How to make a car wheel

How to make a car wheel

Posted on 01. May, 2009 by Andrew Price in Modeling, Tutorials

The ultimate guide to creating a sexy car wheel in Blender.

Ever since 3d software was created, artists have hated the car wheel. The intricate detail combined with the circular shape make it one of the most difficult shapes to master. The tire in particular is so difficult that artists everywhere have invented new ways to fake it, like using a bumpmap, making it extra dark, applying motion blur, tilting the wheel, and the list goes on. But I think we can all agree: nothing beats the real thing. And that’s exactly what this tutorial is about: creating a wheel that is not only passable, but sexy.

I have broken this tutorial into two parts. Part 1 covers modelling and texturing a tire, and Part 2 is all about the rims.

Each part takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.

You will learn how to:

  • Use arrays effectively
  • Save time by mirroring
  • Make an object bend to a curve
  • Quickly unwrap a complex object

Part 1: Modelling & texturing the tire

You will need:
Tread texture
Sidewall texture (mirrored from cg-cars.com)

Ready? Let’s begin…

Well that’s the hard part done, now on to the shiny stuff :)

Part 2: Modelling the Rims

You will need:
BMW i325 wheel reference
BMW emblem

Let’s begin…

Finished! You now have a car wheel that you can proudly show in whatever scene you choose.

Download_the_sourcefile

If you got stuck at any point in this tutorial, drop a comment below and I’ll be happy to help!

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93 Responses to “How to make a car wheel”

  1. Silvio Cesar

    16. Mar, 2010

    heheheh, the best tire tutorial, congratulations and thank for textures, theys are welcome!!!!

    sorry the english!!!!

  2. Mo

    17. Mar, 2010

    the first video doesn’t work. am i doing sth wrong? or has someone the same problem?!

  3. Me

    18. Mar, 2010

    Yep, doesn’t work.

  4. glider521al

    19. Mar, 2010

    Could someone please fix the first video (it doesn’t load)
    :(

  5. celdrion

    21. Mar, 2010

    Doesn’t work here for me either, but you only have to klick on vimeo and you can watch it there. It looks like only the embedded video doesn’t work.

  6. loly pop

    21. Mar, 2010

    i cant resize idk why

  7. Wade

    09. Apr, 2010

    When I add a curve to the tire and name the object:Circle it doesn’t form to the circle! Can somebody help me please?!

  8. Moustafa

    09. Apr, 2010

    @Wade: The curve name must be the exact same as the object used for the curve.

    Also, it works better when the objects are close to one another.

  9. Wade

    09. Apr, 2010

    Never mind I got it =D

  10. francis

    10. Apr, 2010

    nice tutorial but have problem with the rim starting out,when I add a circle then hit side view I get a triangle in stead can anyone help me fix this problem

  11. francis

    26. Apr, 2010

    Have problem’s with two things, type curve circle and hit enter my wheel ends up on the x-axis in stead of the y and also can’t delet my curve circle or my whole project is gone when try. How do I fix these to things

  12. Shaun Blundell

    27. Apr, 2010

    Your a really intelligent and friendly guy, and one of the best tutorial makers i have seen. thumbs up!!!

  13. kenneth farrar 19

    30. Apr, 2010

    omg how to you add it to models

  14. Dorin

    02. May, 2010

    Great tutorial! Fantastic! Can anybody please tell me what is the name of the song?

  15. Kewl Luser

    03. May, 2010

    awesome tut – thanks Andrew!! =D

  16. Hugh

    11. May, 2010

    Anyway to download the entire tutorial? Don’t have web at home. Too far in the sticks.

  17. South African

    13. May, 2010

    Anyway to download the tutorial without your money being stolen by service provider. What you did is mor than and more than awesome,keep rocking

  18. BJ

    15. May, 2010

    Another awesome tutorial!
    But I don’t understand how to get the duplicate into the other layer (a so called backup at about 16:40min)?!
    Can anybody explain this to me?

    :)

  19. Another Fellow

    17. May, 2010

    To get the duplicate in the other layer, press m.
    A window will appear. Pick a box, any box, except the first box.

  20. dag

    18. May, 2010

    Why merging first and last vertices at 15:00 doesn’t work. Blender merges before it reads the curve modifier, so the first and last vertices don’t actually touch.

    Add an Empty. Move the curve modifier to the top of the stack. In array, turn off relative offset and turn on object offset. Enter the Empty’s name. Rotate the Empty until the tire closes.

    There’s also a bug in blender 2.49 where the mesh will get deformed if the curved mesh cross the Z axis, so it’s best to model the tire lying down, so you see the sidewall from top view, and the Z axis goes through the center without touching the tire.

  21. crbn8ed

    19. May, 2010

    Im severely new to this and it may be a stupid question, but how do you take the two drawings and put them together. Im assuming you draw them as different layers?

  22. Benny Walsh

    20. May, 2010

    Awesome set of videos, the only problem I have is that in the complete result video the tyre is spinning the wrong way for the directional tread LOL.

  23. none of ur buisness

    21. May, 2010

    2nd video wont load for me

  24. lol

    22. May, 2010

    Hey there, i finished the tire and the rim… I have a couple of quick questions. First of all, when i render the finished rim, all that shows up is the bmw logo. The other question was, in your comercial you show the rim on the tire.. how do you merge the two files, or do I have to build them both in the same file.. hope not :( .. thx

  25. Matias

    22. May, 2010

    Hi!

    Good tutorial, but how does this works in 2.5 Alpha 2?

  26. Matias

    22. May, 2010

    Oh, I apologize for this double posting, but I’ve almost forgotten that my question related to the tire texturing. =)

  27. Concepcion Price

    31. May, 2010

    Hehe am I honestly the only comment to your incredible writing.

  28. Andrew, Uganda

    04. Jun, 2010

    Hey Andrew, thanks alot for the tutorial. I followed it step by step and the result was incredible. I wish I could show you my result so you could be proud too but am sure you are.

  29. bigbuckblender

    06. Jun, 2010

    Parabéns ótimos tutoriais hein ;)

  30. big buck blender

    07. Jun, 2010

    daohra! consegui fazer! :D

    visitem também:::::::::::::) bigbuckblender.blogspot.com

  31. Graystone

    09. Jun, 2010

    Okay, this is really bothering me. Your render window has black buttons, the minimize, maximize, and close. How?

  32. Dibakar

    13. Jun, 2010

    The first video doesn’t work for 5 mins but after that there is only video….No sounds…!!!!!

  33. Matt Jordan

    24. Jun, 2010

    Great tutorial as always! I’m using it as a guide for making a film reel in 2.5. One problem I’m having is that my shadows are noisy at the edges. Anybody know what I might be doing wrong? You can see what I mean at this post at my blog:

    http://mattjordan.com/2010/06/23/reel-progress/

    Thanks!

  34. ZZ

    13. Jul, 2010

    Hi, thanks for the tutorial… but I have a problem…

    I am rather new to blender, and are using blender 2.5 beta…

    So as I was following your tutorial (which was using 2.49), I got lost at the UV mapping and texture/material setup…

    Any help is much appreciated…

    Thanks!

  35. Fabbe

    14. Jul, 2010

    First video doesnt really work. It loads but doesnt show anything and when i skip forward a few minutes there’s image but no sound =/

  36. ZZ

    14. Jul, 2010

    Fabbe: Can choose to watch it in vimeo instead… Should work fine there… =)

  37. Dave

    19. Jul, 2010

    Excellent, but, if you switched to face select mode to extrude the tread, you could have selected and extruded them all at once (keeping the height the same), and would not have had to delete and create the faces for the cuts.

  38. Andyvr

    19. Jul, 2010

    Hi, I’ve been watching a few of your tutorials lately. Very well made and easy to understand.

    Trying to do the bump map in blender 2.5 but for some reason it doesn’t just effect the side of the tire but all over the tire. Any ideas anyone?

  39. Dave

    20. Jul, 2010

    2.49 does not merge when you bend the tire to make a circle, and my render has lines. I increased the merge limit in the array modifier, but if you already applied the modifier, go to edit mode, and under mesh tools, you will find a remove doubles limit.

  40. David

    21. Jul, 2010

    Hey great tutorial! Helped me so much. My only question is that when I add the lattice modifier at the end, the lattice ends up INSIDE the tire and causes the tire to become a square with rounded corners. I have tried redoing it several times and this happens every time. Anyone know why this is happening and what to do about it?

    Thanks

  41. Shahid Iqbal

    23. Jul, 2010

    This is Shahid Iqbal,can i be a master of car making as it is my wish iam found to do so.

  42. Armin

    25. Jul, 2010

    excellent tutorial but i have one problem when i made tyre i can see through my tyre when i look inside

  43. Armin

    25. Jul, 2010

    Im sorry for double posting here’s my picture
    http://img409.imageshack.us/i/tyre.jpg/

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