Chapter 01: Preparation

Creating Guide Splines:

Now to create something that will be ditched and never seen in the final model, but is still very important.

Trace the lines of the background images as close as you can, for long curves, using as few points as possible… and where needed, making sure your lines are as detailed as possible. Make sure every spline you create matches the background plans exactly, in the top, left, right back AND front views.

You dont want to get too far into splining the left and top view, only to find they are totally out in the front view.

1f: Mark out as many details as you can, try not to rush it, and figure out any problems here so they don't come back to you later…

It is good to make sure vertices line up using "vertex snap", rather than leaving points stray. Also by doing this you leave the door open to using some of the splines later for surface tools should you need to do so (as I did on a few occasions).

It takes some time, but eventually you should end up with a model something like this:

1g: A complete and detailed guide spline is a very easy and practical way to model, the grey lines were used to make sure all the back ground bitmaps aligned correctly

If there are any odd items on the car, or elements that are not symmetrical, it is important to also model splines of them onto the other side, otherwise you will forget about them, and its better to do it now rather than patch up a finished model, such as this Indent for the wiper on this model.

1h; Though you only need to make half of the model, you'd be lucky if there isn't an odd element like this tow hook (right) that need to be marked out