Hey men, you're far from being the 2 first 350Z around here
cwbolton, I'd take a look at your .blend file. I'll post my advice here instead of PMing it to you, because I think it may be useful
You create some kind of vectorized blueprint. The major mistake is that you created it with a pretty high level of detail but only in 2D : there is only a side view.
When creating a "spline cage" (like I explained how I use them here :
http://www.smcars.net/forums/finishe...tml#post183903), you should create it 3D :
- Start it by placing only major points of the body, e.g. corners of hood and every other body parts. Be sure to place them in 3D !
- Once they're created, create edges between them. Add them without creating any new vertice.
- Once you're done, start subdividing by hand every edge you created at the previous step, adding as many vertices as necessary to have decent 3D curves.
- Every time you curve an edge, take enough time to turn around it within the viewport, to make sure it's smooth.
- Use vertices wisely, don't use too many of them if you're going for an high poly mesh. Because you'll be using later a surface subdivision modificator (or whatever your 3D software calls it) and the resulting curves will be slightly different from the curved edge you'd drawn by hand. And what is important is the shape of the resulting curves, as this is what will be shown in your renders.
Why doing it that way ? Because if you go 2D only at the start, you'll start add details for only a view, and missing to add vertices when needed to smooth a given edge when viewed from another view.
I hope this will be helpful. Feel free to ask for more explanation if I wasn't clear.