Metallic Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa (Lestis)) - Poly Modeling

A screen capture of my poly modeling session - the old fashioned way.

Initial tests for the Iridescent Bee Shader
First something super simple - Fall off curves for red green and blue. I was trying to match some photo reference of an iridescent beetle - reference image sourced from here - HERE

 

Second - a test render using "Thin Film Interference". This is a work in progress but I like the general direction its going. More hair and some modeling tweeks are obviously needed. Photos of the actual bees can be found HERE. They're quite pretty. 

Shader test renders:

Wires:

 To be continued...