Visual Settings | 3D Repo Help Centre

Users can alter some visual aspects of their model based on their preferences or requirements. 3D Repo offers three modes to give you full flexibility:

Basic
Advanced
Streaming

Accessing Visual Settings

Once logged into your 3D Repo account, click your profile icon in the top right corner and select Visual Settings.

NOTE: These settings apply to the viewer. Whether adjusted inside a model or outside of it, the changes will affect how all models open in the viewer.

Visual Settings Explained

Basic

Setting Name	What it Does	Additional Effects
Viewer Background Color	Changes the color of the background (skybox) on which the model is drawn. The model background color is a purely visual change and has no effect on behaviour, performance or lighting.	N/A
Shadows	Enables shadows stimulating sunlight coming from the South-East direction. You can choose between two types of shadows: Soft - soft edges - more vulnerable to artefacts on large models. Hard - hard edges NOTE: Shadows are designed for visual appeal only. They are not physically accurate and should not be used for Daylight Analysis. It is advised to use dedicated tools or plugins in the upstream CAD tools for this.	Enabling Shadows will reduce the framerate.
X-Ray Highlighting	If enabled: Highlighted objects remain visible through the model, even if they are located inside or behind other geometry. If disabled: Highlighted objects still change color but may be hidden by surrounding geometry.	N/A
Model Caching	If enabled, model geometry will be cached in your browser's IndexedDb allowing faster loading when reopening or navigating the model. NOTE: If using a private browsing session (e.g. Chrome Incognito Mode) the cache is cleared once the browser is closed and performance benefits won't carry over between sessions.	Enabling Model Caching will improve the responsiveness of the viewer.
Clipping Plane Border Width & Color	When a model is clipped, the cut geometry is outlined. Plane Border Width: controls the thickness of this line. Plane Border Color: sets the color of this line.	N/A

Advanced

Setting Name	What it Does
Show Statistics	If enabled, internal performance counters are displayed in the top right of the viewer. These statistics aim to assist 3D Repo Customer Support diagnose issues.
Memory for Unity	Memory for Unity is a legacy option that has no effect in the latest version of the viewer.
Number of Caching Threads	Number of Caching Threads is a legacy option that has no effect in the latest version of the viewer.
Near and Far Planes	The Near and Far planes control how much of a model the camera displays: The Near Plane clips parts of the model that are too close to the camera. The Far Plane clips parts that are too far away. For best results, the planes should be set as close together as possible to reduce rendering artefacts when working with large models, while still being far enough apart to display the entire model. Near Plane The Minimum Near Plane and Maximum Near Plane define how close the camera’s near plane can be, measured in project units. This is especially useful for very large models where automatic calculations might place the near plane too far away, causing nearby geometry to be clipped. Minimum Near Plane: Applied at the start of the plane calculation. Safer to use, but can be overridden by later adjustments. Maximum Near Plane: Applied at the end of the calculation. Overrides everything else, but incorrect values may make the model unintelligible. Best Practices for Near Plane: Minimum Near Plane: Use small values (1-10). Maximum Near Plane: Leave at -1 (inactive) unless necessary. Setting either value too small may cause rendering artefacts including aliasing or jitter. Unless you're working with a very large mode, keep the default settings. NOTE: Neither setting can push the plane further away to increase clipping. To do this, use the Clipping Tool.
Far Plane Algorithm & Far Plane Points	These are legacy options that control the algorithm which calculates the optimal far plane. On the latest version of the viewer these have no effect on performance. NOTE: Changing these values from their defaults may result in larger far planes than necessary, but will not affect behaviour otherwise.
Maximum Shadow Distance	Controls how far shadows are drawn away from the camera. Reducing this can mitigate some of the performance impact of shadows, by avoiding rendering shadows that are very small nor not noticeable. Setting the value to be too small however can cause artefacts in the shadows.

Streaming

This feature allows very large models to be loaded in parts instead of all at once. The viewer will only load the portions of the model within the camera’s view, making it possible to open Containers even on computers that aren’t powerful enough to handle the full model.

Setting Name	What it Does
Memory	Reserved: Refers to the memory set aside and not filled with geometry. The larger this value is, the less geometry will be visible on streamed models. If the viewer cannot load large models, this option is useful in reducing the amount of geometry being loaded. *Tip: when editing this option, change it in 50-100Mb increments.* Mesh Factor: Controls how much memory is reserved for streaming parts of a model. Adjusting this setting allows each part of the model to render at different mesh sizes, which reduces the total amount of geometry streamed. *Tip: change this value in small increments (0.5) for best results.* FoV Weight: The importance of each part of a model is determined by its position relative to the camera. Priority depends on: Depth: How far the part is from the camera (into the screen). Screen position: How close the part is to the centre of the screen versus the edges.
Placeholder Bundles	When parts of the model are not loaded due to insufficient space, translucent boxes are drawn in their place. These boxes are of two types: Placeholder Bundles carry low level of detail and are visible from far away. Placeholder Elements have higher levels of detail and can only be seen up close. Fade Distance controls how far away from the camera the bundle boxes are drawn. Increasing the value hides boxes until they are further away; decreasing it reveals them sooner. Fade Bias: If set above 0, bundle boxes will fade out once they are farther than the specified distance from the camera. This can help reduce distraction from distant boxes. NOTE: This setting is highly sensitive, so it's generally recommended to keep it off. Fade Power: Determines how quickly bundle boxes fade when Fade Bias is enabled. Higher values cause the boxes to fade out faster. Color: Sets the surface color of the Placeholder Bundle Boxes. Face Alpha: Controls the transparency of the Placeholder Bundles Boxes surface. Line Alpha: Controls the transparency of the Placeholder Bundles Boxes surface.
Placeholder Elements	Rendering Radius: Controls camera distance to unloaded parts of the model before Placeholder Elements are drawn. NOTE: increasing the value will result in more Placeholder Elements being drawn, reducing the viewer's framerate. Color: Sets the surface color of the Placeholder Bundle Boxes. Face Alpha: Controls the transparency of the Placeholder Bundles Boxes surface. Line Alpha: Controls the transparency of the Placeholder Bundles Boxes surface.