Haunted Car

This project started off where I wanted to model a car. But, being the way that I am, I didn't want to make the ultra slick 'n shiny Camborariri or whatever. I see those all over 3D and CG forums, and I think they're as boring as slutty/'roided-up character models and occlusion-happy architects. Because this is a portfolio piece, I wanted it to be fun! Eventually, I stumble across this image by Ilya Varlamov from EnglishRussia which is an amazing site for photography and, I presume, Russian culture. I based this off one of those, and changed the car to a 1937 Buick Coupe, as I wasn't sure what the car in the original picture was, and needed at least 180 reference.

Some technical stuff: The grass is all Maya Paint Effects, my first real time using them. If I were to go back, I'd like to vary it up a bit more, now that I'm more comfortable with it. I tried using Mental Ray's dielectric material for the windows, but tweaking that to give it a dirty, scratchy look was becoming a problem. Since the refractions weren't adding to the scene, I ended up swapping that for just a light gray Maya phong. Take away the transparency a bit and bam! Instant dirty glass, at least from this distance.

I guess I don't want to give away all my secrets, or bore anyone with details, so I'll leave it at that for now.