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A 3D Scene is the product a 3D Proof shows the customer’s artwork on. Scenes live in Library → 3D Scenes, and a Workflow uses one on its Soft-proofing step.
The 3D Scenes library listing flat sheets, booklets and leaflets, each with a thumbnail, its print areas and a Store or Customized badge

Library → 3D Scenes

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Start from a Store scene

The library comes with ready-made scenes marked Store: Use them as they are, or open one and change it. Saving an edited Store scene gives you your own copy, marked Customized, and your workflows use it from then on. A 3D product always starts from your own model.

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Create a scene

1

Open the Scene Studio

Go to Library → 3D Scenes and click New 3D Scene.
2

Choose what you're setting up

Pick 3D product, Folded leaflet, Booklet or Flat sheet, and give the scene a Title.
The Scene Studio asking What are you setting up?, with 3D product, Folded leaflet, Booklet and Flat sheet options
3

Set up the product

Fill in the cards on the right. They depend on the kind, as described below. The preview on the left updates as you go.
4

Check it with your own art

The preview starts with a numbered test pattern, so you can see which page lands where and which way is up. Use the buttons under the preview to try real artwork, and Test pattern to go back.
5

Save

Click Save. The library thumbnail is taken from the start view.

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3D product

The Scene Studio showing a mug with a numbered test pattern, and the Model and Parts in this model cards

A mug in the Scene Studio

1

Upload the model

Drop a GLB or OBJ file on the preview, or choose one. GLB works best: one file with its materials. For OBJ, add its .mtl file too. Convert FBX files to GLB first. Models can be up to 60 MB.
2

Size and orientation

In the Model card, set:
  • Real size (largest side, mm), so the print lands at its true size.
  • Up axis: Y up for glTF and most tools, Z up for CAD tools such as Fusion or SketchUp.
  • Front view faces: the centre of a print area, or the model’s own front.
3

Mark the parts

Parts in this model lists the model’s meshes and materials. Set each one to Print area, Colour part or leave it at —. Materials are usually the cleanest choice.
4

Set up each print area

Each print area has these settings:
  • Width mm, Height mm and Bleed mm: the printed size. When the surface measures differently, the studio offers Surface measures … use to take the model’s size.
  • Mapping: how the art is laid on the surface. Auto picks for you; Wrap (cylinder) goes round mugs and bottles; Flat projects straight on; Model’s own UVs keeps the model’s mapping.
  • Finish: Gloss, Silk, Matte or Uncoated.
  • Proof page: which page of the customer’s file this area shows.
  • Mirror, Upside down and a rotation, for when the art comes out the wrong way.
5

Colour the other parts

Under Colour parts, give each part its colour and its Shine.
The Print areas card with width, height, bleed, mapping, finish and proof page, and the Colour parts card with a colour and a shine slider

Print areas and colour parts

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Folded leaflet

The Scene Studio showing a tri-fold leaflet standing open, with the Fold style, Flat sheet and Panels and creases cards

A tri-fold in the Scene Studio

  • Fold style: Half fold, Tri-fold, Z-fold, Gate fold or Custom. Opens sets whether it opens from the side (upright creases) or from the top (level creases).
  • Flat sheet: the unfolded size, from a list (A4, A3, A5, US Letter, US Legal, Tabloid) or typed in. It is for the preview only: proofs use the size of the customer’s artwork, unless you turn on This product only comes in this size.
  • Panels & creases:
    • Custom lets you set each panel’s width.
    • Tri-folds and gate folds have a Tuck-in allowance, the amount the inner panels are narrower so they fold inside.
    • How open sets every crease at once (Almost flat, Half open, Standing, Just opened), and a slider per crease fine-tunes it.
    • Lies on the table picks the panel that stays still.
    • Inside (page 2) printed sets whether the inside is Turned left to right or Tumbled top to bottom.
  • Paper: see Paper. The leaflet’s Paper card also has Edges.
Page 1 of the customer’s file is the outside and page 2 the inside, unless you supply a side. Panels count from the left of page 1, or from the top when the leaflet opens from the top.

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Booklet

The Scene Studio showing an open booklet on pages 2 and 3, with the Binding, Page size and Opening and turning cards

A booklet in the Scene Studio

  • Binding: Left edge for most books, Right edge for right-to-left reading, or Top edge for calendars and notepads. Shown sets whether it lies open on a table or stands up.
  • Page size: one page’s size, from a list (A4, A5, A6, US Letter, Half Letter, Square 210) or typed in, and Pages in the preview. Both are for the preview only: proofs use the page size and page count of the customer’s file. This product only comes in this page size fixes the size; the page count still comes from the file.
  • Opening & turning:
    • How wide it opens, and the Page curve at the spine.
    • Opens at: the front cover or the first spread.
    • The Page turn speed.
    • Customers turn pages by clicking, dragging or the arrow keys. Turn each one on or off.
  • Paper: the inside pages’ stock, weight and Page thickness. Turn on Heavier cover to give the cover its own stock and weight.

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Flat sheet

The Scene Studio showing a business card with rounded corners lying on a table, with the Size, Shape and display and Paper cards

A business card in the Scene Studio

  • Size: from a list (business cards, A6 and 6 × 4 in postcards, DL, A5, A4, US Letter, Square 148) or typed in. It is for the preview only, unless you turn on This product only comes in this size.
  • Shape & display:
    • Rounded corners in mm, with 0 for square corners.
    • Shown: lying on a table or standing up.
    • Back (page 2) printed: turned left to right or tumbled top to bottom.
    • Edges: see Painted edges.
  • Paper: see Paper.
Page 1 of the customer’s file is the front and page 2 the back, unless you supply a side. A one-page file shows plain paper on the back. Customers click the sheet to turn it over.

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Sides and covers you supply

Some products have a side the customer doesn’t design: a single-sided business card with a green back, a leaflet with a printed order form inside, or a booklet whose back cover is always the same. Set those sides in the Sides you supply card (Covers you supply for booklets), and the customer only uploads the rest. Each side is one of:
  • Customer’s file: the default. The side shows a page of the customer’s file.
  • A colour: the whole side in one colour.
  • An image: a PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 4 MB. Fills the side covers it edge to edge, cropping what doesn’t fit. Fits on a colour shows the whole image on a background colour you choose.
The customer’s pages fill the sides you don’t supply, in order: A flat sheet or leaflet always keeps one side for the customer’s file, so once one side is supplied the studio won’t let you supply the other.

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Booklet covers

The Covers you supply card: the front, inside back and back covers use the customer's file, and the inside front cover is set to a colour

Covers you supply, with the inside front cover set to a colour

A booklet can supply any of its four covers: the front cover, the inside front cover, the inside back cover and the back cover. They stay in their places, and the customer’s pages fill the pages between them in order. For example, with a supplied front and back cover, a 6-page file becomes an 8-page booklet: your front cover, the customer’s pages 1 to 6, then your back cover. A back cover (or an inside back cover) always lands on the back of the last sheet. When the page count would be odd, a blank page is added before it.
Sides you supply appear in the 3D Proof only. The flat Pages view and the print file are the customer’s pages as uploaded.

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Paper

Leaflets, booklets and sheets have a Paper card:
  • Stock: Uncoated, Matte, Silk or Gloss. It sets how much the paper shines.
  • Weight (gsm).
  • Thickness (mm): leave it empty to work it out from the weight, or type the caliper of your stock.

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Painted edges

Flat sheets and folded leaflets can show painted edges, like edge-painted business cards. Set Edges to Painted (a colour) and pick the colour, or leave it on Paper. On a flat sheet the whole edge is painted, rounded corners included. On a leaflet only the outer edges of the sheet are painted, and the creases stay paper.
The edge is as thick as the paper, so a colour on ordinary card is a hairline. Set Thickness (mm) to your stock’s real caliper, for example 1.2 mm for a thick painted-edge card, and the edge shows as it will look in the hand.

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Camera views

Each scene comes with camera views, shown as buttons above the preview. To add your own, turn the preview to the angle you want and press +. In the Camera views card, choose the start view, which is what customers see first and what the library thumbnail shows. You can rename or delete the views you added.

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Use a scene in a workflow

Open the workflow, turn on Soft-proofing, and under Show a preview to customer? choose the scene. Scenes are listed by kind and name, for example Sheet · Business card. Flat pages keeps the flat proof, and + New scene… opens the Scene Studio.
A workflow's Soft-proofing step turned on, with Sheet · Business card chosen under Show a preview to customer?

The Soft-proofing step

To show the proof in your product gallery as well, see Show the proof in the product gallery.