Model a High-Poly Car Wheel in 3ds Max – Day 1

Oct 12th in 3D Art, Autodesk 3Ds Max by Ben Tate

The wheels are an often overlooked, but extremely important element in perfecting the look of any car, and the many techniques and tools needed to properly build them can be applied to nearly any hard surface modeling project. In this intermediate/ advanced level video tutorial, you will learn how to model a detailed high-poly car wheel from blueprints.

Author: Ben Tate

Ben is a 29 year old self taught 3D Modeler and general CG Artist, living in Victoria BC Canada. He got into the CG field about six years ago, and his primary focus is modeling hard surface objects and props. Over the last few years his skillset has expanded to include UV mapping, texturing, lighting, and rendering, as well as some digital sculpting and basic VFX knowledge. Check out some more examples of Ben's work on his website http://www.bentateonline.com.

This tutorial is Day 1 in a series - Go to Day 2

One this, the first day of the series, we will will create the rim for the wheel. First, we will study a tried and true method of setting up a blueprint, and learn to make an animated x-ray material. Then, we will jump into modeling, where you will learn a wide variety of tools and techniques, both low and high, to complete the final sub-d model.

You can download the Rim blueprint image here: http://cgtuts.s3.cdn.plus.org/062_Max_CarRim/Rim_Blueprint.jpg

Final Effect Preview

Video 1

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Note: click the 'Monitor' icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Video 2

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Note: click the 'Monitor' icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

This tutorial is Day 1 in a series - Go to Day 2

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User Comments

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Abojung October 12th

hmmm…does it look familiar
http://www.3dvalley.com/tutorials/modeling-a-car-rim-in-3d-studio-max
( Reply )
1. Nick Post October 12th
  
  It’s not the same as the one from 3d valley. Spokes are less and the Rim is from the 2009/2010 Camaro.
  I already found this tutorial a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was well explained, and the outcome was good enough for use in game!
  Great tut, Ben! Thanx!
  ( Reply )
  1. Ben Tate October 12th
    
    Thanks Nick, Glad you liked it
Kaj October 12th

The Rim design is not the same. And they workflow isn’t even close to that one from 3dvalley.
( Reply )
1. Abojung October 12th
  
  aite…just wamted to make sure b4 downloading it
  ( Reply )
2. Ben Tate October 12th
  
  Yeah, it’s a completely different rim and workflow
  ( Reply )
Marley October 12th

Nice details…thankssss
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 12th
  
  Thanks Marley, appreciate it
  ( Reply )
andi October 12th

where the spokes join the rim could be better, they would join with a curve instead of intersecting
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 12th
  
  You could join the spokes to the rim. I’ve done that on other rims I’ve modeled. In this particular case I decided against it because it really wasn’t necessary. It would have raised the poly count even higher and the final result would have pretty much looked the same. It really depends on the rim’s design, whether you’ll have to have a continuous mesh or not.
  ( Reply )
JNothing October 12th

Why even bother trying to make $150 on someone else’s work?
This is just cheesing up the community here. Workflow or not… there are soooo many tuts for rims online. Why bother? Oh yeah.. the economy sucks and you needed $150 for 2hrs work.
( Reply )
1. Abojung October 12th
  
  could you be more harsh?
  ( Reply )
2. John Doe October 12th
  
  If you don’t like it don’t watch it dick.
  ( Reply )
3. Ben Tate October 12th
  
  John Doe – I Couldn’t agree more!
  JNothing – I’m not sure how I’m exactly making money off of someone else’s work. The techniques used are my own, and ones that I have developed over years of modeling. As far as a money grab. I’ve been putting out tutorials for the last five years, all of which are free. I’ve never made any money off of them, I simply released them in an attempt to help people out. This is the first tut I’ve ever been paid for. You’re naive to think that this tutorial took me only two hours. I spent a lot of time on it, and I believe the techniques are solid and can be applied to almost any other hard surface model.
  If there are soooo many rim tuts out there, then why did you bother to watch it. Did you even watch it? or did you just feel the need to post a useless comment because you have nothing better to do. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Simple as that.
  ( Reply )
  1. nour el-islam November 17th
    
    i can feel what did you feel ben you are right , if there is hendred of car rim tut you can simbit your tut wich contain your methods and your techniques.
4. Conrad January 11th
  
  seriously … it’s comments like those and guys like you who bring negativity to the Creative community. Be more positive dude! There is enough negativity in the world as it it … yours is DEFINITELY NOT REQUIRED.
  Nice tut Ben. Mucho apprecaido!
  ( Reply )
Ben Tate October 12th

If anyone wants the blueprint image to use. You can find it here:
http://www.bentateonline.com/Images/Rim_Blueprint.jpg
( Reply )
Kaleb Aylsworth October 12th

@JNothing – These types of comments are destructive and inappropriate. As mentioned already, it doesn’t matter if there are a hundred “Rim” tutorials out there, Ben put together an extremely well explained tutorial, that uses a workflow and techniques that are unique to his methods. After all, the important thing in a tutorial its the workflow and techniques and not the subject matter.
( Reply )
Pixel09 October 12th

nice!
well done.
Man! you Camaro looks terrific >
So what’s next?
Are u gonna record a tutorial modeling the car?????
LOL
That would be fantastic .
Thanks a lot
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 12th
  
  Thanks man!
  Doing the full Camaro might be a little too long for a tutorial. LOL, That model took me probably 40-50 hours to finish! That being said, there might just be a tire modeling tut in the works:)
  ( Reply )
Nick October 14th

This Tuts is really nice, great job Ben u are great dont mind what anybody says get on with your great tuts.
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 16th
  
  Thanks a lot Nick, appreciate it!
  ( Reply )
matthias October 16th

Will there be a tutorial of modeing the Tire?
Would be nice.
Matthias.
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 16th
  
  Yes, the tire tutorial’s in the works and should be coming soon!
  ( Reply )
seher October 21st

Nice details…thankssss
( Reply )
x3lumin8x October 21st

Very good tut! You explain everything very clearly. Your portfolio is quite amazing also. Thank you very much.
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 25th
  
  Thanks a lot!!
  ( Reply )
cron October 24th

reupload the videos please
( Reply )
Igor October 25th

Hi Ben great work thank you
Can i ask you about the final effect preview?
How did you made model of rim to look like in blender i mean the colors
Have you used some special shader for it? or it is just blue material color and light effect
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 25th
  
  The final effect preview above is actually just a screen cap from the perspective view in Max. I first applied a black color to all the objects, then assigned a standard material with the diffuse color set to a light grey. Then turn on ‘edged faces’ in the viewport by pressing F4. I have one vray plane light on each side of the rim, one has a mid blue color and other has a light orange color. I also have two omni lights in front of the rim. Both have a dark blue color with a low multiplier. Finally I have a large plane drawn out behind the rim with a dark grey shader applied to it…. I hope that makes sense! LOL
  ( Reply )
  1. Igor October 26th
    
    Thank you Ben
    >I hope that makes sense! LOL
    yes it make sens because it look very nice, more professional
    Thanks again
Phuong October 27th

Hi Ben. I tried to apply the blueprint to the plane and it turned out like this http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8949/71169835.jpg
The lines aren’t shown clearly at all. Ive never had this problem before. I’m not sure what’s going on there : /. Do you know what could be causing that?
Thx in advance!
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 28th
  
  Hey Phuong. It looks to me like Max’s display driver bitmap resolution is set to a low amount. Try changing the resolution by going to: Customize>Preferences>Viewport>Display Driver and change the ‘Background Texture Size’ and “Download Texture Size’ to the highest levels available, also check both boxes for ‘ Match Bitmap Size as Closely as Possible”. Then restart Max and reload the blueprint image into the material editor and re-apply it to the plane.
  I took a screen cap so you can see what mine looks like.
  Screen Shot
  http://www.bentateonline.com/Images/Adjust_Bitmap_Res.jpg
  Other then that, I can’t really think of any other suggestions, I haven’t had that problem before myself.
  Hope this helps,
  Ben
  ( Reply )
  1. Phuong October 28th
    
    Wow thanks for the fast reply. I tried what you said and it’s working now. I would never have figured that out myself.
    Thank you so very much for this awesome tut and the time you spent to answer my question in such details XD. You’re great! Just can’t thank you enough XD
rafay October 27th

hi
i have downloaded this tutorial but when i open the file my monitor
turns into black color screen.. only i can listen voice.. not video
what can i do?
my monitor screen resolution is 1280X1024
( Reply )
Henri October 29th

Hi Ben I’m a second year college student. During my first year all we did in my 3ds class was a movie of a bouncing ball. What a ripped off.
Thank god we have a new teacher 100 times better than our previous one.
We are now doing modeling toys, and the toy I picked was a super bike. I’ve been looking a lot of tutorial online and tonight I’m so lucky to find your. I find this is the best tut I’ve come accross so far that. A great tutorial that I can apply to my model. This tut is very clear with shortcut and explaination. From this tutorial that you put up, teaches me more that my first teacher for the whole term. I like your spirit of helping others thanks a lot Ben
Cheers
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 31st
  
  Hey Henri,
  LOL, that really sucks about the bouncing ball:) But I’m glad to hear that you have a new teacher and that this tut will help you out on your super bike project. Thanks so much for your great comments. I really appreciate it!
  ( Reply )
max October 31st

I am downloading this tut.From the preview image ,i can see the edges are not in flow.I mean that the star shaped piece is not attached with the cylinder.Most of the rim i came across be in a single piece with all those spokes.Will it be ok to do so for animating???thx
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate October 31st
  
  Hey Max,
  Yes, you should be able to animate it with no problems. After you have modeled the spokes and rim, you can attach them together as one object. (Delete the turbosmooth from each piece first before attaching them, then re-apply it). If you would rather not attach them, you can also group them or link them together. You’d probably have to do this anyway, so the tire and lug nuts will rotate along with the rim when animated.
  ( Reply )
  1. max November 29th
    
    thx ben….
tiptop234 November 17th

great work! I’ve seen you how u make thing very easy in other tuts and I knew that this one will be great too ^^
( Reply )
1. Ben Tate January 10th
  
  Thanks a million
  ( Reply )
Andrew November 17th

You do a looptiloop and pull, and your shoes are lookin’ cool.
Thanks Ben!
( Reply )
MindsEye December 6th

Really nice and easy to understand tut…. I learned a lot of stuff that i never really had a grasp on before… ring for one…
Nice work, good karma coming your way for helping others w/o charging. I am trying to model a product that is to be molded from one piece of plastic and it goes into itself and back out again… making me totally crazy. With this new knowledge perhaps it will work now… hard to say… I will try tho!
///MindsEye
( Reply )
JP December 11th

A great help!
This is how all tutorials ought to be, detailed explainations for the rookies and inspiring unique techniques for advanced users.
Keep up the good work.
( Reply )
emilio December 15th

excelente…. awesome tut bro…greetings from mexico
( Reply )
jeff December 25th

hey ben, i really found this tutorial very interesting, and very detailed, but i need ur help in something, i am facing a problem when i want to model a car, the problem is setting the blueprints, when i put the blueprints in max, and start working on the car, after switching from the top view to the front view or side, the vertex that i worked on in the top view are not in the same place that i want them to be when i work in the front view…..
so all i want from you is to explain to me how do u set the blueprints in the correct position in all the views, so i can work correctly on modeling the car.
( Reply )
Ben Tate January 10th

Thanks for the comments guys!! I’m glad to hear everyone’s happy with the tutorial and finding it easy to follow I hope you’re all getting good results!
( Reply )
David Christie January 16th

Hey Ben,
This is a great simple tutorial, Thanks so much for the upload.
Also had a look at your updated website, Looking Sweet!!!
( Reply )
dparks February 3rd

Thanks for an alternate workflow for rim modeling – much appreciated!!!
Look forward to your tire-ture – regardless of what immature haters post, you can NEVER have too many tutorials or ideas to work from.
Keep up the awesome work!
( Reply )
Luke S February 6th

Great tut Ben! 3DS just taught me a lesson, was going along with the tutorial fine, adding a support edge and boom! 3DS has crashed, it said it saved it, and it did, opened it and bam only the blueprint. Damn, I don’t go well with technology
( Reply )
Luke S February 7th

Was lucky, found a backup for it, heres my finished model. Time to start on the Tire now. (Excuse the background and lighting, I don’t know how to really do this yet, just modeling at the moment. Waiting for Ben to do one )
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/470/tirerimc.jpg
( Reply )