Whether you consider yourself a car nut or not (go home Jay Leno), it’s hard not to appreciate the level of detail that goes into vehicle renderings. While any well-executed rendering can be a sight to behold no matter the type of content, automobiles are in a category by themselves due to the multiple material types, complicated surfacing and sensitivities to light angles, among other compositional challenges.

Perhaps you’re an industry veteran or maybe you’ve always wanted to get more into using KeyShot in your workflows, either way, learning how to render automobiles is a fantastic way to hone your rendering chops and apply those skills to more simple products down the road.

Thankfully, the folks over at Luxion (makers of KeyShot) have stepped in to help get things started on the right track and they even want to throw free stuff at you for doing so.

Today kicks off their annual KeyShot Rendering Competition with the opportunity to submit your best automotive-related rendering created in KeyShot to win a license of KeyShot Pro.

Better yet, they are also offering a free watermark-free license for use in the competition so that everybody can join in. To get one, shoot them an email here.

From KeyShot:

“The best rendering wins a seat of KeyShot Pro, the best animation wins a seat of KeyShot Pro + Animation, 10 will receive Honorable Mention prizes and all will receive the enduring admiration of the KeyShot community!”

This awesome video from Tim Feher, a CG Pro from the Automotive Industry helps break down the workflow for creating incredible visuals:

If you don’t know where to start, head over to GrabCAD and search for a model to work with. No need to bother modeling something that you’re just using to practice your rendering or use in a scene.

Once you’ve got that all sorted and have a kick-butt rendering to show off, post it over on KeyShot’s Render Competition Submission Page.

Entry Requirements:

• Submit your entry on the ‘KeyShot 2014 Render Competition’ forum board
• Create a captivating 3D rendering or animation of an automotive related 3D model
• Rendering and/or animation must be done in KeyShot
• Screenshots, fully rendered images, animations or KeyShotVR’s may be submitted
• Multiple entries are acceptable
• Post edits are acceptable
• The competition is open to everyone
• Team entries are welcome – prize will be transferred to team leader
• Feel free to include process images including before/after, modeling screenshots and other tools used

Judging Criteria:

The submissions will be judged on three criteria: creativity, originality and composition

Prizes:

Grand Prize Animation – KeyShot Pro + Animation (total value $2,495)
Grand Prize Rendering – KeyShot Pro (total value $1,995)
Honorable mentions (up to 10) – KeyShot t-shirts

Deadline:

Sunday, November 16th, 2014 (last time zone)

Announcement:

The winner will be announced Thursday, November 20, 2014 on the KeyShot website, forum and social media sites.

(Feature Image by MillergoCG)