litst, How did you place the lettering on the Happy Christmas tire? I downloaded the tire the other day and I thought that there must be a bump map used in the shader. When I opened up the shader I saw that the bump channel is used for wire and tile functions. I know it must be in the shader somewhere, but I can't find it. You really have me stumped.

You're not the first one, Keith . The lettering hides in a spherical mapping at the bottom of the shader . Just click on the little black arrows to expand it . PS : i'm happy i gotcha "stumped", even if i have no idea of what it means ! ;) English isn't my first language, you see ... litst

I finally found it, it took a little searching, and help from litst. But it's in there. Thanks to litst I have a practical tire tread, by the way what is your first language litst? French? You can barely teel that English isn't your first language, heck you spell better than I do half the time. Stumped means we can't guess the answer! kaom

Yes i'm French, Kaom . Spelling english isn't a big problem for me, grammar is ... and slang too ! ;) litst

slang here in the US can be the biggest problem. I don't even know some of the new slang that kids are using, don't worry about it. Your grammar is great. I learned spanish in high school, but can't remember 1/50 of it, knowing two languages is a great asset, if you cna master it, which I can't. kaom

Thanks litst, I never would have noticed that the little black triangle was pointing in a different direction. BTW your English is excellent Keith

Hey litst, I'm sitting here trying to figure ou how you made the tire itself. I know it's not a torus preset. Frim what I can tell it's a spline, translation, symmetrical, witha circle, but when I do that I get a solid cylinder object. Your tire is hollow, how did you arrive at that? I'm going nuts trying to figure it out. Please tell me the secret of this tire of yours, this tire of yours is a lesson in itself for all of us. How did you make it? My inquiring mind wants to know! Thanks, kaom

Well, it's fairly simple, First, modify the grid properties to fit your needs and select snap to grid (ctrl+j) . It will make things much easier . Draw a circle as the cross-section of your spline object . Center it . Then, choose a symmetrical extrusion envellope in the geometry menu . Now, all you have to do is to add points on one extrusion envellope (blue or green lines) to draw the "half profile" of the tire . You'll notice that when you add points on an enveloppe, the others will change accordingly because the envellope is set to be symmetric . Here it is ! I hope that helps . litst

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen Kaom has left the building![A little Elvis humor] kaom

I'm glad i could help :)

I've forgotten to tell you how to make the tire hollow : - select the last point of the extrusion path . Then create a new cross-section ( section menu ) . - select the cross section by clicking on it, and modify its options : uncheck the "fill cross-section" box (always in the section menu . - do the same last thing with the first cross-section . Here it is . I hope i didn't forget anything this time ! :) litst