Comments on: Bicycle rendering in Photoshop

By: Barry Merinsky

Barry Merinsky — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:24:07 +0000

everyone...

they are demonstrating how to render objects, aka make it look appealing to the eye. obviously, this bike looks great and all cyclists would go, "wow, i want one" if they didn't care how it worked...

this isn't an engineer dvd tutorial, it is a rendering how to..and it is successful at its purpose.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:12:00 +0000

this is a really nice, bike on paper. Lets see it at work

By: Safa Tharib

Safa Tharib — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:35:00 +0000

Who is brave enough to ride that?

By: James

James — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000

Ron, my interest in Maya comes from many years using Alias Studio on SGI machines. I It's been a while though. I don’t think Maya is really good for the type of work I do, but I just wanted to play with it. I currently use a combination of Rhino and Lightwave. I have played around with 3d studio max, but I have never really used it. Whatever you use though, software is just a tool. I think you can get the most out of any software package by just exploring it.

Bikesgonewild and eradler, I can’t speak for Scott on the remote steering issue, but keep in mind that this is something that was just drawn for Hollywood. In a way, these bike illustrations are not all that different than the fictional characters and futuristic environments that you see elsewhere in his work. If you look at the actual design work that he did for Kestrel, you will see that it is much more conservative. I personally don’t think these “Minority Report” concepts represent the future of the bicycle, but they are fun to look at and the elements from these kinds of “blue sky” forms could work their way back into something more realistic.

By: eradler

eradler — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:04:00 +0000

I think the pure design business does not bring us forward. A bicycle is such a condensed machine, that functionality is integrated into the design. So we don't need design software but a simulation environment. Special Steering or different seating position and load fixing requires validation by usability and driveability analysis.
Without it design remains utopia...
Unfortunately there is no such thing as free modelling- you have to go into mechanics deeply...

By: bikesgonewild

bikesgonewild — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:52:00 +0000

…haven’t seen robertson’s instructional dvd’s so i obviously can’t comment on that aspect but in following all your provided links, i was able to get a feel for his work…

…highly proficient, prolific & creative…his cars, planes, space & airships are awesome, wild & good fun to look at but most of his bicycle designs do little for me either aesthetically or from my admittedly limited engineering viewpoint…

…if robertson or anyone else has a particularly good reason for remote steering on a bike, i’d be willing to listen but maybe other than some type of anti-dive front suspension, i’m not seeing it…
…beyond that i would suggest that i’ve always found new young engineers willing to “re-invent” the bicycle for one simple reason…because they think they can…

…one of the great beauty’s of the bicycle is that it was, through necessity, originally designed on the “kiss” principal…material strength & weight were very defining factors in that day & age but somehow that same basic design is still around…
…suspension on mtb’s has changed certain parameters, newer high quality materials have allowed for evolution & the age of specialization, ie: time trial & tri-bikes has added to the mix but in a sense, what we ride now is not that far removed from what was defined as the “safety” bicycle back in time…& there is a good reason for that…simplicity & those original well conceived ideas…

…anyway, sorry to hear about dave z but go, go, go ***johnny & the slips***…

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:43:00 +0000

I think there are a fair of bad stuff out there in the educational media. But some of the videos on maya and 3dmax i’ve come across were some of the best in my life. I think one of the problems is not with just the instruction, but also with the software you’re dealing with. For example, I think Maya is way way too complex than 3ds max. The latter is more easier to learn and fun to play with for starters. Maya is daunting. I think you have to just try between different parties who offer tutorials. Sometimes, some of the free stuff out there is as good as anything you pay for..

I think in the past I have seen some of Scott’s DVD’s. Wasn’t he the same guy who did renderings for Kestrel for a while? I’ve never managed to conquer photoshop but thanks for mentioning him, I think I’ll check some of his stuff should the need arrive.