Hi all
after having hesitated to choose between the realization of a series of tutorials of class A for rhino.
or create a normal car modeling tutorial.
I finally made the decision and started working on a tutorial. for the
modeling of an audi a7 on rhino7 from A to Z
I promised to do it in my clio topic
…
I would take screenshots from time to time for the progress of the work.
the tutorial will consist of three parts
1 modeling of the general shape of the body
2 modeling of the details and all the exterior accessories of the car
3 the materials and the rendering
Once I finish the first part I will post the tutorial on one of the tutorial sales site (I have no idea which site I will put it on for the moment).
the tutorial will be speechless.
and long for several tens of hours.
just for modeling the general shape of the car
since the car will only be composed of single span patches.
I’m not going to say it’s class A
but the workflow is the same as that followed to make class A models.
since I won’t be using the continuity analysis tool much in rhino7.
I hope I can finish it
to then make other small tutorials of class A (on the advice of experts in the forum to avoid creating a controversy around).
hahah thank you guys.
I don’t have much left to finish the general shape … but I admit that I organized the last parts of the tutorial a bit badly … i started dividing some parts of the body…then found that there are bad surfaces. so I had to go back and correct things. I hope it will meet your expectations.
I put these new screenshots …
I remade the car from new.
I haven’t worked much on the project these last days. because I had a cold.
…
any criticism or question is welcome
This is how it’s done in Alias, too. Degree 5 Bezier surfaces. Very nice and clean modeling work. were you able to improve the transition between the small surfaces below the door windows?
Just one thing to consider. Real cars have curved door windows following the shape of an arc when viewed from a front view. Your door windows seem to be flat along their vertical direction. If it’s not too much work, you may want to make them curved (degree 2), in order to make them true to the original car, as they must be able to roll down into the door panel using a virtual axis which is typically located near the center of the car or next to the opposite end (bending radius of about 800-1500 mm). For that Audi model you probably have to use a bending radius of about 1100-1200 mm.
For example, on one of my real projects I used a bending radius of 850 mm for the door glass:
hi bobi
yes for the moment the surface of the glass is almost flat.
since I intend to limit the frame of the windows.
then recreate another curved surface to present the actual car window more closely.
at the moment, it is just a support surface if I may say so.
a question.
for the car that you modeled for the production, did you start from the beginning by creating the perfectly curved windows?
at the moment i have no idea how i am going to do them.
maybe I will revolve the curves of the bottom contours of the glass.
for small areas at the bottom of the side windows.
I imitate the protruding crossovers of the real car in these areas …
I just have to create some connecting surfaces to make the transition more pleasing to the eye.
Hi Fares, yes, I had the door window shape created right from the beginning, because it defined the shape of all the subsequent geometry such roof pillars, doors and rear fenders. It’s these parts of the car’s body that follow the shape of the door glass, not the other way around. This is why the A-pillar of OEM cars is also slightly convex when you look at them from front view.
I create the shape of my door windows with the “Revolve” tool by using a curve that I position to be horizontal and nearly in the middle of the door panel (just below the rubber sealing of the door), with History enabled to be able to adjust the shape of the revolved surface by modifying the curve. Then I set a straight curve near the opposite door and use it as an axis for the revolve. If the glass must be double-curved, I revolve an arc along the axis. However, if it needs to be a simpler cylindrical shape, then I revolve a straight line along the axis.
Rounded door glass (especially if they are double-curved) have several advantages and purposes to exist:
They are stronger, because their shape supports itself better than a perfectly flat shape. It’s the same principle of bridges with an arc shape at the bottom that provide a self-supporting role. You can test this by having one sheet of thin plexiglass and another one that have been vacuum-formed to be slightly convex. The convex one is multiple times more stable in shape than the flat one;
Due to their superior strength, rounded windows are also lighter/thinner, despite that they have a slightly larger area than a flat window with the same overall size;
They have a more pleasing look from outside due to the smooth gradation of the reflections. From the inside, curved windows prevent the unwanted obvious reflections typical for flat glasses. Despite that on theory a flat glass has should have a better optical quality, in reality it’s the opposite, because of the aforementioned distracting reflections that are more pronounced on a flat glass surface.
The double-curved side windows are more aerodynamic, because they provide a smoother transition towards the rear end of the car;
Due to the convex shape in the middle, they open up more shoulder space inside the cabin;
They take lesser space inside the door panel, because they roll down along arc-shaped rails and when they are fully lowered they are nearly vertical, thus requiring a thinner door structure. Also, since they are convex in the middle, that opens up more space for the door window actuator, side impact bar and door speaker;
Their superior strength contribute to a better sound deadening of the environmental noise, because they vibrate in a far lesser extent when hit by sound waves.
these impressive these tips and techniques for windows …
I see the importance of following these rules it makes perfect sense.
especially if it is a question of manufacturing I guess there is no room for any fault.
luckily my audi a7 is not intended for manufacturing lol
anyway the goal of this tutorial is to show my way and technique of modeling.
it is rather the workflow with the single span patches that I aim to show to the public with rhino7 …
i think rhino deserves more attention for this kind of modeling method. like the one followed in aliasstudio or other surfacing software
My point is that you already did a great job on the surface topology that’s similar to what’s used by Alias designers to model real cars, and it would be even better if you follow the same rules, too. Having curved side windows will instantly change the shape of your roof pillars, which may require you to adjust some surfaces around.
Another thing to consider is that the side shape of OEM cars is curved and never flat. This means that the middle of the front door is usually the most wide part of the car (apart from the wheel arches), whereas the rear door gets slightly narrower and the rear bumper is even narrower. This increase in the middle of the car is done for several reasons:
Maximum space for the occupants on the front seats.
Lower drag, because the car’s body, when viewed from top view, has a teardrop shape.
Better visual appearance due to the smooth curved reflections that also play with the light and shadows. Also, they help to make the car’s stance more attractive, because the wheel well arches look wider.
So, if you make your doors curved instead of flat along the length of the cars (the Y-axis), this will reflect on the surface patches that you already have in place. Currently, to make the front and rear crease lines above the fenders, you had to make them extra wide to give that distinctive look they provide. However, if you decide to make the doors curved, you will no longer need to make the aforementioned crease lines extra wide, thus their shape will be closer to the original car.
I see what you meant …
for the convex horizental shape of the panes, I took this aspect into account …
that’s exactly what gives the car more aesthetics.
I tried to follow the outline of the glass more closely.
all i could do lol
it is not easy to find your way around 3d space using only blueprints …
we get lost easily …
I’m sure you know that,
as you have already modeled a real car for the market … that I really admire your work …
succeeding in making something that rolls on the road is not easy …
if I had had a mesh-based model, it would have been much easier to authentically model the car …
but hey, i’m still learning rhino and nurbs
this video can give an idea
thank you for your suggestions and advice appreciated bobi
Yeah, I know what you mean about the blueprints. They are not accurate and having access to a large amount of photos of the real car to examine is a good way to minimize the errors that the incorrect blueprints may cause. In that regard you did pretty nice job of modeling the car.
One easy way to check if the door glass shape is proper is to make a copy of the corresponding surface and extend its bottom end. If the extension goes through the side portion of the door panel, then the side windows must be more curved. A flat side window would collide with the door skin. A curved window should roll down inside the door panel.
PS: Not critiquing your work, just trying to help with a suggestion if you don’t mind. You may find it handy to use splitting surfaces for creating the door gaps. This is a commonly used approach on OEM cars to guarantee good visual appearance from all angles (it also helps with making the door jambs smooth behind the crease lines of the bodywork). It’s recommended to position the splitting surfaces so that their direction vector points from the center of the car towards its corners (usually about 45 degrees). This way, the panel gaps will look beautiful when they are viewed from 3/4 perspective.
Splitting the surfaces with curves from side view and top view may be quicker, bit it often leads to panel gaps that look a bit off from certain angles.
were you able to improve the transition between the small surfaces below the door windows?
