How to Create Rigged Tank Treads in Blender (Tutorial)

[@Velnias75]

Great! 😺 In driver editor I had to press the Ctl-key, else the curve rotated very strange. I am using Blender 4.1.0.

[@RyanKingArt]

Oh wow, I had no idea Blender made that change. Thanks for sharing. After you rotate the driver in the driver editor, you have to hold down the control key, to keep the line from curving, to keep it straight.

[@Velnias75]

@@RyanKingArt Welcome you 😺

[@brainiceland]

You're a lifesaver for this comment - thank you!

[@j0tah47]

@@RyanKingArt @Velnias75 thank you for the update! I have the same problem with the scaling by -1, how do I do that properly now? Also, is there anything wrong with copy-pasting the drivers to the other weels?

[@entasakl5151]

OMG, he likes comment, also answers too

[@Udayjeet_singh]

one tip I learned to make the simple tank treads look better- use a plane with array and curve deform then create a complex tread shape like add some cone under it make the plane the parent then go to object properties - Instancing - select face. This will make the tank tread look so better without creating any deforms

[@SefaR_atoR]

(i'm a little bit lazy to translate it, but i hope YT comment translation will) В это методе есть небольшая проблема, которую можно решить, используя instancing. Когда вы используете curve modifier элементы гусениц начинают немного искривляться, чтобы соответствовать форме curve. Но если мы хотим создать реалистичный танк или экскаватор, то искривление траков недопустимо. Поэтому нужно делать так: создать plane, добавить ей array and curve modifiers, а потом нужно parent track to this plane и в свойствах plane объекта включить instancing в режим faces. Тогда элементы гусениц не будут искривляться.

[@Bassalicious]

Thank you! I was wondering how to fix that issue

[@RyanKingArt]

Thanks for sharing 👍‍

[@Thomasbuaroey]

Nice. But, instead of selecting each object and applying locked ransformations its easier to select all the objects, holding down ALT and then aply the locks. This way its only one operation instead of 10.

[@RyanKingArt]

Thanks for sharing! I didn't know you could do that.

[@5MadMovieMakers]

This helped me to get train wheels rolling to match the train speed! Still have to smooth some things out but it should work.

[@Shattered3582]

finally a video that tells you how to rig tank tracks properly. this video was very informative, and has a lot of tips that would help in future projects

[@BritBox777]

Me, trying to make tank treads for an indie game : "Oh god, NOBODY is going to have videos for this use case". Ryan King Art :

[@Solver-q7b]

My friend you are amazing and I do really appreciate your work to show us how to work on blender and I hope for you the best

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks for watching!

[@JiovanieVelazquez]

I have followed the instructions but it seems that when I rotate the empty in the z axis, as I approach 90 degrees, then everything slows down and beyond 90 degrees, everything reverses direction. So if I rotate the dummy 180 degrees to face the other direction and try moving the treads, everything is reverse. Thoughts?

[@danielmevit]

Great tutorial! Thanks! Btw if your Bavel modifier is not working, here's the solution - select the object, click edit mode, select all by pressing A, than click F3 and type in search "Merge by Distance" and select.

[@RetrovexAmbient]

Thank you, ill be using this for something else later! 💜

[@RyanKingArt]

cool!

[@RyanKingArt]

*Purchase The Full Construction Robot Tutorial Course:* • Course Trailer Video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnusoYpjfat4e5Y • Gumroad: ryankingart.gumroad.com/l/construction-bot • Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/99488877 • Blender Market: blendermarket.com/products/construction-robot

[@vrfplus_blender_addon]

Nice tutorials❤

[@mvinyesalumiluxcat]

Lets go! a tank wheel rigg! i made one... it worked but i had to figure all out with not so cool and well done tutorials... thanks for this one

[@samdavepollard]

always love to see your subscribers number gradually increasing - totally deserved, such a great channel - Good Luck, Ryan

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks!

[@SoundtracksandMore]

Thanks, I turned it into a conveyor belt for your sausage factory loop tutorial.

[@RyanKingArt]

very cool!

[@iamrusdark]

Thanx for the video. You are a great teacher. It would be interesting to see your version of origami. An airplane, for example. Quite a difficult task, actually... Changing shapes looks unnatural and strange... Bones and weights are not working because we have to bend the same faces more than once. I succeeded, but to do this I divided the mesh into several different meshes and rotate them using empties. What do you think? Interesting task? If you decide to try, first fold a paper airplane just to get how the folds will go.

[@sasori720]

I learned so many cool shortcuts and functionalities. Each one seems small, but having those adds up into making you a pro. I also was wondering, why when you lock all the transforms, do you not select all and ALT+Drag?

[@manuelhoferer300]

When I move the ampty the Bezier curve follows and the track runs realistically around the Bezier curve. However, if I rotate the empty object around the z-axis, the Bezier curve follows correctly, but only at the beginning. As the rotation progresses, it becomes slower until the rotation has completed 90°. This is the dead point from where the chain links move in the wrong, the opposite direction. The movement becomes faster and faster until the next 90° (complete180°) rotation is completed. From then on the speed slows down again until the second dead center is reached at 270°. From then on the chain links move in the right direction again and become faster again until they reach the origin. what could be the reason? Does someone know how to fix? BTW great tutorial! Im a blody beginner and its amazing that I got this far. THank you there fore!

[@Rik00Vee]

Seeing the same issue. Great tutorial anyway!

[@atraunam3223]

So far for every wheel/tread rig I've seen there are issues where it gets less and less accurate the further you get from (0, 0, 0) particularly when turning on the spot. Does this rig also have that issue or is there finally a fix.

[@infuriatinghealer]

Built a Conveyer built with this method and turned out perfect.

[@hamidalramzy6460]

Your tutorials are great, they even helped me for school

[@RyanKingArt]

glad they helped!

[@DylanWilliams-pb6qj]

great tutorial but it only works on the X axis and the treads and wheels don't move on the Y axis, well, they do move but they don't rotate and follow the curve, so its just still. how do i fix this?

[@Domzdream]

This tutorial gives me an opportunity to make a new 3D model. 👌 Thanks for this

[@RyanKingArt]

your welcome!

[@dylanmercergo7853]

Can u also do it with suspension? Other tutorials can't properly explain unlike you, i always find hope in your videos so please make it with Suspension.

[@stefancargoski5871]

Why do the tank treads stop animating when rotating on Z axis? They do rotate around the Bezier curve, but not all the time. There is a section they seem to skid, rather than rotate. Please elaborate.

[@georgb302]

Can you make a 90°-turn or a U-turn with this settings and the tracks are still moving in the right way when you drive along? Havn't found a solution for this problem yet.

[@RyanKingArt]

I'm pretty sure they will rotate correctly.

[@georgb302]

@@RyanKingArt Unfortunately they don't. If you rotate it 90 ° to X+ and move it along the X-axis the tracks are not longer moving. This is a common problem in Blender and it seem there is no solution for that.

[@odinsguide7685]

Finally!!! Thank you, thank you!! You are such kind person 🎉🎉🎉🎉...

[@RyanKingArt]

your welcome!

[@LommidrusaxTheWyrm]

If the tank is airborne and I want to move it without moving the treads, is there a solution you can think of? Working on a Scorpion rig

[@musayazar3069]

At the 14th minute, the wheel rotates in the z direction even though I made all the settings. can you help? blender 4.1 Thanks for the nice lesson.

[@MartKart8]

I was wondering will you be doing Blender 4.0.1 videos, such as if your going to make something, like a material as I'm sticking to 4.0.0?

[@RyanKingArt]

I will always use the most up to date Blender version.

[@nikolas4749]

Great video Ryan Could you make a tutorial on valve gear ?

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks for the tutorial idea!

[@horriblypink]

I can never make tracks that "Actually Work" there broken as soon as they are rotated 90 degrees on the X or Y axis they might drive along Y but If turned to X every thing locks up and breaks can be reset with empties but never actually working properly

[@RyanKingArt]

That shouldn't be an issue with the method that I use in this video.

[@horriblypink]

@@RyanKingArt Guess I'll have to try it out and see what happens

[@franktothemax]

Idk if anyone else saw this, but the speed of the spin of the wheel is fine when you rotate the empty, but if you move the empty on the x axis, it looks like it is spinning waaaaaaay too fast compared to the tread movement. How would I then change the spin of the wheels rotation when “g” moving the empty in the x-axis?

[@飞地]

Level pixel level said array and curve method will cause object to bend in rotating area, i saw one 3ds max tutorial do this by using script,duplicate each tread one by one,very complex.

[@lasttime6052]

Nice! 😊

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks!

[@animationstrik]

while rotating wheels the wheels move out of the track.

[@musayazar3069]

16:00 wheel no rotation. I've been trying for 3 days and couldn't figure it out. please help.

[@Vumbun]

so if you wanna export into gltf or web,how do i bake this animation?? it wont work like normal baking

[@Tiki_Media]

Curious, Is it possible, with your setup, to have the treaded vehicle's empty behave properly when adding a "Follow Path" Constraint, where the target is a bezier curve, laid out in a circular shape on the grid plane? When I hit "Play Animation" the wheels misbehave. It seems dependent upon where the b-curve is located globally. I have been looking for many months for a solution to this and so far I have not found a single video or post that has an answer to this approach. Is it not possible?

[@klamberext]

For some reason I get different results. When I play around with the deform axis etc then it kind of behaves similarly, but has a lot of issues when rotating and scaling. Are the rotations and scaling order that strict? (very frustrating, but I'll get there)

[@klamberext]

I got to somewhere. Does anyone know if there is a way to rotate the tracks in place without doing the Y transform? I'd like to animate the tracks rotating but the object/machine and camera should stay in place.

[@Ronirvan]

My wheel never rotate. an I paid close attention and rede all the steps. The belt moves, but the wheel stays put never rotating.

[@Rojav255]

Man this is been a almost a year i have been using bledner and only today i found that driver thing out, if you make a seperate video about it it wil be so special if God wills!!

[@ror2349]

Excellent video.

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks!

[@rohitraoyaduvanshi7330]

Very good tutorial U learned very much

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks

[@Kiiaro3D]

Omg thanks, i actually have a personal project laying around that I can apply this to =)

[@RyanKingArt]

hope it helps!

[@elvismokua]

Thanks this is Amazing rigging has been a problem with me

[@RyanKingArt]

hope it helps!

[@nickinthecave]

16:55 not working cilinder is not rotating around his own axis.

[@musayazar3069]

I have the same problem. Did you solve it?

[@frenzyayushman]

I did the same way but I didn't give space in array modifier. Tht is where all went wrong

[@derekgamer1978]

I literally modeled a basic tank about 4 days ago, but hey, better late than never.

[@erwinbroekhuis]

Is it also possible to move the treads "in place" for an animation?

[@stephanstrydom6175]

Just animate the position of the treads and not the curve

[@erwinbroekhuis]

@@stephanstrydom6175 I don't get it. Animating them one by one? The whole idea of the curve is that the threads follow the shape. I must be misunderstanding your comment, I'm sure.

[@stephanstrydom6175]

@@erwinbroekhuis Grab the object with the array and curve modifier on and move it along the axis, this will shift the position but it still has the curve modifier so it will move along the curve profile without actually moving in the world space as you requested.

[@erwinbroekhuis]

@@stephanstrydom6175 Yes, got it. Thanks a lot!!!

[@manuelhoferer300]

Thank you! I love it!

[@dwellersart7538]

didnt expect this..... what's next? unity tutorial rts game ?

[@RyanKingArt]

I don't use Unity.

[@Cloud_Gecko]

would this be exportable to unity or unreal?

[@RyanKingArt]

I'm not sure, as I have not used those programs.

[@COFFEE-mi4vn]

nice, i like it!

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks 👍‍

[@mvinyesalumiluxcat]

the only problem I see that you don't show.. but loved to see a short or something.. is that the more you rotate the empty on the Z, the rotation of the treats and wheel start going crazy slow.. and start rotating the other direction. And if i move, rotate, move rotate, then it's even slower and more messed up, like why does that happen?

[@georgb302]

The problem with this is, that the whole mechanism is based on the movement of the empty in Y-direction. As soon as you move the empty in X-direction the tracks will not move anymore. In this case even the Z-rotation doesn't matter. I tried for a long time to solve this but I think that you cannot solve it with just drivers. There are addons on the market to animate cars which obviously can handle this. But they are packed with python code. And I'm still struggling with python.

[@mvinyesalumiluxcat]

@@georgb302 okay thanks!! 1- so when I want to move it? what would be the solution? 2-okay, noticed

[@RioNewss]

Just awesome ❤😊

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks!

[@DaveyGDev]

Is there a way to get this into unity with the rig?

[@RyanKingArt]

Not sure. I have not used unity.

[@Zyrex216]

I've been trying to get it for the past 1 hour Unity doesn't like the Beiver curve, since the animation of the Tracks is from the Beiver curve, Unity doesn't understand that, so I have no idea how you'd export that into Unity, I'm looking into it

[@MangoPoby]

it best Tutorial

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks!

[@ДаняХачатуров]

😮👏🏻

[@RyanKingArt]

thanks

[@henriquedossantos6519]

The constraint child of, and pivots Z and -Z are ruining my rigging. Getting different result.