I did the following steps:
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I made a copy of my SubD model so that I could have the original in case that I need to alter it in the future;
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I converted the copied model into NURBS;
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I drew various curves from side view, front view, back view and top view, then projected them onto the NURBS model and adjust the control points of the former until I was satisfied with the desired shape the projected curves on the body.
*For some of the tricky areas I created surfaces to intersect with the body to get intersection curves off them (check the images below). 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.
I used splitting surfaces oriented approximately towards the normal of the body to split the headlights and tail lights, too. -
I joined the projected and intersection curves to create pipes with a diameter of 4 mm to split the body into separate panels.
