Have you ever come across small, yellow and melodious creatures that mostly appear in the American computer-animated films? And they wear overalls and goggles? Well, if you have come across them follow this step by step instructable on how to make your own easily using browser-based 3D modeling and sculpting software called SelfCAD.

Step 1: Setting Up the Platform

To make the above Minion character, first, we need to set up our platform where we shall be working on.
Login to SelfCAD then select Launch the Editor. But if you don't have an account already, visit www.selfcad.com to register for a 30-day free account and thereafter pay $4.99/m but if you are a student or teacher SelfCAD is free for you. After launching the editor you will be all set to start modeling.

Step 2: Overview of the Parts to Be Made

To model any object using SelfCAD, you need first to know the parts of it.
Let's see how many parts we have in the model above.
The body of the minion and it almost has the shape of the capsule.
The glasses and it has 2 parts the main part which is the eyes and the glasses on them and the second part which is the circular part around the head.
The mouth that we can create easily with the Boolean tool of SelfCAD.
The 2 arms with the hands.
Clothes of the minion. Legs and shoes.
So to model the minion we need to model every part of those parts to get the final product which is the minion.

Step 3: Preparing the Model

To get the model that you will use, log into SelfCAD and open the editor and click My Mini Factory.
Click connect button to connect to myminifactory.
If you have an account you can log in with your username and password or you can log in using your Facebook account. Otherwise, create an account by clicking Register.
Insert your email, username, password, and full name then click Registration. After that, you can log and click Allow.
Search for a minion character to model it. Type Minion and click search. Scroll down for more objects.
Search for a minion character to model it. Type Minion and click search. Scroll down for more objects.

Step 4: Preparing to Model the Body

Select the character then rotate the 90 degrees on X dimension.
Select it and give it the white color to have a better vision.

Step 5: Creating the Capsule Body

Click Sphere Shape in the basic shapes bar and get the cube selection tool which allows you to select a percentage of the object from any dimension left or right and top or bottom and front or back.
If you have here the value of 100, you need to type 50 to get the exact half of the object.
When you are done with the selection, click Finalize Icon.
But you need to select the upper part of the sphere.
From region selection, choose the inverse selection.
Get move tool and drag the upper part of the sphere up to have the shape of the capsule. Here you have the shape you want let’s start to edit and add more details to it.
Get cube selection tool and select the upper curvy area of the shape and start to scale it vertically to be similar to the example we have above.
Do the same thing with the lower part and you should have a similar shape of the body of the minion and you need now to model the glasses of the minion, as shown in the last image above.

Step 6: Modeling the Glasses

Create a cylinder and choose the suitable parameters.
To make the ring around the glasses create a torus. Uncheck "hide all objects" and start to give it the suitable parameters. Finalize the shape and move it up to the upper edge.
Select the cylinder and make 1 copy of it using copy offset scale the copy vertically to move it down to be the example we have above. Create 1 copy of it using copy offsets tool and move it up.
Create the small spheres around the glasses.

Step 7: Creating the Small Spheres Around the Glasses

From basic tool choose sphere and uncheck "hide all objects".
To have a better vision make the cylinders in wireframe mode.
Reduce the radius of it and give it a suitable small size.Finalize shape and select the sphere and move it on X dimension and set the cylinder back to the mesh view. You may need to rescale the sphere till you get the suitable size and you might need to move it again too.
Make a copy of the sphere and move it to the other side using the same value but in a negative manner.Group the two spheres and get rotation tool and make the gizmo point to the origin point.
Set the rotation angle to 30 around Y dimension and rotate it.
Open copy offsets tool and select rotation and type the angle of rotation in Y dimension.
Add the number of copies, in your case you are dividing the 360 degrees by 30 degrees angle and that would be 6 copies but we already have one of them.
So type here 5 copies.Click on copy and you are done.
So we now to create the void area in the glasses.
Creating a cylinder with the volume of the void that you want to create.
Uncheck "hide all objects" and reduce the top radius and bottom radius until they become suitable.
Use wireframe mode to have a better vision if you want to.
Finalize the shape, and select the whole of them and get the Boolean tool.Choose difference and select the cylinder we created to make the void and press apply.
Now you have made the single part of the glasses but you still need to create the eyeball inside it.

Step 8: Creating the Eye Ball

To create the eyeball, you need to create a sphere from the Basic toolbar.
Unhide all objects, get the move tool and move it up.Use the wireframe mode for the glasses to have a better vision.
Get the scale tool and scale down the eyeball vertically.
Get move tool and move it up to the edge of the glasses.
Create a new sphere, unhide all object and use wireframe mode for the glasses to have a better vision then finalize the shape.
Get the move tool and move it up then get the scale tool and reduce its height and width to be the same size as the example and move it to the surface and rotate it to be aligned with the eyeball.
Select all of them and group them and make the other side by making a copy of the group using copy offsets.
Move it to give you the appearance of 2 eyes.Get orthographic mode in the top view and select the copy of the eye and get rotation tool and rotate it 180 degrees around Y-Axis and make sure that the eyes are looking directly to you because this will be the eyes of the minion that you will print.
Also, make sure that they are at a good distance from each other.To compare them to the example we have, get perspective mode and select both of them and get rotation tool and rotate them -90 degrees around the X-axis.
Get orthographic mode again in front view and raise it to the same level of the example we have.Now we need to scale it to be at the same size of the example.
Get scale tool and check keep proportions.This option saves the proportions of the object while scaling by keeping the same ratio between X, Y and Z dimensions. So if you reduced the Y dimension of the object to 50 for example, the other dimensions will be reduced too to keep the ratios between them and that's how it keeps proportions.Make sure that both of eyes are selected and move them on X-Axis to Zero points you may notice a difference between the two heads of the minions, so you will need to improve the look of it to be the same example we have here.
Deselect the eyes and select the body behind them.
Get cube selection tool and select the upper part of the head and finalize the selection.
Get the scale tool and make sure that keep proportions are unchecked so you can scale on Y-Axis and let's scale it to the value of 30. You need to move it a little up, so get move tool and do so and you are done with this.
Select the body of the minion and give it the white color.
Get the right view in orthographic mode and select the eyes of the minion and move it on Z dimension to be at the same Value of Z dimension of the example we have, that is to the value of 40.
Deselect the eyes and select the body of the minion and move it forward to the eyes to the origin point and move it a little back at the value of -9.
Get the wireframe mode to see and make sure it fits on the body of our example and get it back to mesh view.
Deselect everything and get perspective mode to check our progress.

Step 9: Modeling the Bandana Around the Head of the Minion

Select the body of the minion and get move tool, as you know you have the body of the minion at the value of -9.
So if you need to create a new shape around the head you need to move the body to the origin point by increasing the value of Z dimension by 9.
Select the glasses and the other minion and move them on Z dimension by adding 9 to the current value.
To create the bandana we need to use shape generator from the create section in the toolbar.
Unhide all objects and Increase the number of edges until it becomes circular.
Set the top radius to 53 and the bottom radius to 49 and set the height to 5.
Add a new segment and make the top and bottom radiuses at the value of 53 and make the height 5.
Add a new segment and set the values of the top radius to 52 and the same value for the bottom radius and set the height to 5.
Add a new segment with the radius of 53 and set the height to 6. Use position offset to make it go a little down to overlap with the previous segment.
Add a new segment with 0 position offset set the height to 5 and set the top radius to 49.
Finalize shape and start to raise it up until it is at the same level of the eyes.To have a better vision get orthographic mode in Front view and get the move tool to start moving it.
Get scale tool and start to scale it a little down.Get move tool again and move it up and give it the white color and get perspective mode to have a better vision.You can scale it on the 3 dimensions until you get the result you want.
After you finish move it up again to its place and you can use orthographic mode if you need to.By this way, you are done with the eyes and the bandana, but you still need to model the small detail beside the eyes.
To create this detail, you need to add a sphere from basic shapes menu and set the radius of it to 3 and finalize the shape.
Select the other minion with the sphere and click on isolate.Select the sphere only and get move too and move it up.
Get cube selection tool, select the half of its height and click on Finalize selection.
Drag it down and get cube selection tool again.
Select the same part, but this time leave only 1 or 2 segments without selection and finalize the selection and get scale tool and check keep proportions and start to scale it.
Get move tool and drag it down to be the same as the example we have here and deselect it and get the cube selection tool again and select the upper part of it and then finalize the selection. Get the scale tool and scale it down.
Get the move tool and move it to be the same as the example.

Step 10: Finish Creating the Glasses

Create a new torus with the lowest tube radius and ring radius of 3 then finalize the shape.
Select the torus and move it to the object we have created to the half of it.
Get scale tool and scale it a little.
Select both of them and get the Boolean tool, choose difference and select the torus and click on apply.
Select the object and give it the white color. Now we are done with the small detail beside the eyeglasses.
Unhide all hidden objects and select the object you have just created and press M to get move tool.
Move it up to show it and start to move it to its place.You can use orthographic mode to help you have a better vision to do so.
Get orthographic mode in top view to help you move in X and Z dimensions and start to change the values of that axis.
After you finish get the right view to help you change the elevation of the object, and in the move tool, change the value of the Y dimension.
So get scale tool and start to decrease its height.After you finish, get move tool and move it back to its place.
Now you need to copy it on the other side of X-Axis.
Select the object, and Get move tool and copy the value of X dimension. By selecting it and pressing Ctrl+ C on your keyboard.
From the edit menu get copy offsets tool and create only 1 copy.
Select the copy we have made and get move tool and paste the same value and add minus before it to be on the other side and press enter. Here we have finished modeling the glasses.

Step 11: Modeling the Mouth of the Minion

Create a cylinder from basic shapes menu and increase the number of segments.
Finalize shape and get rotation tool and rotate it 90 degrees around X dimension.
Get move tool and move it in front of the minion, then get scale tool and scale it down to the 3 dimensions and shrink it a little I the Y-axis.
Create a new box from basic shape menu and decrease its height and width and finalize shape.
Select it and get move tool and move under the cylinder and raise it to the half of the cylinder.
Select both of them and get the Boolean tool.
Choose difference and select the box from the list and press apply.
Get scale tool and Start to scale it in the Y dimension. After scaling get move tool and start moving it to the minion we have created.
To have a better vision get orthographic mode in front view. Set X dimension to 0 and set Y dimension to 73.
Start to scale the mouth in the 3 dimensions until you get the result you want.You can also change the view of the mouth if you want to, for example, to have a fully opened mouth you can use full cylinder instead of part of it or smiling mouth by filliping the current part of cylinder vertically or rotate it 180 degrees around Z dimension.
After getting the result you want, get perspective mode again.
Select the body of the minion only and get resolution tool.This tool allows you to increase the vertexes and lines and segments of the shape to add more or less resolution to it and we need to increase the resolution of it to the maximum level.
Drag the bar to the maximum value and press on Rebuild.
Select the body of the minion and mouth we have created and get the Boolean tool.
Select difference and choose the mouth from the list and press apply.It seems that we have a surface of extra covering polygons here, so it’s not a big problem.
To remove the extra polygons from region selection, get polygon selection tool. Make sure to enable single polygon option and turn off loop selection.
To have a better vision, show the body of the minion in mesh and wireframe mode and start selecting the extra polygons.
Keep selecting the polygons by clicking every single polygon alone.The count of polygons depends on the resolution you have and here you are. After finishing selecting, press delete on your keyboard.

Step 12: Modeling the Clothes of the Minion

Start with the upper part of clothes which is a very simple part. All you need to do is know the steps.
Select the lower part of the minion and then scale it up and then get the Boolean tool to make the void areas on sides.This is one method to do that and we have another method which is to create the clothes as straight surface and then bend them around the minion.
Start with the easiest method of using the scale and Boolean tools.But first, create a backup copy of the body of the minion to be there in case you need it.
Select the body of the minion you have created and make a copy of it. From edit menu get copy offsets tool and create only 1 copy.
Close copy offsets tool and get the move tool and move it 150 units on X-Axis beside the minion we have created.Now you need to create a new copy of the copy we have made.
Keep selecting the copy you have moved and press on copyagain.
Close copy offsets tool and hides the last copy you have made and rename it to Subtract.Now you need to select and scale the lower part of the minion body.
Select the copy we have made and Get cube selection tool.
Get orthographic mode in front view and start selecting the lower area.
Make the top distance 37 and finalize the selection.
Get perspective mode and get ready to scale it up.
Get scale tool and start scaling it in the 3 Axis then scale it only one step in the Y-axis and that's because when we scaled it we got a slope in the edges and scaling it up in Y dimension fixes that slope. You need now to keep the clothes only and delete the remaining part of the minion.
Create a simple box and use the Boolean tool. From the basic shape menu, create a new box and make the parameters of the box suitable to be used as a different object.
Finalize shape and move the box to the copy of the minion.Get orthographic mode to help you get the accurate elevation of the box.
Get perspective mode and make sure that the box is covering the area you want to cut the copy of our minion.
After that, select the copy of our minion and the box and get the Boolean tool.
Choose difference and choose the box from the list and click on apply.You will get a notification to use magic fix before using the Boolean tool.
So select the copy of the minion and click on magic fix tool and click on apply. After that, you can use the Boolean tool.

Step 13: Adding Pockets to the Clothes and Other Details

Select the example of the minion and isolate it, (as shown in the in photo).
Create a new box from the basic toolbar and unhide the example of the minion we have and get orthographic mode in right view.
Start giving it a suitable depth depending on the example reference we have behind it then finalize the shape.
Select the box and get move tool and give it a suitable elevation. Let's say 90.
Get perspective view again and show the clothes shape.
Select the box and move it to the shape of the clothes then get scale tool and scale it up on X-Axis.To make sure it will cover the area we want to subtract from the shape of the clothes.
Select the clothes shape and the box we have created and get the Boolean tool choose difference and select the box from the list and click on apply. Show everything.
Select the clothes we have made and get move tool and move it to the origin point and delete the subtract copy we have made.
Now you are ready to continue modeling the minion and adding more details to it.Start with hiding every object in the scene and now create a cylinder from basic shapes menu.
Reduce the height of it to 12 for example and Increase the vertical segments and finalize shape.
Select the cylinder and get cube selection tool, select the half of left and right and finalize the selection.
Get the move tool and drag it.
Deselect it and get cube selection tool again and select the half of front and back then finalize the selection.
Get move tool again then drag it. Deselect it then select the whole body and from edit menu get copy offsets tool and create just 1 copy of the object.
Close copy offsets tool and select move tool and drag the copy outside then get scale tool and start to scale the copy in the 3 Axis.
Select the original body and move it a little up. Select the copy and rename it to subtract.
Select both of them and get the Boolean tool, choose difference and select the subtract object from the list and click on apply.Now you are done with the pocket. (Check the photos above for reference).

Step 14: Modeling the Hands

Model the arms, by creating a cylinder, bend it then moves it to the other side of the minion (as shown in the images above).
Create a new cylinder.from the basic shapes toolbar. Increase the vertical and horizontal segments and finalize shape.
Select the cylinder and the example and isolate them.
Select the cylinder only and get scale tool, scale it down on the 3 Axis then scale it up on the Y-Axis.
Get the move tool and move it to the ground and you can move it beside the minion to have a better vision then select the cylinder and give it the white color.
Select the cylinder and get bend tool and start to move the pivot to bend it until it becomes like the example we have.
Get the rotation tool and rotate it a little then show all objects.

Get the move tool and start moving the arm to its place.Now you need to subtract the extra area of the arm and to do so you need to create a box with the height of the empty area under the arm then us the Boolean tool.
Start to decrease its height until it comes to the edge of the arm of our example then scale it horizontally back and select the arm and the box and get the Boolean tool, choose difference and select the box from the list and click on apply.
Now you are done with one arm.
To create the other arm we need to copy this arm and fix it on the other side.
Select the arm and get copy offsets tool and create only one copy of it then select it and get the move tool and just put a minus before the value of X Dimension.
So it will be at the same value but at the other side of the origin point.
Get the rotation tool and rotate it 180 degrees around the Y-Axis and now you are done with the arms.
Create a new box, decrease the height of it and finalize shape then select the box and get scale tool and scale it horizontally to the reference example we have.

Step 15: Modeling the Lines Attached to the Clothes

Model one of them then copy it on the other side like you did with the arms.
Create a new cylinder from the basic shapes toolbar. Unhide the example of the minion.
Now you need to set suitable parameters and set the top and bottom radius to a suitable value. let's say 3 and finalize the shape.
Isolate the cylinder and unhide the example of the minion and give it the white color. Then select it and get cube selection tool and select half of the distance between left and right.
Finalize the selection then move it to 3 steps then deselect and select all of it.
Get the scale tool and start to decrease the thickness.
Get the rotation tool and rotate it 90 degrees around Y-Axis and now you are ready to bend it around the minion.
From View menu, show all objects then move the tube beside the minion.
Select the minion and rotate it 90 degrees around the X-axis then select the body of the minion and get move tool and copy the value of its elevation on Y-Axis, then select the tube and get move tool and paste the same value on Y-Axis.Move the tube to its place on the shoulder then get bend tool and start to bend it around the body.
First, bend it on Z-Axis then on Y-Axis. (Check the images for references)
Now you need to delete the extra area of the tube, so from Basic shapes toolbar creates a new box and finalize the shape.
Select the box and get scale tool. Scale it up on the Y-Axis until it covers the upper and the lower void areas then scale it on X-Axis till the area you want to cut from.
Select the tube and the box and get the Boolean tool choose difference and select the box from the list and click on apply.
Here you have modeled it.To copy it on the other side of the origin point, select the minion and get the rotation tool and rotate it back -90 degrees around Y-Axis.
Create a new sphere from the basic shapes menu. Unhide the example of the minion and give the sphere a suitable radius then finalize the shape.
Select the sphere you have created and start moving it to its place.
Get the scale tool and start to reduce its size and scale it on the 3 dimensions until you get the suitable size like the example you have then give it the white color.
Select it and from edit menu get copy offsets tool then create one copy of it.
Select the copy and get move tool and put a minus before the value of Z Dimension.
To move it to the other side of the origin point and start rotating it to be aligned with the line we have created, finish selecting the 2 details with the line and group them and create a copy of this group using copy offsets tool.
Select it and get move tool and just put a minus before the value of X Dimension so it will be at the same value but at the other side of the origin point
Get the rotation tool and rotate it 180 degrees around-Axis.
Arrange and group every unit to its part of the minion. So select the glasses and the other parts of it and group them to glasses in the list of object.
Select the 2 lines and the clothes and group them all to be the clothes of the minion and rename the clothes too but don't group the arms because we might need separated arms in the next modeling steps.It is not difficult, but the key is to know the way to create and model it.

Step 16: Modeling the Legs of the Minion

Create a cylinder from the basic shapes toolbar and unhide the example of the minion.
Decrease the height to be near to the value of the example and decrease the top radius.
Decrease the bottom radius to a value lower than the value of the top radius.
To have a better vision get orthographic mode in right view and start to adjust the top radius and the height then finalize shape and get the bottom view in orthographic mode.
Select the one you have created and get the scale tool and scale it to half of the distance between the 2 legs. Now you need to copy it on the other side.
Get the move tool while selecting the first leg and from the edit menu, select copy offsets tool.
Type the value of X Dimension in copy offsets tool with a minus and you need to duplicate it by 2 and then type the duplicated value in the X Dimension of copy offsets tool and click on copy.
Now you have the two copies.Select every copy and scale it up on the X-Axis and start to adjust the width of every leg on its part of the body.
Select both legs and get the scale tool and scale it up on the Y-Axis. Now you are done with the 2 legs you can leave it as it is.
But to make it more realistic, use Sculpting tool in order to add some details to the legs.But before using this tool, let's see how it works.There are different types of brushes found in Sculpt tool. These are:
Standard brush- to use this brush, first you need to select the size of the brush and the intensity which means the power of the brush.
The more the intensity the more powerful brush you get.The positive value will pull up the area you are working on and the Negative value will push down.
The smooth brush is used to smoothen the hard surfaces.
Move brush-Allows you to move the selected area by brush.
Twist brush- allows you to twist the selected area of the shape.In your minion project, you will use the standard brush with a very low intensity and start to add a quick touch to the sculpt tool and here you have the final shape.

Step 17: Modeling the Shoes of the Minion

Create a new sphere from the basic shapes toolbar.Unhide the example of the minion and get a suitable radius for the sphere then finalize the shape.
Select the sphere and the example and click on isolate object.
From basic shapes, toolbar Create a new cube and show the sphere you have just created and decrease the height and get orthographic mode in front view.
Start to increase the height until it reaches a half of the sphere and choose the perspective mode again then finalize shape.
Select the box and the sphere and get the Boolean tool. choose difference and select the box from the list and click on apply.
Select half of the sphere and get cube selection tool.
Select the half of back and front and finalize the selection.
Get move tool and drag it till you get the shape of the upper part of the shoe then deselect and give it the white color.
Get the move tool again and move it to the original point.Now you need to model the lower part of the shoes.
From the basic shapes toolbar create a new cylinder.
Unhide the upper part you have just created and decrease the height of the cylinder to show the upper part.
Adjust the top and bottom radius to give you the suitable offset outside the shoes.
Get orthographic mode and start to adjust it and when you finish finalize the shape and select the lower part you have just created and get cube selection tool.
Select half of front and back and finalize selection then get move tool and drag it.
Deselect and get cube selection tool again and select the other half of the lower part then finalize the selection.
Get the move tool and drag it to the other side. Drag it down to the upper part of the shoes and to the lower part and you are done.show all objects then select the 2 parts of the shoes and get move tool and start moving the shoes to its place.Then get scale tool and start to adjust the scale to fit its area.
You may need to scale every part on different dimensions and after finishing scaling it, select the 2 parts of the shoes and group them then rename it to shoe then give it the white color.
From Edit menu get copy offsets tool and get move tool and create a copy of the other leg using the duplicate of the value of X Dimension In negative and click on copy and you have the pair of shoes created.

Step 18: Creating the Hands of the Minion

The hand of the minion consists of 4 shapes which are the upper part that takes the shape of a cone and you can model that with the shape generator tool.
Also, we have the three fingers and every finger takes the shape of a bent capsule and you can model that too.
Begin with, the upper part, create a new shape generator. Unhide the example of the minion and increase the vertical segments and decrease the bottom radius to 10 and the top radius to 15.
Decrease the height until you get close to the example we have let’s say to make it 10 then finalize shape and start to move it to its place and give it the white color and you are done

Step 19: Creating the Fingers of the Minion

From the basic shapes toolbar, create a new sphere and unhide the example of the minion.
Set a suitable radius, let’s say 5 and finalize shape.
Select the sphere and the example minion and isolate them. Select the sphere only and get cube selection tool.
Select the half of bottom and top distance and finalize the selection then get move tool and drag it up then deselect it. After creating a capsule shape of the fingers, now you need to bend it, but before you do this you need to increase the resolution of the shape.
Select it and get resolution tool and increase the resolution to 6 and click on the rebuild and now you can bend it smoothly.
Select the shape, get bend tool, and start to bend it in the Z dimension and then show all objects.
Select the whole shape and move it to its place to the hand, you can hide the example of the minion to have a better vision.
Scale the finger to be thicker than this to be the example we have.Then make sure to set the finger in its place.If there are any extras in the shape don’t cut it or use Boolean tool now because you will do this when you finish modeling and placing the 3 fingers.
Start creating the other fingers to complete the whole hand. Select the finger you have just created and get copy offsets tool and make 2 copies of it that you will use as the other 2 fingers.
Select 1 copy and get scale tool and start scaling it till you get the suitable size. Get the rotation tool and start rotating it around Z Dimension.
Get move tool and move it to its place, then Select the other copy and start to do the same thing.
Select it and get scale tool then start to scale it down on the 3 dimension.
Get the rotation tool and start rotating it around Z Dimension.
Get the move tool and start moving the finger to its place. Now you need to delete the extra areas using the Boolean tool.
Create a new box and unhide all objects and reduce its height then finalize the shape. Now you have to move the box to the area above the hand.
Select it and get move tool and start moving it then select the box and get copy offsets tool and make two copies of it and now deselect everything and select 1 copy of the fingers with one copy of the boxes and get the Boolean tool, choose difference and select the box and click on apply.

Select the next copy and the next box and repeat the process. Move the 3 fingers on the other side and get copy offsets tool and get move tool too and type the duplicated value of x dimension of move tool in copy offsets tool with minus and click on Copy and now you are done with the fingers.
Do the same thing with the upper part of the hand and our Minion character is now ready.
I will upload the videos soon.
Please leave a comment and a thumb up. Thanks!

Introduction: Making the Minion Character in Selfcad