As Vishnu Menon shared, he created this car based on a Maruti 800 and textured it using Substance 3D. Then, he placed it into a photo by Bishan Thapa Magar on Unsplash to see how it holds up. After that, Vishnu did a quick render in Blender Cycles, composited it in Nuke, and later had some fun with it in Houdini.
The artist even posted a wireframe picture to prove that this is a real model and not a scan:
Vishnu Menon
To those asking how to approach such complex 3D models, Vishnu explained that he typically starts with a low-poly blockout from one part and then branches out. He then uses the Knife tool to draw the topology, followed by adjusting each vertex individually during the polishing pass. The key is to capture as much detail as possible while keeping it as low-poly as possible with good topology. This approach helps maintain control when working on a complicated asset, making the process faster overall.
When it came to creating a 360-degree HDRI, Vishnu experimented with several options and ended up using one from Polyhaven that seemed to best match the light, shadow strength, and angle. This HDRI is actually an image of a wooded area, which provides reflections of the sky and trees on the car’s glass.
For the road and pavement, he blocked out a shape from the camera view to align with the background and then projected the background image onto the road. This is what creates the reflections on the car’s surface. He also added some plant and tree assets, roughly placing them on the pavement to match the background and enhance the reflections on the car, helping it blend more naturally into the scene.
Apparently, the artist is working on a larger scene with the model. Follow Vishnu Menon on LinkedIn for more and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
