Hello there! Welcome to this new tutorial dedicated to Paint3D, a free built-in App on Windows 10 to realize basic 2D sketches and 3D objects in a very easy and intuitive user interface! Please visit our YouTube channel and our official website to get extra tips, articles and participate in our exclusive giveaway campaigns! When opening Paint3D a welcome screen shows up with three main ways to start: create a new empty project with New; browse for an existing one with Open or paste the current image you have copied with Paste. On the right you also find tips and news from Microsoft. Let's just start from a new project.
The interface is very simple and basic, showing the main preview and all the tools and features available on top, including the editing panel on the right, changing options depending on the tool enabled. Any Paint3D project is made by 2D and 3D shapes. All 2D objects lay on the 2D white canvas on the preview; whereas all 3D objects remain completely independent from it. Let's see how to work with 2D objects. If you have any image to import go to Menu, Open to browse for it or just copy and paste it with the Paste button.
With the Select tool enabled click and drag to move it, use the white nodes to size, keeping the aspect ratio with the Shift key and rotate with the top node. To apply, click elsewhere. Pay attention this action is permanent: the image becomes part of the canvas and not reselectable any more. If you need to edit it again you have to undo with CTRL+Z and repeat the import. You can also zoom in and out by using your mouse wheel. To adjust the canvas enable the Crop tool and resize it, selecting precise options on the right.
Remember that you can undo with CTRL+Z. You can also make great 2D drawings on the canvas. With Brushes you can click and drag to draw freehand, selecting kind of brush and adjusting thickness, transparency level and color on the right. With 2D shapes you can drop precise 2D lines, curves and regular objects by clicking once or clicking and dragging to size properly. Then you can move, size and rotate it and also drag its internal handles to customize it shape. On the right adjust filling and stroke color, size, opacity and either rotate by 90 degrees or flip. You can also use the paste button to apply the current drawing and work on its copy directly. With Stickers you can import ready icons and text from the long list provided by Paint3D. All these 2D objects will be part of the canvas once you apply them. If you want these independent you have to transform these into 3D items. As you drop 2D shapes or stickers you can use Make 3D on the right to turn these into 3D.
At this point you can select and edit these any time and also add these into your own sticker list by going to Make sticker. Another way is to use the Magic select tool. When you enable it, define the 2D object contours and adjust the default selection if you need. After clicking on Done, the object is extracted from the 2D background, becoming an independent 3D object. Paint3D also adjusts what remains from the background itself.
Now let's see how to draw 3D objects. On top you can go to 3D library to pick ready 3D models to import in your project including animals, flowers, trucks and much more. Being 3D items these remain independent from the canvas and you can move, scale and rotate these through all the three different axes. This 3D rotation allows you to resize on different directions, changing their extrusion and volume in different ways. Another node called Z-axis position changes the distance between such item and the canvas, very useful to adjust the order of visibility in case multiple objects overlap. You can check your 3D object properly by enabling the 3D view, holding down your right-click to orbit and holding down the ALT key to pan around. To draw 3D objects from scratch open the 3D shapes section, choosing between 3D objects and models and clicking once or dragging to drop these. You can also draw freehand with 3D doodle. Tube Brush allows you to draw a 3D conductor freehand with a defined tube shape, thickness, brush options and color.
All tubes have a maximum length, as shown on the preview, and also several handles on it to adjust it shape. Once you apply the tube by clicking elsewhere, you won't be able to adjust it shape anymore. You can also make multiple brushes before applying. All these will be treated as a unique brush. Besides Tube brush you can enable Soft edge and Sharp edge to drop custom shapes by drawing their contour. With your cursor you can click to specify each vertex and straight sides or click and drag to define each curve freehand. The final 3D object will be built from such contour, softer in case of Soft edge and much sharper if you use Sharp edge. Then use the Select tool to adjust its extrusion and final shape. To adjust the 3D object appearance select it with the Select tool and use the options on the right panel. You can edit its color, rotate it by 90 degrees or flip it. You can also draw on its surface directly with all the 2D tools just seen.
If you apply any brush, 2D shape or sticker these will all lay on the 3D object surface, following it shape. This editing is permanent. Paint3D does not have advanced 3D editing tools. To make complex shapes you have to combine multiple 3D objects together into a unique one by moving and overlapping these properly. Once they are in the right place you can enable the Select tool and hold down the CTRL key to select all of them together, using Group to treat these as a unique object to move, scale and edit properly. You can make these independent by using Ungroup any time. With Text you can add 2D and 3D pieces of text. Click and drag to define the text area where text can spread and type in, adjusting font, size, color and shape on the right.
Remember that 2D text will be part of the canvas, whereas 3D text remains independent with options to move, scale and rotate in order to resize it or adjust its extrusion depth. If you do not see the piece of text make sure to check its depth level in respect to all the other objects. You can go to Effects to change the light direction and the general appearance. Whereas with Canvas you can adjust or hide the 2D canvas. This also affects all the 2D drawings you have on it. To preview your project click on Mixed reality. This opens the 3D Viewer of Windows showing your 3D objects and your webcam together. You can also turn off your webcam and preview all adjusting environment, light or adding animation. If your project is ready, save it by going to Menu, Save As. You can save it as a Paint 3D project to edit it later or render it into an image or export it as a 3D model.
Thanks for watching this video! Check out our YouTube channel for more amazing tutorials completely free to watch!.
