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Blocky Renderer can create new models with a starting cube, and it helps you write model JSON by hand with a schema.

== New Blocky Model… ==
The command <code>Blocky: New Blocky Model…</code> creates a new <code>.blockymodel</code> file. You find it:
* in the Command Palette,
* in the Explorer context menu of a folder,
* as <code>+</code> in the title bar of the '''Models''' view,
* in the context menu of a folder in the '''Models''' view.

=== Steps ===
# Enter a name, for example <code>Lantern</code>. A trailing <code>.blockymodel</code> is removed. The name must not contain <code>\ / : * ? " < > |</code>, and the file must not exist yet.
# Choose what the model starts with:
#* ''Cube with starter texture'': a cube and the texture <code><Name>_Texture.png</code> (128 × 64, each face in its own color).
#* ''Cube without texture''.
#* ''Empty model'': just <code>{"nodes": []}</code> with <code>"lod": "auto"</code>.
# The file opens in the text editor.

If a texture with that name already exists, it is left untouched and the model uses it.

=== Target folder ===
* From a folder context menu: that folder.
* From the Command Palette: the folder of the active file, if it is in the workspace. Otherwise the workspace folder. With several workspace folders, you are asked which one to use.
* Without an open folder, the command shows ''Open a folder for the new model first.''

== The starter cube ==
* 32 × 32 × 32, one block. It stands on the ground: its position is <code>y = 16</code>.
* Node <code>id</code> <code>1</code>, name <code>Cube</code>, shape <code>box</code>, shading <code>flat</code>.
* All six faces sit in a cross layout in a 128 × 64 atlas: left, front, right and back side by side in the lower row, top above front and bottom above right.
* In the starter texture, each face has its own color with a darker border: front blue, back purple, left green, right orange, top yellow, bottom grey. The rest of the image is transparent.

== Empty files from the Explorer ==
If you create an empty <code>.blockymodel</code> file in the VS Code Explorer, it is filled at once and saved. The setting <code>blockyRenderer.newModelTemplate</code> decides with what:
{| class="wikitable"
! Value !! Content
|-
| <code>cube</code> (default) || The block-sized cube with all six faces in the texture layout
|-
| <code>empty</code> || A valid model without nodes
|-
| <code>off</code> || The file stays empty
|}

The content is inserted as an edit, so <code>Ctrl+Z</code> empties the file again. Files created by scripts or in the terminal are not filled. For those, the preview shows a '''Start with a Cube''' button.

== JSON schema ==
<code>.blockymodel</code> files get a JSON schema. In the text editor this gives you:
* hover help for every field,
* validation of values, for example <code>shape.type</code>, <code>lod</code> or the quad normal,
* completion. <code>Ctrl+Space</code> in an empty file offers ''Cube''. Inside <code>nodes</code> and <code>children</code> it offers ''Box'' (8 × 8 × 8 with all six faces) and ''Group''.

There is no schema for <code>.blockyanim</code> files.

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