How to Make a Nostalgic Car Render With 3ds Max and Zbrush

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 provider, Fox Renderfarm is pleased to witness that there are more excellent car renders emerging year by year. This time we are honored to interview Ako Ghadermarzi, 2nd place in the Hum3D Car Render Challenge 2021.

How I Finish It © Ako Ghadermarzi

Made using 3ds Max, Maya, V-Ray, Substance Painter, ZBrush, Photoshop and Marvelous Designer, the artwork, How I Finish It, stands out for its nostalgic and warm atmosphere in this image which is carried out by the lighting and texturing. The light coming in from the back window glints, sparkles, and reflects off of all of these wonderful surfaces in the scene.

Here comes the interview with Ako, in which he tells us how he created the excellent artwork.

• Ako Ghadermarzi
• 3D Modeler at Alzahra VFX
• Tehran, Iran

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

Ako: It’s been about 5 years since I started modeling. In the beginning, I was attracted to the 3D world through my studies in architecture at university, but later for my passions and ambitions in animations and VFX, I resigned from the university and started practicing modeling to acquire more experience and find a job in the same field. About 5 months later, I could get hired in one of the best animation and VFX studios in my country where my new life and experiences began professionally.

My first achievement in competitions was winning the best Environment work in Hum3D, Challenge Gun 2 2019.

The second achievement was again winning the best Environment work in Hum3D, Car Render Challenge 2020.

Since I love creativity, modeling is my top interest and I use my ideas and creativity for creating all of my works. Modeling is the only thing that can express my inner feelings and passions.

In modeling, I most importantly care about the details. Since I model with high precision and patience, I hope that it makes a distinction between me and most of the other 3D artists.

I am interested in modeling anything, but I feel more passionate about modeling vehicles. I have experience in modeling most of the styles and objects, including vehicles, buildings, prop, environment, etc.

I have an interest in the games industry too and I hope that I’ll be able to enter the industry as a modeler soon.

Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning 2nd place in the Hum3D Car Render Challenge 2021, how do you feel about that?

Ako: Thanks a lot. It feels great, especially if you have worked in difficult conditions and created such works, it is very valuable to me and it gives me a good feeling.

Fox Renderfarm: How long did you finish the work, How I Finish It?

Ako: For creating this work I spent two months of nightly endeavor. Since I am fully hired in the company, I was obliged to work at night to participate in the competition.

Fox Renderfarm: What software and plugins did you use?

Ako: 3ds Max. Substance 3D painter. Vray. Photoshop. Marvelous Designer. Zbrush.

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

Ako: I am very interested in the works of Carlos Pasino (Color Spange). His works have always inspired me. I really enjoy his works. Muhammad Ghadimi is also one of the people who inspired me.

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

Ako: I like modeling very much. Especially car modeling. To model this, I faced different challenges. For example, I did not have the car blueprint to do this and I had to do most of it according to the references.

Fox Renderfarm: The lighting and texturing in this one are what drive this high-quality render. The light coming in from the back window glints, sparkles, and reflects off of all of these wonderful surfaces in the scene. How did you make the lighting and texturing?

Ako: Lighting and rendering was a problem for me because I did not have a personal computer and I had to use my friend's personal computer to do the lighting, and due to my limited time I could not test multiple renderings to check the lighting. I did the texturing on my personal laptop, which I used to get the output from my friend's computer.

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

Ako: Among the problems I faced while creating the work was inaccessibility to a computer. Since I don’t own a personal computer, I was borrowing one from the company or friends.

I had a lot more ideas to put into this work, but because of the limited time, I skipped most of them. Including render tests and lighting that I could improve them even more.

Fox Renderfarm: Any artists or artworks inspired you most?

Ako: I do not take ideas from any work of art to create my works and I create all my works with my own mind. All the works I have created have been my own ideas.

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

Ako: My field of study was architecture. I dropped out of university because I realized that my interest was something else. I bought a normal computer and started practicing to learn modeling. From there, I realized that I could apply for a job in the field of animation and VFX. After 5 months of hard work, I managed to find a job in another city and I had to leave my family. I traveled to Tehran alone and worked. I got a job. This was my first work experience and during this time I had a good event for myself. Like participating in competitions and winning multiple positions.

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

Ako: I had a lot of limitations to learn and the only way for me was to practice and use YouTube resources. Using YouTube resources can be very useful. Practicing and asking questions of experienced people can also speed up the learning process.

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

Ako: The world of CG is very wide and it takes a long time to find your interest in any of its fields and progress in it. But the path we choose is full of challenges and various events. There is something new to learn every day, so it's not a boring way, and that's why I think it's so fascinating.