Your First Model: a Crate

Let’s make a wooden crate out of Blender’s default cube, from a new file to a painted and saved model. On the way you are going to try the pixel size on the cube, create the texture and the UVs in one click, paint planks with the Line and the Bucket, add grime with a dither pattern and put the nails on a layer of their own.

What you need: Pixel Art Studio installed (see Installation).

1. Open the workspace

1. Start a new file with File > New > General.

2. Click the Pixel Art Studio workspace tab at the top of the window. The texture goes on the left (Image Editor) and the model on the right (3D Viewport), both with the Pixel Art Studio sidebar open.

3. Click the cube in the 3D Viewport to select it.

2. Choose the pixel size

1. In the Pixel Art Studio panel, click the big Setup button (it shows because the cube has no texture yet).

   

2. Quick Setup opens: the 3D Viewport fills the window and the cube wears a grid, one cell per pixel. Click Low · 16. Blender’s default cube is 2 m wide, so every face is going to be 32 by 32 pixels: chunky pixels, great for a crate. The text at the top left says it too: 1 pixel = 6.25 cm, and the texture it needs.

   • Try the other sizes on the cube first if you like (Ctrl+Wheel goes through them), nothing is made until the next step.

3. Click Next.

3. Create the texture

1. Keep the Texture Size it opens on (128 x 128, the size this cube needs at 16 px/m) and the Name (T_Cube).

2. Set Base Color to a medium wood brown. It fills the Background layer, at the bottom of the layer stack.

3. Leave Quick Unwrap, Pixel Grid Layer (with PICO-8 Color Grid) and Setup Viewport ticked.

4. Click Create Texture.

4. What you got

Create Texture did everything at once, as one undo step:

• The UVs: every face is laid flat on its own island, 32 by 32 pixels, packed on whole pixels with a pixel of margin around it (Quick Unwrap). You can see the six squares in the Image Editor.

• The texture, with three layers: Layer 1 (you paint on it), the Pixel Art Canvas grid (it lets you count the pixels on the model) and the locked wood brown Background.

• The viewport: Blender’s grid shrank, one grid square is now one pixel (1/16 m), and the shading shows the texture’s real colors (Setup Viewport).

5. Frame every face

The frame is easiest on the flat texture, where every face is a square.

1. In Colors and Palettes, pick a dark brown as the primary color.

2. In the Image Editor’s sidebar, click the Rectangle tool. Under the toolbar, leave the fill on Not Filled and the Size on 1 (or 2 for a thicker frame).

3. On each of the six squares, drag from its bottom left pixel to its top right pixel. The frame shows up on the model while you draw.

6. Planks with the Line tool

1. With the pointer over the Image Editor, press Shift+Alt+L for the Line tool (or click it), same dark brown, Size 1.

2. Hold Shift and drag across each face, from frame to frame, to draw the seams between the planks (three seams make four planks). Shift keeps the line perfectly straight.

You can draw the seams on the flat texture or right on the model in the 3D Viewport: click the Line tool in the 3D Viewport’s sidebar too (or point at the model and press ;). The color and the tool settings are the same in both editors.

7. Shade the planks with the Bucket

1. In Layers, hide the Pixel Art Canvas layer (click its eye). The grid goes away and the wood color of the Background shows through.

2. In the 3D Viewport’s sidebar, click the Bucket (or, with a tool already armed there, point at the model and press Shift+Alt+F). Under the toolbar, make sure Pixel and Contiguous are on.

3. Pick a slightly lighter (or darker) brown and click inside every other plank, right on the model. The fill stops at the frame and at the seams.

Note

The Bucket reads only the active layer: the frames and the seams you drew on Layer 1 are what hold the fill. A fill that leaked through a gap? Ctrl+Z, close the gap with the Line and fill again.

8. Grime with a dither pattern

1. With the pointer over the model, press Shift+Alt+B for the Brush, pick a dark brown and set Size to 3.

2. Expand Brushes and Patterns and, under Pattern:, choose Dither 25%.

3. Turn on the Transparent toggle (the ghost icon) right of the pattern. The gaps of the pattern are left untouched, instead of being painted with the secondary color.

4. Paint along the bottom of the planks and into the corners of the frame. The preview under the pointer shows the exact pixels before you click.

5. When you are done, set the pattern back to No Pattern.

Tip

Patterns are locked to the pixel grid, so overlapping strokes and fills never show a seam.

9. Nails on their own layer

1. In Layers, click + (Add Layer). A new layer shows up above Layer 1. Double-click its name and call it Nails.

2. Pick a light grey, set the brush Size to 1 and click a nail at both ends of every plank.

3. Toggle the eye of Nails to compare with and without, or lower its Opacity.

Tip

Click the padlock of Layer 1 to lock it, and stray clicks can’t touch the planks anymore.

10. Save

1. Press Ctrl+S. The texture and all its layers are saved inside the .blend file.

2. Need a PNG? In the Image Editor, Image > Save As, or Export PNG > Export Texture in Layer Extras. The visible layers are what goes in the PNG (that’s why the Pixel Art Canvas grid layer is hidden).

3. Making a game? See Game Engines: Godot, Unity and Unreal Engine can get the crate on every save.

Where to go next

• Bigger or smaller pixels for the crate, keeping what you painted: Try Pixel Densities, see Quick Setup and Try Pixel Densities.

• A model that already has a texture: A Model That Already Has a Texture.

• Paint one plank face and see it on all of them with Stack UVs: UV Tools.

• Everything about layers (blend modes, masks, adjustments): Layers.

• More patterns, custom brushes, Noise and Color Jitter: Brushes and Patterns.