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TEXTURE
The fighter is still too clean, so let’s add dirt!
Go to cgtextures.com, search and download
‘ConcreteLeaking0118’ or another dirty texture, then
place it into the scene. Convert it to a Smart Object
and set the layer mode to Overlay. Unhide the Guides
group and hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to activate the Transform
tool on the texture. Rotate and move the points using
Cmd/Ctrl to lay the texture onto the plane. Reduce
the opacity twice. Duplicate the layer and cover all of
the fighter.17
PILOT
Go to a photo stock site and collect as many
pilots, thumbs-up hands and seats as you can. Place
previews into the scene. Choose ones that you like
(or just download ‘35116366’, ‘33404702’, ‘35321320’
and ‘32214514’ from iStock). Use adjustment layers
to settle the parts into the environment as you did
with the plane. Feel free to reuse parts of the body
making the pose. The original helmet of the pilot
looks a bit strange so you can replace it with the
other one. Paint shadows using a soft black brush.15
COCKPIT
The cockpit is located in the centre of the
illustration, and truth be told it’s deadly dull and
clumsy. The best solution is to make it again from
scratch. Create a new group and name it ‘Cockpit’.
Choose the Pen tool and outline the glass with a path
(by the way – the top separator of the cockpit
shouldn’t be there, so it’s a chance to remove it).
Create a vector mask for the group using the path.
Place the supplied file named ‘cockpit-base.png’ and
align it with the fighter.18
GLASS
Paint the needless cockpit parts behind the
pilot with a dark grey brush. Get images ‘render-
Reflection.png’ and ‘render-Specular.png’ and align
them with the fighter, then set their modes to Screen.
The first one is a pass that only shows reflections.
Enhance its contrast to get a nice result. The second
one is a pass that shows highlights. Use a Levels
layer to add more white (set the right slider at 170).
Create a new layer and mask it to show only the top
glass. Add some highlights using a white brush.16
GAUGE PANEL
Don’t concentrate on minute details – only
the most noticeable ones. The next task is to
re-create the screen on the gauge panel. Create a
new group for it. Grab the Pen tool and outline the
frame of the screen. Fill it with a grey colour picked
from a nearby area. Add a new clipped layer and
paint highlights with a white brush, then draw a
shape for the glass of the screen. Fill it with a blue
colour and add some reflections with white strokes.USE PHOTO PATCHES
Often 3D models aren’t perfect and some parts of
them look awful in high resolution, especially if
you use a low-poly model. In other cases, far too
much time has been spent making them, so they
are unnatural-looking. For both problems there is
a good solution — photo patches. Photos are the
best way to amend clumsy parts of a 3D render
and bring a touch of realism into it. These can be
textures, screens and gauges or even whole
parts of an object like headlights. When you place
a photo into a 3D render, use it as a guide for
lighting and contrast correction.BRING IT TO LIFE!
MIX PHOTOS WITH THE 3D RENDER TO ADD REALISMQUICK TIP
Aerial perspective is a truly powerful tool for achieving realism. It isn’t so noticeable in real life but it can
greatly improve your work. It isn’t obligatory to have a ZDepth pass. You can make a similar mask yourself
using black and white brushes.3D AND PHOTOSHOP