Create and Animate a Vehicle in Blender & Substance Painter

Master versioning and resource packing in Blender to keep images with your scene, then block in complex vehicle angles using extrude, edge loops, and knife tool.

Use scale-model reference images in Blender to shape the front wheel wells, adjust edges, merge vertices, and extrude to form the interior panel.

Close up the front of the vehicle model in Blender by connecting edges, extruding faces, and using loop tools to flatten panels, guided by reference images.

Block in the side window in Blender, then shape with vertex/face edits, inset and extrude, and apply bevel and solidify to define the window profile.

Model the door handle in Blender using subdivision surface and edge loops. Add thickness with a solidify modifier, refine shading, and place the handle on the truck.

Model the front grill frame in Blender, using the knife tool and loop tools to create sharp edges, flatten surfaces, duplicate and separate geometry, and set origin for accurate symmetry.

Create and refine the rear doors in Blender using a scale model and reference images, building an outer and inner frame, insetting, extruding, and mirroring for precise symmetry.

Begin by shaping the headlight assembly: duplicate and mirror hinge components, align a lens built from a UV sphere, then bevel and extrude to create a curved, smooth lens.

Enable add-ons like loop tools, refine the headlight shape with edge loops and transforms, apply solidify and bevel, create and duplicate lens components, and assemble the completed headlights.

Apply the bisect tool to cut a cylinder at the fender angle, then use the shear tool to align edges with the fender, finalizing with window inset and extrusion steps.

Perform a focused cleanup and fixes in Blender, removing the solidify modifier, refining the back and edges, beveling, and mirroring, while organizing objects into the truck collection.

Start by creating the basic tire and its treads, then model the wheel with bolts using a mirror modifier and clipping. Separate the wheel as an object and bevel edges.

Blender lecture shows adding bolts to a wheel: apply mirror, separate parts, shape lug nuts and bolts, duplicate around the hub at 45 degrees, and set up a boolean cut.

Finish tire treads by applying shrink wrap to the tire, refining edges with tangent normal bevels, then extruding and merging vertices for a cohesive wheel.

Model a rear ladder for a vehicle in Blender by building reference-based geometry with cylinders, cubes, and planes, applying solidify, bevel, and precise transforms to create a realistic backstep.

Model rear view mirrors in Blender by shaping the mirror plate with bevels and a solidify modifier, then position and align the assembly on the vehicle using collections.

Polish the rearview mirrors in Blender by insetting, extruding, beveling, and smoothing, add rivet details and a ball-joint concept, then mirror and organize them into the truck collection.

Blender finishes the rearview mirrors by shaping the front hooks with curves and bolts, then joins parts into a smooth mesh and centers the origin at the 3d cursor.

Model the circular hooks in Blender using a 24-sided torus and a 12-sided cylinder. Bridge edge loops, adjust proportions, smooth, bevel, and mirror to the other side.

Model the front axle by creating a center cylinder and mirrored side components with the mirror modifier and clipping. Add edge loops, bevels, and sharp edges to refine the undercarriage.

Add back axle details to the truck by shaping a ridged sphere, adding bolts around rim, duplicating around center, and refining with a bevel and a solidify modifier in Blender.

Continue refining the axle assembly by duplicating parts, integrating bolts, and creating connecting pieces with cylinders and a solidify modifier for added detail.

Continue refining the undercarriage by mirroring parts, adding brake cylinders, and shaping a connecting ball-joint piece, while adjusting ridges and alignment for a cohesive truck underside.

Block and refine the undercarriage in Blender, organize the components into a dedicated collection, add bolts and cylinders, and apply bevels and scale for a clean fit.

Block the vehicle interior using scale-model reference images to draft a clean interior. Use face orientation to fix normals, flip fronts to outside, and extrude to enclose the interior.

Block in the vehicle interior by creating the floor with a plane, using a mirror modifier with clipping, then extruding and shaping edges; duplicate and flip faces for inner walls.

Model the vehicle interior seats in blender by building a seat block, refining curves with bevels and extrusions, and organizing components into an interior collection for a complete vehicle interior.

Construct the gear shift and parking brake in Blender by modeling, extruding, beveling, and refining a central console piece, applying scale, subdivision surface, and precise positioning.

Model a steering wheel in Blender by forming a torus and cylinder, extruding and beveling spokes, then join parts and fit a dashboard into the interior.

Model the dashboard in Blender, assemble steering wheel and gauges, and refine the interior with extrude, inset, bevel, and smoothing to finalize the console.

Learn to model tarp hooks and rope attachments in Blender, using cubes, extrude, edge loops, and a mirror modifier to craft a realistic tarp rig.

Learn to add detailed edges and components to a Blender vehicle model, using bevel, extrude, delete faces, solidify, and mirror to refine hinges, tires, mudflaps, footrest, and the hood.

Create mudflaps and a hood cover by cleaning up the Outliner, organizing parts, modeling rivets with a solidify modifier, then duplicating and mirroring components while checking face orientation.

Model and refine hood hinges and latches for a truck in Blender, using cylinders and cubes with bevels and mirrors. Prepare symmetric assemblies and ready the parts for further animation.

Model hood clamps and hinges in blender by creating cylinders, extruding insets, and beveling the geometry. Prepare for uv mapping and materials in the next stage.

Map the vehicle for Blender or a game engine using UV mapping with smart UV project and unwrap to create non-overlapping maps, set island margins, and apply scale for textures.

Map the truck piece in Blender with the mirror modifier and smart UV project, then test for stretching with a 1024 UV grid texture and adjust seams as needed.

Apply smart UV project to the grill, fenders, and doors to fix stretching and improve UV proportions, then unify maps and link materials for the test texture.

Continue uv mapping a vehicle by applying smart uv project to multiple parts, joining pieces, packing islands, and linking materials while applying modifiers and unwrap where needed.

Apply smart UV project to exterior truck parts, manage face orientation, handle mirror modifiers, and link materials as you separate and join objects for Blender and Substance Painter workflows.

Convert paths to a mesh and adjust the polygon resolution for clean curves. Join objects, map uv coordinates with smart uv project, and prepare for export to Substance Painter.

Prepare the vehicle model for export by organizing Blender materials into texture sets for Substance Painter, avoiding overlapping UVs and optimizing UV packing for texture clarity.

Continue prepping the vehicle for export by grouping fenders with mudflaps into one material and linking materials, then optimize UVs with pack islands for Substance Painter.

Export the Blender vehicle as an FBX for use in Substance Painter, pack islands, assign materials, and bake 4096-res textures with ID maps, then inspect and fix UV issues.

Fix overlapping uv islands in vehicle map by averaging island scale, packing islands, deleting stray materials, and linking materials, then refine uv map and geometry for export to Substance Painter.

Learn to export a blender vehicle as fbx, configure the project in substance painter with 4096 texture resolution, and bake textures while managing uv maps to fix overlaps and n-gons.

Explore texturing tires and roof tarp in Substance Painter using rubber textures, tiling, normals, and triplanar projection to fix UV seams, with masked mirrors and headlights.

Texture the vehicle interior by applying leather seats and a wood steering wheel, masking walls, and using triplanar projection with height and color tweaks for realistic aging and dirt.

Texture the undercarriage in Blender and Substance Painter, adjusting color and rust, raising roughness, painting dirt with a pen tablet, and managing UV maps, seams, and ladder and rope materials.

Finish the base materials by painting imperfections with the clone tool, adjusting uv projection to triplanar, and masking ropes and hooks with black masks while refining rust and color.

Fix overlapping UV issues in Blender by selecting tires, creating seams, and unwrap to separate islands. Preview textures in Substance Painter with a UV grid and test material.

Update rivets and UV maps on the grill, unwrap and pack islands, export as FBX, reimport into Substance Painter, then bake and assign materials to grill, hood, ladder, and rivets.

Begin texturing a vehicle by painting dirt patches on the truck body with multiple dirt layers and brushes, using symmetry and dark, medium, and light swatches.

Paint dirt layers on the vehicle using symmetry, dirt brushes, and blending modes like multiply; adjust opacity to add mud, rust, and height details across tires, fenders, and grill.

Learn to add decals to a truck in Substance Painter by importing textures, applying base colors, and positioning decals across the truck main texture set with proper opacity.

Export textures from Substance Painter and tailor roughness to reduce shine on the tarp, then use Blender's principled BSDF workflow with color, normal, metallic, and roughness maps at 2k.

Apply textures from Substance Painter to Blender materials using Node Wrangler and add principled setup, mapping each texture set to its Principled BSDF; hide the HDRI by lowering world opacity.

Adjust the suspension by lowering pitch and roll factors, bake and test wheel motion, and animate a subtle camera move with keyframes and a vector-handled graph for smooth ease-out.

Render the animation frames, assemble them into an mp4 at 24 fps via Blender's video editing workflow, and apply fades from black with trimmed timing for a polished final video.

Conclude your vehicle creation and animation in Blender and Substance Painter by integrating diverse tools and techniques, producing a shareable animation for the world.