Model a High-Poly Car Wheel in 3ds Max – Day 2

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series High-Poly Car Wheel

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 to advanced level video tutorial, you will learn how to model a detailed high-poly car wheel from blueprints.

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

On the first day of the series we created the rim for the wheel, and now, on Day 2, we will model the tire. First, we will start by modeling a small piece of tileable tread, and then clone and position the piece to create a full strip that we will later modify into the tire’s final shape. Next, we will do some quick UV’s, and add a bump map to get more detail out of the model, and finally, we will do a quick render, and discuss some important points to remember when working with tileable pieces and bump maps.

You can download the Tire blueprint image here: http://d2d04grx5ahzvh.cloudfront.net/062_Max_CarRim/Rim_Blueprint.jpg

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This tutorial is Day 2 in a series – Start at the beginning. Go to Day 1

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Discussion 43 Comments

  1. aMies says:

    Amazing tutorial! I never realized just how easy it was!

  2. akshat says:

    you made this so simple great thanks

  3. Igor says:

    Thank you, it is really good tutorial

  4. Mizanur Rahman says:

    i am very happy see your v tutorial, it is grate tutorial for me on request when you finish a architectural exterior and inferior decorative model and finish with v-ray render pl send the link my e-mail. i don’t know how to reduce rendering time an architectural project. Thank you very much.

  5. Ben Tate says:
    Author

    Thanks a lot guys!

    I’m glad to hear everyone is finding the tut easy to follow and I hope everyone is getting good tire models out of it!

  6. rafay says:

    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?

  7. david says:

    Well done Ben you are a master.
    I may try to transfer the technique over to May and see if I can do it

  8. Hildevar says:

    Great tut… nice model…

  9. Rune Egeland says:

    Great tut, ive been following your tutorials on your web page, they are all great. Love your brothers tuts too.

  10. neeraj says:

    thanks for this great tutorial….

  11. __ALI__ says:

    thanks for this its very help full for me

    nice tutorials collection in cg.tutsplus.com

  12. Hi there Ben,
    I have been looking around for both a good rim tut and a good tire tut, and I`ll have to say yours are by far the best. They`re detailed, well explained, constructive AND your models are both stylish too. Folowing these tuts made me a better 3D artist, I`ve learned methods and techniques I never used before ThnX for that.

    Here is what I made, I hope you don’t mind the details I added.
    I`ve made a center piece that covers the whole center and I made the spokes a diferent color from the rim. Please feel free to comment on my model.

    • Ben Tate says:
      Author

      Hey Elveryle, Sorry for the late reply and thanks for the great comments! I really appreciate it:) I’m happy to hear that you found both tutorials helpful and that you picked up a few new techniques. I took a look at your model and it looks great, really nice work! I like the extra detail you added to the center portion as well as the rivet details you added to the inside of the rim. The contrast between the light and dark materials is a nice touch and gives it more pop! One again, great work!!

      • Elveryle jansen says:

        I`m glad to hear that i`ve done a good job on the models, It means a lot coming from you. I`ll let you in on a little secret that makes me even more proud, I`m just dong 3D as a hobby and have never had real training. All I`ve learned so far I did by folowing tuts.

  13. elveryle jansen says:

    lol I`m verry sorry for the double post, I never saw the “your comment is awaiting moderation” until AFTER I posted my question.

  14. John.B says:

    very nice tutorials ben, you are a master. I’ve learned so much. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work:)

  15. Custombuilt says:

    This is an amzing tutorial!! Both Day 1 and Day 2!! Just wondering if maybe you wouldn’t mind uploading the bump map image for the oudside of the tyre as well? As I’m not all that good with photoshop. Also, just an idea, day 3 for this tutorial could designed to show how to create a realistic tyre texture for the tyre itself, as well as a realistic chrome texture for the rim… just to make it feel more complete I guess. Either way, totally awesome tutorial!!

    • Ben Tate says:
      Author

      Hey man, Thanks a lot for the comments! Glad to hear that you liked both tutorials :) You can download the bump map here:
      http://www.bentateonline.com/Images/CGTuts_Tire_Bump.jpg

      As for adding a day 3…I’m sorry to say I won’t really be able to do that. I’m already working on a new tutorial that will cover modeling, mapping and texturing, I also have another complex multi-part modeling tut being published soon….Plus with the way the tire was modeled. I would probably just use a simple procedural rubber material as well as a simple procedural chrome…. So it’s safe to say it wouldn’t be that exciting, and probably not that helpful to watch :)

      Thanks and sorry again,
      Cheers!

  16. Ben Tate says:
    Author

    Thanks a lot guys :)

  17. Luke S says:

    Hey Ben, just applied the bump map to it, resized etc but its showing it back to front, how do I flip it?

  18. Luke S says:

    Never mind heres my finished result, tried my best to set up lighting + background as I could following Ben but he did go pretty quick. Not sure why I didn’t get any shadows at the back.

    http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3961/hd720finished.jpg

  19. ashwini says:

    hey niceeeeeeeeeeeee workk

  20. Bhanu says:

    Great tutorial ! If u have some v ray Interior rendring tutorial plz

    upload it…….

  21. Ryan says:

    Wow! Great Tut. Ben thanks so much! I found myself saying “wow, I never would have thought about doing it that way.” over and over again for both the rim and tread tut. I learned a lot; and thanks again.

  22. Chilli says:

    Wow Ben, Thank for these tutorials and taking away my fear of the 3d world.
    You have just unlocked a new dimension for me.
    You have a great skill in teaching. Many thanks again.

  23. Robin says:

    Great tutorials Ben, done your missile launcher, rim and now working on the tire. My 3d skills has improved quite alot over the last week just by following your tutorials. Thanks alot:)

  24. MochiGon says:

    Good tutorial!
    I hope to see the tutorial – modeling a car by you.
    Your tutorials are very understandable tutorials.
    Thanks!)))

  25. chasly says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSHW1aX1xA8

    My result for everyone who wanna use it !!

  26. Kyle says:

    Great tut. I’m following it to help create a realistic vehicle for UDK. Given that the game engine isn’t happy with n-gons, I’ll have to do a bit more work at the chamfer stage to prevent them or cleanup the geometry.

    In any case, at 12:15 when you do the chamfer, the non-quad edges are highlighted in your viewport. What are you using to display tri’s / n-gons in the viewport?

  27. tuyen says:

    Xin chào BenTate tôi là người việt Nam tôi xem video của anh và tôi rất là thích và học hỏi được nhiều tuy tôi không nghe được tiếng anh nhưng tôi vẫn cố gắng xem và làm theo dể học hỏi cám ơn nhiều mong có nhiều bài moderling – tutorials

  28. neil kenneth says:

    ben tate is simply the best ! how i wished he can also share some of his setting ! for max!

  29. neil kenneth says:

    thanks for helping us newbie ben! thumbs up

  30. Shaun Blundell says:

    Simply the best 3ds max Tyre Tutorial!

    Thanks Alot Mate!.

    Shaun.

  31. Shaun says:

    Fantastic Just Finished it , it was so helpful

  32. Sanketh says:

    great tutorial dude..:)

  33. Sweetangel says:

    Thank you so much for this :D here’s how mine turned out under a cadillac eldorado from 1960 :3
    Link

  34. Erik says:

    I really surprised that I finally found tuts like what you’ve done. I appreciate it.

    Awesome guys!!! You make me love 3ds max much more.

  35. ken says:

    Thanks so much.

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