Master placing, resizing, and naming the six core CAD primitives — building the vocabulary of all digital design.
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The six primitives: the alphabet of 3D design
The six fundamental primitives are: Box (rectangular prism), Cylinder (round and tall), Sphere (perfectly round), Cone (pointed top), Torus (donut shape), and Pyramid (triangular sides). Every object in the physical world can be approximated by combining these six forms. Mastering when and why to use each one is the foundation of design literacy.
Dimensions: width, depth, and height
Every 3D object has three dimensions: Width (W) — left to right, Depth (D) — front to back, Height (H) — bottom to top. In Tinkercad, when you click a shape, the properties panel shows W×D×H values that you can edit directly. Always TYPE dimensions — never guess.
Handles: the visual dimension editor
When you click a shape, white square handles appear. Dragging a face handle changes one dimension. Dragging an edge handle changes two dimensions. Dragging a corner handle changes all three proportionally. For precise work, always type dimensions in the properties panel — handle-dragging snaps to 1mm but properties panel allows 0.1mm precision.
Always rename your shapes
In Tinkercad, every shape gets a default name like "Shape 1." When your model has 10+ shapes, finding "Shape 7" is impossible. Professional habit: immediately rename every shape with a descriptive name — "body", "left_wheel", "lid". This takes 3 seconds and saves hours of confusion later.
Explore — six primitives and their real-world uses
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Box → most objects
Walls, floors, doors, tables, phones, boxes. The most versatile primitive — most objects start as boxes.