Veegie wrote:I think it would look better without smoothing groups.
There is a difference between Meshsmooth and smoothing groups BTW...
Here are a few tips:
Try to keep the polygons uniform in size and shape. If you are modeling with quads (recommended), try to use triangles as little as possible, meshsmooth doesnt like that.
If you have a squirly base mesh, when you smooth it, it will have those nasty dark spots. If you do see those, look at that spot in the base mesh. You should see some inconsistencies in the mesh, try to smooth them out on the base level.
Turn on edged faces and look at the wire frame, you want the edges to "flow", for lack of a better word, you don't want any sharp changes along the path.
Inside the details like the headlights, windows, grill Etc., have the smoothing group different from the surroundings, and in meshsmooth turn on "separate by: >> Smoothing groups", this will help them to look more defined.
As it turns out, I have just recently started work on a car myself, so all this stuff is fresh on my mind. Because people see them every day, and they are usually very smooth and shiny, it is a lot harder to make one that can fool people into thinking it is real. There is a fine line between a geometry class example, and photo realistic, but I think you are on the right track. Keep it up, and keep us updated!
