There was a time when creating a car paint shader in 3D was more art than it was science. You old-timers will remember creating super complex layered shaders back in the day when physically plausible rendering was still new.
how to create general CarPaint shaders in Autodesk Maya 2017 and the new integrated MtoA plugin
The problem to solve, is the fact that car-paint is made up of many, many coats of paint on top of an ultimately metallic surface. Gloss on top of flakes, on top of paint, on top of metal — Each reflecting and refracting light differently than the layer before it.
These days it is much easier with PBR materials and workflows, along with shaders that can handle complex materials such as car paint.
Arvid has been posting an entire 101 course, getting new Arnold users up to speed with the MtoA suite in Autodesk Maya 2017. Here, Lighting TD Arvid Schneider has a look at creating three different car paint shaders in Maya 2017, with the Arnold Renderer, using alShaders’ alFlake. Watch how Arvid creates a basic car paint shader, a flaked metallic one, and a Pearlescent one.