Creating a Photo-realistic Bugatti Car Render in 3ds Max

Fast but not furious! © Arash Shahmi

Hum3D Car Render Challenge, an annual render challenge, announced the winner of 2021. As the long term partner of Hum3D, the best cloud rendering service provier, Fox Renderfarm is pleased to witness that there are more excellent car renders emerging year by year. This time we are honored to interview Arash Shahmi, the special prize winner from Fox Renderfarm team.

Made with 3ds Max, V-ray and Photoshop, Arash‘s award-winning artwork, Fast but not furious, boasts of its reasonable composition, smart lens choice, believable GI lighting, together make it very photo-realistic and almost hard to tell it is computer graphics. It looks much like the cover of a car magazine. Even the texture of the concrete floor was handled so well which helped the realism further.

Let's find out how Arash made the amazing artwork through the exclusive interview with Fox Renderfarm.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi, Arash! Thank you so much for accepting our interview! Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself?

Arash: I am 28 years old and I live in Iran. It has been about 3 years since I entered the world of simulation. Almost most of my work has been in the field of architecture.

Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning the Fox Renderfarm Team Choice in the Hum3D Car Render Challenge 2021, how do you feel about that?

Arash: Thanks to the Fox Renderfarm team for paying attention to my work and choosing it.

It is definitely a valuable achievement for me and a reason for more success.

Fox Renderfarm: How long did you finish the work, Fast but not furious?

Arash: About 3 weeks

Fox Renderfarm: What software and plugins did you use?

Arash: 3ds Max for modeling; Vray for material ,lighting and rendering; And photoshop for post processing.

Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration behind your artwork?

Arash: As a big fan of speed, I have always been fond of Bugatti’s aerodynamic form. These cars are sometimes as fast as Fighter Jet. I have learned if you think big, you can fly without wings. Generally, I can say that most of what inspired me was nature. And I tried to bring my work closer to reality.

Fox Renderfarm: How did you make the amazing modeling and the composition?

Arash: Use central and symmetrical composition. Sometimes it works well if you put the subject in the middle of the frame. Symmetrical scenes are a good option for central composition. In modeling, my goal was to challenge my own abilities

Fox Renderfarm: How did you make the lighting and texturing, which make the render photorealistic?

Arash: I used the HDRI technique to reach natural light And PBR technique for realistic texturing and materialization in the rendering.

Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve them?

Arash: Well, as you know there are some problems and challenges in most projects which are solvable.

Fox Renderfarm: Any artists or artworks inspired you most?

Arash: I think the artists who got the most influence from their work were Scott Robertson and Alexei Roman.

ARGOS © Scott Robertson

Sci-fi EV Hot Rod © Scott Robertson

Fox Renderfarm: Could you briefly tell us your educational and work experience along your CG journey?

Arash: After entering the world of design and architecture, I became acquainted with architectural simulation software and worked mostly in the field of architecture. I am currently working as a CG artist in Diba Fabric Structures Company and I'm going to continue my education in VFX and animation.

Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any recommendable learning methods to improve professional skills?

Arash: In my opinion, how to learn is different for each person. But I think pursuing and continuing to learn, having patience and practice and practice is so important for success.

Fox Renderfarm: Is there anything you want to share with the CG enthusiasts?

Arash: Let me mention at the end an interview with Alex Roman: Anyone can learn software with the tools it has with a lot of training and the Internet in the shortest time. But the tools are changing and the artists who subordinate numbers , they lost control of the final result. The important point is to know the science of fine arts, which, unlike software, is not obsolete.