Overview

This is my attempt at recreating a Formula series car using 3D modelling tools, and serves as my attempt to relearn the art of 3D modelling and rendering after a couple of years of not even looking in Blender's direction. The car isn't based on any specific model or era, instead being an amalgam of various design standards.

It took a little over a day and a half to produce. Not the best I could have done, but given it's my first project in two(?) years, I'm reasonably proud of it.

In-depth Breakdown

I started during the evening of April 19, after having decided to install Blender and give 3D modelling another go. I used to do my own modelling, even using it to create some album artwork, but gave up due to internal frustration. But time had passed, and I felt that it was worth a retry. So I opened Blender and got to work.

I started on the main chassis first, cutting it in two and then using the mirror tool to ensure symmetrical edits. I shaped the rear first, as it seemed the most simple - just make a wide trapezoid and poke some holes in the front - before working on shaping a nose. Using the knife tool to create a rectangle at the tip, I extruded a small portion of the mesh downward to form the link between the nose and the front wing. After subdividing and shading smooth, I was left with the following.

For the holes, I created a crude block to fill them, then an extremely dark and matte texture to simulate shadow. Then I got to work on the wings, taking simple cubes and using cuts, extrusions, and scaling to form more complex structures. The mirror tool really came in handy here, letting me work on detailing without needing to worry about manually ensuring symmetry in my model. After getting the wings done, I got to work on the halo, a crude floor system, and the TV pod.

Last but not least came the wheels and suspension. The tyres were the easiest part, boiling down to a simple cylinder turned on its side and with a hole cut in the middle. Rims were a bit more complex, as I had to do my best to make it look plausible that each one could actually be holding a tyre to the car. The real nightmare came with designing suspension. Even with reference images of real formula cars, it just didn't sit right, but it had to do. I finished up with some basic texturing, created a circular platform to rest the car on, and encased everything in a box before rendering in Cycles.

Later during the course of today, I decided to try my hand at a few tweaks and see if there was anything to salvage from this car. I got rid of the solid block in the front wing to make it less cartoonish and slightly more intricate, extended the nose to solve a length issue with the car, resized the rear tyres, and remade the halo completely. After a couple of lighting and texture tweaks, I finished up with some front wheel covers. I just thought they'd enhance the aesthetic of the car and allow me to add more colour. And that is how I got to here.

I should hope this goes without saying, but on the off chance somebody is eyeing this up, I explicitly do not consent to using my creations to train artificial intelligence and condemn any attempts to do so.