I want to start a new project. The environment will need an old van, specifically a 1979 Dodge B100. I found some great photos of one online, but what I believe I will need are reference drawings of the front, back and sides, but I cannot find these anywhere.
Most of the videos on YouTube that I watch, modeling vehicles, just about all of them use reference drawings like I mentioned above. Does anyone have any idea where I can find good reference drawings? It doesn't have to be as specific as a 1979 Dodge B100 van. Any 1980's or 1970's van would do. Any ideas?
Last question... Is it possible to model a van without a perfect side and front view drawing? I mean, one may not always be able to locate good reference photos or drawings...
Thanks in advance!
Try this https://www.the-blueprints.com/
You need to register but loads of free drawings. High quality vector images are paid for but you will still get some good quality stuff for free.
The first place I go for reference images.
Thanks for that link. Wow! Tons of reference drawings and photos. Nothing like what I am looking for, but darn close, close enough to maybe make this work. Thanks!
As you become more experienced with reference you will learn that it is just that.........reference. Often you need to make decisions as an artist that something should be interpreted certain way.
Things don't need to be perfect. Just look at our backhoe loader project we are all working on. Some of our reference images in the catalogs are actually incorrect and we have had to roll with it.
One thing I was taught here is to be constantly checking things in the full 3D view as I am modeling something. Returning to orthographic to get perspective and then back to regular non-ortho to see how it really looks.
It definitely takes time and practice getting references to help you in your workflow. But almost every artist uses reference even just for inspiration.
Thanks for that note! Thankfully, as a longtime graphic artist and illustrator, I've created my own references. In the case of finding a reference (a plan and 360-elevation) of a 1979 Dodge B100 - good luck! But there are tons of good photographs that I can create a drawing of, if need be. It adds a few more steps to the overall process, but well worth doing. Worst case is you're learning the object you're about to turn into vertices, edges, and faces, so that's not all that bad.
As for the perfection thing, yeah, I'm still working on that... I literally just lectured myself about wanting everything to be exact. So, reading that part of your reply was very apropos.
Thanks for the message and the advice. As I grow in Blender, I will post discoveries here in this forum and ask for assistance as another way to learn.
:)
Yeah being a graphics artist puts you ahead of the game because you can transfer that experience as you get more comfortable in the Blender world. I am an engineer and often have to tell myself it looks good enough when I am geeking out on something and spending wayyyyyyy too much time. The more experience I am getting the more comfortable I am getting looking at things and thinking I could totally model that (and all I would need is a few pictures). I actually have recently gone to amazon for references on zip ties that I was modeling. I just needed a few up close pics and rough dimensions and the rest is totally believable.