learning to create digital worlds
In modern society, digital technologies have already become an important part of human life. Everyone needs skills to work with such technologies to feel comfortable and safe among a variety of services and platforms. But do not forget that the digital environment also includes promising IT professions, new digital skills that can be mastered at an early age.
One of such popular areas in this field is 3D modeling. It not only helps in revealing creative and analytical abilities in children, but also opens up wide opportunities for future professional growth in various fields, from computer games to industrial design. And 3D modeling for children will become an excellent platform for understanding the basics of mathematics and physics, for developing artistic skills.
To learn how to create digital worlds, it is not necessary to look for full-time 3D schools for children. There are many good ones now 3D modeling courses for schoolchildren in an online format. They are convenient and allow the child to study in a home environment. For example, at the Pixel school, before the start of a distance modeling course for children, the teacher helps students set up a home computer and install all the necessary programs.
Below we will introduce you to three types of 3D modeling classes for children
Blender for Teens: online 3D modeling course for kids
Age: from 13 years
Format: online or in person
Individually or in a group: groups up to 12 people, individually possible
These 3D modeling classes for kids teach 3D graphics using the Blender modeling and animation program. This editor is popular with professionals and beginners, is free and contains all the necessary tools for learning how to work with 3D objects and such graphics in general. The Blender course for schoolchildren introduces the digital sculpting method, works with overlaying textures on objects, and learns how to render models.
In the future, such 3D modeling skills for schoolchildren can become a bridge to professional activity: you can become a CG artist and draw characters for video games, become a 3D animator in the field of video games or cinema. Or go into the technical direction and work as a 3D printing engineer or architectural visualizer (creating virtual 3D tours, volumetric buildings and models for various fields and areas).
Below are seven free 3D modeling video tutorials for kids to better understand why Blender is interesting and useful for kids. They are great for beginners to get acquainted with the direction and to create their first volumetric models.
In this tutorial, using the example of creating a minion, you will learn simple shapes (sphere and cylinder) and the operations that can be performed with them. To simplify things, a picture of the character is loaded into the program, on which the frame of our minion is built.
3D Modeling Training for Kids: clothes in blender
The lesson follows from the previous one: now we will create clothes for our hero – overalls. To do this, using the rib loop, you need to adjust the 3D figure to the same picture as in the first lesson. At the end of the lesson, you will have ready-made clothes. By analogy with the overalls, you can create any other clothes for the character.
As we already wrote in the section on the 3D modeling course in Blender, digital sculpting is generally very similar to the real process of modeling. In this lesson, you will learn how to work with a polygonal mesh, what methods there are for creating textures, and try out different brushes for more detailed character creation.
3D modeling courses for schoolchildren: general sculpting
If the previous lesson was devoted to sculpting a separate element, then here we will talk about more large-scale options. From the video lesson, you will learn how to customize model meshes and select them for your tasks, how to create a detailed brush for working out the fingers of 3D characters. Also, together with the teacher, you will try to “assemble” a volumetric model of the hero's face.
Create glasses in Blender on a free modeling course for kids
Often a character has some characteristic features and appearance peculiarities, without which it is impossible to imagine him. So the hero of this video lesson, the minion, always wears glasses. You will try to create them together with the teacher. You will master in practice working with different modifiers and work out in detail the frame of this accessory.
In this tutorial you will learn how to work with the character's hair and give it the desired shape and color, how to texture different materials, and work on small details with a seam.
This is one of the key topics for beginners who are starting to master 3D modeling. UV unfolding is also called UV mapping, which means “map” in English. Hence the explanation: unfolding allows you to create two-dimensional surfaces from an assembled 3D model in order to color it and apply a particular texture. This is very similar to cutting out clothes: so, to sew a jacket that looks voluminous on a person, you need to connect flat pieces of fabric together. From the video tutorial, you will understand the principles of solving mapping problems, set up the display of materials for the object's body, and try to design an unfolding for a minion's blue jumpsuit.
Age: 9-14 years
Format: online or in person
Individually or in a group: groups up to 12 people, individually possible
A course to acquire basic modeling skills on a popular platform for creating 3D worlds. Roblox itself allows you to create 3D games and share them with other participants. This environment is ideal for children from 9 years old, as it has a clear interface, simple commands and a bright, colorful world. During the course, the child will learn not only to create 3D models and materials for textures, but also try themselves in creating entire landscapes and maps.
If a student likes this direction, he will want to deepen his knowledge and, perhaps, this will lead him to a career as a 3D artist, rigger (prepares a character for animation by creating a skeleton from “rigs” – digital bones). In general, the ability to create three-dimensional worlds in Roblox will help in the development of any profession related to 3D. And if not, then creative thinking skills, developed logic and the ability to solve complex problems will in any case make any training and activity more effective.
Below we have collected several free short video tutorials on 3D modeling for children of the Roblox program for those who have not yet encountered it. But those who already know and have created 3D games there may find useful features for themselves.
The lesson begins with creating the chassis of the future car – it will look like a rectangle. Then from this figure we create points – places for attaching the wheels of the car. Then a block is created that will play the role of a seat, and with its help in the future we will be able to read data from the keyboard and thus control it in the script. After the car is completed, you need to write a script for movement. You will find a detailed code in the video lesson.
Before you begin, make sure that the Roblox airplane model you choose includes the necessary elements: the body and wings. Next, you can move on to the customization stage of the plane, where you will have a variety of settings at your disposal, including the choice of color, texture, and graphics. These can include logos or flags, as well as various lighting options, which will make your 3D model look more realistic. The video also shows the rendering process, a task that involves the final application of lighting effects, giving the final visual appearance to the model before uploading it to Roblox Studio, thereby ensuring that your plane is visually appealing and realistic.
How to make lighting in Roblox?
Those who have visited and played Roblox have probably noticed that when the game changes day and night, the character can be highlighted. It looks pretty nice, and the video tutorial is dedicated to how to make such an effect with the platform's in-game editor. Two methods are shown: using Surfacelight and with the PointLight component.
Let's try to assemble a simple but interesting game. A glass bridge is two lines and a glass layer. The player can only stand if he stands on the right side. The goal of the game is simple – to reach the end of the bridge. To create a project, you will need to create a glass bridge, write a script for it, build a map where the game action will take place.
A video that shows how to create a boat in the Roblox environment. To do this, you will need to add a model of our water transport to the map, then write code to move the boat on the water and make a seat for the character in it. Detailed steps are described in the video.
How To Make Santa's Reindeer In Roblox
Boats, cars, planes — if you watched the previous video tutorials, you probably already understood the main principles of creating any transport in Roblox. Now we suggest trying to create a deer that helps Santa move not only on the ground, but also in the air. From the lesson, you will learn about such tools as color adjustment and grouping of individual elements to assemble a common animal model.
In the world of computer graphics, especially when it comes to 3D models in video games, a skin is the outer shell of an object. It can change the style and appearance of a character in a variety of ways. Roblox has its own marketplace for skins: there are both paid and free options. Players can also upload their own skins to this store. To do this, you will need to make a scan. For detailed steps, watch the video tutorial.
3D modeling in TinkerCAD and Construct
Age: 6-9 years
Format: online or in person
Individually or in a group: groups up to 12 people, individually possible
Among the 3D modeling lessons for children, there are also some for the little ones. Thus, TinkerCAD is considered an easy-to-understand and use tool. It is a cloud platform that allows users to simply log in and work in it using the Internet and a browser. The word “Tinker” can be translated as “quick repair”, which emphasizes the service's ability to help quickly and without unnecessary complications create various 3D objects. This is the feature that makes TinkerCAD an ideal choice for developing simple models.
This is a suitable course for preschoolers and primary school children, since the main tool for them will not be complex programming and an incomprehensible script, but an exciting game with the creation of three-dimensional models. At the initial stage of study, children will get acquainted with the basics of working in TinkerCad, try out all the main buttons of the interface. A teacher will always come to the rescue, who will clearly explain how to use this or that tool so that children can independently create something of their own, for example, a small cube or a pyramid with holes.
The small number of students in the group allows the mentor to work individually with each student. The teacher closely monitors the child's progress, his abilities that he demonstrates during the course and helps everyone to maximally reveal their creative potential.
The kids will finish their first lesson with their own 3D model. In the following modules, children will learn to create more interesting objects and upload them to Construct to create games. This is a game engine that also does not require technical skills from the student: the interface is clear and accessible even to preschoolers. Over the course of the course, the child will master the basic knowledge of modeling and the principles of creating games, which will allow him to better cope with more complex programs in programming and development.
As you can see, creating digital worlds is not difficult, and such an activity as computer modeling for children is available to both preschoolers and teenagers. It is only important to understand that at different ages these will be different programs adapted to the age. Thus, a preschooler without any modeling skills does not need to immediately dive into Blender tools – a simplified gameplay in TinkerCad is enough for him to understand how to build objects in three-dimensional space.
In any case, the skills of spatial thinking, logic, creativity, which are developed in 3D modeling courses for children online, will be useful in any other activity.
