks as well.

As time went on the development of 3D rendering has become photo realistic, with over 90% of the television and print work you see is actually not photography any longer, but 3D rendering of a Digital or Virtual Car.  For 3D Automotive work I have worked on Lotus, Mitsubishi[ again], Honda, Hyundai, Smart Car US, and a few others.

I have been working on virtual cars since my first full car in 3D back in 2003 for a pitch we made at The Cimarron Group to Lotus for the US launch of the Elise. At the time the cars were not in the US, though they did the show circuit and were at an LA auto show. I found a full set of pictures online as well as a blueprint for basic dimensions and proceeded to hand built the car from scratch in 3D.

As an advanced surface artist, 3D modeling a car was a virtual version of working in clay,. only the speed was much faster. A clay model was about 200 hours or work to finish, and I build out the full exterior of the Lotus in about 50 Hours. Mirroring objects that is available in 3D allows for perfect symmetry and you basically build half the car at a time and then modify each side for side specific details.

I have built my favorite car as well, a Vintage Volkswagen Bug for the rebooting of the Herbie franchise for Disney and got to build a 1963 Rag Top bug, from every part inside out and x-ray. This was used in the advertisements on TV and trailers in theaters.

Some clients like Honda wisely provide the model to you, so your time is spent dialing in the materials and lighting of the car. For this part a fellow ACCD grad and I were honored to visit a ACCD Grad Jerry Garns a master at automotive lighting, and translated his studio lighting into our 3D world.

My most recent adventure in 3D Transportation work and been to build out a full 3D asset for 3D Printing of a 1937 Sterling-J Pre War semi truck. The truck is currently being constructed out is Northern California, and I can't wait to see the final results.

 I have added a button on the right to quickly reference this in the future.

If you need a visualization or a 3D Model build or a piece of transportation design please contact me.

Cheers, THOM

NOTE: Blogger is limiting Image Size, a full size detailed image can be seen at this link.

Personal Project: The Bugster Coupe PART I

 My last render of the Bugster, a Personal Design of a Chop Top Custom VW in black with red rims and red interior.

 Beehive tail lights from a 55' Porsche, with body colored bumper blades per the 356 look.

 For now I have a scoop up top on the hood converted to a long decklid, but this is still in progress as I may do a louvered type 38 look.

 I also put beehives up at the horn grills from a 356 Porsche as well on this Bugster Coupe.

 The rear cowl is still not attached, and you can see a line near the door where this meets, but this render helps me evaluate the proportions of the new decklid before I virtually weld this up.

 My 2nd favorite shot reminds me of the old advertisement paintings from the 50's[ note the lip doors from a pre 56' in there]

Personal Project

The Bugster Coupe

PART I

Today I have posted the first images on a new personal project that I just started this Thanksgiving weekend 2011, a custom Volkswagen coupe that is a combination of the VW type 1 bug and a Porsche Speedster and highly influenced by the Hebmuller coachbuilts from the era.

I have been a bug fan since I was about 13 and bought my first car at 14, a 1961ish, VW bug, so I have been 'bitten by the bug" and over the years I have owned well over a dozen.

I also am a huge Speedster fan, as my father owned a 1958', bought new from Hoffmans out of NYC, he got me into VW by teaching me engine work etc as the two cars are so similar. I also have owned 3 Porsche replicas so I am very familiar with the two cars.

I have thought for years what would it look like to combing the top and windscreen from a Speedster onto a Coupe bug, with a big decklid like a Hebmuller, so this weekend Herbie, got virtually chopped!

Today I have posted this Work In Progress[ WIP], with the main proportions in there, though I have not 'welded' the metal yet, so I can adjust proportions in color. This alone is the great advantage of chopping a car in 3D, as you can play with the results before you weld it all togeter to make sure you like all lines and proportions.

Look for more posts as I continue with this personal project work in automotive styling.

Cheers, THOM