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Beginners

Find your way in VoxEdit with core tutorial videos and hands-on activities to learn the creative modules and tools.

Core Tutorial Videos

Use these easy to medium difficulty core videos to see how VoxEdit's modules work or try a hands-on activity below.

Hands-on Activities to Learn Fast

These activities are sequenced to help you learn the core funcitonalities of VoxEdit, and will help you learn some workflows to make great Assets!
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UPDATES TO COME Our activities will have more details as we create more graphics and tutorial videos. In the meantime, explore our other documentation and guides to keep learning.

1. Create a Block: Paint Only

This is an EASY activity anyone can do, which will teach you how to paint in VoxEdit. We'll show you how to build shape in the next activity. Use the tabs above to follow the steps.
Start
Learn
Practice
Finish
How Does the Block Editor Work?

Start

  • Open VoxEdit, then create a new project in the Block Editor.
  • Practice basic VoxEdit camera controls in the Block Editor Viewport:
    • Pan Camera: Alt + Right-click
    • Rotate Camera: Alt + Left-click
    • Zoom in/out: Mouse wheel up/down

Learn

  • View Block Editor Basics in the video tab of this activity for a quick introduction.
  • Open Block Editor documentation so you can look up any menus and tools if needed. You can also hover your mouse over buttons for tool tips in VoxEdit.
  • Essential: The scale of a block is 32 voxels in every dimension, which translates to 1 metre in the real world.
  • Review Palette Panel and Material Panel documentation and practice selecting colours.

Practice

  • Use tools from VoxEdit's Block Editor Tools Menu to edit your block. Note that the Block Editor only allows tools to work in paint mode. Move the block with the camera controls as you edit.
  • Often, you will need to undo/redo your actions as you create in VoxEdit. Practice using these controls, which are also available in the Edit menu.
    • Undo (up to 10 operations): Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z macOS)
    • Redo (up to 10 operations): Ctrl+Y (Cmd+Y macOS)
  • Practice using the Block Sides Panel to rotate and flip the faces of your block. Drag and drop a face in the panel onto another to reuse it.
    • Extra: If you have a small square image file with a small amount of colours, select a block face and try to import the image. Your palette will add the image's colours.
  • Practice using the Rotate, Flip, and Mirror tools in the Block Editor Top Bar to make changes to the whole block.

Finish

  • Follow instructions in Upload Assets to Workspaces to put your block in your account inventory for use. Now you can test it in Game Maker.
See Create Experiences to learn about Game Maker, which includes documentation for Using Blocks so you can test your creations.

How Does it Work?

Creating with the Block Editor is as simple as selecting a colour from the customisable Colour Palette, choosing a Tool as your paint brush and left clicking anywhere on the block in the Viewport to apply colour.
You can use the Block Sides Panel to copy, flip, and rotate block faces and use flip and mirror tools on the Top Bar to speed up the process of creating your design. VoxEdit's Block Editor and Modeler also include edges modes to make it easier to create patterns.

Full Documentation:

2. Create a Model: Basic Tools

This is an EASY activity anyone can do, and it builds on what you learned about colour and painting in Activity 1. Once you know how to use the Modeler in this Activity, you'll be ready to modify models in an Animated Template in Activity 3.
Start
Learn
Practice
Quality Check
How Does the Modeler Work?

Start

  • Open VoxEdit, then open the Modeler
  • Review VoxEdit controls

Learn

Practice

  • Modify the collision boundary of your model and adjust the pivot point
  • Try VoxEdit's remaining modes and see how they work with tools learned in Activity
    • Create and Erase voxels
    • Select and move voxels
  • Copy and Paste voxels

Quality Check

  • Trim the volume for a tight collision in game
  • "Upload to my Workspace," view it on the Sandbox dashboard - you've created a simple entity!
  • Test in Game Maker
    • Install and open Game Maker
    • Find your simple entity in the Game Maker Library (search by name)
    • Place your simple entity (and your block) in the game world
  • Change something about your model and Export it again, and choose to replace the first version. In Game Maker, test the new version of the asset.

How Does it Work?

Creating with the Modeler as simple as defining the model's volume, adding voxels to the volume, and applying colour from the customisable Colour Palette.
To select, create, paint, and erase voxels, choose a Mode. Then choose a Tool as your brush type and left click anywhere within the volume in the Viewport. View examples of Mode and Tool Combinations to see how it works!
Top Bar Buttons allow you to define and trim the volume, flip, mirror, and rotate your model. VoxEdit's Block Editor and Modeler also include edges modes to make it easier to create patterns and precise details.
Models can be Assets on their own or be part of a rig in the Animator. In this way, you can reuse Models for multiple projects.

Full Documentation:

3. Customise a Template: Animator

This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity that requires knowledge of the Modeler since you'll go back and forth between that module and the Animator to customise an Animated Template. It's easier than you think, and the customisation options are endless once you learn the basics.
Start
Learn
Practice
Quality Check
Follow Up

Get Started

  • Open VoxEdit
  • Open the Templates tab and choose any template to explore and edit.

Learn

Practice

  • Open and close models in nodes to edit and save changes
  • Create a new model and link it to a node (drag and drop)
  • Clone a model and link it to a node
  • Customize the shape of models in your rig, trim volumes, and adjust the pivot point if needed

Quality Check

  • Test various animations and check for z-fighting or clipping in the Animator
  • "Upload to my Workspace" - you've created an animated entity from a template!
  • Test in Game Maker
    • Install and/or open Game Maker
    • Find your animated entity in the Game Maker Library (search by name)
    • Place your entity in the game world
    • Add the "Animated Decoration" behavior and choose the animation you want to test
    • Press TAB to test in play mode and see the selected animation show
    • Test as many times as you like (or duplicate the object you placed and set different animations to see them display all at once)
So much is possible with templates since you can change color, shape, and even the pivot point of each model included.
You can even unlock templates to add nodes and motion keyframes, but we recommend learning to build a rig in the next activity and learning to add keyframes in the next two activities before modifying a template.

4. Build a Rig: Animator

This is a MEDIUM to ADVANCED difficulty activity depending on how complex your design is. Plan to make something simpler if you're learning 3D design for the first time. If you're already knowledgeable with other software you may want to try something more complex. It's up to you.
In this activity you'll learn a lot about the spatial relationships of the models in your compound entity and commonly used workflows to build a skeleton from scratch.
Start
Learn
Prepare
Practice
Quality Check
Follow Up

Get Started

  • Open VoxEdit
  • Select the Animator module in the menu on the left
  • Create a new project

Learn

Prepare

  • Create a control node and child nodes
  • Create a new model from the Animator Library as a full "sketch" of what you're going to make
    • Adjust the pivot point to be centered and on the floor
    • Use the mirror tool to create symmetry in the design

Practice

    • Select voxels and use "Save Selected Voxels" in the Edit menu to create new models
    • Repeat this until you have all of the pieces you want to assemble
    • Where you had symmetry in your "sketch" model, only save one new model
    • Decide which model makes sense to be linked to a parent node for this build (when it moves, all child nodes move with it)
      • Link (drag and drop) it to an empty node
    • Drag and drop a node into another to make it a child, position it:
      • Link another model you saved to an empty node, drag and drop the node onto the parent node, and move and rotate it into position to match your "sketch"
      • Test and observe the parent/child relationship:
        • Move and rotate the parent node to see both models move, undo
        • Move and rotate the child node to see that only it moves, undo
    • Save time where there's symmetry:
      • Link the same model to empty child nodes of your parent node and position them
      • Test and observe modifying the model linked to more than one node:
        • Open the model and edit the color in the Modeler, save and view it in the Animator
        • Observe how every instance of the model linked changes
        • Clone the model and paint it differently, then drag and drop it in one of the nodes to link it and see how you can quickly create varied looks in your creations
        • Feel free to swap back to reuse the same model or edit colors as you lik
    • Assemble the rest of your design
    • Import a model you've already made into the Animator Library panel and link it to a node (drag and drop) and find a position for it in the design
      • If you don't like it, remove it from the library

Quality Check

  • View your creation from all angles for quality, making any adjustments needed
  • "Upload to my Workspace" - you've created a compound entity!
  • Test in Game Maker
    • Install and/or open Game Maker
    • Find your model in the Game Maker Library (search by name)
    • Place your compound entity in the game world
    • Press TAB to test in play mode
    • Observe:
      • Every model in this compound entity has its own collision boundary because there are no animations, making it feel more realistic in the game
This activity empowers you to build a custom rig for anything you like: buildings the player can enter, spaceships with sleek angles, robots you'll animate later, and more!

5. Create Animations: Add Motion Keyframes

This is an ADVANCED activity that requires a pre-built rig so you can add motion keyframes. A compound asset can have one or more static animations, and an animated asset can have one or more animations that are static or have motion.
While you can add motion to your rig before you're completely satisfied with how you've built it, you'll save a lot of time by deciding on the rig first. Pose your models in static animations to decide if you need to divide or combine models for the motion you'll add later.
Start
Practice 1
Practice 2
Quality Check
Follow Up

Get Started

  • Open VoxEdit
  • Open your compound entity from Activity 4 to add motion to an animation (duplicate your project first if you want to keep your unanimated rig as a separate project)

Practice 1

  • Select a node you want to have motion and open the timeline at the bottom of the Animator
  • Position the playhead to where you want the first period of motion for that node to end (this is all based on time, where each tick mark is a frame and every 24 frames is one second)
  • In the Global Space, move the node to the position you want it to reach by that time
  • Press spacebar to test - NOTE: the position of the playhead is important to check each time you move a node, because it will create keyframes of motion
    • Modify the keyframe you made:
      • Drag the end to increase the time for the movement, press spacebar to test
      • Position the playhead at the end of the keyframe and move the node, press spacebar to test

Practice 2

  • Modify zoom area in the timeline to have more room to add more keyframes
  • Add a new motion keyframe to follow the first one:
    • Position the playhead in the empty space after the existing keyframe
    • Move the same node and test with spacebar to see how the two keyframes blend together to create motion
    • Add nuance to motion in the second keyframe with a quick adjustment of keyframe interpolation
  • Copy a keyframe and paste after the ones you created normally and then in reverse, test with spacebar and undo if you don't want to keep them
  • Complex movement:
    • Create a keyframe for a parent node and a keyframe for a child node, press spacebar to test this as a combination
    • Make adjustments and test the results a few times.
  • Complete the rest of your animation

Quality Check

  • Quick Tip: How to Close Your Keyframes (video):
    • Move the playhead to the final frame of your animation and press the empty diamond button at the top of the node list in the timeline - this is a critical step to make your animation work properly
  • Test thoroughly with the spacebar
  • "Upload to my Workspace" - you've created an animated entity from scratch!
  • Test in Game Maker
    • Install and/or open Game Maker
    • Find your model in the Game Maker Library (search by name)
    • Place your animated entity in the game world
    • Press TAB to test in play mode
    • Observe:
      • Every model in this compound entity has its own collision boundary because there are no animations, making it feel more realistic in the game
Now you can animate any rig you can create, but keep in mind this creates a collision boundary around the whole entity. Your next step with VoxEdit is to learn how to name the animations for your entity to match up with the behaviors in Game Maker so they activate properly during play. Learn more about Animation in The Sandbox to see how it works.

Resources

Find comprehensive details on VoxEdit
Boost performance with best practices
Find recommendations by asset type
Learn how to compete to win SAND

Community

Socials

VoxEdit Creations Channel |
#VoxEditWeekly
Game Maker Teasers channel |
#ScreenshotSaturday |
#tsbgamejam

Livestreams

Follow along and ask questions during our Livestreams, available on Twitch. Subscribe to receive notifications for when we go live!

Discord

  • Ask for help (English) in the VoxEdit or Game Maker Community Discussions
  • File a ticket for a technical issue in the VoxEdit or Game Maker Support Channels
  • Find channels in other languages
  • How to join and claim roles
  • Basics to navigate Discord
  • Resources to stay safe on Discord and report issues