Raffael Kloten has released Tire Rig Generator, a free Blender plug-in designed to automate one of those vehicle-rigging jobs that everyone needs and nobody sane wants to do manually: making tires deform under load. The tool automatically creates and skins a complex tire rig that can handle pressure and surface deformation for almost any tire.
The workflow is built around three inputs. Users provide the plug-in with the tire mesh, a low-poly deformer mesh and a ground mesh. Tire Rig Generator then generates a rigging solution adjusted to the tire. In practical terms, the tool targets vehicle setups where contact deformation, weight and pressure response help sell the object as something with mass, rather than a decorative rubber doughnut spinning through space in heroic denial of physics.
Single Empty control and radial rig design
The generated tire rig is controlled via a single Empty, which keeps the main animation control compact instead of scattering handles across the rig like someone lost a toolbox in Blender’s outliner. The setup also provides easy access to the control meshes, so artists can inspect or adjust the deformation system without digging through a rig structure designed by a sleep-deprived octopus.
The rig is radially designed, matching the circular structure of a tire rather than forcing a linear rigging setup onto a round object. It is also prepared for ground deformation and tire pivoting, which makes it relevant for shots where the wheel needs to compress against a surface, rotate believably around its contact area or react to vehicle weight.
Pressure, contact and deformation
The main feature is automatic rig creation and skinning for tire deformation. Kloten describes the tool as capable of handling pressure and surface deformation.
This matters because tires are a small detail until they are wrong, at which point the entire vehicle suddenly looks like it is hovering on four decorative bagels. For shots involving cars, trucks, tanks, sci-fi vehicles, off-road setups or stylized mechanical animation, believable contact deformation can add weight without forcing artists to build a custom rig for every wheel.
Availability
Tire Rig Generator is available as a free download via Gumroad. The available public information says the download includes documentation.
