Will Cammell
Videographer
Video Editor
3D Artist
Car Renders
My most recent car render was a computer screensaver that I created for my roommate, Mason Boothe. Mason loves Porsches and recently purchased a futuristic new PC, so I thought it would be fitting to design a new screensaver for him. In this render, I focused on lighting a scene that was almost entirely illuminated with backlights, aiming to achieve an effect where light outlines the car. Initially, when I placed all eight blue point lights behind the car, the inside of the dark room—created using a hollow cube—was still too dim. To address this, I added text spelling out Mason’s last name, "Boothe," and ventured into the texture node section. There, I modified the transparent BSDF node to emit a baby blue light similar to the point lights positioned directly behind the car. Finally, I applied a procedural noise texture to the large hollow cube, completing the screensaver.
For this render, I opted to keep the car outdoors but utilized natural daytime lighting to illuminate the scene instead. This approach revealed to me the exceptional omnidirectional lighting capabilities of snowy environments. The snow's reflective properties beautifully highlighted every curve of the car, showcasing it effectively in a fully lit setting. Given that most clear or overcast days naturally produce similar lighting conditions, the light in the scene reacted very authentically to how it would in real life. However, an arctic tundra is not exactly the natural habitat for a Porsche R5s, so I embraced the incongruity by introducing two curious penguins investigating their new, unfamiliar visitor. This addition offered an unexpected learning opportunity. Positioning a character that has been rigged requires navigating to the animation tab to manipulate each bone and ball joint within their rig. I aimed to give the penguin on the right a curious demeanor, with a tilted head and a fin scratching its chin, by adjusting the rig using the grab function. The penguin on the left simply appears happy to be present!
I embarked on a project aimed at honing my skills in lighting scenes within Blender. My dad and I have always shared a passion for cars, making them the perfect subjects for practicing on due to their highly reflective surfaces.
For this particular render, I chose to set the scene at night to explore lighting it with what appears to be ambient lighting from a bustling city in which it's parked. I decided to push the envelope further after being inspired by a talk given by Ian Hubert at BlendCon19 in 2019. He discussed the technique of extruding images imported as planes, essentially allowing one to capture and utilize elements from real life within a digital scene.
Leveraging this technique, I searched for and found a picture of my favorite local convenience store. I located an image of their sign and imported it into my scene using the “Add Images as Planes” add-on. Now, the well-lit BMW sits in front of the Munchie Mart located on West Main Street here in Kalamazoo.