The RD350. 

'Race Derived'.

'Race Developed'.

... Also 'Rapid Death' (unsafe on India's roads of the 80's, especially with just a drum brake at the front!)

'Road Demon'.

The Yamaha RD350 that showed up in the early eighties was a strong testament to the technical prowess of Yamaha with their 2-strokes at the time - a 'pocket rocket' that was more than capable of taking on, and often defeating, machines with more than twice the capacity than its own loud, uncouth 350-cc parrallel twin 2-stroke engine had. 

And in India, despite not selling in huge numbers at the times, it is still the stuff that biker-boy brat-style dreams are made of - It was ahead of its time. 

Here's an original 80's print advertisement that was part of the inspiration for the build - 

And soon, I was building up the first few parts and wireframes in Rhino3D -

I had got the basic proportions set by now; and it was time for the most challenging (but rewarding phase) - the Engine a.k.a the Heart of the machine. 

And thus the lovely RD takes shape - 

I then started setting up a scene in Keyshot; with some custom decals made in Adobe Illustrator to replicate the original tank and side decals - 

But i loved Red more ;) - 

This is where we head back to the original 80's print ad - i tried to recreate the same; but with the new renders i did in KeyShot .  

Meanwhile, I've always loved photographs of motorcycles taken in the rain ; and decided to give it a shot with this model - 
Also, this was a great opportunity to experiment with KeyShot 10's awesome new geometry and Material Graphs effects. 

The rain splatter on the ground and the droplets all over the bike are both texture maps; added within KeyShot. 
The final scenes, after a whole lot of reworks just to get that effect i wanted (also involved a bit of tweaking in PhotoShop) . 

This final scene is called "A Rainy Evening in Madikeri" . 
Madikeri is a small town in the hills of South India; a beautiful place to experience the best of the monsoons that drench India every year - a setting that embodies the Indian RD350 ride experience very well...