Create Procedural Gears and Pipes in Blender

Creating procedural gears and mechanical pipes in Blender is a fast and non-destructive process achieved primarily through Blender’s built-in add-ons. By enabling native tools like "Extra Objects" for meshes and curves, you can generate mathematically precise gears, pipe joints, and continuous piping systems with customizable parameters such as tooth count, pressure angles, joint types, and bevel depths without manual polygonal modeling.

Enabling the Required Built-in Add-ons

Blender includes the necessary procedural generation tools by default, but they must be activated:

  1. Open Blender and navigate to Edit > Preferences.
  2. Select the Add-ons tab from the left sidebar.
  3. In the search bar, type Extra Objects.
  4. Check the boxes for both Add Mesh: Extra Objects and Add Curve: Extra Objects.
  5. Close the Preferences window.

Generating Procedural Gears

With the Extra Objects add-on enabled, procedural gear primitives are accessible directly from the viewport creation menu.

  1. Press Shift + A in the 3D Viewport.
  2. Navigate to Mesh > Gears.
  3. Choose either Gear for standard spur gears or Worm for threaded worm drives.
  4. Immediately expand the Add Gear operator panel in the bottom-left corner of the viewport (or press F9).

Key Gear Parameters

  • Number of Teeth: Controls how many cogs are arrayed around the circumference.
  • Radius: Adjusts the overall pitch diameter.
  • Addendum / Dedendum: Modifies the height of the tooth tips and the depth of the tooth roots.
  • Pressure Angle: Changes the slope and contact profile of the teeth for realistic mechanical engagement.
  • Width: Controls the extrusion thickness of the gear body.

Generating Procedural Pipes and Joints

You can generate pipe networks using either mesh-based pipe joints or curve-based procedural extrusions.

Method 1: Mesh Pipe Joints

For segmented piping with standard fittings:

  1. Press Shift + A and go to Mesh > Pipe Joints.
  2. Select a joint type: Pipe Elbow, Pipe Tee, Pipe Cross, or Pipe N-Joint.
  3. Use the operator panel (F9) to configure:
    • Radius: The thickness of the pipe.
    • Angle: The turn angle for elbows.
    • End Lengths: The extension distance of each joint connection.
    • Flange Settings: Adds bolt rings or lip connectors to the joint ends.

Method 2: Curve-Based Procedural Pipes

For continuous, path-following piping:

  1. Press Shift + A and select Curve > Bezier or Curve > Path.
  2. In Edit Mode (Tab), extrude and position the control points along your desired pipe route.
  3. Go to the Object Data Properties tab (green curve icon) in the right panel.
  4. Expand the Geometry > Bevel section.
  5. Set the Depth value to define the pipe diameter and increase the Resolution to ensure a smooth round cross-section.
  6. Enable Fill Caps to close the open ends of the pipe.

Finalizing the Assets

Parameters in the operator panel remain editable only until another action is performed in the viewport. To make permanent structural changes after initial generation:

  • For gears: Enter Edit Mode (Tab) to apply custom bevels or inset hub designs.
  • For curve pipes: Right-click the curve in Object Mode and select Convert To > Mesh if you need to apply vertex-level edits, UV unwrapping, or boolean operations.