Tutorial: How to Model Geometrically Correct (Involute) Gears in Blender

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Published 2016-03-15

Update (May 2, 2017): We now offer a much faster way to create meshing involute gears, based on a script-generating online calculator available at www.otvinta.com/instantgear.html. For more info, see our tutorial on instant gear generation at • Tutorial: How to Instantly Model Stra... .

Creating a pair of geometrically correct mating gears is not exactly a trivial task. The sides of gear teeth are not curved arbitrarily. Most real-life gears use a mathematical curve, called "involute curve" to keep the pressure vector between the teeth constant. This tutorial will teach you how to crate a pair of perfectly meshing gears using Blender in just a few minutes. It will also teach you how to animate the gears using drivers.

For more free tutorials and 3D models, and to make a donation, please visit www.otvinta.com.

All Comments (21)

@user-ty8me4hm1w 1 year ago

lol this wasn't meaning to be but this is the most concise explanation of gear theory I've seen
@robr9313 6 years ago

This video deserves to be put in the smithsonian. Just fantastic. I'm as noob at blender as it gets and I was able to follow.
@Artist_Keena 7 years ago

This had the math formulas I needed! Thanks! Now I don't have to piece together all this info from different sources to figure out exactly what I need!
@artemiasalina1860 5 years ago

Very clever and helpful use of the computer voice. It makes the tutorial very clear and concise. Good job.
@gabrielciuclaru5086 1 year ago

So far this is the best How to GEAR tutorials. cheers m8!
@felipevazquez6399 7 years ago

Congratulations! This was so incredible.
@narayananms620 3 years ago

This is just legendary stuff, and i cant believe i understood everything and managed to successfully do it
@pauljs75 7 years ago

I figured out how to combine the aspects of this with the throated worm drive using paths in Blender. (You convert this gear's face from mesh to path, and use it as a bevel to a bezier circle. Also involves twist and smoothing the twist.) The clue was the torus section info in your other video. Neat stuff by the way. :)
@falcychead8198 7 years ago

It doesn't matter so much in this particular case, but after you finish creating the second gear and moving it to the first layer, I recommend setting the pivot point back to selected element. I was confused for a while before I figured that out.
@adrianjohnson7396 7 years ago

Great video! Thank you. I am designing a mechanical clock in Blender and would like to 3d print it, so this has been a really great tutorial into the maths of gears and animating the designed model. All the very best,
@akerujoyden4787 5 years ago

This is one of the most complete walk throughs I have ever experienced! awesome!
@10hourentertainment14 5 years ago

You can do the process of duplicating and rotating parts of the gear very quickly using shift+r.
@ShaunHusain 7 years ago

Thanks for the tutorial and online calculator great stuff! Just wanted to add as well the Array Modifier when editing the mesh could work for duplicating the gear pieces once you have one full piece I did a similar thing for a water wheel type model and it turned out well, going to give it a go along with your steps here to start.
@AlexAugustinex 3 years ago

Thanks for sharing the knowledge and for the website for quick and easy calculations.
@venkataramanaraogarimella3082 6 years ago

Thank you.Excellent Tutorial.
@samuelrippe100 3 years ago

I had no idea what I was getting into.... awesome.
@teenprogrammer4441 3 years ago

Best tutorial ever!
@MathaGoram 3 years ago

Very nicely done!
@AceTop 7 years ago

Excellent! Thank you
@PhantomCrimsonX 4 years ago

very helpful tutorial thanks so much