Playful, collaborative approaches to 3D modeling and 3D printing

Cheaper and more prevalent 3D printing technology offers new and emerging opportunities for nonexperts to make and produce their very own physical items and products. However, most 3D modeling software is still geared towards experts and not as inclusive as the printing technology itself. At the same time, tools are usually limited in their possibilities for collaboration. Against this backdrop, we are conducting qualitative studies with children in Germany and Palestine on practices of co-constructive 3D modeling in virtual worlds. We aim to understand how children negotiate and cooperate on joint projects and how to lead non-experts playfully into 3D modeling. For this, we utilize the game Minecraft as well as the similar browser-based tool Cubeteam. In this paper, we present first results as well as design implications for co-constructive 3D modeling tools.