HOLY FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. I’m currently trying to recompose myself; you wouldn’t believe how hard my jaw hit the floor when I first saw these renderings. I must have been shaking my head, muttering expletives for a good 20 minutes.
AMAZING. Screw Avatar, because THIS is what 3D is all about. This is a 3D sculpted rendering of a 1972 S30 240Z, which apparently has ZG flares and a standard Z432 nose with a BRE front chin spoiler.
The artist behind all this is actually an old school friend of mine; his name is Jan Trondsen (pronounced yawn, like you’re sleepy), and he is first and foremost a car guy that’s passionate about vintage Datsuns, and he has been that way since the first day I met him, over ten years ago. Nowadays, Jan is an alumnus of the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and a professional 3D sculptor working for a major car company… but it wasn’t like that when we first met. When we first met, we were just a bunch of super broke car enthusiasts from the SF Bay Area that frequented the illegal street races, hardly able to scrape together enough funds to buy rebuild kits for the Mikuni 44phh carbs we wanted for our cars.
Nothing makes me happier or more inspired than seeing good people like Jan progress in their careers, all without losing focus on what made them passionate about cars in the first place. Let’s face it. There are WAY too many corporate schmucks working within the auto industry; men and women that don’t give a rat’s ass about WHY people devote their whole lives to cars, or what makes cars cool. There are way too many non-car-people out there that scored jobs at big car companies just because they had degrees and were looking for a big corporate job with benefits after college. Jan is definitely not one of those. I’m glad to see there are still some folks out there who are intensely passionate about cars like all of us are (by all of us, I’m referring to the MotorMavens readers).
Let’s have a look at this Z. Shakotan stance? Check. Good offset RS Watanabe R wheels? Check. Race slicks? Check. Front mounted oil cooler with stainless steel lines and AN fittings? Check. ZG flares and lexan headlight covers? Check. Bullet type door mirrors and roll cage? Check. Holy shit. This car is amazing. And I’m not even a Datsun guy!
According to Jan, this rendering is something he did real quick when he had a little spare time at work. (A little spare time? Holy shit, how much spare time do you have, man? LOL) The car was 3D sculpted using a program called Alias, which is the software that he uses every day. He says that when car designers draft up designs, he takes their drawings and converts them to actual 3D models!
Wait a minute… so does that mean he can make an actual 3D 1:1 full size model of this car?! WTF.
Just look at the immense detail that went into this drawing. This is better than anything I’ve seen in a video game before. Look at the DETAIL on those 15x9J (-13 offset) front RS Watanabe Type Rs. Perfectly stepped lips; even the wheel weight is there. (Brand new RS Watanabe Rs don’t require that much wheel weight though, if you line up the yellow dot on the tire correctly.)
I remember one time, I was mounting brand new tires to a used set of Watanabe Rs I have, and the guy at the tire shop was surprised because my two of my wheels didn’t require any weights at all, and the other two only needed .25 weight to balance correctly.
OMG. Rear lexan window with vent holes molded, rear strut tower bar, rollcage, towhook, proper race exhaust, and an “I love Skyline” sticker from the 1970s as an homage to the S30’s KPGC10 Hakosuka and KGC110 Kenmeri Skyline brethren… so dope. In fact, if you’ve ever seen the Kenmeri Skyline television commercial, you’ll see Nissan’s spokesmodels/representatives Ken and Mary driving along, enjoying their lives with the song “IIIIIIII lovvvvvvve Skyliiiiiiiiiiiineeeeeeeeee” playing in the background.
Here’s the (unfinished) illustration, with the 15x9J (-13) and 15×9.5J (-19) Watanabe Type R wheels, Advan race tires, satin hood to reduce glare on the windshield, and the gorgeous Datsun OEM color, “bamboo tan.”
Oh my God. So gorgeous, this car. It’s just incredible.
:: Antonio Alvendia
Oh my. You were not kidding Antonio. This is dope as hell.
I need my FB….
Hell yeah, Jan sent me this file like 2 years ago when he did this originally, it was my desktop background for like a year straight! haha. Jan is BIGTIME.
That’s some crazy ish, I give anyone who can do this kind of stuff the utmost respect!
Ah geez!!! So rad!!! I wish I could do that. I sucked at my CAD class. ha ha Totally agree on the schmucks working in the auto world. There are tons who’d die to have a job working on cars. What else has this guy done?
And those are not even renderings, they’re just screen shots. Nice modeling job!
holyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
so SICK
awwwweeesommmmmeeeeee… that thing is amazing! any chance of pics of his datsun? haha.
that is some amazing skills
@Kyusha Kai: We’ll show pics of his 510 and his S30 eventually…! Right now, he’s a busy man! When he’s ready, we’ll definitely shoot some pics. Maybe when the rain lets up?
Nice! My lifetime wish was to go to Art Center College of Design to design cars. Beautiful renderings!
My uncle has that car. Different paint, but ridiculously similar setup.
wait, what’s the difference between rendering and a modeling job? i’m not really sure…?
Needs S20 Engine with ITB’s / crazy headers and standalone ECU
Dope model!
Awesome.
You can build dope cars in Alias all day long, but who cares unless you ACTUALLY build it? (Please build it.)
It IS refreshing to see an automotive designer with some actual taste though. A lot of the trans guys I went to school with drove Pep Boys Specials, and the other half had never even turned a wrench.
It just baffles me that a lot of the designers out there who are in charge of bringing forth the next big car design don’t even change their own oil. There need to be some rules here…
@Mucci: for sure. he IS building the actual car BTW. he was just asking me yesterday if i could help him get his watanabe wheels for his car. that guy has great automotive style for sure.
BTW if this is the same Mucci that’s friends with P.Diddy from CCS in Detroit, I love your E30 man. We need to see some better photos of it on the website. Tell Pat to stop wrenching on the fixies and shoot pics of your car! =D
Totally agree Antonio, totally agree.
Can’t wait to see how this piece of art comes out!
AWESOME piece of art. drooooooooooooooooooool
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Beautiful focken piece of art here! Homies got some talent man. And sure knows how a Z should be like on the streets!
wow. that is nice!
you can see my work in preogress over at:
actually i´m working on something similar myself
http://www.smcars.net/forums/wip-critique-3d-advanced/36827-datsun-240z.html
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