Documentation · ToolBox3D

Getting started

ToolBox3D runs in your web browser. There is nothing to install and no account to create.

What you need

A desktop browser with WebGPU, or WebGL 2 as a fallback. ToolBox3D is developed and tested in desktop Chrome; other current desktop browsers should work but are not tested yet.
Hardware acceleration turned on in your browser settings.
A keyboard and mouse. Phones and tablets can open the website, but the editor is designed for a desktop screen.

Open the editor

Select Launch Editor at the top of any page, or go to toolbox3d.app/editor.
Wait for “Loading ToolBox3D…” to disappear. The first visit downloads the editor; later visits load it from your browser's cache.
The Model editor opens with an empty scene.

Early development: the viewport does not draw anything yet, and files cannot be opened or saved. Tools that are not built yet are shown greyed out — hover one to see why.

The workspace

Every editor shares the same layout, so what you learn in one carries over to the others.

Top bar	The ToolBox3D mark, the editor switcher (a menu showing the current editor), the File, Edit, Windows and Help menus, the asset card, and the bug report and settings buttons on the right. The bug report button is not available yet.
Asset card	The name of the open asset, a dot when there are unsaved changes, and five icons for the parts of the asset: Model, Skeleton, Skin weights, Textures and Control Rig. Hover an icon to see whether that part is empty, saved or modified in this editor. In the Animation editor the card shows the number of active rigs instead.
Left panel	Each editor's own sections — the Outliner in Previewer and Model, Active Rig Modules and Scene Hierarchy in Control Rig, Asset & Clips in Animation, and Texture Sets in Texture Paint. The account card at the bottom is disabled: ToolBox3D has no accounts yet.
Viewport	The large area in the middle. In the Model editor it carries the viewport toolbar and tool strip; in the Animation editor a timeline bar is docked below it.
Channel box dock	The panel on the right. Drag its left edge to resize it, or use the collapse button to hide it. It starts collapsed when the window is narrower than 1024 pixels.

The five editors

ToolBox3D splits the work on an asset across five editors. Each one keeps its own working copy and owns its part of the asset; switching editors hands your changes to the next one through a shared cache.

Editor	What it is for	Today
Previewer	Preview models, inspect materials and play back animations.	Workspace and outliner
Model	Build and refine geometry, materials and UVs.	Workspace, outliner and viewport toolbar (tools not built yet)
Control Rig	Build control rigs and paint skin weights.	Workspace with rig module and hierarchy panels
Animation	Retarget and edit animations across different rigs.	Workspace with clip panel and timeline area
Texture Paint	Paint layered textures directly onto your models.	Workspace with texture set panel

Finding your way around

Switch editors

The editor switcher sits next to the ToolBox3D mark in the top bar and shows the current editor's name. Open it and choose Previewer, Model, Texture Paint, Control Rig or Animation. The switch publishes your changes from the current editor and opens the next one with the latest version of the asset.

Menus

File › New Scene starts over with an empty scene (you are asked to confirm). Open and Save are listed but not available yet.
Edit › Preferences… opens the settings. Undo and Redo are listed but have nothing to undo yet.
Windows lists each editor's extra windows, such as the Script Editor, Material Editor and Graph Editor. They are not available yet.
Help › About ToolBox3D shows the version and the notices for the fonts and icons the editor uses.

Outliner search

Type in the outliner's search field to filter the scene. Matching items and their parents stay visible, and the arrow buttons step to the previous or next match. The outliner fills up once models can be imported.

Viewport camera

Orbiting, panning and zooming the viewport arrive together with viewport rendering, which is being built now. They will be documented here when they ship.

Preferences

Open the settings with the gear button at the right of the top bar, or with Edit › Preferences….

Interface Scale — set Panels (side panels, icons and widths) and Viewport (floating popups and viewport widgets) separately, from 75% to 125%.
Theme — choose Warm Copper (the default) or Noir.

Your preferences, panel widths and dock state are saved in your browser's local storage and restored on your next visit. Clearing this site's data in your browser resets them.

Troubleshooting

The editor stays on “Loading ToolBox3D…” or shows an error

Reload the page.
Update your browser and your graphics drivers.
Check that hardware acceleration is turned on in your browser settings.
In Chrome or Edge, open chrome://gpu (or edge://gpu) and check that WebGPU or WebGL 2 is available.

If it still does not start, see Report a bug for what to note down.

The interface is too small or too large

Change Interface Scale in Preferences, or use your browser's zoom.