Magellan GPS4000 [many pics]

An ode to my old GPS receiver. I am going for photorealism with this model so please look at these pictures and suggest how I might more nearly approach that ideal.

right
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_a.jpg

left
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_h.jpg

screen: nice view here of some unwanted green lines that are reflecting from the LCD to the edges of the screencover. The violet colored ring is more shiny than the real thing, too.
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_b.jpg

keypad: this is done with two textures: one for normal, and one for color.
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_c.jpg

front
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_d.jpg

profile
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_e.jpg

main mesh: As you can see, this device has some interesting geometry that isn’t showing up well in the render. (especially around the edges of the keypad) Maybe a spotlight would help show these details?
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_g.jpg

screencover mesh
http://jjfoerch.com/images/gps4000/gps4000_11Aug2004_f.jpg

There are a few imporant differences between this model and the real thing.

  • The real thing has beveled edges. I was hoping to be able to accomplish this with Crease level on the subsurface, but that doesn’t work: the edges are great, but I get pointy corners at the vertices. Can anybody suggest how to get bevelling without sending my vertex count to the moon?

  • The real thing has gripper ridges on the back. I will be able to make those with a texture mapped to the normal or to displacement, but I can’t do that until I figure out the bevelling.

  • I still have to do the battery clip on the bottom. And again, I’m waiting to figure out bevelling before I do that.

I’d suggest using norm and displacement on the first texture map for the keys. that’ll make them really stick out. otherwise, well, looks sharp so a little bevel would be welcome I suppose.