Lesson 6

Smart duplicate

Creating patterns or shapes with repeating structures can be, well, repetitive if you have to do it manually. The Duplicate shortcut key in Tinkercad has a feature called “smart duplication” that can help you avoid this tedious work.

“Smart duplicate” is like a short-term memory that knows what you just did and will repeat it for any new duplications. For example, let’s take this coin and make a 6 x 6 grid:

Press the Cmd+D / Ctrl+D shortcut key to duplicate the coin and move it backwards a bit. Then press the duplicate shortcut key again, and a third copy appears with the same offset. Press the shortcut key three more times and you have six coins at regular intervals: