Paint 3D (Windows 10)

UPDATE (December 15, 2024): PAINT 3D is no longer supported by Microsoft and cannot be downloaded from their store. However there is a downloadable copy on the Internet Archive.

👉PAINT 3D👈 -- this 3D program will open from this browser on a Windows 10 computer.

I really enjoy drawing the figure in Paint 3D!

Open Paint 3D from the browser

(in Windows 10)

Paint 3D is a powerful but easy-to-use 3D program:

• YouTube tutorial:  How to use Microsoft Paint 3D
• Check out the Playlist of Tutorials on YouTube.

**WACOM Shortcut**

One particular adjustment really makes a huge difference. By hitting "3" on the keyboard one will repeat the same 3D tool that he just used. Therefore I programmed one of the buttons on the Wacom stylus with "3," in order to continue using the last 3D tool.

 

PAINT 3D Animations

I posted all the Zoom model drawings I did this year in Paint 3D, as animations created mostly in Paint 3D, on the YouTube playlist below:

Playlist of figures

created in Paint 3D

3D BUILDER

Paint 3D is even more powerful when used with 3D Builder, which is the companion 3D software that also comes bundled with Windows 10 -- check out these 3D Builder tutorials.  

Open 3D Builder from the "Start Menu,"

it is hidden under the "Windows Accessories" folder

**2D to 3D**

3D Builder will 

extrude 2D images into 3D objects

**REDUCING the Byte Size**

in 3D Builder

DECIMATING:  One can decimate the figures drawn in Paint 3D using 3D Builder, in order to reduce the file size.  Export the figure from Paint 3D in the native file format --  .3MF -- then import that file into 3D Builder.  

3MF

is the native 3D format of Paint 3D and 3D Builder

NOTE:  Exporting in GLB format from Paint 3D, then importing that GLB file into 3D Builder does NOT decimate the file nearly a well as transferring files with the 3MF format between the programs.

After decimating in 3D Builder -- Edit/Simplify/Reduction Level -- export the figure as a GLB file.  Lite GLB files are easy to share online, and are also necessary for creating experiences in Augmented Reality.  I have reduced some 3D figures down to as low as 90 KB.

AUGMENTED REALITY

I want to show my lite Paint 3D figures in the sculpture garden in front of the Albuquerque Museum, and have done that with Augmented Reality.

My figure in the sculpture garden

 in front of the Albuquerque Museum

April 13, 2021

This AR Code

opens the Adobe Aero Mobile app

to view a specific figure

(when installed on the latest iPhones)

Quick and Ugly -- Augmented Reality

John Tollett was able to use the Adobe Aero app

to view the ugly figure I created in Monster Mash

on his iPhone

• Link to all my AR Codes and figures

• Artistic Augmented Reality example with a large painting

PAINT 3D

 Drawings

Below are examples of the drawings I have made this year in Paint 3D, using a Wacom tablet.  These figures are all drawn from live model seasons on Zoom.

April 6, 2021

Animated in Paint 3D as well

April 27, 2021

Download drawings from April 27

April 20, 2021

Download drawings from April 2021

April 13, 2021

Download drawings from April 13

March 30, 2021

Download drawings from March 30

March 23, 2021

Download drawings from March 23

March 16, 2021

Download  gesture drawings from March 16

 and Download the longer poses

March 9, 2021

Download drawings from March 9

March 2, 2021

Download drawings from March 2

February 23, 2021

Download drawings from February 23

January 5, 2021

I started using Paint 3D

during the first drawing session of 2021

BLENDER

BLENDER and Paint 3D are even more powerful together.

360 ° YouTube videos

made in Blender --

which can also be viewed in a VR headset

Blender is a robust free 3D program which I have blogged about before. The figures drawn in Paint 3D can be imported into BLENDER in the GLB format, to be further manipulated and animated in a 3D environment.  

March 9, 2021

3D figures further manipulated in Blender

(Webp format)

While Blender is harder to learn than Paint 3D, there are a lot of great YouTube tutorials that hold your hand and explain the features.  I am keeping a list of all those Blender Tutorials referred to in my blog posts.

• Drawing in Blender with the "Skin Modifier."

Other Free 3D Programs

• An artist can also manipulate the Paint 3D figures online in SculptGL, if he first converts the GLB files into OBJ or STL files for import, either in Blender or in an online program like AnyConv.
• Houndini Apprentice is free to download, but apparently very difficult to learn, though there are also YouTube tutorials.  I believe Estaban Diacono made his fabulous animated GIFs in Houdini.
• "T Shaped" figures in OBJ format can be animated in Mixamo online (sign up required)
• Unity, the game engine software, is also free to download
• 3D Scanning apps

EXHIBITING ONLINE

Interactively

It is not easy to display your Paint 3D figures online in the browser, where the viewer can move and interact with them. The best way is to upload the 3D figures to a special website like Sketchfab, p3d.in or Google Poly, and embed that figure in your blog or website.

Sketchfab

Sculpture Garden -- 210309 by krrrl on Sketchfab

April 20, 2021

p3d.in

Click on the rotating box
to see and spin Figure "C"
in full 3D, on p3d.in

Google Poly will cease to exist at the end of June, 2021, however I have uploaded some of my figure drawings there anyhow:

April 20, 2021

View on Google Poly

• Also view in 3D on echoAR

• Apparently it is easy to upload GLB files to Facebook
• There is a <model-viewer> HTML tag in the works

Windows VIDEO EDITOR

Windows Video Editor also comes with Windows 10, and is easy to use for creating a larger video from a bunch of smaller Paint 3D and Blender animations.

• YouTube tutorial: How to use Free Windows 10 Video Editor

Windows Video Editor

April 30, 2021

Videos merged and edited into a compilation

in Windows Video Editor

OBS (Open Broadcast Software) is great for capturing video from the monitor.  "File/Settings/Hotkeys" to choose the keyboard shortcuts to start recording and stop recording.

• YouTube tutorial: How to Record Screen on PC for FREE using OBS

3D PRINTING

and Milling

I also 3D Printed my Paint 3D figures at Quelab hackerspace, though I have not pushed it much yet.

3D printing at Quelab

The small 3D print

in front of the Slic3r screen

Back in 2015 we created a collaborative sculpture at Metalphysic in Tucson.  Daniel Hornung first freely translated one of my drawings into a digital object -- see the interactive final project  (plus  link to download OBJ file for download).Then it was milled out about 3 feet tall in Styrofoam (thank you Anthony Bayne), and painted by Ed Muren III.

Milling the Styrofoam sculpture

at Metalphysic in Tucson

Metalphysic Sculpture Collaboration

Digital to sculpture collaboration with Daniel Hornung,

next to Stephanie Anne 

I would love to make a life size sculpture from a Paint 3D drawing.

Previous sculpture posts:

• Drawing to Sculptures and Prints
• Metaphysic Sculpture Collaboration
• 21st Century Schizoid Sculpture
• August 20, 2015
• Tucson Sculpture Festival 2013
• January 16, 2011

• An Instagram example of digital to physical sculpture, with the digital aesthetic

HOLOGRAMS

This summer we should be able to view my Paint 3D figures on hologram displays:

• Look Glass Factory
• Desktop 3D Hologram Printer

Looking Glass Hologram Display

*****

Downloadable GLB figures since the beginning of this year:

• February 23 🠊 210223_GLB_decimated.zip (3 MB)
• March 2       🠊 210302_GLB_decimated.zip (7.71 MB)
• March 9       🠊 210309_GLB_decimated.zip (2.66 MB)
• March 16     🠊210316_GLB_gestures.zip (5 MB)   
• March 16     🠊210316_GLB_longposes_decimated.zip (923 KB)
• March 23     🠊210323_GLB_decimated.zip (2.72 MB)
• March 30     🠊210330_GLB_decimated.zip (8.21 MB)
• April 6         🠊210406__drawingsGLB.zip (9.94 MB)
• April 13       🠊210413_GLB_Decimated.zip (3.56 MB)
• April 20        🠊210420_GLB_figures.zip (809 KB)
• April 27       🠊210427_GLB_decimated.zip (1.35 MB)

CONCLUSION

I LOVE drawing in Paint 3D, despite what Jazza says.  I think he is wrong to compare Paint 3D to MS Paint, which is like trying to make apple pie with oranges (btw, the old MS Paint also opens from the browser).

I want to draw my figures in 3D, and then push them through every method possible -- animation, augmented reality, Virtual Reality headsets, holograms, 3D printing -- even 3D projection mapping on large buildings.  Paint 3D really opens that process up.

Laptop/Tablet

Furthermore I would like to find a tablet laptop that allows me to draw with a stylus in Paint 3D, for when we go back to live life drawing sessions.  The Lenovo Yoga looks like it might sit well in my lap while running Windows 10.  The Microsoft Surface  seems like a pricier option.  All I really want is to be able to draw the model in Paint 3D; I can export those drawings to a more powerful computer for further editing.

Ultimately I would like to create a sculpture that one can control with their smart phones.

Sculpture controlled by smartphone

DOWNLOADs

Apparently Microsoft will no longer bundle the 3D art software with newer versions of Windows.  

However 3D Viewer, Paint 3D, and 3D Builder should still be available for download for free at the Microsoft store.

***

I took me years to even discover Paint 3D on my Windows computer, though I was aggressively looking for free 3D software.  Moreover I could not find any good art examples created in Paint 3D, though I think this is a really powerful art program.   I suspect that Microsoft did not properly advertise and promote the program, which is why it perhaps failed to catch on.   Apparently Microsoft is no longer updating Paint 3D.  Moreover Paint 3D Remix, for sharing 3D projects, was retired a year before I discovered the program.

Likewise Google is no longer supporting Tilt Brush.  Moreover they are taking down Google Poly at the end of June, 2021.😟

The good news is that there is a new big digital art gallery opening in Santa Fe on April 30, 2021 -- Art Vault.