Tesla Roadster - Second Generation I Electric Sports Car I

Tesla Roadster - Second Generation | MCL Competition (2022)
This artwork was created for my submission to the MCL Competition 2022 under the Vehicles category. Leveraging my prior automotive modeling knowledge, I aimed to achieve a high level of realism while maintaining the asset's flexibility for realistic shots and cinematic presentations.

The project spanned one month, focusing on in depth research, gathering references, and detailed modeling to create a realistic electric sports car suitable for both high quality 3D environment props and game engine testing.

The car paint material was initially made and tested in Substance Painter; however, the final version was created entirely using Blender’s procedural, node-based shader system, allowing greater control over paint layers, reflections, and surface variation.

The second generation Tesla Roadster was unveiled as a concept in November 2017 by Elon Musk. Inspired by its reveal at the motor show, I chose this vehicle for my MCL submission and recreated a design inspired by the original concept while maintaining realism and clean hard-surface detailing.

The initial high poly model was built primarily for realism, resulting in an approximate poly count of ~2.54 million. Although the asset was not originally targeted for games, I later manually decimated and optimized the model for game engine compatibility and testing.

To evaluate real-time performance and visual integration, I created a cinematic test render in Unreal Engine using the high-poly version. Since this was a test render, it was captured at a lower resolution, allowing me to focus on lighting, rain particle effects, and volumetric atmosphere. Experimenting with Unreal Engine’s lighting system and particle setup was one of the most enjoyable aspects of this project.

This project holds personal significance for me, as I have been passionate about cars since childhood. Achieving this level of realism as a vehicle and hard-surface artist was a proud milestone in my learning journey.

Software Used:

Blender – Modeling, Texturing & Rendering

Substance Painter – Carpaint Study

Unreal Engine – Cinematic Testing & Rendering

Adobe Photoshop – Presentation & Final Touches

PureRef – Reference Management

It was also showcased at the Kriti Art Exhibition in January 2023 at Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC).