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Create a Unity project and import the 3D objects created in Tinkercad and Kenney Shape

Overview

Name of explainer: Create a new Unity project and import the 3D objects created in Tinkercad and Kenney Shape

Creative theme: Beginning 3D Modelling

Software used (for this explainer): Unity

User level: INTERMEDIATE

This is explainer 7 of 8 in this series

This series includes:

1. Get tooled up for this explainer series
2. Navigate the Tinkercad interface, add 3d objects to the workplane and rotate & scale them
3. Create a coffee mug in Tinkercad
4. Export a coffee mug from Tinkercad in OBJ format
5. Navigate the Kenney Shape interface and edit built-in objects
6. ‘Trace’ a Space Invader image in Kenney Shape to create a 3d object and export it in OBJ format
7. Create a new Unity project and import the objects created in Tinkercad and Kenney Shape
8. Import a free Unity coffee shop asset and place our 3D objects in the scene

The Software

In this series of explainers we use three applications. You can choose to work with only one or two of them if you prefer.

Tinkercad, to introduce 3D navigation, scaling, rotating and combining shapes and exporting 3D objects. Tinkercad is completely free and runs in your web browser. Create a free account now and be ready to use it in explainers 2, 3 and 4, when we model a mug and export it from the program.

Kenney Shape, for ‘tracing’ a 2D image and turning it into a 3D voxel object and exporting it. At time of writing Kenney Shape costs less than £5 / $5. We’ll create and export a 3D Space Invader in explainers 5 and 6:

Unity for importing 3D objects, assembling them in a 3D scene and applying simple textures and lighting. Unity is FREE for personal use. We’ll start assembling a Retro Cafe, incorporating the mug and Space Invader, in explainers 7 and 8:

The 3D Objects modelled in this series

Once we’ve got to grips with Tinkercad we’ll use it to model a coffee mug, complete with text branding:

We’ll make a ‘hole’ in the mug to create a design that could be 3D printed or used in a 3D environment or game:

We’ll ‘trace’ a 2D image of a Space Invader in Kenney Shape to create a 3D ‘voxel’ object…

…while having fun with ‘Grandpa’ Invader and Kenney Shape’s built-in retro objects:

Finally, we’ll import our mug and Space Invader objects into Unity and start blocking out a 3D cafe scene!

The pre-requisities

This is a BEGINNER explainer series, starting with beginner-friendly software. You need to have a basic knowledge of using Windows and downloading and installing software to follow this series. Tinkercad and Kenney Shape are beginner-friendly programs. Unity is a complex application and is not recommended for new computing users. For introductory courses and videos for Unity, check out Unity Learn

Why would I do this?

Unity offers a complete toolkit to assemble a 3D scene from scratch. This could be for a video, animation or a game level / environment. You can even export a Unity scene to a VR headset if you like!

In this explainer we’ll create a Unity project then import the 3D mug created in Tinkercad, the Space Invader built in Kenney Shape and the spaceship exported from Kenney Shape.

Let’s do it!

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Good to know

Unity is a realtime 3D development environment. It’s FREE to install and use for new users – You only start paying if you want to make money from your creations 🙂

This explainer is appropriate for INTERMEDIATE users. The UNITY LEARN platform offers free and paid courses and tutorials to help bring your skills up to scratch:

As seen in this video explainer, we recommend using the latest version of ‘Unity LTS’. LTS is short for ‘long term support’, making it ideal for newbies and classroom / educational use. You can use the latest beta version to enjoy Unity’s cutting edge features but you may run into unexpected issues and errors.

Watch ALL the videos in this series on pixelscoolTV!

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Where to next?

In the next (and final) explainer in this series we’ll import a FREE coffee shop asset into our Unity scene and place our retro objects appropriately!

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 April 2023. This page was last updated in October 2026.

We at pixels.cool 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 provides users with many ways to accomplish a task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risks of data loss.

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This is number 7 of 8 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!