I wouldn't want to be the one pulling the key on this...

A low-angle shot of the R2-D2 I did for the Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary. Modeled in Rhino from both original blueprints and on-site measurements taken of 3 original R2's at the Lucasfilm archives at Skywalker Ranch. Most of the textures came from high-resolution photos taken of the originals as well; primarily from a single R2 for consistency in wear/dirt coloring, etc.

The background is geometry, as well, again modeled in Rhino, and like R2, textured in Maya, and rendered with Maxwell Render with Glare function applied. There is no post-work of any kind on this image; this is straight out of render. Render time was approximately 6 hours at full res.

Although not seen here, this R2 features the full compliment of internal mechanics, arms, etc., as required for the Visual Dictionary exploded view of R2, all the modeling taking about 3 weeks, with another 4 weeks for texturing and lighting.