hey Stephen, I've been very impressed with your work. I was wondering if you could work on this photo, would like to put it on my desktop:

Solstice 1024x768 (http://seriouswheels.com/2006-Pontiac-Solstice-Roadster-Wet-1024x768.htm)

maybe in black, with those gunmetal rims? :bouncy:

hey Stephen, I've been very impressed with your work. I was wondering if you could work on this photo, would like to put it on my desktop:

Solstice 1024x768 (http://seriouswheels.com/2006-Pontiac-Solstice-Roadster-Wet-1024x768.htm)

maybe in black, with those gunmetal rims? :bouncy:

Sure thing. I've been working on a new baseline pic from that image, but it's going to take some time. I want to break just about everything out into separate layers, so I can manipulate body panels, side view mirrrors, rims, rim spokes, etc. all separately. I found a super hi-res version of that pic here to start with:

3000 X 2256 pixel solstice on wet pavement (http://www.damienheiser.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=16)

^you actaully have to click on the picture in the above link to bring up the huge version, the site uses java script so I can't link to it directly. Anyway, the nice thing is that it's a production model, instead of the concept I was using in the other thread. Someone in the other thread mentioned it'd be nice to see pics with a production model that has the hood line, etc. in it, and I think that's a good point. Also note that Slipstream made some real nice pics using that base photo, including a black one, as seen here:

Black solstice on wet pavement (http://solsticeforums.com/showpost.php?p=109613&postcount=8)

-Stephen M

yeah, that one pic by slipstream was pretty good, but too small for the desktop on my laptop, (max at 1024x768). and on his pic, the tires and part of the floor were also filtered to change the color, so it's a little on the sloppy side. I saw your pics and thought you'd probably do a great job on the car.

by the way, that one photo you linked to is freakin huge! I've got a dual monitor setup here, and I still couldn't contain the pic on my monitors, lol.

just one more request, red and black interior? :clap:

and on his pic, the tires and part of the floor were also filtered to change the color, so it's a little on the sloppy side. I saw your pics and thought you'd probably do a great job on the car.


Yeah, I keep my monitor brightness low and didn't notice that until it was too late. Otherwise I am usually not that sloppy. ;)

Yeah, I keep my monitor brightness low and didn't notice that until it was too late. Otherwise I am usually not that sloppy. ;)
yeah, I didn't notice that until I saw the pic on my laptop LCD, as I usually browse on my old 19" monitor which isn't too bright. But when I saw your pic I thought man, that's it, that's the one for me. :king:

Almost done, still need to do the rims. I'm assuming the windshield frame and the trim piece at the front of the trunk are going to have a brushed aluminum finish, rather than painted body color. Not sure, though.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

sign me up now!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

sign me up now!


Me to Awsome Job

Got the rims done. Sorry for the delay. Enjoy! This one is also a true 1024 X 768, last one was 2 pixels too tall.

that is going to be one beautiful car. :bouncy:

you know what's strange, the rims on this one are darker than the ones you did on the black solstice concept:

http://www.solsticeforums.com/showpost.php?p=109873&postcount=11

any chance you can make the two more similar? oh, and see if you can color the brake caliper red. that would be perfect. :rancher:

that is going to be one beautiful car. :bouncy:

you know what's strange, the rims on this one are darker than the ones you did on the black solstice concept

That's not strange at all, when you consider I didn't look at the original pic when making the latest one. :) I just sort of eye-balled it. You're right, they're a good bit too dark. Oops.

I'll tweak the rims and see about those calipers this weekend.

-Stephen M

Lightened the rims some and red-ifyed the front caliper. I can't make out the rear caliper, even zoomed in on this high-res pic. It must have been hidden by spokes and/or shadow.

-Stephen M

Three cheers!!

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

That is exactly what I wanted. Thank you Stephen.

Now, what about a white body with an all red interior? Am I a Corvette fiend or what? lol.

For those of you who didn't notice, the red on black interior is an option on the C5, and the white body/red interior color scheme was quite popular on the late 50's vette's (http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2002/january/59fulie/59-3.asp).

Now, what about a white body with an all red interior?

<famous last words> Sounds straightforward enough. I'll give it a shot. </flw>

-Stephen M

Well, I've learned that white is a rather difficult color to fake... I tweaked it best I could, but some of the edges and reflections look kinda of strange. You get the idea, though. I also thought it looked best with the original rims. Chrome wires would be nice too, but they're a bit beyond my ability right now. :)

-Stephen M

yeah, white is a pretty hard color to pull off. I was hoping for something like the pic I placed a link to previously. The red interior looks like cloth now instead of leather, and yeah, the white doesn't look very real. The red leather is what really made the corvette an eye catcher. I still like this idea though.

By the way, thanks for taking my requests Stephen, I hope it's been as good for you as it has been for me.

I've got another idea, but let me know if I need to stop, lol. see if you can get a ferrari red out of that pic. The "waterfall" portion of the interior (the area between the seats, looks like part of the body) should change with the exterior color. Make the windshield frame and the trunk trim either black or a more metallic gray (think you can make two pics, one with each color?). keep the red on black interior from the black car, and the red brake caliper. use the gun metal rims. :rockon

Here's that pic of the red/white corvette I was talking about.

Just to make sure I'm parsing this right...

It should be identical to the last black car on the previous page of this thread, with the following changes:

* Body AND waterfall part of interior should be Ferrari red
* Windshield and trunk trim (currently brushed aluminum) made either black or metallic gray.

I think the trim is gonna come out looking flat black, not glossy like the paint. Also, if you have a pic or link to something that has the metallic gray color you're looking for, that would be helpful.

I tried to make the red interior more leather-like in the white car, but had very limited success. I'll take another shot at it. In general, it's much easier to go from a glossy surface to a flat one than vice-versa. Hence you can make leather look like suede, or cloth, but can't really go the other way. Or at least, I can't seem to do it. :)

And keep the ideas coming. I'd be playing around with the pics anyway, your input just gives me some direction. I may switch to another base pic eventually, this one has some aspects that are getting annoying. For one, matching the interioir through the windshield is a pain, and the reflections in the rain gave me problems as well. I actually tried matching the rim and body reflections to the new rim and body colors, but that proved problematic.

-Stephen M

Hmmm...I'm becoming increasingly annoyed with this particular photo. I think it's time for a new base pic. This one has too many odd reflections, and the fact that some of the interior is shot throught the windshield makes it tough to change the interior. Also, the body color doesn't seem to take color changes as well as the concept photo I used in the other thread. Anyway enough complaining from me, here's the Ferrari red color scheme:

yeah I see what you're saying, it'd probably be best to move to another photo. just as a side note, the waterfall area I was referring to, I meant the upper half of the part between the seats. the bottom area is leather, I think, while the upper half is more like the exterior body material. So what I was requesting was a red upper half and a black lower half. I didn't make it clear when I requested it so that's just my fault really.

But again, I still like the idea. I really like how the exterior matches the interior in its two-tone use.

The metallic gray I was referring to earlier is similar to the dark rims from the first black solstice. but that seems to be easier said than done.

what base pic will you use next?

what base pic will you use next?


I found the pic below on pontiac's site, it's the production version, not the concept, which is nice. It's also a lot cleaner (less reflections and such). A little more side angle would be nice so I could play more with the rims, but it's a start. It also shows the lines in the hood rather nicely.

What I'd really like to see is a version with the top up; but since by all accounts it's not done yet, I imagine I won't see one for a while.

-Stephen M

As requested in another tread, here's a solstice with the nomad concept grill. I grabbed the grill from one of the pics here:

Nomad concept pics. (http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-2004-Chevrolet-Nomad-Concept.htm)

Notice anything strange? Check out the reflections of the rims on the pavement. Now look at the reflections for the solstice pics above. Looks the same to me, and the reflections actually match the Nomad rims, not the Soltice rims. I guess the GM art department did some photochopping of their own. :)

One last pic I played with, a "stealth" Solstice...blacked out grille and door handle, de-badged, and indiglo tint on headlights and foglamps.

on the stealth, I love the grill, but not feeling the lights...

I think it looks like the animated talking cars in the Chevron ads!
:bouncy:

I was wondering what the production car would look like with the grills narrowed down to just the lower half of the current version.