Hey guys, this is a tutorial for how to model and animate a tank track. I will be using Blender 2.50 Alpha 0 so I will point out some changes made from the previous version. I recommend intermediate blender knowledge for this tutorial.
There are 3 steps in this tutorial.
- Make First Track Segment
- Transform That Into a Full Track
- Learn How to Animate it
Let's get started!
Part 1.
The first step in modeling the tracks is to create one little part of it. We will then multiply and curve it around to make the tracks. To start off, select the default cube and go into edit mode. Scale it down to around 0.3 the original size and press Ctrl + R to make an edge loop. Place it in the center going around the X axis.
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Scale everything down even more on the z axis again, to 0.3 the original size. Go into front view and select the upper - middle two vertices. Move them up a bit to create some sort of tread.
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If you want, you can go ahead and make a more elaborate track but I'll keep it simple for this tutorial
Part 2.
The second step in the tutorial will be to, as I said before, multiply and curve the tracks to complete the modeling step. We can simply multiply the tracks with an array modifier so let's do that. If you're using version 2.50 you might be freaking out saying:
Oh man! I don't know where the modifiers are anymore! I think im just gonna use improper gramer and speling and talk in Big Fonts!. Then I can make a new topic with a misleading name and use Annoying Colours!! Oh yeah, and then im going to ignore forum rules and use cAPS lOCK ON ALL THE tIME!!! PLS HELP!!!
Well, please don't do all those things because the modifiers are now have their own little tab right here:
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Add an array modifier and turn the count up.
Now that that part's done, we just need to curve the track around. But how? Add a bezier circle (using Shift + A if you're using 2.50) and rotate it 90 degrees on the x axis. Go into edit mode. For the simplicity of the tutorial, I'm going to scale the two sides to twice the size. Now this curve is going to be the object we use to curve the tracks around.
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Add a new curve modifier to the tracks and type "CurveCircle" into the object box. CurveCircle is the default name for the bezier circle we just added by the way. Now you can see that we have some cute little tracks
Although, you probably have tracks that don't go all around or are too long. To fix this, first tune the count on the array modifier to make the tracks close to perfect but preferably overlapping (because we don't want this any smaller!). Finally, select the bezier circle and scale while holding down shift to make it the perfect size. Holding down the shift key will just make the function you're doing more sensitive.- 5.jpg (229.59 KiB) Viewed 9116 times
And now you have your tracks!
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Part 3.
Alright, this is the part where people were having trouble before I updated the tutorial. Hopefully only before I updated this tutorial! This is animation. Blender already lets you start half done. If you simply move the bezier circle back and fourth on the x axis, you can see that the tracks are moving, but the wrong way. Now I found out a nifty trick in version 2.50, and it might work in version 2.49. It will also hopefully work in the game engine too, but I don't know anything about that!
Select the bezier curve and go into edit mode. Select everything and press W > Switch Direction.
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Now if you go back into object mode and move the object back and fourth again, you can see that it now rotates the right way. But it's upside down. To fix that, select the tracks and scale them on the z axis to -1.
So now you have a fancy little moving track. If you have any questions or suggestions, post a reply or pm me.
~ Potado
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