Build a scene
Start a world and place models in it.
The Scenes tab on the home screen is where you make scenes. A scene has five tabs: Figs, World, Animate, Atmosphere, and Camera. Scenes can use a photo as the background: see Make a photo scene .
New scene
The New scene window takes an optional name and has three settings. What is it? sets the category (Home, Shops & cafés, etc.). What’s the vibe? sets the vibe (Cozy to Minimal; see Record pages ). Each is a dropdown that picks one. Category and vibe are optional; None clears them. How big a world? sets the size (Cozy, Classic, or Grand). The biggest size (Vast) is only in the World tab’s Setting › Base floor, after the scene is made.
Other ways to start are below the size: A photo starts a photo scene ; A snapshot opens the snapshots gallery; Open a file opens the file picker. Select Never mind to cancel. The middle of the window scrolls; Never mind stays at the bottom. Open a file is the last choice in the list, under A snapshot. A size row starts an empty scene with Grass ground. For a ready-made scene, download or remix one from the community. The Starter scenes shelf on the Scenes tab’s Community side has scenes from us to start from (e.g., a bathroom, a dollhouse, a konbini, a picnic).
The two views
The World, Figs, and Animate tabs have two views: a big main view and a small map or preview card. On the World tab, the flat map is the main view. On the Figs and Animate tabs, the 3D view is the main view. Select ⇄ to swap them. On the World and Animate tabs, the small card sits at the top right, just left of the Select tab; while the Select bar is open, it moves to the bar’s left.
Placing figs
The Figs tab has two views for placing figs: Library and Scene. Library lists your models. A dropdown filters them by category. The set you are using is first in the dropdown. The ＋ tile shows the categories as chips to filter the list.
When no fig is selected, the Library view says how to place one. Select a fig tile. The app says Tap the world to place it. Tap in the 3D view or drag the tile straight into the scene. Tapping on the map places it at the floor height chosen there. Select Never mind to cancel.
A colored box shows where it will go. Green (or the fig’s category color) means it fits. Amber means it bumps into another model. Red means it can’t go there (no floor under it, past the edge, or through a wall). Dragging a fig against a wall stops it flat against the wall (it doesn’t turn). Letting go where it can’t go moves it to the nearest spot that works.
Select a placed model to open its page: Wearing, Painted, Move set (if it has one), and Pose; the Size, Turn, and Height dials; the Nudge arrows; the Overlap | Stack toggle; and Remove from scene. Menus open below their rows (above when the window lacks room) and stay on screen. Nudge moves it a quarter unit at a time in the direction you see on screen, and stops at walls. Overlap | Stack sets whether it can overlap other things or stacks on them. See Everything in this scene .
The Scene view lists everything placed in the scene. When nothing is selected, the head shows a count (e.g., 2 figs · 1 building). The list is grouped: models, GROUPS, BUILDINGS, DECKS AND PLATFORMS, and BRIDGES. Buildings show their size. Loose building pieces are listed under PARTS. Select an entry to open its page. Select many… shows checkboxes to pick several at once. Done choosing ends that.
The World tab
The World tab has four pages, picked with a switch at the top: Setting, Land, Build, and Scenery. Lists sit under the switch: My land, My buildings, and My scenery. You build on the map grid . Selecting something you placed swaps the page for its Picked panel. See The World tab . The Build page has a catalog of building pieces and tools to change buildings: see Build a building .
Setting has the Base floor | Photo toggle. Base floor sets the main ground:
Pattern size sets how big the pattern is. Indoor worlds (in some community scenes and challenges) have Floor, Walls, and Ceiling toggles. Surface sets the ground’s look. A new scene’s floor has these:
- Shape: Sets the ground’s shape (Circle or Square).
- Size: Sets how big the world is (Cozy, Classic, Grand, Vast).
- Roughness: Makes the ground bumpy.
Shine sets the finish (Matte or Water). Scenes with painted water have water settings:
- Water: Sets what the water is (Water, Ice, Lava, Dead).
- Waves and Speed: Set how big and how fast the waves are.
Water moves on its own. Models set to Bob ride up and down on the waves. In the Animate tab, setting Frame rate below Smooth makes the waves move in steps. In photo scenes, the photo is the ground, in place of the usual settings. Worlds with no ground (e.g., Space scenes) show no ground and have only Pattern size.
The Camera tab
The Camera tab opens the camera. It has four kinds: Photo, Loop, Video, and Clip. See The Camera .
Placed figs
Placed models keep what they were saved with: move sets play in Showtime, animated skins keep flipping, even in a paused scene, and each copy can wear its own skin through Painted. Animation for the scene itself is on the Animate tab. See Scene animation .
The app saves as you go. Undo and Redo cover everything, including style changes, clips, and paths. On a tablet in landscape, they sit at the right end of the menu row. On a phone turned sideways, they sit in the bottom band. Done leaves the scene and returns to the home screen. Showtime hides the buttons and plays the scene full screen.