# 3D review - ReviewDeck docs

> Meshes, rigs and splat captures open in a real viewport. Draw in 3D, and a note can keep the view it was written from.

ReviewDeck 0.3.1. Checked 21 October 2026. https://reviewdeck.app/docs/3d-review

## Getting around

Drop a 3D file on a project like any other media. It opens in a viewport with the same timeline as a video when it moves.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/getting-around.mp4

1. (0:00) Hold the right mouse button and move the mouse to look round.
2. (0:03) Keep holding it and press <kbd>W</kbd> <kbd>A</kbd> <kbd>S</kbd> <kbd>D</kbd> to fly, <kbd>Q</kbd> and <kbd>E</kbd> to go down and up. The wheel sets how fast.
3. (0:10) Press <kbd>F</kbd> to frame the model again.
4. (0:11) The **View** menu changes the shading, from clay to wireframe, and **Light** the lighting.

### Three ways to steer

The switch at the top left of the viewport picks how the mouse moves the camera.

- **Fly** - Hold the right button to look, <kbd>W</kbd> <kbd>A</kbd> <kbd>S</kbd> <kbd>D</kbd> to move, as in Unreal. The one it starts on with a mouse; a touch screen starts on Orbit.
- **Orbit** - Drag to turn round the model, middle-drag to move across, the wheel to go in and out.
- **DCC** - <kbd>Alt</kbd> with the left, middle or right button to turn, move across or go in and out, as in Maya.

On a phone or tablet, one finger turns round the model and two fingers move and pinch. A double-tap on the model turns the view round that spot, and on empty space it frames the model. The **Camera** menu has the set views: Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom and Perspective.

> **Good to know** Meshes come in as glTF or GLB, FBX, OBJ, COLLADA, PLY, STL and 3MF, and splat captures as PLY, SPZ, SPLAT, KSPLAT and SOG. Rigs, animation and materials come through where the file carries them.

## The 3D pen

Draw on the model itself, on a plane you place in the scene, or flat on the lens like a note on a video.

Clip (Plane): https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/the-3d-pen-plane.mp4
Clip (Surface): https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/the-3d-pen-surface.mp4
Clip (On lens): https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/the-3d-pen-lens.mp4

1. (0:00) Click **Sketch** under the viewport.
2. (0:02) Pick where the ink goes: **Plane**, **Surface** or **On lens**.
3. (0:04) Draw. Strokes add up until you add the note, even if you move the camera between them.
4. (0:09) Type the note and click **Add note**. Every stroke goes into the one note, with the view you're looking from.

### Where the ink goes

- **Plane** - A see-through plane facing you, with a line where it cuts the model. **Distance** moves it nearer or further, **Opacity** sets how much it shows, and **Grid lines** puts squares on it.
- **Surface** - On the model, following its shape.
- **On lens** - Flat on the glass, like a drawing on a video frame.

The colour and size come from the same buttons as on a video. **Undo stroke** takes back the last one, and **Clear unsent strokes** removes them all.

## Shapes and labels

A box, a ball, an arrow or a word, placed the way the pen places its ink.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/shapes-and-labels.mp4

1. (0:00) **Cube** and **Sphere**: drag from the middle of the thing outwards.
2. (0:07) **Arrow**: press on the thing to point at, and drag the tail away.
3. (0:11) **Text**: click where the label goes, type it and press Enter.
4. (0:15) Add the note. The shapes and labels go into it with your strokes.

Shapes and labels use the pen's colour and the placement you picked. A label always faces the camera.

## Notes that keep the view

A note on a 3D review can carry the camera you were looking through, so selecting it takes everyone to the same view.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/notes-that-keep-the-view.mp4

1. (0:00) Frame the view you mean.
2. (0:02) Type the note and click **Add with camera**.
3. (0:08) Move away, then click a note in the list: the camera flies back to its view, at its frame, with its marks.

A note with drawings always keeps its view. **Add note** on its own keeps only the frame. With the view come the shading, the lens and any onion skin or trails you had on.

## Onion skin and trails

See how a character moves across frames: earlier and later poses beside the live one, or the path a joint takes.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/onion-skin-and-trails.mp4

1. (0:00) Click **Onion skin** at the top of the viewport.
2. (0:08) Set **Frames each side**, and how many frames apart the poses are.
3. (0:13) Click **Motion trail** under the viewport, then click a joint's dot to draw its path. Click it again to take the path away.

Earlier poses are warm and later ones cool, and they stay where they are while the character moves through them. Onion skin needs a mesh that moves, and a motion trail a mesh that moves or has a rig; a splat has neither. Both ride along with a note made with **Add with camera**.

## Shot cameras and lenses

A file that carries a camera, like a shot exported from Unreal, opens looking through it. You can also put a lens on your own camera.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/shot-cameras-and-lenses.mp4

1. (0:00) Open the review: the view is the shot camera's, framed to its picture, and its move plays with the timeline.
2. (0:03) Drag or scroll to leave the shot and look round freely. The **Camera** menu takes you back through it, or to another camera in the file.
3. (0:10) Pick a lens in the **Camera** menu, or type a **Focal length**, and **Film back** sets the sensor. **Crop**, on the bar under the picture, masks the frame to 2.39, 2.35, 1.85, 16:9 or 4:3.
4. (0:20) Drag the **Roll** ruler to tilt the camera. Double-click it to level it.

**Default lens** goes back to the viewport's own. A note made with **Add with camera** keeps the lens, crop and roll.

## 3D folders (Team)

One environment behind every 3D review in a folder: the set once, and each shot inside it opens in place.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/3d-folders.mp4

1. (0:00) In a project, click **New 3D folder** and name it.
2. (0:04) Drop the set, a 3D file, on the strip that reads **No environment yet**.
3. (0:09) Drop the shots into the folder. Each opens inside the set, on the same origin.
4. (0:43) In a shot, the **Environment** button at the top of the viewport hides and shows the set.

Export the set and the shots out of the same scene, in the same units, so they line up. The set must be a mesh, such as FBX or GLB, and mesh shots open with it behind them. A new version of the set reaches every shot in the folder. To set a 3D frame rate for the whole folder, type it on the strip and press Enter.

## 3D elements (Team)

A 3D review can hold more than one file: a camera exported on its own, a second character, a prop.

Clip: https://reviewdeck.app/docs/clips/3d-review/3d-elements.mp4

1. (0:00) Open the review and click **Add 3D element**.
2. (0:02) Drop a 3D file on the window that opens, or click **Browse…**. It lands where the scene put it, on the same origin and timeline as the first.
3. (0:15) To add the next, click **Manage 3D elements** and do it again. A camera exported on its own joins the **Camera** menu, and a review with no other camera opens looking through it.
4. (0:30) Once there are elements, **Manage 3D elements** lists them to **Replace…**, **Rename…**, **Bring to first** or **Remove**.

Elements are for mesh reviews; a splat review takes none. They belong to the version on screen, and adding one never makes a new version. Dropping several 3D files on a project together offers to combine them into one review.

Something unclear or out of date? Email adam@adambroder.com.