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Share via E-mailIn this tutorial you will discover:
- Use arrays effectively
- Save time by mirroring
- Make an object bend to a curve
- Quickly unwrap a complex object
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 is so difficult that artists have invented new ways to fake it, like using a bumpmap, making it extra dark, applying motion blur and tilting the wheel. 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 just passable, but good looking!
I have broken this tutorial into two parts. Part 1 covers modelling and texturing a tire, and Part 2 is all about the rims.
Part 2: Modelling the Rims
Finished Result
Resources:
- Tread texture
- Sidewall texture (mirrored from cg-cars.com)
- BMW i325 wheel reference
- BMW emblem
Finished! You now have a car wheel that you can proudly show in whatever scene you choose.
If you got stuck at any point in this tutorial, drop a comment below and ask for help!
Download the finished .blend
Just a couple of update notes:
This tutorial works perfectly in 2.56 and 2.57. I’ve done it in both.
The array, curve, and mirror functions are all fine.
There are subtle changes to how transformations are mapped (e.g. via modifiers), but the user has to determine the axis of transformation anyway. No tutorial can relieve me of knowing how to relate axes between objects in my own project.
It’s true, the orientation of objects under transformation, and used for transformation, has been changed slightly (I think). So, yeah, in the Rim Modeling tutorial, the empty mapped differently than in the vid. I had to use a different axis.
The lattice modifier seems to have changed, and I’m working that out right now, to get the pooch in the tire, under weight. Maybe a lattice won’t work anymore. Or maybe I have a check box clicked somewhere to preapply the lattice shape? Whatever. I completed the tutorial, both tire and rim, on 2.56 and 2.57 with no difficulties whatever.
The point is
To Posters Having Problems With Array and Curve:
With object 1 transforming object 2, you have to know what coordinate space is being used for the transform. For example, if you rotate a plane in OBJECT mode, it carries a coordinate space with it. Say it’s your dining room table. Up is the celing. Tip the table on its side, (Rotation in Object mode) and the TOP of the table now faces left.
If you rotate the plane in EDIT mode, you change the internal definition of “TOP”. The same rotation in Edit mode tells Blender your table is still upright, but has a different shape. Your table looks the same as one tipped on its side, but YOUR table is upright.
Any time you use an object for transformation, you have to take this into account. There are two ways to do this:
1. build a matrix of local and global xyz-uvw, r and theta coordinates, or
2. let the computer do it, and shuttle through the axes until you hit the right combination.
It helps if, whenever possible, we add and edit objects locked to an orthographic global axis. Andrew has done this in this tutorial. If you follow it exactly,
the correct transformation axis will always be one of the blue buttons in the modifier panel, just not necessarily the same one he says.
I think these tutorials are exceptional. Most of the comments here are asking for things that I do not believe belong here. To answer them would stalemate the whole purpose of the tutorials. The same questions, round in circles, every time blender increments a revision number.
And, unfortunately, the blender documentation is horrific. Bulky, uninformative, scattered. I understand being in front of a new version, and having no idea where to look when something goes wrong. I’m doing it right now. And I’m new. Built my first 3D model less than a month ago. The all-hotkey-and-no-floating-panel paradigm is and totally alienating to a new user. Core tools change function, and figuring out how to handle it is frustrating.
Now.
Blender is free, and open source. Our opinions about these difficulties are important, and can be talked through in the user forums.
Andrew’s tutorials are incomparably more valuable to me than the time I spent hunting down keymaps to each release version. I don’t think this is the proper place to ask for assistance with widgets and modifers. I do not want him to address these issues in future tutorials.
My english is bad ! Don’t worry, I’m french !
IMPORTANT :
If the link don’t works between the object and CurveCircle, it’s not because a misunderstanding. You could see an exploded object. In this case, each part ( array part ) isn’t linked like an independant part.
AT ARRAY STEP DON’T FORGET TO ACTIVE BUTTONS :
“MERGE”
“FIRST LAST”
It’s resolving the probleme !
wow nice tut but only thing i see is if i want to use this for a game its too high poly at least for my slow comp i mean 60k+ polys for 4 tires with no rims my bmw complete car has 1200 faces lol anyways thanks for the tip to make a realistic photo type tire
ps your animation is nice just one thing i noticed when its going forward the tread is going backwards peace out
look this is what i made with your tutorial…
http://ricaxe.deviantart.com/art/Wheel-210665919
thanks
Great Tutorial!!
I`m kinda new to blender(1-1.5 months) but when i found this tutorial i put aside all my beginner “projects” and started doing this one:).
So here`s my try at it. Still has some issues though.
Blender 2.5. Had(/Having) some trouble with UV mapping the sidewall texture but being a noob i like it like this aswell.:)
Ooops.
Here it is.
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/2719/wheelc.jpg
Thanks, here’s mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-k9-t7HFKU
I just started using Blender for school and this looks really cool. I’m going to try to do this for my final project. Although, I doubt it will take me only 25 minutes to make it. Does it take long to render the whole sequence for to make the video?
Thanks for the tutorial.
Made these in 2.58.
I couldnt really get the shiny crome look, it doesnt seem to work so easily in this version, but after a few hours of figureing out the different menu setup, it all worked well.
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z359/aus2mike/badyeartyreorange.jpg
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z359/aus2mike/badyeartyre2.jpg
just a quick tip, if using 2.5+, the modeling of the tire tread is much easier to use face select to extrude instead of extruding vertices and creating new faces where there are missing.
@ Mario D’Anna, did you select the tread and add the curve modifier with the bezier circle as the object, then change the Deformation axis to -Y?
Nice work! it’s funny how serious you sound in this tutorial compared to your newer ones.
Hi,
The blend file appears to be AWOL
“Error 404 – Page not found!”
couldn’t you have just gone into face select mode and selected all of the faces instead of the vertices so you didn’t have to make the cuts?
I think that you have to re-upload your finished .blend. Because there’s 404 error when I wanna download it. And can I make that wheel with Blender 2.5?
Sorry for the broken download link. It’s been fixed now.
Great tutorial !! And actually is more simple than i tough, just one question please, in the new blender 2.6 i cant make the bump map, i cant find how, if you could help me i will eternally grateful
So far in version 2.6, I’ve done everything correct on the Rim Modeling up to the Array Modifier. I follow all the steps but the results are not the same as yours. The only way I’ve been able to get the parts to match the reference image is to apply the Mirror Modifier. Once I start the Array Modifier, then I run into trouble. I turn off Relative Offset go into top view, create an empty, Push Control E and do what you show us all the way to the part where we select Object Offset and select Empty. Then I get stumped. The results are different.
Steven-
What does your model look like when you run into trouble? Your offsets should be x=0.00, y=1.00, z=0.00. I had to set my axis to -y. I breezed through this part (but got stuck texturing) so maybe I can help you work through it.
Damn my enthusiasm to be helpful! I see now you’re stuck modeling the rim. I haven’t got that far, I thought you were still modeling the tire. In that case, you’re well ahead of me. Did you get the Goodyear texture to stick to your model? I’m still stuck on that.
It’s Ctrl+A, not E.
Hey, Andrew!
I’m struggling to get the UV texture to appear as it does in the tut. I’m using 2.6, and it seems like the steps to apply a texture are a little different than when you put this together.
Specifically from 20:00-21:00 in the video has me stymied. Here’s what I’ve done:
1. Created a new texture with the Goodyear image as the image source.
2. Pushed a whole bunch of buttons to get the texture to appear on the model.
3. Went for a run.
My render (I’m using cycles, by the way) doesn’t show the texture, as it does in 22:11 of the video. It seems like I’m missing some key step that applies the texture to the model.
The tut up to this point has worked great, thank you very much for helping so many people get into Blender!
-Mark
Hi,
How do i center the cursor in 2.6?
SHIFT+S
I figured it out, I think. I don’t entirely understand why it works yet. I used nodes to connect “Image Texture” to “Materials Out –>Displacement”. I’m also using Cycles, and it looks pretty cool.
Hello,
since I’m using 2.6 I have to spend hours for just looking for the same commands, but most of the time I’ll get them except for one part at the rim tutorial.
This is a screenshot of what I’m getting http://i.imgur.com/08CpN.gif ; I think I’m doing something wrong after I add the Empty and have to push Ctrl-A: when I push it and select one of the items it does absolutely nothing.
I hope somebody could help me,
kind regards.
You probably all know the moment you ask something and after one minute it magically works? Well yeah I pulled it off -_-
Had to set my origin to my cursor and had some luck with the scaling.
Hi. How to make your own tread for tyre?
This tutorial brought me into the Blender’s world about a two years ago, I was a noob at these times…. Today I’m nearly a Pro 3D artist and this in a 95% thanks to Andrew and his superb teaching skills.
Just a tip—the first time I tried to follow this I totally hosed everything up and had to start again. if you set up the array modifier *first*, using just the wheel nut holes for alignment, you could catch the mistakes I made right up front.