How to use Soph's Builder Tools
Four free browser tools: the World Editor edits your own 3DXChat world in 3D; the other three turn models, pictures and lettering into 3DXChat's own objects. Here is what each one does, and how the result gets into your world.
World Editor
Open your own .world, the file the 3DXChat editor saves, or start with an empty one. Click an object, or one near it, to select it, or pick it by name in the list. The card beside it takes exact numbers for position, rotation and size.
What the editor does
- Open .world
- Opens your own .world, the file the 3DXChat editor saves, or starts with an empty one.
- Select
- Click an object, or one near it. A double-click goes into a group; the list picks by name.
- The card
- Position, rotation and size of the selection, as exact numbers, right beside it.
- Snap
- Grid and ground snap keep things straight.
- Smart snap
- Sets faces flush with what is near and squares walls up.
- Align · Distribute · Mirror · Array
- Lines several objects up, spaces them evenly, mirrors them or repeats them in a row.
- Groups
- Ctrl+G groups the selection; Ctrl+Shift+G takes a group apart.
- Copy and paste
- Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, also from one world into another.
- Make
- Signs, pictures and models, set up in the workshop over your world.
- Place
- Click a wall or a floor to set the part there. Shift + wheel turns it, Esc cancels.
- Edit
- Opens a made part with the settings it was made with; Update replaces it in place.
- Save .world
- Saves your whole world back. In the 3DXChat editor, use Load to open it; Merge would add a second copy.
Grid and ground snap keep things straight; smart snap sets faces flush and squares walls up. While you drag the gizmo, X, Y or Z keeps the move on one axis. Select several objects to align, distribute, mirror or array them; group them, and copy and paste between worlds.
Make signs, pictures and models in the workshop and click a wall or a floor to place them. Edit them later with the same settings. Save .world saves the whole world back.
Add/Merge .world adds the objects from another .world to the one you have open, where they stood in their own file. Your sky and the rest of your world's environment stay as they are, and one undo takes the added objects back out.
While your world has unsaved changes, the editor keeps a recovery copy in this browser, on your own computer; it is never uploaded. If the tab closes before you save, open the World Editor again and choose Restore under Local recovery. Saving the world removes its copy, and Forget recovery data clears them all. It is a safety net, not a save: keep saving your .world.
Keys
- Q W E R
- Select, move, rotate, scale
- X / Y / Z
- During a gizmo drag: constrain to one axis; press it again to release
- E / R
- The gizmo turns and scales about the middle; the card’s fields about each pivot
- F
- Frame the selection
- T / P
- Top view / perspective
- Wheel
- Zoom towards the pointer
- Right mouse + W A S D Q E
- Fly: faster the further out, Shift four times as fast
- Shift + drag
- Select with a frame
- Double-click
- Go into a group
- Right-click
- Move here, paste here, set spawn here
- Shift + wheel
- Turn a made part while placing it
- Ctrl+D
- Duplicate
- Del
- Delete
- End
- Drop to the ground
- Ctrl+G / Ctrl+Shift+G
- Group / ungroup
- Ctrl+C
- Copy (also into another world)
- Ctrl+V
- Paste where it was
- Ctrl+Shift+V
- Paste at the pointer
- Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y
- Undo / redo
- Alt+I
- Show only the selection (again: show all)
- Ctrl+S
- Save .world
- Esc
- Close the workshop, stop placing, clear the selection
- ?
- These keys
Model Converter
Drop an .obj, .glb, .gltf or .stl file of up to 200 MB. Shrink a Blender .obj export without losing anything, or turn the model into a .world made of Box, Prism and Cylinder objects.
Before you save, set the rotation, size and placement, and use the triangle budget to trade detail for fewer objects. A shrunk .obj is read back and checked against the original before you can download it.
What the options do
- Save optimized OBJ
- The smaller .obj is read back and checked against the original before you can save it.
- Precision
- Decimals kept in every number. Fewer decimals, smaller file; 4 is invisible on room-scale props.
- Keep UVs
- Keeps the texture coordinates. Needed if the model uses textures.
- Keep normals
- Keeps the normals that give the model its smooth shading.
- Drop alpha parts
- Removes see-through pieces such as leaves or glass, which 3DXChat would import as solid blocks. glTF/GLB only.
- Triangle budget
- Trades detail for fewer objects: fewer triangles, fewer objects in the .world.
- Size in game
- The model's longest edge in metres.
- Rotate
- Turns the model in 90° steps, or by any angle, so it stands the right way up in the game.
- Position in game
- Where the model lands in your world: x, y and z.
- Group by color
- One group per colour zone, so you can select each zone in the editor. Off: one big group.
- Game materials
- Matches textures to 3DXChat materials such as wood or stone. Off: flat colours only.
- Model colors
- Takes the colours from the model's textures and materials. Off: plain white.
- Color override
- One colour for everything.
- Fit shapes
- Merges flat panels into boxes. Off: every triangle stays.
- Flat quads → boxes
- One box per flat rectangle. Off: rectangles stay prisms.
- Compact numbers
- Rounds rotation to 0.01° and colour to 0.001: about 7 % smaller, and invisible.
- Skip colour on white
- White objects get no colour field. Check once in the game that they render white.
- 2 MB budget
- The bar shows how much of the 2 MB map budget the .world uses.
- Save .world
- Contains only the new objects. In the 3DXChat editor, press Merge; Load would replace your world with just this file.
Image to World
Pick a picture (PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF) and it becomes as few same-colour boxes as possible: pixel art, logos, floor mosaics. Stand it up like a poster or lay it down like a floor mosaic.
A lower resolution and fewer colours mean far fewer objects.
What the settings do
- Resolution
- Pixels along the longest edge. A lower resolution means far fewer objects.
- Colours
- Steps per colour channel. Fewer steps make bigger flat areas and far fewer objects.
- Size in game
- The picture's longest edge in metres.
- Orientation
- Upright stands like a poster; flat lies down like a floor mosaic.
- Position in game
- Where the picture lands in your world: x, y and z.
- Compact numbers
- Rounds rotation to 0.01° and colour to 0.001: about 7 % smaller, and invisible.
- Skip colour on white
- White objects get no colour field. Check once in the game that they render white.
- Save .world
- Contains only the new objects. In the 3DXChat editor, press Merge; Load would replace your world with just this file.
Text to World
Type your text, pick a font and set the height, thickness and colour. Every letter becomes its own group, so you can select, move and recolour it on its own in the 3DXChat editor.
What the settings do
- Font
- Orbitron, Archivo or Martian Mono, each shown in its own face.
- Bold
- Builds the letters from the bold cut of the font.
- Height
- The height of a capital letter in metres.
- Thickness
- How deep the letters are, in metres.
- Detail
- Raster height. Higher means rounder curves and more objects.
- Colour
- The colour of every letter.
- Position in game
- Where the sign lands in your world: x, y and z.
- Save .world
- Every letter becomes its own group, so you can select, move and recolour each one in the editor. Press Merge to add it to your world.
Add it to your world
Your whole world from the World Editor: open the 3DXChat world editor and press Load with the saved .world. It holds your whole world, so Merge would add a second copy.
A single part (from the Model Converter, Image to World, Text to World, or a selection exported from the editor) holds only the new objects:
- Open your world in the 3DXChat world editor.
- Press Merge to add the .world file: its objects join what you have built.
- Move the new objects into place.
Don't use Load for this: Load replaces your world with only the contents of the file. Your sky, weather and spawn stay as they are either way.
Your files stay with you
Everything happens in your browser. Your models and pictures are processed on your own computer and never uploaded; the server only delivers the pages.
Questions
Which files work?
The Model Converter takes .obj, .glb, .gltf and .stl models of up to 200 MB. Image to World takes pictures such as PNG, JPEG, WebP and GIF. Text to World needs no file: you type the text.
Is it free?
Yes. All four tools are free and need no account.
Does the World Editor upload my world?
No. It opens your .world in your browser, on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded; the server only delivers the pages. While a world has unsaved changes, the editor keeps a recovery copy in this browser until you save it.
Which worlds can I open?
Your own .world files, the ones the 3DXChat world editor saves.
Can I combine two worlds?
Yes. In the World Editor, Add/Merge .world adds the objects from another .world to the open one, where they stood in their own file. Your sky and environment stay as they are, and one undo takes the added objects back out.
What if my browser closes before I save?
While a world has unsaved changes, the World Editor keeps a recovery copy in this browser. Open the World Editor again and choose Restore under Local recovery. It is a safety net, not a save: keep saving your .world.
Why does the editor look like the game?
It shows 3DXChat's prop meshes and materials only to draw your world. What it saves is a plain .world.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Your files are processed in your browser, on your own computer, and never uploaded. The server only delivers the pages.
How do I add the .world to my world?
Open your world in the 3DXChat world editor and press Merge: the objects from the file join what you have built. Don't use Load for this, because Load replaces your world with only the contents of the file. Your sky, weather and spawn stay as they are.
Which 3DXChat objects does it build with?
Models become Box, Prism and Cylinder objects. Pictures and lettering are built from boxes, and every letter of a text gets its own group.
Why does my .world have so many objects?
Every box, prism and cylinder is one object. In the Model Converter a lower triangle budget gives fewer objects; in Image to World a lower resolution and fewer colours do.
Does it work on a phone?
You can read this guide on a phone. The tools are made for a computer, where your 3DXChat files are.
Is this an official 3DXChat tool?
No. Soph's Builder Tools is an independent community project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by 3DXChat.