Cubie

Cubie is a browser-based voxel editor for designing and 3D printing articulated toys. You sketch your character with cubes, switch to assembly mode, and Cubie automatically generates snap-fit joints that hold the parts together after printing.

No CAD experience needed. Works on phone and desktop. Print on any regular home 3D printer — no glue, no screws, just snap the parts together.

The hardest part of building Cubie wasn't the voxel engine — it was resisting the urge to add UI. Early versions had toolbars stacked on toolbars: a shapes panel, a colors panel, a joints panel, all pinned to the screen at once. It looked like every other 3D editor, and it was exhausting to use.

The interface you see now is the result of cutting, not adding. Every panel is contextual — it only appears when you're doing the thing it controls. Pick a body part and the joint options (spring, tight, chain, short, long, rotate, flip) slide in next to it; deselect, and they're gone. There's no persistent sidebar, no ribbon, no settings drawer eating into the canvas. The 3D model stays the largest thing on screen at all times, because that's the only thing that actually matters while you're building.

I also stayed away from the "standard" CAD-editor chrome — menu bars, breadcrumb trees, property inspectors with a dozen numeric fields. Those patterns exist to expose every possible parameter, which is exactly wrong for a tool aimed at kids and first-timers. Cubie exposes one decision at a time: pick a shape, pick a color, pick a joint. Nothing else competes for attention.

Most of Cubie's users open it on a phone, so the mobile layout isn't a shrunk-down version of the desktop app — it's the primary design target. The Sketch/Assembly switch sits at the top where a thumb can reach it, the bottom bar carries only the current context's tools (Block, Break, Settings while sketching), and every other control lives in a bottom sheet that slides up only when it's relevant — Paint, Add-ons, Textures, Split Part for a selected body, or the Shapes picker when you tap "Shapes."

Nothing floats over the model permanently. The moment you're not actively choosing a shape or a color, the sheet collapses and the toy fills the screen again — full touch rotation, zero chrome in the way.

This is what comes off a regular home printer. Snap-fit joints click together after printing — no glue, no screws, no hardware. Textures bake right into the layers, so what you see in the editor is what you hold in your hands.

The parts are designed to snap together cleanly, and the joints flex without breaking. Kids can assemble and reassemble the toy themselves.

Not sure where to start? Pick one of the built-in characters and modify it, or use it as-is to learn the workflow before designing your own.

Cubie is built for thumbs, not mice. Kids open it on the couch and start building immediately — big buttons, easy zoom, no tiny CAD tools or intimidating menus.

Works in portrait and landscape, fast enough on any modern phone. No account required to start. Teachers use it in class; parents use it at the kitchen table.