How to Create Your First 3D Model: A Step-by-Step Guide

A 3D model describes an object in three dimensions, so software can show it from any side, render it into an image or send it to a 3D printer. You can make your first model in an evening. Here is the path step by step, with a small project at the end.

Step 1: Choose a Program

• Tinkercad is free and runs right in your web browser. Many schools use it: you build a model from ready-made simple shapes.
• Blender is a free, open-source 3D graphics suite for modeling, textures, animation and rendering. It can do more, but it takes longer to learn.
• SketchUp is designed for architecture, interiors and product design, and has a free web version.

Step 2: Learn the Interface

• Creating objects: how to add a cube, a sphere or a cylinder.
• Move, rotate and scale: the three key actions for any object.
• Navigation: how to orbit the view, zoom in and look at the model from the top, side and front.

Step 3: Start With a Basic Shape

Almost every model begins with a simple shape. Add one to the scene and adjust its size and proportions until it roughly resembles what you have in mind.

Step 4: Add Details

• Combining shapes: in Tinkercad, every shape is either a “solid” or a “hole,” and combining them creates new forms, which is how you make dents and openings.
• Vertices, edges and faces: in Blender you change the form by moving the points and surfaces of the mesh.
• Modifiers: in Blender these are effects that leave the original mesh intact, such as smoothing a surface.

Step 5: Texture and Color

To put an image on a model, you create a UV map: the object’s surface is “unfolded” onto a flat picture, like a sewing pattern. For a first model, a plain color or material is enough.

Step 6: Lighting and Rendering

Place lights and a camera, choose a good angle and start the render, and the program will calculate the final image.

Step 7: Save and Export

Save the project in the program’s own format so you can edit it later. For 3D printing, models are exported as STL, a format that describes the surface with triangles.

Mini Project: A Mug in Tinkercad

1. Place a cylinder on the workplane; this is the body of the mug.
2. Add a slightly smaller second cylinder, turn it into a “hole” and raise it above the bottom to form the inside.
3. For the handle, take a torus, stand it upright and press it against the side.
4. Select everything and group it, and the hole will cut out the inside.
5. Color the mug and export it as STL if you want to print it.

If you would like to bring a model to life, see Animation Software: What to Choose as a Beginner: Blender handles animation too.

How to Get Started

In our computer graphics course, students learn techniques for creating digital images, work with shape, color and detail and with the tools of graphics editors, and collect their work in a portfolio that can be prepared for online exhibitions and competitions. Lessons are open to students from age 7. A trial lesson costs $8: it is individual and lasts 45 minutes. More about the course is on the Computer Graphics page. The course program includes a project of your choice: a series of illustrations, an animation or a 3D model.