3D model pieces

Everything up to here has been painting — Minecraft owns the shape, you repaint it. A 3D model piece is the other kind. You build the shape yourself out of boxes, and the editor paints the texture sheet for you as you go.

Adding one

Open a set and click Add piece. Under the eight worn slots there is a second group.

The 3D MODEL group in the Add piece window, with its two cards numbered — The new group at the bottom of **Add piece**.

3D MODEL — BUILD YOUR OWN SHAPE. Everything under this heading is a shape you make, not a shape you repaint.
Held item. An item that sits in the hand, on the ground and in a frame. Nothing is worn.
Hat. Worn on the head, with its own shape sitting over the player's head.

Both cards read 3D model · texture handled for you. That is the promise: you never lay out a texture sheet by hand.

A hat is not a helmet. It is worn on the head but it carries no armour of its own. If you want armour points, make a helmet and paint it. If you want a shape — a crown, a straw hat, a pair of antlers — make a hat.

Type a name, click Add piece, and the piece appears in the set like any other.

The piece card for a 3D model hat in the set — A 3D model piece in the set. It behaves like every other card — click it to open it.

What you start with

A new 3D model piece opens with one box, eight units on every side, sitting in the middle of the floor. That single box is your whole model until you add more.

How it differs from a painted piece

	Painted piece	3D model piece
Shape	Fixed by Minecraft	You build it out of boxes
Texture sheet	Fixed size, fixed layout	Laid out and resized for you
Where you work	Edit mode	Model mode, then Edit to paint it
Extra panels	TEXTURE and LAYERS	HIERARCHY and INSPECTOR

Everything else — the top bar, the left rail, the breadcrumb, Configure piece, Build & Export — is exactly the same.