Tinkering with Sticks

Meet Josh! He works with instructor Zack as part of Game-U’s Accelerate program. Josh is a fan of the Sonic Boom TV series, so when he and Zack decided to give 3D modeling a shot, Josh picked irrepressible Sonic Boom character Sticks the Badger as his debut! See how he recreated Sticks using the shapes and tools available in TinkerCAD.

TinkerCAD, while less advanced than Maya or Blender, offers new modelers the chance to practice their skills to create a variety of objects – from simple to complex. Biplanes, raptors, hot rods, skyscrapers, swords, cupcakes, tractors, characters, and more find a home in TinkerCAD’s vast Gallery of Things. To get Josh started on contributing to this incredible archive, Zack introduced him to the workplane controls. Josh can add basic shapes, text, connectors, and even circuit assemblies to his workplane, resizing and reshaping them to fit his design needs. The 3D workplane also allows him to use the mouse to adjust his view, switching angles and zooming in and out on his project. Finally, with the group/ungroup tool, Josh can group shapes into one object, creating a single entity from many different parts. To model Sticks, Josh and Zack first pulled up a reference image. Next, they identified the shapes that best composed the character, added them to the TinkerCAD workplane, and finally, using the tools Josh just learned, resized and repositioned them in appropriate relation to each other. As a first project, the result is nothing short of awesome!

We love your recreation of Sticks, Josh. You captured her wild and wacky cuteness! Thanks for sharing her with us, and we hope to see more 3D models from you in the weeks to come. TinkerCAD is only the beginning!