3D Beam Viewer

The 3D Beam Viewer is a mode inside the ILDA Viewer — not a separate tool. It lets you preview your ILDA content in a simulated venue, before you ever connect hardware. Seven camera presets, a human figure for scale, and multiple beam modes from a fast preview to full volumetric Cinema fog.

Opening the 3D Viewer

Load a file in the ILDA Viewer, then switch to 3D with the 2D / 3D toggle in the top-right corner of the canvas. The 3D view replaces the 2D canvas and shares the same playback controls and file — switch back to 2D the same way at any time.

Camera Presets

In 3D mode a camera dropdown appears next to the 2D/3D toggle. Seven presets are available:

Regardless of the preset, you can always steer the camera by hand: left-drag to orbit, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom.

Beam Modes

Beam modes are chosen from the Beam Mode selector in the Scene panel. Every mode is fully interactive on the free tier — content just renders with a BeamTracer watermark until you upgrade. The tier shown below is what removes the watermark for that mode.

Every tile above is the same frame from the same camera, with the human figure on for scale, so what changes between them is only the beam rendering. Two things worth reading off it: Off shows the projected pattern without beams (fastest, and the cleanest way to check content structure), and Cinema's density is the Fog and Smoke sliders rather than a fixed look — the tile shows them mid-range.

For choosing between these in practice — and for fixing a preview that reads wrong — see Getting the Beam Look.

Comparing Galvo simulation settings

In Galvo mode, softly rounded corners, small entry tails after jumps, and shapes that deform as you raise the Speed slider are the simulation working, not a rendering fault. Use it to compare the visible effect of the simulation settings; actual projectors can behave differently:

Read it left to right: the left column is SCANNER PHYSICS on — faithful at the rated 30K, visibly degraded when over-driven to 60K, within this simulated preview. The right column is SCANNER PHYSICS off — geometrically perfect lines at any speed, the setting to use when recording clean footage or previewing animation artwork. A file with too little blanking between shapes will also show curved entry swoops with physics on; that is the simulation telling you the file needs more blanking, and the File Health panel will say the same.

While SCANNER PHYSICS is on, the Scanner buttons underneath it choose which class of scanner the mirrors simulate:

• PREMIUM 60K — a top-tier scanner: content stays faithful all the way to the 60k marker on the Speed slider, and only degrades beyond it.
• STANDARD 30K (default) — a well-tuned professional scanner, rated at the 30k marker. This is the behavior the mode has always had.
• BUDGET 40K — an entry-level scanner: shapes stay legible at 30K but edges come out visibly wavy and static features dither, and raising the speed collapses the image an octave earlier than the standard class. Use this preset to explore a less stable preview; it does not measure or diagnose your equipment.

Use these presets and the Speed slider to compare simulated looks. Use the equipment manufacturer’s specifications and supervised hardware checks when choosing settings for a show.

Scene Elements

Scene objects are toggled from the Scene panel.

Human Figure

Enable the human figure to display a correctly-scaled silhouette in the scene (normalized to 1.7m, average adult height). Useful for verifying:

• Audience clearance height (the FDA 3m grid above the audience floor)
• Beam angles relative to performer position
• Scale comparisons for documentation

Use the position controls in the Scene panel to place the figure where your performer stands.

Audience & Seats

Toggle audience silhouettes and arm-chair seats for crowd reference, and position them with the panel controls.

Projector

Show or hide the projector model at the scan origin. Its height and depth are adjustable to match your physical setup.

Screen

Toggle a reference screen behind the scan field to show where the content sits spatially. Beams terminate at the screen surface when it is visible. (Shortcut: C in any 3D mode.)

Screen Height (Scr.Ht) raises or lowers the projection screen in the simulated venue, from 1m to 6m. It is worth setting deliberately: at its 1.5m default the content sits low in the venue, which is realistic for a floor-mounted projector but crowds the bottom of the frame from angled cameras like Iso View. Raising it to around 2–2.5m lifts the preview pattern clear of the scene floor. It does not change your ILDA content or hardware output.

Analysis Overlays in 3D

The Analysis tab's overlays — Waveform, Density, Stress Heat Map, and Scanner Path — work in 3D as well as 2D. They are drawn on the screen surface, in the scene, so they sit in 3D space alongside your content rather than floating over the viewport.

Cinema Mode (Studio)

Cinema mode transforms the preview into a full venue environment:

Venue Lighting: Three colored venue spotlights sweep across the scene. A master toggle and intensity slider control the set, and each of the three lights has its own color swatch and spin speed control (drag left for counter-clockwise, right for clockwise, with a global spin on/off).

Floor Styles: A single GRID / REFLECT toggle switches between:

• Grid — a simple grid floor
• Reflective — a reflective checker floor that mirrors the laser pattern on the floor surface

Model Explorer: Click the Model Explorer button to load a GLTF model into the scene for scale and ambiance. Bundled presets include Iron Man, several Tron models (character, lightcycle, recognizer), and an animated Stormtrooper — or point it at any GLTF model.

Advanced: An advanced section tunes the Cinema look:

• Res — volumetric resolution
• Steps — preview quality versus performance
• Denoise + Blur — smooth out volumetric noise, with a strength slider
• Blanking — STRICT / STANDARD handling of blanked travel moves in the beam render

Playback Controls

The 3D viewer shares the standard playback controls below the canvas — edit them once and both the 2D and 3D views update together:

• Play/Pause — Space
• Frame Step — ← / →
• Playback Speed — < / > (halve / double)
• First / Last Frame — Home / End
• Beat Sync — set a musical loop length in the Beat Sync dropdown

Keyboard Shortcuts

Further Reading