Viewport, materials & presentation

The viewport can draw the same model seven ways. Shaded is the default — a clean, lit solid with edge lines. Realistic switches to physically based shading so metals and woods read as the materials they are. Wireframe and X-Ray show what sits behind a face; Hidden line draws edges only, the way a technical illustration would; Illustration gives a toon-shaded look; and Clay is a matcap that strips out color so you can judge form alone.

Switch styles from View ▸ Display ⌄ in the workspace toolbar, or press ⌘K and type the style's name into the command palette.

Every project opens under a baked studio rig — a key, fill, and rim arrangement tuned so edges, fillets, and drafts read at a glance with no setup. The Appearance menu on the viewport toolbar is where you change that: pick a model color, choose a background (Graphite, Slate, Warm graphite, Studio light, White, or Black), and switch Lighting between the Studio rig and ten HDRI presets, each with an intensity slider and a Show as backdrop toggle that paints the environment behind the model.

The same menu holds the Display toggles — Grid, Edges, Ground shadow, Vignette, and Seamless textures. Seamless textures switches material mapping to triplanar projection, which blends a texture from three directions so brushed and woodgrain finishes wrap curved faces without a visible seam.

For finishes beyond a flat color, the Render workspace's Appearance panel offers fifteen physically based material packs: bead blasted, brushed aluminum, brushed steel, carbon fiber 2×2, cast aluminum, cast iron, galvanized, MDF, oak, plywood (birch), powder coat black, bamboo, cherry, maple, and walnut. Each carries its own roughness and surface detail, so a brushed part catches light differently from a cast one.

Press P to enter Presentation mode: the toolbars, panels, and timeline drop away, the model is framed in a chrome-free cinematic view, and after a moment of idleness it begins a slow turntable. Orbit whenever you like — the turntable resumes when you stop. Press Esc or P again to return to the workspace. If you want the tools but not the panels, Hide panels (⌘\) gives you an immersive viewport with the toolbar still within reach.

When a project has two or more bodies, an Explode chip appears on the viewport toolbar. Drag its slider from 0 to 100 % to separate the bodies, choose Radial, X, Y, or Z for the direction, or use Explode fully and Collapse (Esc) to jump between the extremes. The explode is animated entirely in the browser — no rebuild is triggered and the model's geometry is untouched.

The Render workspace is where a good-looking viewport becomes a deliverable image. Live Realism runs a path-traced preview directly in the viewport: bounced light, soft shadows, and reflections resolve progressively while you keep orbiting and adjusting materials, so what you watch converge is what the final still will be.

Composition guides help frame the shot, and saved camera shots let you return to an exact angle later — after a design change, for a second colorway, or to produce a consistent set for a listing. Output settings set the resolution along with sample and time limits, so you can trade a longer render for a cleaner image or cap it to fit a deadline. The Render workspace is available on the Maker plan and up.