How to Render a Tinkercad Model in Blender

this is my first tutorial on instructables and I am still learning how to use blender for myself but I think that, that helps because I only recently learn how to do this for myself

this tutorial will show you how to take a tinkercad file and import it into blender then to add lighting to that model

I already have a model created and finished in tinkercad, first you need to hit the export button (first screenshot) then chose to export the file as a .OBJ or .GBL (second screenshot) so the colours will be exported too, I am using .OBJ for this though

I have exported the file and on my PC I have a bar at the bottom showing that a .ZIP file has been downloaded and your PC may have something slightly different but it should be similar.

After exporting the file click 'show in folder' (or equivalent) and move the file to somewhere where you can manage it (I put it on my desktop) make a regular file next and move both files from the .ZIP file to your regular file, there should be 2 files in the zip folder regardless of weather you exported to an OBJ or a GLB

both files need to stay in a folder together on their own, if you add more components make a new folder for those files

the first screenshot is what blender should look like when you open a new file, I deleted the light and default cube (two highlighted objects)

in the second screenshot I went into file, import, OBJ (or your equivalent) and then you should be seeing something similar to the third screenshot, in the bottom corner will be your files but I've blocked it out because I have other projects that I want to keep a surprise <3, once you find your file and open it you should see what is in the screenshot. two files, a colour file and a 3D model. In the screenshot I have highlighted the top corner, It should look like this by default but if it doesn't just replicate what you see in this screenshot.

the fourth screenshot is how my file looks after clicking the 'import .OBJ' button

after importing the file it wont look like it did in tinker cad so to return it to that state find the symbol in the first screenshot that should be on the bottom right of the screen if you have selected the right file, next scroll down and find the 'normals' tab and tick the box that says 'auto smooth' and you should be left with something like the third screenshot

the 8 highlighted buttons in the first screenshot can be used to modify files, the first button selects objects, the second button isn't important for this but the third button is used to move a selected file, the fourth button is used to rotate a file and the fifth is used to change the size, this file I imported was too large and facing the wrong way so I rotated it and used the scale button while holding shift to shrink it down to the correct size

if you are only wanting to learn the basics you can skip this step

the first screenshot is highlighting a button that will appear when you select an object, this is how you can change the colours and textures of the file but this gets complicated so I will probably make another tutorial on how to use these, in the future

the second screenshot highlights 4 buttons that change the view of the selected object, if you are trying to make glass or metal textures use the third button, if you're using lights use the fourth button

the third screenshot is the model after adding 2 more less powerful lights as led's for the model and a plane that I added below the model

the first 2 screenshots show my angling and moving the camera to better see the model, to see what the camera sees click the button that is highlighted in the third screenshot and click it again to stop the camera view

the first screenshot shows how to add a new light source to the scene

to change the settings on the light sources, select the light source you want to edit and click the green light bulb logo highlighted in the second screenshot, you can mess around with the settings like changing the colour of the light or how bright the light is with the power button, the light source I chose was a point light source but sun and spot light sources do the same thing but can also be angled

when you're happy with your model you can click the render button and then 'render image'