I’m fairly new to Blender, and this is my first post on Blender Artist.
This is a Hornady ballistic tip round. It took me around 6 hours. I’m pretty happy with the results.
It’s rendered internally. The background was whipped up in a few minutes just to get a good reflection, so I’m not really looking to improve it much, but any comments, or tips would be much appreciated.
so we wait for your next project then ??
I meant the background. I’m looking more for tips on the model’s textures, and lighting.
ah ok. the background looks like a stretched cloud texture. apply scale by CTRL-A if you want to use it generated. for lighting IMO a 3light setup with equal values will look better. compositionwise wouldn’t choose this angle myself but that’s your own taste. actually the objects are a bit large in focus. zoom out a bit so you can add a nice vignette what will attrack the viewer more to your focalpoint…
It’s a pretty good first start; however, if you’re going for accuracy, there are several things you could improve on. There are some positive things about your attempt too.
My first tip, as someone who has been working in Blender since 2008 (v2.49 FTW) is, always use reference images. Thanks to Google image search, there’s never a shortage of reference images, so there’s no excuse.
To me, and perhaps it’s the aspect ratio, but the rounds look more like the diameter of a 9mm round, rather than a beefy .45 round. Here’s a picture:
Also, the primer’s diameter is too large in comparison to the diameter of the casing it should be copper colored, and there should be a clearer delineation between the casing and the primer (illustrated below).
Things you did well are the reflective materials, nice bump mapping on the brass jacket, and decent material on the red plastic expander.
Keep up the good work! 
Thanks for the tips. I’m self taught in 3D, so I take any good advice to heart.
The background is indeed a stretched cloud texture. Pretty lazy on my part. I plan on following some realistic wood tutorials and making a better scene.
I had a few of those rounds that I used for reference. I just eyeballed the size. I agree that the size ratio is a little off, and I think the camera angle is exaggerating how tall they are.
The primer is actually the same color as the casing on these rounds, but it would probably look more interesting brass.
My favorite part of this is the brass jacket, but the color is off. Its more of a gold, than brass.
