Objects, artwork and finishes
Add cards, boxes, mats, boards, tokens, pieces, 3D models and booklets to a 3D mockup, dress them in your artwork and finishes, and light the scene.
Last reviewed October 15, 2026
This article is for anyone building a 3D mockup scene object by object. It covers what each object type takes, how to paint artwork onto it, and how surfaces, finishes, camera and lighting change the final look.
What this page helps you do
- Add and arrange the nine object types.
- Upload artwork to each face, with a dieline template to paint over.
- Pick a surface and add print finishes such as spot gloss and foil.
- Set the background, floor, camera and lighting.
You'll start inside a scene (3D Mockups in the sidebar, then New mockup or open a saved scene).
Before you start
- Beta. Every team sees 3D Mockups in the sidebar.
- Plan: Pathfinder plan and up. Adventurer teams see "3D Mockups are a Pathfinder plan feature" with Upgrade to Pathfinder, and a list of what the studio does. (The Virtual Table's Quick Setup is Oracle and LaunchBoom only, 50 builds per team per day.)
- Roles: Collaborators cannot use the Component Designer or 3D Mockups.
Add objects
Click Add and pick a type. Each object has its own panel under Objects; click an object in the view to edit it. Every object has a Position (Left / right, Back / front, Height above the table), a Turn, and a Tilt forward / back and Tilt sideways to stand it at an angle (it tilts round its middle and keeps resting on the table).
You can also move a selected object right in the view. Click it and handles appear on it: a red arrow slides it left or right, a blue arrow slides it back or front, a green arrow lifts it off the table, the violet ring around its base turns it, and the red and blue arcs above it tilt it forward / back and sideways (one object at a time). Hold Shift while you drag to snap to 10 mm or 15°. With several objects selected (Shift-click), the handles move and turn them together. Each drag is one step for Undo.
To drop an object you lifted onto whatever is under it, right-click it and choose Put down: it comes down until it touches another object or the table.
Helpful details
- Key areas:
- Cards: Cards from a component sent to the Virtual Table, or Uploaded artwork with Several uploaded fronts ("Add one image per card; the cards wear them in turn"). Arrangement: Fan on the table, Hand, held up, Stack, Row, Scattered, Grid or Cluster, with Count, Fan angle, Gap, Card spacing, Columns, Offset every other row and Face down.
- Box: Box style Two-piece box (lid and tray) or Tuck box. Faces: Lid wrap (net) and Tray wrap (net), or Tuck box net. Lid open / Box open, Wall thickness, Net image includes bleed.
- Play mat and Board: Vertical folds and Horizontal folds, Pose (Lying flat or Standing up).
- Tokens: Shape Round, Square, Hexagon or Custom dieline (SVG); Thickness; Cut edge Printed black or Bare chipboard.
- Pieces: Meeple, Pawn, Cube, Disc or Die, with Colours (taken in turn) from Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple, Black, White and Natural wood.
- 3D model: OBJ, GLB, glTF or STL, up to 25 MB, with Up axis, Size (longest side), a Color or per-material image, and Roughness.
- Extrude: a Shape SVG up to 2 MB; every closed shape is cut and extruded, with Thickness and Side colour.
- Booklet: Binding Saddle stitch, Hardcover or Wire-o; Pages; Open; faces Front cover, Inside spread and Back cover.
- What you can do: Set a Size preset or Custom size in mm on cards, boxes, mats, boards and tokens. Edge rounding rounds the edges of boxes, mats, boards and tokens like real stock; 0 keeps them sharp.
- Good to know: Duplicate adds a copy beside the object with the same artwork and finishes, Remove deletes it. Both are also on the object's right-click menu in the view, and pressing Delete (or Backspace) removes the selected objects. To type an exact value, click the number beside any slider, type it and press Enter (Esc cancels). With Several uploaded fronts, drag the thumbnails to change their order: the first card wears the first front. Add several card backs the same way to deal different backs in turn; without them every card wears one back. A glTF keeps the materials and textures it was exported with; OBJ and STL files take the color you set.
Put artwork on a face
Each face (Front, Back, Artwork, Lid wrap (net) and so on) takes an image. Upload one and it is wrapped onto the object.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The Template button on a face downloads a dieline at the exact size that face needs, as PNG at {dpi} dpi or SVG (vector). It shows only the cut line and the folds, with the name of every panel. The hint: "Download a dieline at the exact size this face needs, paint over it and upload the result."
- What you can do: For a two-piece box, upload the unfolded lid wrap "as the Component Designer exports it: panel in the middle, walls and turn-ins around it". The tray wears its own wrap; without one it stays bare board. A tuck box takes the net "as the dieline tool draws it".
- Fit your artwork: Right after an upload, Fit your artwork opens with the face's template (its cut line, its folds and the panel names) over your image. The face fills most of the dialog, and the art that reaches past it stays visible, dimmed, around it. Drag to move the art; scroll, pinch, the slider or the magnifier buttons scale it until it sits on the cut line. Fill covers the face, Show all fits the whole image inside it (the margins stay white, or clear on a PNG). The Align buttons put the art's left, right, top or bottom edge on the face's edge, or center it across or down. Click the art and the arrow keys nudge it (hold Shift for bigger steps), + and - resize it. Guides hides the template's lines while you look at the art, and Reset goes back to where the dialog started. Apply keeps the fit, Skip uses the image as it is. Reopen it later with the crop button on the field. Your original upload is saved with the scene, so after you open a saved scene the crop button still starts from the whole image, where you left it.
- Many cards at once: When you add several fronts or backs, or a PDF with one card per page, you fit the first one and Apply to all gives every new card the same fit. The arrows preview it on each card first. To fix one card on its own, use the crop button on its thumbnail. It works on saved scenes too.
- Good to know: Artwork is saved with the scene and listed under Saved artwork from this scene, with a crop button to fit it again. Every image field also takes a PDF. A PDF of one page becomes the image; with several pages, Choose a page shows a thumbnail of each, and the page you pick becomes the image before Fit your artwork opens. The background photo works the same way. In Several uploaded fronts and the card backs, a PDF adds one card per page.
Choose a surface and add finishes
Under Finish, pick a Surface: Satin, Matte, Gloss or Holographic.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Holographic adds a Holographic pattern: Plain, Fine lines, Sparkles, Galaxy, Cracked ice, Waves, Gentle waves, Swirls, Op art swirl, Op art hourglass, Woven diamonds, Cubes, Key maze, Glitter, Stardust, Stars, Star mosaic or Upload a pattern, with Pattern size and Pattern sharpness. "Holographic board is on the front; the back is printed on gloss."
- What you can do: Click Add finish for a Special finish: Spot gloss varnish, Fluorescent ink, Hot foil stamp (Gold, Silver, Copper, Rose gold, Black or Any color), Holographic foil or Emboss / deboss (Raised or Pressed in). Each is placed by a mask: a black-on-white image the same size as the face's artwork. Black areas get the finish; white and transparent areas stay as printed. Invert mask swaps them.
- Good to know: A mask can be a PDF too; with several pages (the artwork and its masks in one file, say), you choose which page is the mask. Export the mask from the same design file as the artwork so the two line up: the mask is cut with the artwork's fit, even when you add it after reopening the scene. Each finish has a strength slider (Gloss, Glow, Shine or Depth).
Set the background and floor
Under Scene, Transparent is on for every new scene: the render comes out as a cut-out with no background, ready for a sell sheet or a store page, and the view shows a checkerboard behind the pieces. Turn it off to pick a Background colour or add a Background photo ("A table, a shelf or a shop counter behind your pieces").
Helpful details
- Key areas: Floor reflection and Floor roughness control the table's shine.
- What you can do: Use the Boardssey purple, orange or aqua swatches, or any colour.
- Good to know: A background photo must be 15 MB or smaller. Only the pieces' shadows are drawn over it.
Set the camera
Under Camera: Angle around the table, Height above the table, Distance and Lens (field of view).
Helpful details
- Key areas: The sliders set the angle exactly. Default camera goes back to the preset's angle, and Reset camera in the toolbar goes back to the angle the scene was saved with.
- What you can do: A longer lens (narrower field of view) flattens the box like a product photo; a wider one adds drama.
- Good to know: Exports render the view on screen, and saving the scene keeps that view for the 3D share link.
- Saved views: Save current view, in the toolbar or under Saved views, keeps the angle on screen with a small picture of it. The views show as numbered thumbnails in the corner of the view, and the keys 1 to 9 jump to the first nine, so you can flip between angles while you work and export each one. In the list, the pencil renames a view (or double-click its name; leave it empty to go back to "View 1" and so on), the arrows button saves the angle on screen over that view (it keeps its number) and the bin deletes it. Saved views are kept with the scene.
Light the scene
Under Lighting, start from a Preset: Studio, Dramatic, Bright, Colourful or Ring of lights.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Groups Look, Key light, Fill and room and Shadows. The key light has Key light, Key light angle, Key light height and Key light warmth; then Fill light, Ambient and reflections, Exposure, Shadow softness, Shadow darkness and Contact shadows.
- What you can do: Colours picks how colours are rendered: As uploaded, Neutral (keeps whites) or Filmic (softer). Add Extra lights (Point light, Spotlight or Directional) with colour, strength, angle, height and Casts shadows.
- Good to know: Reset lighting returns to the default. Lighting is saved with the scene and carried into templates.
Tips & common questions
My box wrap looks misaligned. What size should it be? Download the Template for that face and paint over it. The template is the exact net the box expects, including walls and turn-ins.
Why is my card art cropped? Art in other proportions than the face is cut to fit. Open the crop button on the field (or on a card's thumbnail) and use Show all, or move and scale the art on the template until it sits where you want it.
Can I use a photo of my real meeple? Not as a photo. Import a 3D model (OBJ, GLB, glTF or STL, up to 25 MB) under 3D model, or use the built-in Pieces.
How do I make a spot-UV effect? Keep the Surface on Matte, add a Spot gloss varnish finish, and upload a mask that is black where the gloss goes.