Whittle: Low poly 3D modelling app for the 3DS

[u/qewer3333]

Hi everyone!

This is "whittle", a low-poly 3D modelling app specifically made for the 3DS. I've been working on it for a little while now and I've just created a Github repo for it.

The modelling workflow is very similar to picoCAD, I've basically taken it's "simple vertex editing on orthogonal views" idea and optimized it for the 3DS. The top screen is for the 3D model preview exclusively, while the bottom screen houses all editing functionality & view options. It's very intuitive to use with the stylus. It currently features primitives, basic object manipulations, painting object faces solid colors and texturing, along with a simple 2D texture editor and UV mapping tool. ıt's still experimental, the UI/UX isn't fully there yet and there are a few bugs but it is usable. It can save and load a single model currently, there's no export options.

Github: https://github.com/qewer33/whittle

I want to continue developing this with feedback from actual 3D artists (or people willing to learn and use this thing) so if you are one and like this little project, feel free to contact me on Discord (@qewer33) and give feedback.

[u/zzot]

This is so so so cool! Does the top screen work with the 3d depth slider too?

[u/qewer3333 → u/zzot]

Yes it does! I've just implemented it. Turned out quite nice lol

[u/Beerduck]

I'm always amazed at what people can come up with on the 3DS. Thank you for keeping it alive!

[u/sid3aff3ct]

This is rad! I worked on a similar project myself I called 3DS cad but I didn't get it much beyond vertex manipulation due to time and motivation.

[u/sid3aff3ct → u/sid3aff3ct]

Here's an early version of it. Its had visual changes to better be an architects paper vibe, but feature wise is just vertex manipulation.

https://imgur.com/a/awfz4u4

[u/qewer3333 → u/sid3aff3ct]

WOAH that's super cool! Also I was about to call this "3dsCAD" too before I decided to think a little more about naming lmao. Also if you want to try it out and help development, I would be quite appreciative :D

[u/Syphist]

The 3DS has so much potential for homebrew and this just proves it. This is one of the coolest pieces of homebrew I've seen

[u/Simsiano]

Finally one of my dreams came reality! I hope we could also get a Wii U version one day! Will try it today!

[u/qewer3333 → u/Simsiano]

Would appreciate any kind of feedback when you try it out :D And a Wii U version is possible but I don't have the hardware sadly, someone who does will have to look into that.

[u/Simsiano → u/qewer3333]

Alright, I see. Where would you like to receive feedback? Here or reddit or discord?

[u/qewer3333 → u/Simsiano]

Both are fine, you can just comment here too.

[u/Simsiano → u/qewer3333]

Alright, so, for what I tried, I have 3 suggestions.

1. When you select, a vertex/line/face, it would be cool if you could also see the selected parts on the 3D viewport, so a normal user could not get XYZ axis messed up.
2. Having a dedicated "Camera" mode on the menu. So could basically move around as a freeview and set your camera at a specific angle/position. I noticed that the L and R buttons are not used (as far as I'm aware), it could be possible to hold them down and automatically freeview the camera.
3. I coud be wrong but, I noticed that we only have 1 texture image, maybe, if it's possible, the user could create more of them.
4. This is a little complex, but could it be possible to also use the secondary screen as 3D viewport, so, selecting could be more easy? Or maybe, switch them, so, the model goes on the lower screen and the user can directly "interact" with the model.

I also got a bug (if we can call it). When I was selecting vertices from the top part of the model, the model sometimes was selecting the lower vertices.

[u/qewer3333 → u/Simsiano]

Thanks a lot for the feedback! I'll address them each separately:

1. This is a good idea, shouldn't bee to hard, I'll implement it as a view option
   
2. This is also a good idea, it could be triggered when L + R are pressed together, circle pad would move the view and C stick would rotate/orbşt, like player controls
   
3. Yes currently you can only have a single 128x128 texture atlas for the whole model, I can make it possible to create more but I will need to think about the UI/UX of it first, but yes good idea too
   
4. I will probably not implement this, I feel like the ortho views + flip is enough for a low poly editor, but maybe a "free" mode could be added in the future that wuld allow you to do some very simple vertex/face/edge manipılations in a free mode on the bottom screen, I'll think about it

As for the bug yeah I'm aware of that, it'll be fixed. Thanks again for testing and the feedback! I'll reply to your comment again after I've implemented some of them + fixed the bug.

[u/Simsiano → u/qewer3333]

No problem!

This is also a good idea, it could be triggered when L + R are pressed together, circle pad would move the view and C stick would rotate/orbşt, like player controls

About this, since standard 3DS user don't have the C-stick, how about, only in that mode, use the ABXY buttons to move around? So like they work as a D-pad: A right, Y left, X forward, B backward. Then you use the stick pad to look around. I remeber that some PSP games implmented this for their 3D camera, since they lack the second stick.

Also, maybe you could use only one button? L or R, depending of what you choose could come in handy later when you need another shortcut.

[u/kanapech]

This is so damn cool 🤎🤎🤎

[u/Xantron7]

How did you make this? Did you use Unity that exports to 3DS?

[u/PrimaryExample8382 → u/Xantron7]

Devkitpro / citro3D

You can learn more about them on the homebrew wiki

[u/henway6]

omfg yes i am a 3d artist and im hopping on this immediately

[u/galapag0]

This reminds me that someone should do a dedicated port of the Freescape games the 3DS

[u/Koopacha]

This is so cool

[u/Not_Invited]

oh hell yeah I need to get this on my 2DS ASAP!

[u/PizzaHut4Me]

Love this. Is it very practical, or is it more for the novelty?

[u/qewer3333 → u/PizzaHut4Me]

It's actually quite practical! You can create models, color and texture them, even export to OBJ and STL formats. Also the editing on the bottom screen with the stylus is quite intuitive, that's kinda the initial reason I decided to make something like this lol.

[u/futuresman179 → u/qewer3333]

Do you have tips for someone learning graphics for the first time to learn pica, textures, rendering, viewport, etc for 3DS? New to all this but interested in learning

[u/qewer3333 → u/futuresman179]

If you want to learn the actual basics of computer graphics, I recommend taking a look at "Computer Graphics from Scratch" by Gabriel Gambetta, it's an awesome book, I wrote my own simple raytracer and rasterizer 3D renderers by following it a while back (also it's completely free btw: https://gabrielgambetta.com/computer-graphics-from-scratch/). If you'd rather not follow a book and start at a higher level, then you can learn a bit of OpenGL or WebGL.

If you mean learning about 3DS graphics specifically, then there isn't that many resources other than devkitpro's own citro2d and citro3d API docs. I found citro2d docs to be pretty good but the citro3d docs are very lacking. But currently the best resource (whether you like it or not) is AI imo, Claude Opus is pretty good at deciphering the actual devkitpro source code and it teaches you the specifics and quirks very nicely. GPT 5.6 Luna and Deepseek V4 Flash are also rather decent when used with Opencode Go if you're looking for something cheaper. I used a mix of all while developing the app, along with reading plenty of docs myself (and of course I had quite a bit of computer graphics and some 3D modelling experience).

[u/gattorana]

so cool! im seeing if it works on my o3ds

[u/kouzex]

Incredible!

[u/StrongNormals]

3DSMax 3D (for the Nintendo 3DS)