Featured: Creating Alloy Wheels in MAX by Dave3D

[Dave_3d]

Hi Guys,

I created a set of Rims tonight using the same method as I outlined in the other thread. I will be showing how I made them here - just getting screen grabs - but here is a little teaser of the Rims I will show you how to make...

This tutorial (amongst others) also available on my website : http://www.dmmultimedia.com/3dtips_01.htm



This Tutorial must not be reproduced in any form without prior consent.

Dave

[Dave_3d]

OK - Part 1 building the centre of the BBS Alloy.

It would be best if you read my other thread to get an idea of what I will be doing - I will probably not repeat some moves and move quite quickly.

If you want to model along, the REF pic is available HERE. It is ready to use directly in the viewport background - been processed in Photoshop.

With the Ref pic loaded, again make a plane and convert to an Editable Poly. Move the pivot point to 0,0,0 and make sure the vertices on the left hand side are all at x=0. Also add a straight line spline (using the Snap Toggle) draw from the centre 0,0,0 out. Then rotate this 18 degrees - (360 /10 spokes)/2 .



Keep modelling the edges out, keeping the edges within the boundaries - also put a little sweep back to the spoke as it goes to the outer rim - you will see this clearer in the later pics, but do it now as you create new edges up the spoke ! Just move each new set of vertices a little back.





Always draw some circular guides (centred at 0,0,0) so that the outer rim will be round ! When you have finished modelling with the vertices of the rim touching the guides, select the edges that need to be extruded, and the first extrude can be quite large to keep a nice smooth shape to the spokes. Then extrude a couple more times.



For the centre of the rim it is again IMPORTANT that you use a circular spline guide. You can then just adjust the circumference to match the new edges as you create them.



Also as you create each new edge go to a side view and pull the selected edges back until you get the sweeping shape.



This will give us a shape like this :



Now add the Symmetry modifier :



And the Turbosmooth modifier :



You can adjust edges here to get a deeper dish etc.

Now add an Array with these parameters :



Next installment I will show how to create the outside rim and centre cap, then the texturing.

Dave

[Dave_3d]

Nice rim, Genghiskhan. What method did you use - I don't know the method you said ? I like the offset bolt holes - nice attention to detail

Dave

[Dave_3d]

PART 2 - The Centre Cap.

This section will show you the construction of the large bolt-like centre cap for the BBS Rim.

First start with creating a simple Cylinder in the front view port with the parameters as shown - then convert to Editable Poly :



Select the middle edge (nearest the top of the cap) - do this by selecting one edge and then Loop. Move this back close to the lower middle edge :



Go to the side view and select all the lower vertices as shown, and Hide Selected :



Back in the front view select two vertices (Crl and select) at a time and move them so that they start to resemble the bolt effect (that is why I chose the amount of sides ). Leave the centre vertices alone :



When finished it should look like this :



In the perspective view select the edges shown and then Loop :



Chamfer these edges :



We need an extra loop on the upper part - so select the edge shown and then Ring :



With all the edges still selected use Connect :



This will create a new edge, move it closer to the top pf the cap as shown :



Select the upper edge (select an edge then loop) lock this selection (normally the space bar) and then Scale this selection a little as shown :



In the side view, unhide all the vertices - then select the upper vertices and move them doen to the bottom of the cap :



With a Turbosmooth modifier it will now look like :



For a finishing touch I also modified the ring of edges on the cap top to give a recess for the BBS badge. You can do this by selecting the untouched edges on the cap top and chamfering (to get more edges) and scaling, then moving the outer set outwards a little and the inner sets (and centre vertice ) backwards a little. I got this :



You can also see that I placed a UVW Map on the cap, and used a blend material, with a chrome mat in the upper slot and a darker flat colour in the lower slot. I used this map (1.3 Mb Tiff) which I created for the mix map. I will explain my settings in a later section for the setup of the chrome textures. But this should let you create the badge like below :



Next step creating the outer rim, rim bolts - then texturing.

Dave

[Genghiskhan]

my method to make my rim in cinema4D is in french " a l'arrache " :buttrock:

i make blueprint ohf rim in illustrator and i create a polygon object

i create and place point and i use the "bridge" tool to create surfaces.


Handmade solution :buttrock:

[Shortricci]

What versions of 3ds max is the Turbosmooth modifier in?

[Dave_3d]

I think Turbosmooth is in 7 up.

But you can use Meshsmooth. Basically the same thing but with more options to edit vertices etc. turbosmooth just has less overheads.

Genghiskhan : Nicely done. Perhaps you could also show us how you did it ?

Dave

[Shortricci]

Okay, can't wait for the next step!

Cheers.

[Dave_3d]

Part 3. The Rim and Bolts.

This is quite a short section - pretty straightforward

First switch to the side view and draw the outline shape of your rim using the Spline - Line tool - close the loop. This is now entirely up to you what your rims will look like - I've tried to get an authentic BBS Shape.

Edit the vertices to get the shape you want. because we are still in the y=0 plane we can Insert more vertices if we need them.

Switch to the Pivot - Edit Pivot Only and move the pivot point so that z=0 :



Thsi will look like this in the perspective view :



Add a Lathe modifier. It should already be in the correct plane for rotation but if not you can change it on the Lathe panel under Direction. The Segments value is set to 100 - you can alter this to get the refinement you need.



Now the little rivets that surround the rim. I created these from a Cylinder which I turned into an Editable Poly. Just move the edges about and chamfer until you get this shape.

Make sure that this rivet is at x=0 then slide it up and down on the z plane until it is on the rim (push back forward in the y plane also).



I added a Turbosmooth modifier to it. But you could just select all the polygons and make them the same smooth group. Unless you want to look very closely that would be enough.

Again move the pivot point to z=0. As below :



Now use the Array modifier with the following settings - it is an exact match ! Use Instance.



thsi should give us this :



I notice that I have not yet joined the centre section I will cover that in the section - and the maps and texturing.

Dave

[anthonymcgrath]

great tips Dave - cant wait for the texturing and stuff side of it

[Shortricci]

Brilliant stuff, I'll get on to the third step tonight hopefully...

Thank you!

[Junior]

Great :buttrock:

I awaiting the texture tire part (my dificult) :banghead:

[mayhemation]

post removed...

[Dave_3d]

Yes, I'll hopefully have some time to create the texturing section this weekend.

The lighting is just a very simple spot and omni. I'll explain it all in the next section.

Also discussing and planning a Tyre tutorial with a difference ... more info soon

Dave

[Dave_3d]

Part 4. Texturing and Lighting.

Ok, in this part I will explain step by step my chrome setups for this wheel. I'll also explain the lighting setup - though it is a very simple default setup.

Texture for the outer Rim : Chrome.

First you will need to download the HDRI pack from :

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/9597501/

The HDRI I have been using is SM_HDRI-Pack1-05.hdr

In the material editor load in a bitmap to a new slot. Load the Bitmap using the following settings :

When loading the Bitmap - in the HDRI setup, White point should be set to

Log. : 0.092
Linear : 1.065847

In the Bitmap properties panel Set the Blur offset to 0.02. This will slightly blur the main HDRI. Most chrome alloy blurs the reflections a little. You can do this with blurry reflections but this uses up a LOT of processing time and the end result is very similar to this method. Even using blurry reflections objects closer to the chrome are less blurry - so almost the same effect here as the only thing close to the wheel Rim is the wheel Rim

Apply some cropping to the Bitmap, you can see from the screen shot, but the setting is 0.65

Set the RGB level to 1.06

That is the HDRI for the alloy setup.



Now in a another map slot set the material to Raytrace.

Set the Specular color to white,

Specular Level : 140
Glossiness : 30

The Diffuse colour set to 107 and the reflect (colour) set to 139 as below.

Drag and drop the HDRI to the Environment slot - make an instance.

Voila - one Chrome Mat.



The rim centre is a blend between a black material and a variation of the Mat above. The screen shot below should show all the settings I used - I've photoshopped them alltogether - you won't of course see tham like that in Max !

The mix map is the one I gave a link to in part 1. You can download it. You van also see that I added a UVW Map for the mask - you can see that in earlier screen shots.

The Chrome as shown below is applied on its own to the wheel spokes.



Next - Lighting. Very quick.

One MR Area Spot at

X : -1661.761
Y : -1111.001
Z : 1307.942

All other settings are Default. Simple. You might need to adjust the position of your lights if you have a different scale but you can see the approx position I used.



OK, hope I haven't missed anything out ? If I have let me know.

If you use the settings - or create something interesting from them - post it and let us all see

Dave