Warning! Cars galore ahead. I don’t know what happened, but there were great cars everywhere I looked in putting together this Top 10. I’m not going to offer any excuses as I wallow in showing you loads of roaring, rolling goodies! If you feel like the screaming Skinface, then let it all out and we’ll see you next week with the next Top 10 (timing got a little out of whack ’cause I took some vacation). For the car lovers out there – have a blast!

The ten best 3D models and two(!) 3DVIA Experiences uploaded to 3DVIA.com during the weeks of Saturday, July 16th through Friday, July 29th, 2011 are highlighted here.

(Easy links to all 117 previous Top 10 posts are right after the current week’s models and 3DVIA Experiences.)

The Top 10:

Astons have always been one of my favorite marques and Nikola (zenox) has done a gorgeous job modeling the Aston Martin DB9 Volante using Blender. I just wish I could walk over, get in, and start her up – she looks ready to go! Thanks for including these Gallery renderings! [Nikola lives in Serbia & Montenegro]

Camaro was modeled by brettgr and uploaded in 3DS format. I love the color and the way the whole thing just looks right. Adding the driver profile makes the whole car seem so much more real!

Check out all the detail in CovOffice by Elliot (ElliotDS)! If you want to find someone in this office, it shouldn’t be hard using this great guide! Very effective modeling using CATIA V5.

Ali (alihussein) certainly knows what he’s doing using 3DVIA Shape! Classic Car is a great example of what can be accomplished! Great job! [Ali lives in Canada]

GPU Raytracing with 3DVIA Studio by Nicholas (nicovize) “demonstrates what kind of rendering is possible with 3DVIA Studio.” The full description at the Experience tells and then shows it all using 3DVIA Studio.

I just flat out love the proportions of Nucleo WIP by Marian. It’s not the most sinuous beast out there, but it just so chunky and muscular-looking. The color shows it off really well! Marian conjured it up using Google SketchUp. Thanks for including these Gallery renders too! [Marian lives in Romania]

1 Skinface 1 by bougrrr looks like quite the unhappy guy! I’m getting out of his way! It’s amazingly well-modeled using Bryce and Argile2.

Nikola (zenox) went from the svelte to the flat-out, in-your-face style with Inspiro Supercar Concept. It may not be your cup of tea, but it’s still hot to a lot of us. Things happen in an instant here on 3DVIA and Nikola has modified the Inspiro to become the Vikintador Supercar Concept. It is slightly different than the Inspiro shown here, but is fundamentally the same car. Nikola used Blender. Thanks again for including your Gallery renderings! [Nikola still lives in Serbia & Montenegro]

Shannon (sandman14) has applied really great graphics to his latest Sands MG1 Guitar. All of the construction details are there too. Shannon uses Google SketchUp to model his creations. [Shannon lives in the US]

Juggernaut Base Module by Alfred (alfredix) goes up yet another step up in detail! Check out all the control lines and suspension and, and, and…it’s just amazing! Alfred has been using AutoDESK Product Design Suite for his modeling and then translating everything into STEP format for uploading. Thanks for including your renderings in the Gallery. I just couldn’t get them to look right, so I used PhotoView 360 in SolidWorks to create these shots. [Alfred lives in Germany]

All right, I cheated and included two models in this one shot. Skylark Neptun Concept 1958 & Skylark Cruiser 1959 Sedan by Monty (Monty228 are so wonderful that I couldn’t make up my mind which one I liked the most, so I put them together. Monty painstakingly put together the models using Google SketchUp. I wanna’ go cruising and stop at the drive-up and enjoy all the ooohs and aaahs! [Monty lives in the Czech Republic]

I included another Experience because this Animation Test by jueca is just so darn good. Using 3DVIA Studio, this animation demonstrates what is going on when a certain stresses are applied to the assembly. There’s nothing like seeing it happen and having the deformation and stress levels build up right in front of you! Really a great example.

Just so everyone knows, the order that the Top 10 are displayed is based on color, type of model and how I’m feeling, not any particular ranking. I just rearrange them until I like the way it looks. It’s as simple as that!

Easy links to the previous Top 10 lists: 001 – 002 – 003 – 004 – 005 – 006 – 007 – 008 – 009 – 010 – 011 - 012 – 013 – 014 – 015 – 016 – 017 - 018 - 019 – 020 – 021 – 022 – 023 – 024 – 025 – 026 – 027 – 028 – 029 – 030 – 031 – 032 – 033 – 034 – 035 – 036 – 037 – 038 – 039 – 040 – 041 – 042 – 043 – 044 - 045 – 046 - 047 – 048 - 049 – 050 – 051 – 052 – 053 – 054 (seven weeks in one) – 055 – 056 – 057 – 058 – 059 – 060 – Best of the Best2009 – 061 – 062 - 063 - 064 - 065 – 066 - 067 – 068 – 069 – 070 – 071 – 072 – 073 – 074 – 075 – 076 – 077 – 078 – 079 – 080 – 081 – 082 – 083 – 084 – 085 – 086 – 087 – 088 – 089 – 090 – 091 – 092 – 093 – 094 – 095 – 096 – 097 – 098 – 099 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – Best of the Best 2010 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117

Here’s a brief recap of what I look for when I select the Top 10:

Variety – One of the most important factors. I try to show models created using lots of different software products and showing lots of different ways of using 3D. I include brief comments on why I chose each model.

Creativity, unusual subject matter and humor – These are big factors. We should all be having fun and feel free to model our passions!

Models entered in the 3DVIA Challenge contests will not be considered – They’re already getting plenty of attention and I want to spotlight models we may have missed.

There is no reward given – Other than the satisfaction of being noticed, spotlighted and being brought to the attention of more modelers. In my personal experience, the pleasure of having my work appreciated is the ultimate reward anyway.

From time to time I will make mistakes and not follow my own rules – I will review these mistakes on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes I will change the post and sometimes I won’t. I will be consistently inconsistent. I am human.

Your comments are always welcomed and encouraged! Your responses will help the modelers and the 3DVIA community as a whole. Feel free to bring other models to my attention and let me know why they attracted you.

(PLEASE NOTE: In order to make it easier to explore, all photos are linked directly to the model’s page.)

One final note of caution: these are my choices (dswavely) and my choices alone. So, aim the tomatoes appropriately.