Three-dimensional modelling is a vast field where you find unlimited options to unleash the artist within you.

Anima8or (www.anim8or.com) is a free 3D modelling tool that allows easy creation of basic models, figures and animation of figures like cartoon type characters. Today we will briefly go through this small 2 MB tool
and learn the basics on how to use it for object and figure designing. The concepts learned here apply
generally to all 3D modelling tools.

The main screen of Anima8or is divided in four sections with top left corner showing 'Front' which is the current view. On the left, there are toolbar buttons starting with axis controls, selection and move controls, followed by a section for creating shapes such as sphere, cube, cylinder etc.

Let's start with a basic shape sphere. Move the mouse over sphere icon and note that the caption at the bottom changes to 'Add Sphere'. Press the Sphere button (shortcut key Shift+S) and drag the mouse in the top left section where 'Front' appears at the top left to add a sphere. Double-click the sphere to open up its properties editing box.

Enter diametre 10 overwriting the existing one to see that you can change the size of sphere here.

Also note that there's a 'Material' dropdown. Select New from this list and press the Browse button adjacent to the dropdown. This opens up a colour and material selection box. From the colour cube below, select Red colour and press OK to go back to sphere editing box. Press OK again and see the selected red colour is applied to
the sphere.

Select the sphere using select toolbar button and note a yellow outline appears denoting selection. Go to menu Settings>Object and enter object name 'Head' as we will use this as head of a character.

Create a simple character

Change the view from default to figure using menu Mode>Figure. Here, Anima8or allows creation of bone skeleton of a character in which the spherical head already created can be added. In figure mode, a small default triangular bone appears in the centre. Select this bone and see that it changes its colour from blue to grey and a diamond shape is added on top of it.

From the toolbar on the left, press New Bone button (shortcut key Shift+N) and drag the small diamond upwards — this creates a new bone. This new bone is now selected (appears in grey), press Rotate Bone button from the toolbar on the left (shortcut key Shift+R) and drag the bone to the left to rotate it. This will become thigh of the left leg. Now, add a similar one to the right by selecting the default small central bone again using the select tool and dragging the small diamond up, but this time rotate the newly created bone to the right.

Having seen how to add bones, select the newly created right and left thigh bones and add a new bone below each (shin bones), followed by another middle bone like a spine over the central small bone to give the structure a skeleton look. Remember that all the new bones are added in the direction of the parent bone, that is where the blue arrow is pointing when a bone is selected. You will have to rotate the newly created bones to give structure a proper look.

Once the structure is ready, select the top-most bone (that looks like spine), go to menu Build > Add Object and select Head as created and named earlier. Position the head into place by pressing the move button in the left side toolbar and using right and left mouse button to drag the sphere. This completes a basic skeleton design.

Online tutorials can be viewed to see how more detailed features can be added in objects and figures, and how to animate the bony character! Tutorials are present at www.anim8or.com/tutorials

Tip While trying out this tutorial, move your mouse over buttons on the left side toolbar to identify which button does what as button functions appear below at status bar when mouse is moved over them.