Tutorial : realistic grass with Yafaray
This tutorial will teach how to model a realistic grass with Blender and to render it with Yafaray. It’s based upon several tutorial (including http://www.yafaray.org/documentation/tutorials/particles1 and http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68269) so I won’t claim I discover it by myself. It’s just a handy mix to achieve a good result with very few effort.
Grass is only a small part of the above picture, but having it realistic add a lot of credibility to the whole picture. I started to work on grass for my current project, a C5 DTM Coupé concept for the SMCars.net contest “Real World Racer”. I wanted to add a good scene, something I didn’t do for the previous project, the Marcos 1800 GT. And what more intuitive than a race track for a race car ?
Yafaray shaders database
When I woke up last Sunday morning, I noticed the BlenderNation entry about a LuxRender shaders database.
I don’t use LuxRender but Yafaray. This renderer is the successor of the well-known Yafray, and it’s a full rewrite to achieve great speed and nice functionnalities.
I thought : “It’s a shame a famous renderer like Yafaray doesn’t have a shaders database on its own”. So I started to create one from scratch this morning.
As of now it’s already the 2nd version online : check it out now : http://yafaray.thomasbaron.net
This is a really fresh project, so don’t expect to see it full of great shaders at this stage. Current goal is to enhance the site to achieve something suitable for daily use. Features are, as of writting :
- Free accounts opened right now
- Download a standardized scene to achieve consistent previews
- Upload your shader easily
- Browse the existing categories
- Create your own categories
- Use the built-in search engine
Citroën C5 Coupé DTM
Posted by Tom in Blog, Citroën C5 Coupé DTM on June 19th, 2009
Real World Racer (short RWR), the new official SMC contest, has already started. I’m in with a “slight” modification of my everyday car.
For an upcoming tutorial, I created a wire cage of my C5 Tourer (that is, the wagon) using this blueprint :
Read the rest of this entry »
New SMCars contest : Real World Racer
The SMC community is helding another great official contest : Real World Racer. As they states :
Ever dreamed of driving a race-car? I know I have… How about designing your own? If that’s a big 10-4 for you too, than SMC has got an engine-oil-soaked treat for you…
this particular SMCars.net Contest is asking you to do the following; Pick a car, or design your own, and tailor it towards a certain motorsport. That is it. We want this Contest kept simple to allow your imaginations to run wild and naked throughout SMC. We don’t want them too wild and naked though, so the only limits are technology to the present day, so no light-speed hovering space jet-ski racers, mkay? Other than that, go for gold!!
Some examples of what we’re looking for? A Lamborghini Countach modified to compete is the Paris-Dakar Rally, a Fiat 500 stripped and suped to race in the SuperGT leagues, a Honda Civic made to break the land-speed record… Getting the idea??
The goal is clear, and the contenders brought some crazy projects :
- Volkswagen Passat Wagon with Pike’s Peak style
- Holden Commodore intended for Dakar
- Mitsubishi Lancer for street racing
- Zagato Perana as a FIA GT
- Toyota Hilux as a drift machine
And for the first time for SMC, there is not only medails to win, but your choice a single die-cast model from Die-Cast Model Cars to the value of $100 !
To learn more about it : http://www.smcars.net/forums/contest-forum/30321-real-world-racer.html. To see all the entries : http://www.smcars.net/forums/real-world-racer/. To engage : www.smcars.net.
PS : Of course I’m in…
New free model available for download : Ariel Atom II
Posted by Tom in Ariel Atom II, Blog on April 6th, 2009
Some months ago, I posted some blueprints from my Ariel Atom II model. Now, it’s time for full 3D model : I just released the complete and latest model for it, under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA)
This model once won the “Light is Right” contest at www.SMCars.net, but only with one vote ahead ! 
Tutorial : setting up Yaf(a)Ray shaders
I started to use Yaf(a)Ray for my current project. The successor of YafRay has came up with many new features, and the new shader system wasn’t the less interesting.
As I stated it as an objective for the project, I wanted to create all my shaders on my own. Here’re the current settings I’m using and how they look like.
Of course they can’t be considered as definitive shaders. But they can be of interest for your own work and experiments, so here they are.
Clay
Clay may look useless, as Yaf(a)Ray offers an option to render a scene in clay, no matter what shaders have been defined (or not)
But how can you render a whole model in clay except the windows ? You can’t with the builtin feature of Yaf(a)Ray. Here comes the need for a clay shader. The main advantage of the settings below is that they are the very same settings used internally by Yaf(a)Ray. So a whole model rendered clay by Yaf(a)Ray and a model using only this shader will look the same.
Murcielago LP640 Roadster : updates !
Posted by Tom in Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster on December 22nd, 2008
The progress is getting slower, but I’m still working on this project. Here’re some details.
First and second pictures present some details in the door bay. Third one shows the beginning of the windshield.
New project : Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster
Posted by Tom in Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster on August 10th, 2008
After my last project (and victory !), I wanted to start something different. Enough of british cars, enough of lightweights. It’s time for muscle, lot of muscle, and lot of horsepower !
My goal for this project is to model as detailed as I can. Not every single nut and bolt, because I don’t have access to some kind of assembly / dissambly guide, but at least the most detailed model I’ve done ever.
Ariel Atom II : blueprints
Posted by Tom in Ariel Atom II on July 2nd, 2008
Based upon my Ariel Atom II model I did for the SMC contest “Light Is Right” (and which won the contest 
), and because of some request for it, I made some orthographic views to use as blueprints.
The grid seen in background has 10cm steps. The model is unfinished but anyways it’s the best blueprint for Ariel Atom 2 I have ever seen – as it’s the only one I’ve seen !
Marcos 1800GT : proud winner of the 60’s contest at SMC
Posted by Tom in Marcos 1800GT on June 17th, 2008
Voting process is now completed at SMC for the Psychedelic 60’s contest. And I’m very proud and honored to announce I won the contest.
Thanks to the whole SMC community, because I really feel like I’ve learnt there almost anything I know about CG and car modeling. Also, congratulations to Niray, who designed the medails for the official SMC contests.
I think I won’t enter the next contest, because I really need more than 2 months to complete a project. So the next one will be a choice on my own : 2006 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster.
Stay tuned for more information about it !