Digital Kitbashing 101

I originally wrote this post on another website that I have since left. Reposting here to link people to an updated and currently maintained post/site.

Blender is free. They just updated to 4.2, and it's awesome. As of 4.1, Blender allows you to drag and drop .obj/.stl files right into Blender's workspace. Extremely convenient. There's not been a better time to get into digibashing. Keep in mind: this isn't a guide on how to model or sculpt. That's a different ball game entirely. This is just a beginner friendly guide on how to get your 3D files into Blender and manipulate them to 'digitally kitbash' different stuff.

Why digibash? Because you can make cool stuff with it. You can try out how different parts look together before printing them, helping you save on resin (and time). You can assemble full models and print them in one go, instead of in parts. (Lots of people don't enjoy the assembly part of hobby tabletop models). You can put together digital models to use in Tabletop Simulator.

Once you learn the keyboard shortcuts for these tools, you'll be off to the races. Embrace it, practice it and you'll get better. The necessary knowledge to do just this stuff is easy.

All of this can be done within the Layout tab.

• LMB to select objects

• RMB to bring up contextual options

• G to move objects

• G, <x,y,z> to move selected objects along specified axis

• R to rotate objects

• R, ctrl (hold) to rotate an object at specific degree intervals

• S to scale objects

• S, <x,y,z> to scale selected objects along specified axis

• middle mouse button (mmb) [drag] to rotate your pov

• alt+mmb [drag] to switch to different on-axis camera pov angles

• shift+mmb to pan your pov

• scroll wheel to zoom in/out

• numpad 1, 3, 7 and 9 for specific fixed camera angles along the different axis

  • numpad 1: -y to y axis (front)

  • numpad 3: x to -x axis (left)

  • numpad 7: z to -z axis (top)

  • numpad 9: -z to z axis (bottom)

Note - the (angles listed) above are entirely relative to how you personally position your models.

• numpad 5 to swap between orthographic and perspective pov

• numpad . to center your pov on the selected object

• ctrl+m, <x,y,z> to mirror along specified axis

Most files you find will either be in .stl or .obj format. Some .chitubox are out there along with lychee specific formats as well. You'll likely need 3rd party plugins for Blender to import the latter 2 formats. But it's got native support for the first 2. Go forth and bash.

Lots of 3D files can be found on cults3D, including free ones. (We're not going to pretend GW doesn't know about it at this point).

Note: Not every model out there is going to be optimized for bashing. A lot of stuff out there isn't fully 'separable' in order to be easily broken down into smaller components to really customize poses. Temper your expectations accordingly. If you want to be sure before you purchase a model, contact the author.

Bonus: To get your model to look similar to how the model above does, go to the top right of your viewport, and follow this:

Happy digital kitbashing!