Ambient Occlusion? (Head smack)…of course! 
… and no, I don’t know of another solution - maybe separate Render Layers, then composited?
You do know that it doesn’t matter where you put the sun right? You could put it under the jeep and the effect will still be exactly the same. It acts as though it’s a light source with parallel rays that is at some infinite distance away.
I do now… I kind of suspected as much, but wasn’t sure so I placed it behind the camera.
As far as A-O goes, it’s only a problem with the windshield folded down, so it might not make any difference in the long run for most of my renders. But at least I know what the problem is now, and it’s not my material settings… LOL
Oh well, off to make more details in the back of the Jeep. Two more brackets in the cargo area and a bunch of footman loops around the outside and I can lock the mirror modifier in and start on the dash and side specific tub details.
Thanks,
Joe
Nice work Crash_AF, You need to find a work around to your AO problem its solvable I just forgot how I haven’t worked with the Internal render engine in a long time.
Right now just at looking at your renders I suspect you have environmental light checked , what that does is that it creates an ambient light that has no shadows and comes at your scene from every angle. So it will flatten your scene and reduce any sense of depth in your image. Form is revealed only when there light and shadow. Ambient occlusion, occludes your ambient light, hence the name, so you need it if you are using an environmental light.
But besides that I think you need to brighten up whatever light you have that is acting as your key light. You need to up your contrast to make things pop.
The modeling work is really top notch.
edit a nice link explaining what ao does its for mental ray but the priniciples hold regardless of what rendering engine you use
Thanks for the compliments.
As far as the lighting goes, environmental lighting is not on. I have one key light at about 5 o’clock, a fill light at about 3 o’clock, and a back light at about 10 o’clock if the rear is 12 o’clock. The key and flll lights are at about 2.5M and the back is about 1M above the ‘floor’. After I turned AO off, I put in a sun lamp because it was rendering way too dark so I need to up the power of all my other lamps and either remove the sun or run down the sun power more(I halved it to start). I have a friend who is a photographer that is going to help me more with the lights, but since WoW has the new content, I’ve probably lost his input for a week or so.
Anyway, I’m concentrating on modeling more than lighting right now anyway. Figuring out lighting and set rigging for good photo renders will be the next learning curve. Hopefully it won’t take 2 years. I’d like to build a set to put it on, but I haven’t decided what kind of scene to do yet. Oh, and I’ve still got texturing and UV mapping to learn… LOL
Later,
Joe
Tyrant Monkey, that was a great link! I’ve been struggling with lighting lately too, and that was a pretty clear read. I understand AO a lot better now…at least I think I do… 
Did some more detail work tonight. Added the footman loops on the rear, the front top bow holder, the foot rests and the rings for the side straps. Only have the back seat bracket, tool box latch buttons and the rear top bow holder left before I can lock in the mirror modifier and start the tool indents and other side specific stuff.
Later,
Joe
Built the rear top bow bracket and the tool box latch button today… that top bow holder was a real pain to get right.
Also changed the material on the taillight lens so that it’s not so bright. I think it looks better now.
Oh, and I finally subsurf’d the bumperettes so they’re not so jagged.
A friend jokingly suggested that I do the engine so I can put the hood up… then said I was crazy for considering it… LOL
Not sure if I’m going to do it or not, but it’s very simple for an engine.
Later,
Joe
wow. fantastically clean model. Would be nice to see a dirt map on it as though its been splashing through puddles. I’ll be keeping an eye out for this baby.
Hey thanks for the compliment.
I have a plan to make it look dirty and ‘used’ but I’m not there yet… In fact, I’d like to figure out how to put some troops in it and put it in a scene, but my talents are lacking in those areas at the moment… so I’ll just keep modeling.
Later,
Joe
I decided to do the hood catches… man that was a real pain. I had to scrap the top three times before I got the shape right and it took an hour and a half, but I think the final result is pretty good. Now I’ve got to make the piece on the hood that the hook catches.
Later,
Joe
I’ve spent all morning trying to figure out how to put the diffusion ridges (fresnel? Is that the right term?) in the headlights. Anyway, after several false starts, and scrapping and starting over several times, I finally got it to work. I’m not sure it renders right, and I’ll probably turn it off for most of the WIPs from now on since it’s so darn poly heavy, but it looks better than the smooth glass dome over the light.
Thoughts?
Later,
Joe
Finally locked in the mirror modifier on the tub and started on the side specific stuff. I moved the gun mount location on the floor over and added the tool indents on the driver’s side. Now I’ve just got to make some tools… LOL
Anyway, here’s the indents.
Later,
Joe
Finished up the axe handle… I think it came out well. Did a little fitting work with the axe head and now I need to make the sheath and the wire brackets that hold it in place.
Later,
Joe
Finished up the shovel… figuring out how to get all the compound curves and stuff was a real pain.
Later,
Joe
steal food cartoons, please enjoy
I decided to play a bit with textures on the axe and shovel’s wood parts. I’m happy with the result, but I think I can do a little better.
Later,
Joe
Got frustrated with the receiver on the Garand, so I decided to do something simple and knocked out the glove box and the steering column notch on the Willys… Also figured I’d rescue it from Page 2… 
Later,
Joe
This is just getting better and better Joe. Keep it up. I like it!
Thanks, I’m happy with its progress.
Later,
Joe
