Once you've learned the basics, see other helpful Resources to create your own projects.
1. 🎨 Paint a Block to Learn Camera & Tools
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. Follow the steps in the tabs below.
Start
Open VoxEdit, then create a new project in the Block Editor.
Camera Movement
First, let's practice basic VoxEdit camera controls to move the 3D block in the Viewport. Notice a white arrow points from the front face of the block.
Controls
Keys/Mouse
Pan camera
Rotate camera
Zoom in/out
Focus (center)
F key
Essential: The scale of a block is 32 voxels in every dimension, which translates to 1 metre in the real world.
About Palette & Material Panels
The Palette panel is filled with different coloured square swatches. The colour that is selected is highlighted by a white square. It also appears in the Material panel with the RGB, HSB, and HEX codes included.
Paint Voxels
By default, the pen tool is active and applies the colour in the selected swatch. Left click on the block surface to edit individual voxels or left click, drag, and release to edit multiple voxels.
Practice painting voxels with the pen tool using at least five colours. Use camera controls to pan, rotate, and zoom as needed.
Undo/Redo
Often, you will need to undo/redo your actions as you create in VoxEdit (paint on colour, change a colour, rotate/flip your design, etc).
Practice using these controls, which are also available in the Edit menu.
Undo (up to 10 operations): Ctrl+Z
Redo (up to 10 operations): Ctrl+Y
Select Colours from Your Design
This makes it easier to find and change colours used in your design.
Change Colours via the Palette
A swatch is a location for colour information. If you replace a swatch's colour or load a different palette, the colour will change everywhere it was painted on your block.
Test each method below to change each colour painted onto the block:
Copy & Paste: Right click to copy and paste one swatch's colour into another swatch location to change the colour in the block
Hold, Drag & Release: Click on a colour swatch until a small square appears inside it, then drag it and place it in another swatch to replace that swatch's colour
Saturation: Drag the circle in the Material panel and move it left to right
Tint: Drag the circle in the Material panel and move it up and down
Hue: Drag the triangle slider on the hue bar
(Optional) Codes: Enter RGB, HSB, and HEX codes
Sample Colours from Your Screen
Colour Blending Swatches
To blend two colours in the Palette panel, first copy and paste them in swatches that are spaced apart the number of colours you want to generate between them. Select one swatch, drag, and let go on the other swatch. Then right click and select Blend in the menu. Done!
This makes it easier to create colours for light, shadows, and texture that will blend well with the main colours in your design.
Practice using blended colours to add light and shadow to your design.
Be careful not to overwrite colour swatches you plan to keep in your project. Remember, if a used swatch colour changes, it will change in your design.
About Tools
The Block Editor only allows tools to work in paint mode. You will learn to use the other modes in combination with these tools in the next activity about the Modeler.
Tools are like brushes. In the Tool bar on the left, click a tool to practice painting different block faces while moving the camera as needed.
Top Bar Buttons
Test the buttons below while painting with different tools. Try to create a pattern on one face.
Blocks Side Panel
This panel allows you to select a block face and flip, rotate, export, or import with its buttons. You can also drag a block face into another face slot to duplicate it.
Try using these to create a pattern across all block faces with minimal painting.
You can import (or export) a 32x32 pixel image with less than 256 colours. Image colours must match the palette, or they will replace it and affect block colours.
Follow Up
Follow instructions in Upload Assets to Workspaces to add the block to your inventory. Once you've completed the upload process, your creation will be ready to build with in your Game Maker library.
See Using Blocks to learn about different block types and in Game Maker to test your creations
Now you have the foundation to use the camera, color, and important tools to create in VoxEdit. You can also view your block in your inventory on the website and use it in Game Maker.
In the next activity, you'll learn to create 3D models by combining tools with different modes in the Modeler.
This is an EASY activityanyone 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.
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.
This is an EASY 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.
Get Started
Open VoxEdit
Open the Templates tab and choose any template to explore and edit.
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 in the Animator
This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity to build your first rig by positioning multiple models together. A rig can be still or animated and can have a simple to very complex structure.
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.
Get Started
Open VoxEdit
Select the Animator module in the menu on the left
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
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 to animations, which can be still poses or have movement.
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.
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.
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.
This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity to explore colour and texture to make more attractive voxel art with depth and apparent shape without adding voxel noise.
This hands-on activity will explore how to create higher quality art with 2D texture, which can help you optimise your assets.
This is an ADVANCED activity to explore essential 3D design methods including breaking down models to compose compound assets faster and creating clean angles and 3D structure for better performance in the game world.
This hands-on activity will cover common 3D techniques and best practices to construct more complex rigs or smooth curves.
VoxEdit is easy to learn fast! Hover your mouse over almost anything to see a tip in the bottom left. Click the keyboard button near the top right for a list of controls.
ALT + Move ↕️ ↔️ OR
Hold + Move ↕️ ↔️
Hold + Move ↕️ ↔️
scroll wheel OR
CTRL + Hold + Move ↕️ ↔️
Select the Picker tool in the Tools panel on the left. Now you can click on any colour in your block to select it in the Palette panel.
Emissive: Click the star to switch a colour between normal and emissive (glow) modes
In the Materials panel, click and hold the colour sample button , move your mouse over the colour on your screen that you want to select, and release. This replaces the selected swatch.
/ Show/Hide Voxel Edges: Add and remove guide lines to use tools more precisely and create patterns.
Mirror: Apply the same edits around the selected axis or axes.
Flip: Flip the entire block 180 degrees around a selected axis.
Rotate: Turn the entire block 90 degrees around a selected axis.