🎨 My First 3D Model · Episode 1 of 7 · See All Episodes
📦 Episode 1 · Beginner · No Experience Needed

Hello 3D!
Simple Cube Scene

Your first steps in Blender, the free 3D suite used on real films and games. Learn to fly the camera, move objects, snap-model a little cube house, and render your first image.

👶 Ages 10+ ⏱️ ~1.5 Hours 🎨 Blender ✓ Free
🧭 Viewport navigation ✋ Move/Rotate/Scale ➕ Adding objects 📷 Camera setup 💡 First light 🖼️ Rendering
🎨 Let's Build! Start Step 1 ← All Episodes 🖨️ Print Guide
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Level 1
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🧭
Install & Learn to Fly
Get Blender and master viewport navigation
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Goal for this step

Install Blender and get comfortable moving around 3D space.

  • 1Download Blender free from blender.org, Windows, Mac and Linux all work.
  • 2Open it, you get the default scene: a cube, a camera and a light.
  • 3Navigation on the middle mouse button: drag = orbit, Shift+drag = pan, scroll = zoom.
  • 4No middle mouse? Enable Edit → Preferences → Input → Emulate 3 Button Mouse (Alt+drag orbits).
  • 5Practice mission: orbit a full circle around the cube, zoom close, pan away. Repeat until it feels like your hand does it alone.
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Parent note: Blender is 100% free, open-source and used professionally (Netflix films, indie games). It runs on modest laptops for everything in this series.
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
Orbiting uses the mouse button, panning adds the key, and zooming uses the scroll wheel.
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
Why practise navigation before touching any tools?
ABlender locks tools at first
BIn 3D you must SEE all sides of your work, navigation is the hand-eye skill under every other skill
CIt charges the battery
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Move, Rotate, Scale
The G / R / S keys, Blender’s holy trinity
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Goal for this step

Master the three transform hotkeys with axis locking.

  • 1Click the cube to select it (orange outline). Now: G = grab/move, R = rotate, S = scale. Click to confirm, Esc to cancel.
  • 2Axis locking: tap G then Z, movement locks to the vertical axis. Same with X and Y, and it works for R and S too.
  • 3Type numbers for precision: S 2 Enter = exactly double size; R Z 45 Enter = rotate 45° around Z.
  • 4Mission: move the cube 2 units up (G Z 2), rotate it 45° (R Z 45), scale it 1.5× (S 1.5).
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Blender is a keyboard-first app. Learning G/R/S + axis keys now makes EVERYTHING later feel fast. Say them as you press: "grab… zed… two".
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
The three transform keys are for grab, for rotate and for scale. Pressing G then locks the move to the vertical axis.
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
What does typing R Z 90 then Enter do?
ADeletes the object
BRotates the selection exactly 90 degrees around the Z (vertical) axis
CDuplicates it 90 times
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➕
Build a Cube House
Add meshes, duplicate, and snap-build a tiny house
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Goal for this step

Combine primitive objects into a small house, your first 3D composition.

  • 1Shift+A opens the Add menu, add another Cube for the house body, scale it wide (S, then Shift+Z to scale everything EXCEPT Z).
  • 2The roof: Shift+A → Cone, give it 4 sides in the bottom-left operator panel, instant pyramid roof! Move it on top (G Z).
  • 3A door: another cube, scaled thin and small, moved into the front face.
  • 4Duplicate with Shift+D, make two window cubes.
  • 5Add a big flattened cube as the ground. Congratulations, that pile of primitives reads as a HOUSE.
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The operator panel (bottom-left after adding) is gold: it lets you set cone sides, sphere rings etc. It vanishes when you do something else, use it immediately.
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
New objects come from the +A Add menu. Duplicating a selection is Shift+. A cone with sides makes a perfect pyramid roof.
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
Scaling with S then Shift+Z does what?
AScales only the Z axis
BScales X and Y while leaving Z alone, perfect for widening without changing height
CScales at double speed
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Framing the Camera
Position the camera and see what it sees
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Goal for this step

Aim the camera at your house like a photographer.

  • 1Press Numpad 0 (or the camera icon) to look THROUGH the camera. Probably a terrible angle, let us fix it.
  • 2The magic workflow: fly your viewport to a great angle, then View → Align View → Align Active Camera to View (Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 0), the camera jumps to your view!
  • 3Fine-tune from camera view: select the camera, G to slide, G then middle-click drag for dolly.
  • 4Frame the house slightly off-centre, from a low angle, instantly more dramatic than straight-on.
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
Numpad toggles camera view. The shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 0 snaps the to your current viewport angle.
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
Why is a slightly low, off-centre camera better than straight-on at eye level?
AIt renders faster
BComposition: angles and asymmetry create drama and depth, straight-on reads flat like a diagram
CBlender prefers it
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Light the Scene
Sun lamps, strength and shadow direction
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Goal for this step

Light your house so it looks like a time of day, not a void.

  • 1Select the default light. In the green lamp properties tab, change its type to Sun, parallel rays like real sunlight.
  • 2Rotate the sun (R) to steer shadows: low angle = evening drama, high = flat noon.
  • 3Set Strength ~3 for soft evening or ~6 for bright day.
  • 4Switch the viewport to Rendered shading (the sphere icons, far right one, or press Z and pick Rendered) to see real lighting live.
  • 5Bonus: add a second weak Area light on the shadow side as a "fill" so shadows are not pitch black, a real photography trick.
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
A lamp casts parallel rays like real sunlight. The two-light setup (strong key + weak ) comes straight from photography.
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
A LOW sun angle makes the scene feel…
ALike noon
BLike golden hour, long dramatic shadows and warmth. Shadow direction IS mood
CBrighter overall
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🖼️
Your First Render
F12, save the image, and understand Eevee vs Cycles
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Goal for this step

Render your scene to a real image file you can share.

  • 1Press F12, Blender renders what the camera sees. A window shows the result.
  • 2Save it: Image → Save As → my-first-render.png. THAT file is shareable proof of your new skill!
  • 3Two render engines (Render Properties tab): Eevee = real-time and fast; Cycles = ray-traced, photoreal, slower. Try both, see the shadow quality difference.
  • 4Also save your .blend file (Ctrl+S), Episode 2 builds new models, but you will want this scene again in Episode 7.
  • 5Quiz below completes Episode 1. See you in character modelling!
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Fill in the Blanks
+15 XP
Rendering is one key: . The fast real-time engine is , while the photoreal ray-tracing engine is .
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Knowledge Check
+15 XP
When would you pick Cycles over Eevee?
ANever, Eevee is newer
BFor final quality stills where realistic light bounces matter more than speed
COnly for animation
🎉🏆🎮✨🎉
Workshop Complete!
You can navigate 3D space, transform objects and render an image, the skills every single Blender artist started with. Episode 2: modelling a character!
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▶ Episode 2: Character Basics →
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