Welcome! If you are just learned about picoCAD are in the right place! This tutorial aims to give an introduction to picoCAD, no prior 3D modeling or coding knowledge required!
Download picoCAD and open your computer's operating system folder. Run picocad to start the program.
picoCAD comes with a manual included and it is recommended to read it before starting this guide!
Let's make a simple house!
Start by clicking the lower left button [+] (or right clicking and choose Add Cube for the walls).
Click the [+] again and choose Add Prism for the roof.
Left click and hold to drag the prism over the cube.
Use the lower right view to select the prism instead of cube.
Let's now view our model.
Hover over the top right viewport and press space. This focuses the view on the 3D model.
To return to the four viewports press space again.
Press the square in the top left to switch the model render mode (hotkey M).
Default mode is wireframe which shows the lines between points (vertices).
The second mode is solid fill which displays shapes as solid colors.
And the third is texture view which we will cover later.
You can use the arrow keys to rotate around the model and view it from different angles.
Let's color our model so it looks more house like!
Right click on the cube to bring up the Face and Mesh Menu.
Pick Color Mesh and pick a color you like! This will change all of the model's faces (flat surfaces) to be that color.
Do the same for the prism roof.
To color the roof, right click on the face you want to to color and pick Face Props (hotkey F). Pick Color and choose the color you want that face to be.
This will only change the selected face allowing the roof to be a different color from the inner triangle.
Switch to Texture render, the final render mode by pressing the render mode square (hotkey M)
Switch to Texture View by pressing the button in the upper right (hotkey V).
Download this png and drag it from your file browser over to picoCAD to import it.
If this does not work see FAQ: **How to fix textures and models failing to import.**
You can drag an entire UVs (2D texture coordinates) over by holding left click on the middle and then dragging. If you accidentally moved a single point, here's how to fix it.
The model is now looking very house like. Lets do a couple of final touches!
Switch to back to Build view by clicking the four square button left of Texture View button (hotkey V).
Click on the vertices (black dot points between lines) and move them downwards by dragging or with the arrow keys.
You can also group select both points by dragging left click to create a selection box and move them together.
Add a plane to give the model ground floor to rest on.
Move the cube and the prism upwards to sit on it.
Use the Face Props menu to set the ground floor to No Texture so that it uses a solid fill color.
Switch the ground's color to green.
Press the button to the right of the light bulb button to change the BG (background color), then click on bright blue in the left box ****to bright blue. If you pick a color on the right box it will render it transparent.
You can also press the middle button to turn on Shading.
To create an animated GIF to share, press space on the 3D view ****to focus on it. Navigate to the top left menu and select Export GIF. Choose Medium Spin.
This will record a full rotation around the model and save an animated GIF.
To locate the GIF navigate back to the top right menu and choose View Files. This will open up a folder where you can find your models and GIFs.
Finally click Save As... from the menu and name the project by typing, press enter to confirm.
Congraulations! You've made your first model! You're well on our your journey to becoming a picoCAD pro!
Feel free to customize your house and post on the discord's #post-your-work channel!
Check out the other sections of this guide and be sure to read the picoCAD included manual if you haven't already done so if you have questions. If you are sure neither of those include an answer, feel free to post your question on the #how-to channel of the discord.
