Viewer Settings
The 3D viewer provides multiple display modes and quality options to help you preview your designs accurately before printing.
Viewer Controls
The viewer controls float in the top-right corner of the viewport as a compact pill strip. They include:
- Fit (F) — Reset the camera to fit the model in view
- Shade mode (T) — Cycles CPU → Wire → GPU (see Shade modes)
- Quality — Draft / Good / Super rendering detail (tube segments and preview fidelity)
- View Mode — Layer / Studio / Lamp (see View modes)
- Color picker — Change the preview filament color
- Screenshot — Capture the current view
Auto / Manual Update
The top-left corner of the viewport shows the generation mode:
- Auto — The model regenerates automatically when you change any parameter.
- Manual — Changes are not applied until you click. When parameters change, the button shows "Needs Update" in orange. Click it to regenerate.
Shade modes (CPU / Wire / GPU)
Press T or use the shade button to cycle modes:
| Mode | What you see |
|---|---|
| CPU | Solid tube geometry (classic extrusion preview). |
| Wire | Toolpath as lines only — fastest, minimal GPU work. |
| GPU | Instanced cylinders with joint spheres and PBR-style lighting — very fast for large models (hundreds of thousands of points). |
View modes (Layer / Studio / Lamp)
Layer
The default view showing the toolpath as it will be printed.
- Shows the path as tube or line geometry (depending on shade mode)
- Grid displayed for scale reference
- Best for verifying print accuracy
Studio
A polished product-studio preview: progressive path-traced lighting when supported, with a clean background (light or dark studio look from the theme). Use it for presentation and screenshots. If path tracing is unavailable on the device, the viewer falls back to rasterized PBR lighting.
Lamp
A realistic lit preview for lampshade-style designs.
- HDR-style environment lighting
- Physically-based rendering (PBR) materials
- Shadows and reflections
- Internal light source simulation
Quality Settings
Control the rendering detail level with the Quality dropdown:
| Quality | Radial Segments | Detail Level | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | 4 | 0.5x | Fast iteration while designing |
| Good | 6 | 1x | General use, balanced performance |
| Super | 8 | 2x | Final preview, screenshots |
Material Color
Click the color picker to change the filament color used in the preview. This is purely visual and doesn't affect G-code output.
Viewer layer range slider
The right edge of the viewport has a vertical viewer layer range slider (also called “inspect layers”) for inspecting specific heights. This is separate from effect layer range, which limits where each effect is active on the design.
The visible toolpath is clipped to that vertical band in all shade modes — CPU, Wire, and GPU — so what you see matches the chosen layer window.
Range viewing
The slider supports a top and bottom bound, letting you view a specific band of layers:
- Top number — The highest visible layer. Click to type an exact value.
- Bottom number — The lowest visible layer. Click to type an exact value.
- Drag the slider — Adjust the range interactively.
- All — Reset to show all layers.
You can set only a top bound or only a bottom bound with the other side at All — for example, “everything from layer 20 upward” or “everything up to layer 40” — and the preview filters correctly in every shade mode.
For example, setting top to 50 and bottom to 40 shows only layers 40–50 (10 layers).
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| [ | Show fewer layers (decrease top) |
| ] | Show more layers (increase top) |
| 0 | Show all layers |
Mobile and WebGL
The viewer targets WebGL2. On phones and tablets the app may use a lower device pixel ratio and deferred initialization so the canvas only starts after layout is valid — this avoids empty or failed contexts on tight GPUs.
If WebGL2 fails to start, the viewer shows guidance (e.g. close other tabs, disable battery saver, reload). Use the Reload action when offered.
Camera Controls
Mouse Controls
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Left-drag | Orbit around the model |
| Right-drag | Pan the view |
| Scroll wheel | Zoom in/out |
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| F | Fit camera to model (animated) |
| T | Cycle shade mode (CPU → Wire → GPU) |
| [ | Previous layer |
| ] | Next layer |
| 0 | Show all layers |
Screenshot
Capture a high-quality image of your current view:
- Resolution: 800 x 800 pixels
- Format: PNG with transparency support
- Grid: Automatically hidden during capture
Click the Screenshot button in the viewer controls to save an image.
Theme Integration
The viewer colors (background, grid, toolpath) are controlled by your current theme. Use the Theme Editor to customize:
- Viewer background color
- Grid major/minor line colors
- Toolpath default color
- Lighting colors (ambient and key light)
See the Themes & Customization documentation for more details.