Race Vehicle Concept Design: Cinematic Rendering

Blender, Cycles, Photoshop & After Effects Workflow with Chris Beatty

This three-lesson workshop builds on the vehicle created for Chris Beatty’s Race Vehicle Concept Designworkshop. Compelling vehicle concepts come first from function and engineering logic, with design emerging from believable mechanical and aerodynamic constraints. In this follow-on project, Chris takes the completed vehicle concept and places it into a short technical explainer sequence set at the Silverstone Circuit. An older game asset of the circuit is repurposed and adapted for cinematic rendering, demonstrating how real-time assets can be reworked for visualization and storytelling.

The workshop is aimed at intermediate artists, concept designers, and 3D generalists who want to bridge the gap between vehicle concept design and animated technical presentation. Key techniques include preparing and refining geometry in Blender, reworking materials and lighting for offline rendering, scene optimization, and building a clear visual narrative around a design. The lessons also cover practical workflows for adapting game-ready assets, managing scene scale, and quickly integrating existing environments into a cinematic pipeline.

By completing this workshop, students will understand how to take a completed concept design and develop it into a short technical explainer sequence in an exciting environment.