I need help!

[SteveMcqueenRules]

I have good drawing skills but I was wondering what would be the cost of getting a rendering in 3D of my cutlass?
Also what programs and hardware do you guys use? 3D cars look fun but I dont think my 600mhz p3 would be able to handle one O those badboy programs.

[city_ofthe_south]

eh, this prolly doesn't exactly help but if you draw pretty well then you could always do it on paper. maybe look around for airbrush or marker tutorials online to help you with the coloring. if your drawings skills are only OK then a grid can turn you from OK to pretty damn accurate at least. As a side note, I use Adobe Illustrator and I started out on a weaker machine than you described many years ago. It worked ... though it sucked pretty hard. I drew many cars with it. There are lots of digital options out there asside from 3D.

[Hdesign]

I'm gonna piggyback on what Colter talked about. There are several different media to "render" a vehicle.

Obviously, if you can draw free hand, markers, paper and chaulk are relatively cheap. Then you can move up to airbrush which is basically the cost of the compressor, gun, paints, etc. Of course, the only way to reproduce and share this artwork is to scan/photograph the piece so that it's now a digital file.

Then you can also render digitally with an artwork program like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. They take a while to master and also cost in the hundreds to buy the software. There's several ways of getting the basic linework into these programs to render them. You can draw free hand, use a Wacom tablet (BIG BUCKS!) or you can find a good photo and trace the lines and shapes with Illustrator. You can either render in photoshop or illustrator.

Finally, you have 3D software. Unless you can get a program through work, an online Student trial seat or elsewhere, you're gonna pay in the thousands! You can chose from several packages like: Rhino, 3DSMax, Maya, SolidWorks, Alias or others. The seat of Wavefront Alias Design Studio we have at work was $25K but you can get What Kris Horton uses, 3DSMax ( I think), for under $5K.

These are very powerful packages that are fun to use once you figure out how to use them. They are a major pain to learn how if you have no prior 3D modelling experience.

[CarterHickmanDesigns]

Well, I'll double piggyback on them then. There will never be a replacement for traditional methods. Those are the fastest ways to throw ideas out and get them on paper. Both illlustrator & photoshop take a while to wrap your head around to get good results. You can take both of those software packages a LONG way. I personally do the 3D stuff as I find it interesting and fun. I also love Ben's work and have many times secretly wished I was him. If you were to hire someone, base it of the style of the work. Check each artist out and then pick from the styles cause we all have different approaches that yield different results.

Carter

[CarterHickmanDesigns]

Forgot to ask.....

What year Cutlass?

Carter

[Hdesign]

Originally Posted by toad32

... I also love Ben's work and have many times secretly wished I was him. If you were to hire someone, base it of the style of the work.....

Carter

This is doing wonders for my ego.....

Sure, let's switch places, I'll drive your new coupe around and you can take my 100K mile Cavalier! Sounds like a deal to me!

[SteveMcqueenRules]

its a 64 cutlass by the way.
I think the best way for me is to draw a basic outline on paper than scan it into corel draw or photo paint and mess with it in there.
Anyone use google sketchup for doing 3d cars? Its a pretty fun program and easy to learn.