how to make a car rim with rhino

7/28/2019 How to Make a Car Rim With Rhino

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How to make a car rim with Rhino

First thing I want to say is Sorry for the large file size. I just wanted to give as much details as I

could.

This tutorial will show one of many ways to make a car rim using Rhino. This is only a guide tohelp you understand the methods.

While you can follow this tutorial word for word, I suggest making slight changes to the profilecurves so your rim has its own look.

Ok lets get started.

We will be making a 14-inch Dia. Rim that is 8 inches wide so we will be using the grids to helpaid us in the size. Also it will be a multi part model. This will help when you texture it.

1. In the front view, double click on the front view title. This will bring it to full screen.

2. We will want to make our first profile curve 7 inches to the right of the zero line (1) and 8inches high (2).


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3. Here is where you will decide what the profile will look like. Click the Control Point Curve button,and make the top half of your profile. Use as many control points as needed to make a good-looking

profile. Notice I started and ended my profile at 4 inches up from the X line (1 and 2) Also my

profile does not extend past the 7 inch Z line (3). This is because we want it to be a total size of 14

Inches Dia. And I left the profile open, not closed.


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4. Now we will want to mirror this profile. But before we do that, we must set up some constraints. Atthe bottom of the screen there are 4 boxes Snap, Ortho, Planar and Osnap. Make sure Snap, Ortho

and Planar are on. What this will do is turn on grid snap and make it so you can only draw lines at 90

deg.

5. Now lets mirror the half profile. Select the half profile you made in step 3, Click the Mirror button,It will ask for the Start of mirror plane, Click at the (1) then click at the (2). Notice that when you

clicked it snapped to the grid and would only let you draw in a 90 deg angle. You should now have ascreen that looks something like this. (Without the dots)


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6. We now want to make the 2 profiles into 1. This can get tricky so we will go slow.7. Turn off Snap at the bottom of your screen. Click the Match button. If you cant find it, you can get

it from the Curve, Edit tools menu.

8. It will ask you to Select curve to change Pick near end: what you will want to do here is pick thetop half (the first profile) near one of the ends. So click where I have the (1).

9. Now it will ask you to Select curve to match - Pick near end: You will want to click where I have (2)A box will pop up Match curve options In the Continuity section, select Position. Make sure all

other options are not checked. Click OK.10. Do the same for the other side of the profiles at locations (3) and (4).11. So why did we do this? We want to make sure the profile ends are in the same place so we can join

them.


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12.Now its time to join the 2 profiles.13. Click the Join button. Select the 2 profiles. Thats it. They are now one profile.14. We will now make this profile into the outer part of the rim.15. Turn on Snap at the bottom of your screen.16. Select the profile.17. Click the Revolve button.18. Click along the Z axis at (1), Click along the Z axis at (2). This will pop up the Revolve Options box.

19. Make sure Exact is selected, Start angle is at 0 and End angle is set to 360. Click Ok.20. What we did here was Revolve the profile around the Z axis and made a rim surface that has a outside

diameter of 14 inches.


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21. You should now have a image that looks something like this:

22. If you want, you can go take a look at it in the Perspective view.23. Double click on the front view title. This will bring you back the 4 view port view. Now you

can inspect your rim surface in all 4 views.24. Double click on the front view title to bring you back to front view.


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37. Here is the same curve with the control points turned on so you can see how many I used for the curve.Things to remember here are, Only use as many points as you need (the fewer the better) it will give

you smoother lines. Also note that the first 2 control points are in line with each other, This will make

sure that when I revolve the curve, I will not have a sharp point in the middle of the rim. Also note

that the last control point ends at or inside of our first profile. This is because we want our rim to look

solid.

38.Now its time to revolve this new curve.


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39. We want to revolve this curve around the same axis that we used for the outer rim. The Z axis zeroline. From (1) to (2).

40. Turn on Snap, Select this new curve. Click the Revolve button. Click at (1) then (2). This willbring up the Revolve Options box just like before.

41. Everything should be set the way you left it, so just click Ok.

42. You should have a new surface that looks like this.


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43. Well its time to save your work. Click Save.44. Lest make a new profile curve for the back of the spokes.45. Just like steps 34 37 but this time we will end it down, not up.46. Why did we do this? It will give the rim a more solid look.

47. Just like before, We will revolve it. Follow steps 39 41 for this new profile curve.48. You should now have 2 surfaces for the spokes.49. Select the top surface and click on the Direction button. You should see some white arrows.50. What we what to do is make sure they point up. If they dont, press the F key then hit Enter.51. Do the same for the bottom surface, But this time we want the arrows to point down. You can flip the

direction of a surface by pressing the F key.52. So why do we care what direction the surface is? Well, When you loft a surface and the direction is

wrong, strange things happen. So its a good idea to check you surfaces.

53.Now is a good time to save your work.54. Ok now its time to put the spokes in, or in this case cut holes into the surface.55. Switch to Top view.56. Zoom in to the bottom half of the rim.57. Click the Control Point Curve button.58. This time we will make a closed curve.59. Just like before, its up to you on how you want it to look.60. Here is the shape I want to use.61. Make your curve any shape you like, but you want a closed curve, so make sure your last control point

is over your first one.

62. This new closed curve will be used to cut a hole in the top of the surface. We will want to make asmaller one to use for the bottom surface.


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63. Select this new curve.64. Click on the Offset button.65. Type in .3. (thats 3/10 of a inch , not 3)66. Left click inside the curve.67. You should now have a smaller curve inside the older one.


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68.Now select this new smaller curve.69. Click the Control Points On button.70. Adjust the control points so there are no sharp corners. Also you can delete some of them to give a

smoother look. Just click on a control point and hit the delete key.

71. Hit Esc key when done to hide the control points.


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72. We will now do a polar Array.73. Select the 2 closed curves we just worked on.74. Click the Polar Array button.75. Turn on Snap.76. Click in the center of the rim (1).77. Type in 5 Enter, Enter.78. You should now have an image that looks something like this.


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79.Now lets change to Perspective view and rotate you rim around so you get a clear view of all thecurves.


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80.Now its time to project the larger curves up to the top surface.81. Select all of the larger curves. Note: To select more than one object at a time, hold down the Shift key.


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82. Click on the Project curves to surface button.83. Select the upper surface.


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84. Press Enter.85. You should now have 5 curves that are projected onto the upper surface.


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86. We will now want to split the upper surface using the curves that we just projected.87. Click the Split button.88. Select the upper surface.89.Now select all of the projected curves.


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90. Press enter91. The next step can be tricky. Select each of the surfaces that were just split from the top surface and

delete them. You can rotate your view to help you see things clearly. (to rotate your view, press and

hold your right mouse down while dragging in the window) Also note that sometimes when you split a

surface, it can split into more than one piece if it crosses a line. So make sure you delete all of the split

surfaces.

92. You can do a quick render and see how it looks.


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93. You might want to save your work.94.Now its time to project the smaller (inner) curves to the lower surface.95. Select all of the smaller curves.


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96. Project them to the lower surface.97. Things are starting to look busy, So lets do some clean up.98. Select all of the curves that are on the grid and the profile curve that you used to make the outer rim.


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99. Right click on Edit Layers, Left click on Change Layers.100.Click Layer 02. Now left click on edit Layers and turn off layer 02.101.Your screen should now look something like this.


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102.Now its time to split the lower surface just like we did with the upper one.103.Select the lower surface.104.Click the Split button.105.Carefully select the projected curves on the lower layer.


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106.Press enter.107.As before, you will want to delete all of the split surfaces.108.Your object should now look like this. Note: I changed the color just to show the 2 surfaces.


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109.Ok, Its time for more clean up.110.We will want to delete all of the projected curves to keep things simple.111.One by one select the projected curves and delete them.112.If the Choose One Object window pops up when you select a curve, its because there is more than

one object under the cursor. Just use the Prev button until it says Curve not Surface. Then click

Ok, and hit the delete key.


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113.You should now have 2 surfaces.114.Save your work.115.Now comes the fun part. Its time to give your rim that look that you have been waiting for.116.Zoom in to one of the holes in the rim.


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117.Right click the Fillet Surface button.118.Left click the Blend Surface button.119.Here is a trick I learned the hard way.120.Rhino sometimes has a hard time understanding what you want it to do. So we will help it.121.Press P and hit Enter.122.Why did we do this? Well right out of the help file Think of a surface blend as a loft through a large

number of cross-section curves. Normally the section curves either match the isoparm directions of the

input surfaces (untrimmed surface edge) or are tangent to the surface edges (trimmed edge). Usually

this means the cross-section shapes are not planar but snake from one edge to another. With

PlanarSections, Rhino forces all shape curves to be planar, and all the shape curve planes are parallel

to the direction defined with this option. If you define a direction parallel to world Z (vertical), all

blend sections will be vertical.

123.It asks you Start of line parallel to planar sections:124.In the right or front view. Click at the top of that window. All we are trying to do here is make a line

in the Z axis.

125.It will ask you End of line parallel to planar sections:126.Click below the first click. I like to turn on Ortho before I do this.

127.It will ask you to Select first set of surfaces.128.Back in the Perspective view, Carefully select the upper edge. Make sure you get the whole thing. As

you can see here, I dont have the whole edge selected.


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129.Keep selecting until the whole edge is selected. Like this. When you have the whole edge selected,Press Enter.


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130.Now select the lower edge.131.So what are these arrows?


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132.They are alignment arrows.133.2 things to keep in mind here. 1. You want them to line up with each other. 2. You want them to point

in the same direction.

134.It doesnt matter where on the curves they are, As long as they line up. So here is what you need to do.135.Switch to top view if you need to. It will be easier to line them up.136.Click on one of them (I will pick the top one) and move it until the line between them is the shortest it

will get. Then click where you want it to be. Also note that the arrows are pointing in the same

direction. If your arrows are not pointing in the same direction you need to flip one of them. If this is

the case, Click on one of them, Press the F key then click where you want it to be.


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137.Press enter.138.You should now have a screen that looks like this.


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139.Rotate you model to the next hole.140.Repeat steps 117 137 for all 5 holes.141.You can do a shaded preview to see how it looks. It should look something like this.


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142.Well, Things are starting to look good. But wait, How will this rim stay on the car?143.We need to put some holes in it for the lugs.144.First we will move some stuff to its own layer to help us see what we are going to do.145.Select the 5 blended surfaces and the bottom surface.


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146.Move them to layer 03 and turn off that layer. (See steps 98 - 100 on how we did this before).


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147.Now that thing look much cleaner, its time to make them holes.148.Switch to the 4 port view.149.We want to make 5 holes for the lugs so here is how we will do it.150.Click on the Cylinder button.151.In the top view, Click anywhere. It does not matter because we will be moving it anyway.152.Type .5, (thats 1/2 inch), Press Enter.153.In the front view, Make sure Ortho is on, Then make the Cylinder about 3 inches tall.


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154.Now move the cylinder up so it is about inch above where the bottom of the rim surface is.

155.In the top view, Move the cylinder so it is between two of the holes. Like this.


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156.Now we will want to do a Polar Array.157.Turn on Snap (if not already on).158.With the cylinder selected, click the Polar Array button.159.Click in the center of the rim.160.Make sure it says 5 in the number of elements. If not, type 5, Enter.161.Press Enter.162.You should now have 5 cylinders arrayed around the rim.


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163.Now its time to cut them holes.164.Select the rim surface.165.Click on the Boolean Difference button.166.Click on each of the 5 cylinders. Press Enter.167.What you should end up with is this.


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168.This is cool but, it doesnt have that smooth look we really want.169.We will now do what is called a Fillet Surface. Why did they call it that? I have no idea.170.Switch back to Perspective view.171.You will want to zoom in close to one of the holes.


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172.Click on the Fillet Surface button.173.It can get tricky here, So we will take it slow.174.Notice at the top of the screen in says Radius = 1.175.Well thats to big and will not work.176.Type in .2 (thats 2/10 inch). we will give that a try.177.Now select the top surface. (1), then select the side of the hole (2).


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It should look like this.


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178.If it does not look like the image above, then you might have to redo it using a smaller Radius number.179.Do this step for all 5 holes.180.You should now have a rim surface that looks like this.


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181.Now its time to join all the surfaces.182.Click the Join button.183.Select all the parts one by one. Make sure you have them all selected they will highlight when selected.184.Press Enter.185.Now lets go and turn on layer 03.186.We will want to join everything to make one object. So as in step 182, join all the parts.187.Take a look.


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188.Almost done.189.We will now want to put holes all the way through the rim for the lug bolts.190.If you are not in 4 port view, Switch to 4 port view.191.Click on the cylinder button.192.In top view, click in the center of one of the holes.193.Type in .25 (thats inch).194.Then in front view, drag the cylinder up past the top of the rim.195.You should have a cylinder that looks like this.


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196.Back in the top view, Zoom in and place the cylinder right in the center on one of the holes. We wantto make sure it is placed right in the center and not offset.

197.Ok now lets array it like we did in step 157 161.198.You should now have 5 cylinders just like before. But this time they go all the way through the rim.

Thats because we want holes in the rim for the lug bolts.

199.Ok, Just like before we want to do a Boolean difference.200.Click on the Boolean Difference button.201.Select the rim.


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202.Press enter.203.Select all 5 cylinders.204.Press enter.205.You should now have a rim that looks like this.

206.Lets turn on the rim layer and have a look.


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207.Well, I dont like it.208.Lets redo the outer rim.

209.Select the rim (should be red).210.Delete it.211.Turn on Layer 02. This should bring back the profile of the outer rim.212.Lets make some changes to give it a better look.213.Select the profile.


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214.Turn Control Points On.215.Lets move some of them around to give a better profile. Make sure Ortho is on and Snap is off.216.Thats better. I also made it narrower. I think it will look better this way.


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217.Hit Esc to turn off Control Points.218.Now lets revolve this new profile just like we did in steps 16 20.219.You should now have a better looking rim.

There you have it.

There lots of things you could still do to this rim if you want.

Things like:

Add a Valve core.

A center design.

Put a tire on it.

And so on.

But this tutorial was just to give you some of the basics.

Just remember to break down a object into its small parts and build it one part at a time.

Have fun.

how to make a car rim with rhino

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