[Scott Robertson]

Here is a quick tutorial I did today. It is a basic draft view rendering example of a bike I designed a while back. This tutorial is a step-by-step of the way I use Photoshop when rendering these types of product design draft views. I have simplified the lighting and rendering of these types of forms in order to enable me to do them relatively quickly. This rendering took about three hours. I usually spend between 2 to 6 hours to complete this type of rendering, starting from a scanned line drawing. If you have existing parts like wheels, saddles, etc. already designed & rendered; you can easily do design variations quickly. You can visit my website to see more bike renderings of this type. www.drawthrough.com

Hope you like the tutorial. Any comments on how to make this tutorial better would be greatly appreciated.



Step 1:

This is the way I usually start a new design, using old-fashioned paper and pen or pencil. I find that I can see the overall proportions of the object I�m designing much easier on paper than in the computer. I also have better line control on paper and this directly relates to improved styling ability. When the sketch is finished I scan it at the resolution at which I want to do my rendering. This way I do not get big fuzzy lines by up-scaling the initial sketch.



Step 2:

After I have the line drawing in the computer I set about making paths over my lines to define all of the separate elements of the design. Each path I make I then fill with the base value and color of that part on its own layer. If you are trying to minimize your layer count, group parts that do not butt up to, or overlap each other. In this way you can easily lasso those parts when you want to isolate them in the future. Here you can see my first pass at setting up layers.



Step 3:

If you already have parts made from previous renderings you can add them in now. Here I have tires, saddle and crank arm from the scan of a side view photo. I clean them up a bit. I do some rendering over the top to try and get rid of the grain of the photo scan. In this step I also start to define my photo studio environment by airbrushing a lighter value under the the bike to define a ground plane. Technically you do not see this in a true draft view, so I�m pushing this basic draft view into a loose one-point perspective side view by doing this. Bikes are very 2-D and all I really need to show in the rendering in order to give the illusion of perspective is the far side of the handlebars, the far side of the vee-shaped front fork and the ground plane.



Step 4:

Here I add the ground shadow using an airbrush. The shadow in this case will help the viewer to see that the front fork flares around the front wheel on each side to allow for the hub steering to work. One important thing when you render this shadow is to be sure to render it dark enough right where the tires touch the ground. If you do not your object will visually float off the ground. Also you need think about your type of light source. In this case I am assuming a soft overhead light source that will give me a soft shadow edge. In the interest of doing many design variations quickly this is the easiest type of light to use. Also I am only using one light source, again to keep this rendering fast. At this point I have imagined my photo studio to have dark walls all the way around the bike and a large light box above it with soft white light.



Step 5:

It�s time to add a few more elements. Here I add the handlebar grips and the disc brakes. The discs are done by basically using the selection tool to define a circle, filling it, and then deleting the interior diameter to give me the ring I want. After that I use the eraser tool to erase out the slots. These small details can be rendered fairly loosely. When I have the silhouette of the brakes defined I click on the �preserve transparency� button for its layer and do some quick rendering of the brakes. I indicate some bolt heads and some brake calipers.



Step 6:

In this step you can see the rendering of the front chain ring covers. I go to the layer of each of the two pieces of this assembly and click on the �preserve transparency� button again to isolate only the pixels that already have color on that layer. Using the airbrush I do some quick rendering of the forms lit by my soft overhead light source. After I define some forms on the two parts, I apply a texture filter to both of them. In this case I think I used a sandstone texture with light from above. Keep in mind this is not a super technically correct rendering, it is a simplified rendering method used to communicate your ideas to others as efficiently as possible.



Step 7:

For this tutorial, I unfortunately do not have time to cover all the �how to�s� of rendering form, meaning what sections should be what value. Basically though, any surface that is perpendicular to your light source is your lightest value. As light passes tangent to your form you have core shadows. Past the core shadows on the shadow side of your forms you have reflected light. This assumes that you are rendering purely matte surfaces as I�m doing here in these early steps. Here the wheels and the grey rear stay part are rendered with an airbrush. Again I use the �preserve transparency� button to isolate only the pixels that already have color on that layer. This allows me to preserve the silhouette of the part while rendering it. You can use other tools to do this, I am by no means a Photoshop expert. This is just what works for me. In fact I�m sure there are easier and more efficient ways of doing these renderings that I do not know. One of my former students showed me an excellent way to do the tires but I have forgotten how to do it. Maybe I can get him to write a tutorial for that to tag onto this one.



Step 8:

Time to render the frame. Same steps as in 7. One additional point to note here is that I plan on reflecting my overhead light box on the shiny painted parts of this bike. If I want the frame to look very shiny I want to be careful not to let the highlight areas of the frame get too bright. If I do I will end up with a white reflection on a light value, no pop! I�m using a grey floor in my studio set-up for a reason. When the reflected light is grey it remains the same even if I shift the color of the frame. If you want, say, a yellow floor you could put your reflected light rendering on a separate layer to allow the same thing. This takes longer to do and so I�m not doing it here.

[Scott Robertson]

Step 9:

Here I render the remaining bits and pieces; cables, seat binder, fenders, handlebars etc. I don�t add reflections to them. Since the fenders are grey I can easily colorize them in the future if I want to, through the hue/saturation adjust window. As a side note, rendering in grey first and then going to the color balance window is also a fun way to give your parts color. You can get interesting color shifts from highlight to mid tone to shadow this way. I�ve found it very effective when you want to indicate a pearl paint finish or just want a bizzare color shift.



Step 10:

I�m still rendering everything as an extreme matte surface. I do this in the interest of simplifying the rendering steps for myself and also to make it easier for my viewers to understand the forms of the object. This type of industrial design rendering is more about the object than the art. The 2-D art is only a means to get us closer to the real finished product which is 3-D. In the interest of making the bike appear more real I add some quick graphics to the frame. After you set them on a layer above your frame render them with the same gradations that they cover. You want the graphics to wrap around the forms you have worked so hard to render to this point.



Step 11:

Here is where the real fun starts; reflections. Again, I do not have time right now to explain in depth how to map these onto your form. That is another, much longer tutorial. The reflections I do in these types of renderings are very loose and indicative. Roughly imagine where your line of sight bounces off of your form. If your line of sight bounces up to your light box then put a 100% opaque wack of white there. I don�t worry about doing this cleanly as you can see. I block out this reflection of the light box with a hard edge brush set to 100% opacity. If you want super control of your reflection shapes then you can set up paths to make the shapes and fill them with white. Technically if the form is this shiny on top then we would most likely see other reflections such as the floor on the bottom-facing surfaces and reflections of itself on itself. Again this is my simplified rendering method, using two layers only to make shiny surfaces in this studio set up. One base color rendered extremely matte and the second reflecting the light source.



Step 12:

Now I clean up the edges of my reflections. Using a Wacom pad, I freehand erase the reflection edges. After the edges are defined I turn down the erasing pressure to about 10% and create gradations and hot spots within my reflections. This is the step that gives the reflection a more realistic look. You can really do whatever you want here, just try and be consistent. For example I decided that my light box would have a hot spot in its center above the bike. I therefore erase the ends of the reflection more than where the forms are reflecting the center of the box. You can do front to back edges as well, meaning maybe the back edge of the reflection is lighter than the front edge. Observe indoor photos of objects. Makeup and jewelry ads are good places to find very manipulated, stylized reflections. I happen to have a lot of indoor bike photos from past production bikes I designed. This gives me a good place to start when rendering my own forms as I�m doing here. If my shiny surface has a graphic under a clearcoat like you see here, I try to design my reflection so it cuts over this graphic. I think this helps to make the surface look more realistic and shiny.



Step 13:

Here are the finished reflections of my light source. If you happen to erase too far you cannot turn �preserve transparency� back on to keep your edges and add more white to it, sorry. When this happens, and it does, I just duplicate the layer to double up the reflection strength as I show in the next step. You can then delete in the duplicate layer, the areas of the reflection you do not need.



Step 14:

Now that I have rendered all of my parts I�ll demonstrate how easy it is to change color and value once the rendering is done. I�ve doubled up the reflections on the frame and changed the hue of the frame, graphics, and wheels by using the hue slider adjust tool. I also introduced a layer in the background on the wall with a bit of color and texture to it, set to multiply. On the fenders I adjusted the levels to give them a stronger gradation away from the light source. As a last touch I added a border which is a good place to put your name, date, and other info. As this is kind of a quick photo-real type rendering I made my border like a 4x5 transparency edge.

We have reached the end of this step-by-step tutorial. I hope you found it helpful. I�m spending my summer working on several books which will include many examples like this one, but much more in depth.

Drawthrough.com

[Pro]

Scott-

This is awesome!! Thanks so much for posting this. I would love to see more.

[EviLToYLeT]

Scott - I have to say that is damn amazing. It looks so time consuming - but the results seem to be worth it. Intersting tecchnique here and there - learned a lot of htings. Thanks

[Akolyte]

I will buy the books. All of them.

[Lee Yiankun]

A massive effort that I (probably)won't be able to pull off in my life time. Mr. Scott, I solute you!


/me looks at one's pitiful tutorial in despare.

[KAH KAH]

Kick ass Scott. Dang man. Your very good at what you do. Great tutorial. It helped me out quite a bit, only if it was as easy as you make it look I was wondering though if I could use some of your sketches as practice? I won't be selling these. At most I would show a few friends and send em to your site. Maybe at most if I got a website up post them and give you props for the drawing. Let me know if this is okay Scott. Excellent job man, keep sending in more work, it's beautiful man.

[Ian Jones]

Nice tut. You explain things very well. Don't be afraid to use us more often for book testing. We don't mind...

This is fantastic for making ppl realise that a complex looking rendering, can be easily broken down into easy steps. I'm sure this will help a lot of ppl.

Thx for your time and effort! We love you!

[Scott Robertson]

Thanks Everybody,

I'm working on new one now, hope to have it up in a week or so.

Kah Kah,

I'm not sure I understand you exactly. Are you asking if you can render some of the line drawings? Or are you asking if you can post some of my work on your site? If it is the first, rendering some of the line drawings, feel free. Just sign my name with reference to the line drawing. If you want you can add a link to my site if you are trying to direct your friends from your site. Hope I've answered your questions if not, drop me an e-mail.

Later

-S.

[ July 06, 2002: Message edited by: Scott Robertson ]

[Sumaleth]

Great tute, Scott.

I know it's borderline whether a tutorial would be "Discussion" or "Finished", but traditionally they end up in Finished so I'm moving this thread in there.

[Sumaleth]

And NOW I know what 'Preserve Transparency' does! Why have I ignored it all these years, it's fantastic.

[Ed Lee]

Hey Scott,

Thanks for putting up the tut. I've yet to go through the written words as I just skimmed through the pix. Anyway, would like to see you post some stuff at conceptdesignforum.com, like some bot.

Hey Pro, your site no worky. What up?

Latez,

Ed--

[ July 07, 2002: Message edited by: Ed Lee ]

[CyberArtist]

A technique I use for things like that reflection, when I need the shape to remain constant, and want to safe guard any screw ups I might have...

masks.

Make your opaque white shapes, refine their shapes with the eraser, but when you go in to do the gradient erase, add a mask to the layer and paint black in to the mask directly. This way you can always keep that shape exactly as you want it, and you have no problems if you "erase" too much.

[WacoMonkey]

Scott- Absolutely fantastic tutorial. You make it look so easy! Are you going to post this to your site? I've been marvelling at your bike renderings for some time, they really have a photo-real look. Going to have to try this...

Phil.

[Scott Robertson]

Hey Ed,

I'm trying to get back to sketching up some new designs to post, hopefully soon.

Cyber,

Thanks for the tip. I'll gitve it a try.

Phil,

I'll probably post this to the site when I get the chance to create a section fot it to go into. Right now all of my website efforts are going into the new book company website, DesignStudioPress.com. It will have this as samples of what the book is shaping up to be and a peak into the "Concept Design" I'm also working on. I'll let you know when the new site is up and running.

Later

-S.