3dCMS Knowledge Base
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Every article in the 3dCMS Knowledge Base, grouped by section. Prefer to browse with search and a sidebar? Use the interactive manual.

Get Started

New here? Start with the five-minute quickstart, then get your bearings in the editor.

  • Welcome to 3dCMSA browser-based editor and CMS where every published page is a real, navigable 3D scene, and ships clean, crawlable HTML from the same URL.
  • Quickstart: your first sceneFrom a blank viewport to a published, shareable 3D page in about five minutes. Eight small steps, no prior 3D experience required.
  • Try it without an accountThe whole editor runs at /try with no sign-in. Your scene lives in this browser until you decide to keep it. Then signing in carries it into your account.
  • Start from a templateSkip the blank viewport: clone a polished, ready-made scene into your account (already personalized with your name and photo), then reshape or publish it.
  • The editor at a glanceA guided tour of the workbench: the menu bar, the viewport, the docks, the Tools rail, and the floating panels you open from the Windows menu.
  • Core conceptsThe handful of ideas that make everything else click: scenes and nodes, pages and sites, the three kinds of "save", and how coordinates work.
  • Moving around the viewportHow to orbit, pan, zoom, and frame your work on desktop and touch, plus camera bookmarks, view presets, and render modes.

Building Scenes

The everyday editor: adding objects, selecting them, moving them around, and keeping the scene organized.

  • Adding objectsFour ways to add things to a scene, the full menu of object types you can create, and the one object that works a little differently.
  • Selecting objectsClick, shift-click, and rubber-band selection, the Select menu (Select All, None, Invert, Hierarchy, Parent, Similar, by type) with its shortcuts, what "primary" selection means, and why a room-sized floor stops taking the click in its middle.
  • Move, rotate & scaleThe three transform tools, world vs local space, where the pivot sits, snapping to a grid, and typing exact numbers.
  • The Scene TreeThe hierarchy panel: select, rename, reparent, hide, search, and the per-row quick actions, everything that keeps a big scene navigable.
  • The Properties panelThe Inspector edits whatever you have selected: its content first for anything that says something, then its transform, then controls specific to the object type.
  • Group, duplicate & deleteThe three housekeeping moves that keep scenes tidy, and the shortcuts worth committing to muscle memory.
  • Undo, redo & historyStep backward and forward, or jump straight to any earlier point in your editing session with the visual history list.
  • Cameras & saved viewsCamera objects set the viewpoint your visitors get; saved views are your own working bookmarks. They are not the same thing.
  • 3D textAdd crisp, readable type anywhere in your scene, with full control over size, alignment, and anchoring.
  • Tap actionsGive any object a job when a visitor taps it: open it in a fullscreen viewer, fly the camera over to it, or follow a link.
  • Animating objectsGive an object a looping motion (bob, spin, pulse, or sway) that plays for visitors without disturbing where you placed it.

Modeling

Reshape primitives into custom geometry with polygon tools, NURBS surfaces, and a decimator for keeping things light.

  • Edit mode: vertices, edges & facesDrop into component mode to grab the individual vertices, edges, and faces of a primitive, the gateway to all polygon modeling.
  • Polygon toolsThe full mesh-editing toolset (extrude, inset, loop cut, bevel, weld, bridge, and more), grouped by what you have selected.
  • The radial Poly wheelA gesture-driven quick menu that puts the right modeling tools under your cursor without a trip to the menu bar.
  • Parametric primitivesThe five built-in shapes and the size and segment parameters that reshape them, before you start poly modeling.
  • NURBS curves, revolve & loftDraw a spline, edit its control points, then spin it into a lathed surface or skin a surface across several curves.
  • Decimate & poly budgetsKeep big scenes fast: read poly counts everywhere they surface, and decimate heavy models down to a target triangle count.

Materials & Textures

Give your objects a surface, from one-click presets to a full physically-based node graph.

  • Materials & the libraryAssign a surface in one click from the starter library, manage your saved materials, and turn folders of textures into ready-made PBR packs.
  • The material node graphA visual, node-based editor for physically-based materials: wire color, roughness, normals, and more into a single output.
  • Textures & PBR packsHow images become materials, which formats are supported, and how 3dCMS streams textures so big scenes stay light on memory.
  • Animated texture mapsMake a texture move: scroll it for flowing water and drifting clouds, or play it as a spritesheet flipbook, on any material channel.
  • Transparency & alpha cut-outsDrop a transparent PNG (a leaf, a logo, a fence) and 3dCMS clips the plane to the opaque pixels, so it shadows and reflects only where the image is solid.
  • The UV editorVisualize how a texture wraps onto a primitive, and dial in tiling and offset per texture layer.

Effects & Atmosphere

The things that make a scene feel alive: particles, grass in the breeze, force fields, lighting, color grading, fog, and spatial sound.

  • ParticlesSmoke, sparks, dust, and grass from a single efficient emitter: start from a preset, then tune count, color, motion, and glow.
  • Grass, weeds & breezeTwo grass motions that root blades to the ground and ripple them in a wind, from cheap line-blades to lush tapered ribbons.
  • Force fieldsInvisible fields that push, pull, swirl, or roughen nearby particles, with per-emitter routing so each field affects only what you want.
  • Lighting: sun, sky & time of dayEvery scene has one shared sun and sky (a live time-of-day system or a fixed studio setup) that you can top up with placeable lamps.
  • Placeable lightsDrop point, spot, and soft area lamps into a scene, with shadows, a day/night schedule, projected gobo/cookie patterns, and volumetric light shafts.
  • Shadow pools (fake contact shadows)A flat, soft dark disc you drop under an object so it reads as sitting on the ground: no shadow-casting light, and almost no cost.
  • Color grading & LUTsPost-processing that sets the final look of the image: bloom and vignette, hue/saturation grading, and cinematic color LUTs (built-in or your own imported .cube / .3dl).
  • Background, fog & gridSet the backdrop color, add atmospheric fog, and control the reference grid, the scene-wide environment settings.
  • Distant backdropsA camera-centred environment sphere (mountains, a skyline, or a gradient sky) that sits at the horizon and sweeps as you look around.
  • Spatial audioTwo layers of positional sound: automatic ambient tones for every page, and looping audio clips you anchor anywhere in the scene.

Importing & Assets

Bring the world in: turn a real website into a 3D scene, manage your media, and import 3D models.

  • Import a real websitePoint at a URL and 3dCMS crawls it, pulling pages, images, copy, and links into rearrangeable 3D panels. A fast starting point; how much comes through depends on the site.
  • The Asset LibraryYour account-wide media library for images, 3D models, audio, and HDRIs: upload once, use across every site.
  • Importing 3D modelsBring in GLB, glTF, and OBJ models, with Draco and meshopt compression supported out of the box.

The AI Assistant

An in-editor chat where you describe what you want and Claude builds it: recoloring, arranging, and generating right in your scene.

  • Meet the AssistantA built-in chat panel where Claude makes real edits to your scene. Bring your own Anthropic key. It stays in your browser.
  • Using AI without your own keysOn a paid plan, the Assistant and generation can run on managed keys: usage draws from a monthly pool of credits rather than your own API bill.
  • What you can ask itFrom "make a hexagon" to "build a 42-cube pyramid": what the Assistant can do, and the example prompts that show its range.
  • Models, vision & costChoose the Claude model that fits the job, decide whether the Assistant can see your viewport, and understand what each turn costs.
  • How it stays safeAll-or-nothing edits, automatic retries, and guardrails that mean the Assistant can never half-break your scene.

AI Generation

Let the Assistant create assets that don't exist yet: 3D models and PBR materials from a text prompt. Paid, opt-in, off by default.

  • Turning on AI generationGeneration creates brand-new models and materials from text, and spends real money on your own fal.ai key. Here is how to enable it safely.
  • Generating 3D modelsDescribe an object and get a textured 3D model placed in your scene. Choose a detail tier to match how you will use it.
  • Generating materialsDescribe a surface and get a seamless, tileable PBR material wired up and assigned: color, normal, roughness, metalness, and height.
  • Costs & safeguardsExactly how generation spends money, the per-day cap, and the reserve-and-refund logic that protects you from surprise bills.

Drive from Claude (MCP)

Build and edit your saved scenes from Claude Desktop or Claude Code, on your own Claude subscription.

  • Drive 3dCMS from ClaudeThe MCP server lets Claude (in Desktop, Code, or the terminal) build and edit your saved scenes using your existing Claude subscription.
  • Generate your API tokenA per-account token is what lets Claude reach your scenes. Generate it on the Account page. It is shown only once.
  • Connect Claude to 3dCMSAdd the hosted connector by URL and sign in with Google, or run the local server with a token for the paid generation tools.
  • Tools & quick phrasesWhat the MCP server lets Claude do (list, read, create, edit, and publish your scenes), and the phrases that trigger each tool.

Publishing & Hosting

Save your work, publish a public 3D site, and host several named sites from one account.

  • Saving your workThree kinds of save (autosave, named local versions, and cloud source scenes), and when to reach for each.
  • Publishing to the webTurn your scene into a public, crawlable page with a shareable link, and understand exactly what gets built.
  • Multi-site hostingOne account, many named sites, each with its own memorable URL, managed from the Settings panel, including taking one off the web and putting it back.
  • Starter templatesThe neighborhood layouts that seed a new site with pages arranged in a useful 3D shape.
  • Explore & your creator profilePublished sites are discoverable on a public gallery and on your own creator profile, and you can opt any site out.
  • Views & analyticsA privacy-light view counter and analytics panel (timeline, devices, referrers, and per-page breakdown), visible to you alone.
  • Download your site (static export)Export a published site as a self-contained zip that runs on any static web host, plus the older scene.json / GLB export path.
  • Your own branding on a published scenePut your name, logo and link in the published header in place of the 3dCMS credit, set separately for each site so an agency can white-label every client.

SEO & AI-Readability

Every 3D page ships a clean, semantic HTML mirror, so search engines and AI crawlers read the same content your visitors see.

  • How the semantic mirror worksA 3D scene is invisible to crawlers, so 3dCMS renders a full, readable HTML mirror of every page at the same URL. No cloaking.
  • Editing page SEOWhere to set a page's title, description, slug, hero copy, and more, plus which richer fields are populated by import or AI rather than by hand.
  • Sitemaps, llms.txt & Search ConsoleThe discovery files 3dCMS generates so search engines and AI crawlers can find and read every page.

The Consumer View

What your visitors actually experience: a fullscreen, touch-friendly, navigable 3D site with a tour and search built in.

  • Exploring a published sceneThe visitor's-eye view: how people move through your 3D site on desktop and mobile, and the controls they get for free.
  • Guided scrollA touch mode for visitors arriving from the 2D web: swipe up for the next section, drag sideways to look, with a section bar that maps the site.
  • The page tourOne button auto-walks visitors through every page of a multi-page scene, and steps aside the instant they take control.
  • The search paletteVisitors can jump to any page with a keyboard command palette, the same ⌘K muscle memory they already have.
  • Visitor reactionsA friction-free ❤️ 👏 🔥 tally lets visitors react to a published scene: social proof for you, a dopamine tap for them.
  • Fullscreen, audio & accessibilityThe defaults that make a 3dCMS site comfortable for everyone: reduced-motion support, audio control, offline resilience, and loading that recovers.
  • Reporting a sceneA quiet ⚑ Report affordance lets any visitor flag a published scene for a moderator to review.

Performance

Keep scenes smooth on every device: check the budget before you publish, watch the live meter, and build light.

  • Scene weightOne number for how expensive your scene is, broken down by what is costing you, ranked by which objects are the cost, and the only performance measure that can block a publish.
  • How a published scene loadsModels in distant neighborhoods wait until a visitor is near them, and a shaped stand-in holds the space until they arrive.
  • Scoping a room to its neighborhoodBind any object to one page and the runtime switches it (and everything under it) off while the visitor is somewhere else, which is also how a later room gets shadows at all.
  • The compatibility checkA pre-publish report that estimates triangles, draw calls, texture memory, and particles, and tells you which devices can handle your scene.
  • The live performance HUDAn opt-in overlay that shows real frames-per-second and renderer stats as you work or as a visitor explores.
  • Building fast scenesThe handful of habits (render quality, LOD, instancing, decimation, texture caps) that keep big scenes running smoothly.

Account & Settings

Sign in, manage your scenes and sites, tune the editor to your taste, and control your data.

  • Signing inA free Google sign-in, or a passwordless email link, gives you saving to the cloud, publishing, the asset library, and the AI features.
  • Your accountThe Account page is mission control for your profile, handle, saved scenes, published links, API token, and the community feed.
  • The Settings panelA guided tour of every Settings group: lighting, environment, sites, deployment, viewport feel, snapping, touch, and accessibility.
  • Membership & plan limitsWhat each plan includes, the usage panel that shows how much of it you are using, and exactly what happens when you go over or cancel.
  • Privacy & deleting your accountHow to delete your account and everything in it, and where the privacy and terms pages live.

Reference

The lookup shelf: every keyboard shortcut, a glossary, an FAQ, and an honest list of what isn't built yet.

  • Keyboard shortcutsThe complete key map: scene editing, camera, hierarchy navigation, and the polygon modeling tools. Press ? in the editor for the live list.
  • GlossaryPlain-English definitions for every bit of 3dCMS vocabulary you will meet in this manual.
  • FAQ & troubleshootingQuick answers to the questions and snags that come up most often.
  • Known limits & what's not built yetAn honest list of things people expect to find that don't exist yet, so you never waste time hunting for them.