[Misc]

I've been trying for a while to learn how to render cars and other highly reflective objects in 2D. I'm trying to sort out what factors make a car (or whatever) look like they have a reflective surface, so any advices or tips would be highly appreciated. What can I do to improve the appearance of this, um, hovercraft for example?


So far I've found the following tutorials
http://www.cardesignnews.com/studio/tutorials/index.php
http://www.purephotoshop.com/article/110
http://www.drawthrough.com/tutorials/indoorbike.html

Do you know any other ones, or texts, books etc. on the subject that you can recommend?

[Radiance]

the answer to your question depends highly on your definition of a "car".
different definitions will yield different answers.

seeing your rendering of a 'hover car', your definition would lean more towards a small and relatively independent 'people mover' built for a specific infrastructure. for this you might look more towards ultra short versions of traditional trains, maglev trains, buses, MPVs, carriages (without the horses) and the like. not merely for the outer appearance, but very much for the practical function, which also partly dictates its form (sorry, yes, i'm an industrial designer).

another definition of a car is e.g. a drivable machine that can freely rip through any landscape on wheels, promising freedom and adventure. that will give you a completely different look to the vehicle.

i hope this helps you with your design creativity.

[Misc]

Radiance: I see what you mean. Funny I didn't realize that myself.. I study mech. eng. and what you describe is very close to the approach we use... Guess I've never seriously thought about design in that way, but when I think about it, it's kinda obvious Lately I've been close to obsessed with trying to learn how to just do the rendering of the car-things, at the expence of the design.. But I'm quite happy with the results so far, considering I knew close to nothing about drawing and rendering cars a couple of months ago. Well, here's another mindless render attempt, subconsciously affected by your second description i think Thanks for commenting!