Tutorial

Importing STL files into Tinkercad



What is it?

It's great to be able to design a model from scratch, but sometimes you just need a starting place. This tutorial will show you how to import existing stl files into Tinkercad so that you can tinker them, create mash-ups (tomorrow's tutorial) or just get a little inspiration.



What's the tutorial?

  1. Open a webGL enabled browser like Google Chrome or Firefox

  2. Navigate to tinkercad.com

  3. Once you have signed in or created a new account, click the button to design a new thing:


  4. Instead of dragging a shape on to the work plane, toggle open the import menu


  5. Open Thingiverse and find a model that you'd like to tinker. Hover your mouse over the name of the stl and find the download number


  6. In the Import menu, select URL and enter http://www.thingiverse.com/download:download_number:


  7. Click import


  8. Repeat the import process as necessary




Now what?

  1. Upload your own modified stl files to Thingiverse. Make sure you mention that you created the file with Tinkercad.
  2. Come back tomorrow for more information and inspiration!