3D Mode — Theo3D

1. Switch to 3D mode. Pick 3D from the mode selector in the composer. The mode sticks to the conversation, so everything you ask for in that thread builds models.

2. Say what to build. Describe the object — subject, style, materials, level of detail. Attach reference photos if you have them. Theo3D produces one object per request, so ask for a chess knight rather than a whole chess set.

3. Keep working while it sculpts. The card appears immediately and streams progress. Renders take several minutes — you can keep chatting in the same conversation, close the tab, and come back to a finished model.

Attach up to four photos of the same object and tag each one with the view it shows — front, back, left, or right. The chip sits on each attachment card in the composer; tap it to change the view. Front is required — it's the view the reconstruction is anchored on.

More angles is better. One photo still works, but a front plus a back or a side gives Theo3D real information about the parts of the object the camera can't see, instead of leaving it to guess.

No photos? Still fine. With a text-only request Theo3D renders a clean front view from your description first and sculpts the mesh from that. You never have to upload anything.

Prompt tip: when you do attach photos, use the prompt for what the pictures can'tshow — materials, scale, which details matter. Don't restate what's plainly visible.

Set the format in the composer settings (it sticks between sessions), or just say it in the message — "as an STL, I'm printing it" works.

• GLB — the default, and the only format that previews interactively in chat. Textured, self-contained, and what the web and most modern viewers want.
• STL — geometry only, no texture. The format slicers expect for 3D printing.
• OBJ — the widely-supported interchange format for DCC tools.
• FBX — for game engines and animation pipelines.
• USDZ — for AR on Apple devices.

Pick a non-GLB format and the card still shows a rendered preview image of the model — you just get the download instead of the spin-it-yourself viewer.

A finished GLB renders as a real 3D viewer in the chat — drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, and check the parts of the model a screenshot would never show you. The card also carries the format and the polygon count so you know what you're about to download.

• Download — grab the mesh file in the format you asked for.
• Split for printing — cut it into interlocking parts (below).
• Open in Code Canvas — drop the model into a live scene you can build around.
• Regenerate — run the same request again for a different take.

Hit Split for printing on a finished model — or just ask ("split this into four parts"). Theo3D cuts the mesh into printable pieces and adds a joint at every seam so they assemble afterwards.

• Ball joints — the default. Snap-fit spheres that hold on their own.
• Dovetail joints — sliding joints for a stronger mechanical lock.
• No joints— plain flat cuts when you're gluing the parts yourself.

Ask for roughly how many pieces you want (two to six, around four by default), and tell Theo3D what it's cutting. A figure — a humanoid or creature — is cut where a body naturally comes apart at the limbs, head, and torso, and lands the exact piece count you asked for. Everything else is an object and gets clean geometric cuts close to your count. The split composer has a Cut astoggle for exactly this choice, and if a figure cut doesn't take, Theo3D automatically retries with the object cutter. Splitting runs on GLB and costs a small fraction of a full model.

A finished split lists every piece under the viewer, starting with Combined — the whole model, exactly as it was. Click a piece and the viewer swaps to it, so you can orbit a single leg or panel and check the joint faces before committing a print. Expand to full screen and you get the piece you were looking at, not the whole model again.

• One download per piece — every piece saves as its own GLB, named after the part, so your slicer gets one body per file.
• The combined model never goes away — it stays in the list and in the download button below the card, so separating never costs you the whole object.
• The pieces stay aligned — each one keeps its position in the original model, so opening them together in your 3D software reassembles the figure.

Some models can't be separated into individual files — a shape that came back as one solid body has nothing to cut apart, and a very large model can be too big to break up. When that happens the card says so in a line under the preview instead of quietly showing you nothing, and the combined model is still right there to download.

The composer's workbench picker adds two more passes beyond building and splitting:

• Multicolor — converts a finished GLB model into a multicolor-print version: the surface is separated into color regions a multicolor 3D printer can print. Pick a color budget (1–8, or Auto to keep every color the engine finds) and an output format (GLB, OBJ, or FBX — this pass can't emit STL or USDZ). Use the Multicolor print button on a finished GLB card, or pick a recent model from the rail under the composer.
• Relief — turns one attached photo into a 3D relief depth map: a grayscale height image (brighter = higher) for CNC carving, lithophanes, embossing, and relief printing. It's an image (PNG or EXR), not a mesh — PNG previews right in the chat, EXR downloads for your CNC or 3D software. The background is removed by default; switch to "Full frame" in the composer settings to carve the whole photo.

Your recent models appear in a rail under the compose bar — on the Split and Multicolor workbenches, tapping one stages it as the source so you never have to dig a model out of an old conversation.

A Standard model typically lands in a few minutes; Master takes longer. The card shows the live step while it works and swaps in the viewer the moment the mesh is ready. Theo never claims a model is finished before it is — if a render fails, the card says so plainly and you can run it again.

Credits are charged per render, and Master costs several times Standard. Splitting an existing model is much cheaper than building a new one, so it's always worth splitting a model you like rather than regenerating it at a smaller size.

• Lead with the subject and its material: "a chess knight, polished marble, crisp carved mane".
• Say which details matter — "sharp panel lines, readable engraving on the base" — so the geometry budget goes where you want it.
• Skip lighting, camera angles, and backgrounds. You're describing a physical object, not a render of one; scene language just muddies the mesh.
• Keep it to one object. A "desk with a lamp and a mug" comes back as one fused blob — ask for the three separately.
• Printing it? Say so. Theo3D will reach for STL and can split the model in the same conversation.

Theo3D builds, splits, and color-preps models — and carves photo reliefs. It does not rig or animate a mesh, retopologize it, or repaint the textures on a model you already have. If you want a change, the fastest path is to rebuild with a sharper prompt — ask for a variation and you'll get a fresh model in a couple of minutes.

It also builds one object at a time rather than a whole scene. For a set, ask for each piece in turn — you can do it all in the same conversation.