All our workflow explainers are waffle-free and work-tested. That’s the pixels.cool guarantee!

Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface

Overview

Name of explainer: Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface

Creative theme: Beginning 3D Modelling using UModeler

Software used (for this explainer): Unity Hub. Unity LTS. uModeler.

User level: BEGINNER

This is explainer 3 of 7 in this series

This series includes:

1. Install the Unity Hub and Unity LTS
2. Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset
3. Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface
4. Navigate the scene and scale, rotate and move 3D objects
5. Adjust faces, edges and vertices to make unique 3d shapes
6. Create a simple car model based on the Simpsons Canyonero
7. Apply materials and textures to the Canyonero and export the model

The Software

This series of explainers uses the Unity platform and the ‘Umodeler’ Unity asset .

UNITY is a real-time development platform. It’s a versatile development platform used for creating 2d, 3d and VR games, as their showreel demonstrates:

You’ll recognise these best-selling games, all developed in Unity. Expand to view:

With a full 3D feature set, Unity can also be used to create animated films and cinematic sequences:

To introduce 3d modelling we’re using the Unity 3d modelling asset UModeler:

Umodeler is a PAID asset, which retails at around £120 / $120.  Note that as of summer 2023 there is no longer a ‘free’ version available (uModeler lite offered a free ‘taster’ version with a limited feature set.  You will still find reference to it online but it is no longer available on the Unity asset store).  Once you’ve learnt the basics you may like to graduate to uModeler X, the new professional-level modelling tool for Unity:

The 3D car model created in this series

To demonstrate basic UModeler modelling tools we’ll create a simple car based on the Canyonero as made famous in the Simpsons!  Notice it’s made from a small number of polygons, has a ‘cut out’ interior and a nice shiny coat of paint!:

If the 3d model below does not display correctly in your browser, you can view it on Sketchfab

Here’s how our Canyonero looks at the end of the initial explainers:

…and here’s how it looks after additional tweaking and accessorising:

The pre-requisities

This is a BEGINNER explainer series, but you’ll need to have a basic knowledge of using Windows, downloading and installing software to follow along. Unity is a complex application and is not recommended for new computer users. For introductory Unity courses and videos, have a look at their own learning platform, Unity Learn

Why would I do this?

In order to add simple (primitive) shapes to a scene, we first need to create at least one uModeler object. This object is effectively a ‘container’ for any number of shapes we want to combine and move, rotate and scale as one. 

The uModeler interface can be confusing at first, with tens of icons being added to the screen.  We’ll learn how to navigate these icons and the ones that will be useful for this beginner series. 

uModeler includes various pre-built ‘primitive’ shapes ready to use. As with most 3D modelling software these include boxes, spheres and cylinders.

Let’s do it!

Click the play icon to watch this explainer video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.

The main steps in this video:

1. An overview of the UModeler interface.
2. How to reset to Unity’s default screen layout if needed.
3. Click the UModeler icon to overview available tools.
4. Overview UModeler’s tools as grouped by their function.
5. Add a box to the scene:
   • Select the box tool.
   • Drag a base shape.
   • Adjust the box’s height.
   • Confirm the build with the spacebar.
6. Overview Unity’s scale: One unit equals one meter.
7. Practice with other objects such as spheres and stairs.

Good to know

Because uModeler works inside Unity, it’s likely users will be creating 3d assets to use in games.  For this reason uModeler includes pre-built shapes including ‘room’ and ‘spiral staircase’ which are not found in general 3d modelling software.  They’re a great way to get started quickly!

An instant spiral staircase to nowhere…

Where to next?

In the next explainer we’ll learn to navigate the virtual 3d scene and move, rotate and scale individual umodeler objects.

Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂

Notes and updates

There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in October 2023. This page was last updated in October 2023.

Disclaimer:

We are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Any links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the Team. Modern software offers users many ways to accomplish a single task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options except where deemed helpful to do so. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise the risk of data loss.

---

This is number 3 of 7 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!