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3D View
The 3D view draws a board as a floor you can turn: each node stands up as the form of its archetype, on the same layout the canvas draws. Use it to read a board's shape at a glance, and to see how a layer sits inside the node that holds it.
The 3D view is on every board's canvas, in the workbench and on a published board. It changes how the board is drawn, never the board itself.
Switch to 3D
Choose 3D at the top right of the canvas, beside Inspector and Insights. Choose it again to go back to the flat canvas.
The view stays in 3D as you open layers and move between boards. Reloading the page returns to the flat canvas.
Read the forms
A node's form comes from its archetype: what the node is decides how it stands. Its shape on the canvas becomes its outline on the floor, and its fill colours its top.
A node's icon is printed flat on its top, and its name is stencilled under it. When a name is too small to read, it stands up as a label beside the node instead. Zoomed far out, only nodes big enough to make out keep a label, so the floor stays readable. Point at any node to see its name.
Containers become raised trays, one step higher for each container they sit in, and their nodes stand on them. Regions are dashed outlines on the floor.
Notes, callouts, leader labels and decorations with words in them stand as small cards over the spot where they sit on the canvas, pinned to the floor. They face you whichever way the board is turned.
Read the edges
Edges run along the floor on the routes the canvas draws, and say what they say on the canvas:
- An arrowhead or other end marker shows which way an edge points.
- An edge keeps its colour and its dashes, and an edge with more imports behind it is drawn heavier. One with only a few is a faint dotted thread.
- An edge's name is printed along it when you zoom in close enough to read it. Point at an edge to see its name and the two nodes it joins.
Click an edge to select it. It lights up with the two nodes it joins, and the rest of the floor fades.
The canvas's lenses work the same way in 3D.
- Edges, at the bottom left: Strong drops the faint dotted threads, and Bundles hides wiring inside containers.
- Tags, at the bottom centre: picking a tag fades everything that doesn't carry it.
Move around
The controls at the bottom left of the canvas turn the board, fit it to the view, spread the floors apart and open 3D view settings.
Pointing at a node lights it and the nodes it connects to, and fades the rest.
Open a layer's floor
A node that holds a layer has two dashed plates floating over its top. Double-click it: the layer opens as its own floor above the node, growing out of its top.
- Double-click the node. Its layer rises as a floor above it straight away. While the layer is still loading, the floor stands as a blank sheet with a pen sweeping across it, and its nodes appear when it's ready.
- Read the floors. The floor you're on is the thick one, edged in the accent colour. The floor below is a thinner, muted sheet: only the node you opened, and the nodes the upper floor's boundary ports stand for, keep their form. The rest lie flat as outlines.
- Follow the lines down. Lines in the accent colour run from the node's top to the corners of the floor above. Each boundary port on the upper floor has a dotted line down to the node it stands for below.
- Double-click a node on the new floor to open its layer above it in turn.
Each floor carries a name plate with its level: L0 is the board you started on, L1 a layer inside one of its nodes, and so on.
- 1
The floor you're on
The floor you're on is the thick one, edged in the accent colour.
- 2
The node you opened
On the floor below, only the node you opened keeps its form; the rest lie flat as outlines.
- 3
Lines up to the floor above
Lines in the accent colour run from the node's top to the corners of the floor above.
Move between floors
The board map moves you between floors. Open it with Map at the top left. In 3D, each board on your path carries its floor's level, such as L0 and L1, and the floor you're on is marked in the accent colour. Point at a lower floor's board to see which floor it is on the canvas, and choose it to go down to it.
Choose any other board in the map to move there: the floor you're on folds back into its node and the next one rises out of its own.
Other nodes on the floor below may hold layers too. Press ← or → to step across to the next one on the same floor.
The floors next to yours load ahead in the background, so stepping across is usually instant.
Close a floor
Any of these closes the floor you're on and takes you back to the board below:
- Double-click the outlined node on the floor below.
- Choose the floor below in the board map, or Close this floor in the controls at the bottom left.
- Press
Page Down. - Press
Esc. If a node or an edge is selected, the firstEscclears the selection. - Choose a board in the breadcrumb.
Choose what the view shows
3D view settings in the controls at the bottom left holds three choices. Your browser remembers them.
Floors stand high enough to keep the node you opened in sight. To lift each floor clear of the whole floor below it, choose Spread the floors apart in the controls, or press X.
Insights in 3D
When Insights is on, a node an insight touches carries a coloured mark on its top, with the number of insights when there is more than one. Click the mark to open the insight.
With an insight open, its trail is drawn on the floor. The nodes it visits are numbered in order above their tops, its edges take the insight's colour, and everything else fades.
FAQ
Does the 3D view change my board?
No. Nothing you do in the 3D view is saved to the board: it draws the board the canvas draws, from the same layout.
Why do some nodes on a published board stand as plain blocks?
The forms of a board's archetypes travel with each publish; without them, each node stands as its shape alone. Publish the board again to include them.
Can I download the 3D view?
Not yet. The download menu is on the flat canvas; switch back to export an image or the board's data.
What's next
Last updated November 11, 2026