The 3D carton

The 3D tab of the 1-up editor folds your die into a carton, prints the artwork on it and shows the board, the finishes and the light. Check the folds and the finishes before anything is printed, then share the carton with your customer as a 3D proof.

Open the 3D view#

Press 3D in the toolbar, or open the 3D tab: it opens the 3D view when there is a die (Open 3D on the tab does the same). 2D (or Back to 2D) returns to the page. 3D needs:

• A die (see The die). Without one the tab says "Set a die and map the fold lines to Crease".
• Fold lines. Map them to Crease, Score or Perforation in the Line types tab (see Inks and line types). Without any, the carton is one flat sheet.
• A browser with WebGL 2. Current desktop and mobile browsers have it.

The carton is built the first time you open 3D, which takes a moment ("Building the 3D carton…"). Changing the die builds it again.

How the carton is made#

The creases, scores and perforations cut the die into panels. Two panels that meet along a fold line are joined by a hinge; panels separated by a cut are not. The largest panel is the base (unless the dieline names one, see below), and the other panels fold up from it along the hinges, one after the other, with the board's thickness taken into account.

Fold lines that stop just short of the outline still reach it. A knife slit at the end of a crease, such as the lock slits beside a tuck flap's crease or a slit in line with it, doesn't move the fold: the flap still turns on the crease itself. A fold line that is part crease and part perforation is one fold. The tab warns when something doesn't fold:

• No crease lines: the carton is a single flat panel.
• 3 panels are not joined to the root by a crease, for panels only cut lines touch. They stay flat where they are.

Fold#

Fold the carton from the flat sheet to the finished box with the Fold progress slider, or jump to either end.

• Fold progress goes from flat (0%) to folded (100%). While folding, the sheet first turns over so the print is outside, then the panels fold up.
• Flat and Folded animate to either end.
• Flat (glued) folds the carton flat the way it is glued and shipped, with the glue flap between the two panels it joins. It shows only for a dieline whose fold data gives those angles (see below). It sets every fold angle; press it again to stand the carton up with the angles you had before (after a reload, the defaults).
• Fold order decides which folds move first:
  • Base outwards, the default: the panels next to the base fold first and the outermost flaps last.
  • All together: every fold moves at once.
  • Dieline order: the dieline's own steps, one after another. For a tuck box, that is the body first, then the dust flaps, then the closures with their tucks. Folds in the same step move together. Without fold data this is the same as Base outwards.
• Fit frames the carton.

Drag to turn the carton and scroll to zoom. The keys are on Keyboard shortcuts of the 1-up editor.

Fold angles#

Folds lists every hinge, such as "Crease 3", with its angle. Creases and scores fold to 90° and perforations stay at 0°, unless the dieline's fold data gives an angle. Positive angles fold the print outside, negative ones fold it inside. Drag a slider to set an angle from −180° to 180°, for a tuck flap that folds in or a lid left open. The arrow next to a slider goes back to the default, and Reset all clears every angle you set. Clicking a crease on the carton selects its row.

The base panel#

Pick base panel, then click a panel of the carton: the carton stands on that panel instead of the default one. Press Esc to cancel picking. The default is the panel the dieline's fold data names. Without fold data, a folding carton stands on its bottom closure, and a tray or a flat piece lies on its largest panel.

Dielines with fold data#

A dieline made by a dieline generator can carry its folds inside the PDF, as an attached dieline.json file. When the file you open has one, the 3D tab uses it:

• Which way and how far each crease folds. A mountain fold puts the print outside and a valley fold puts it inside. These are the default angles in Folds.
• The steps, for Fold order set to Dieline order.
• The base panel the carton stands on.
• The flat-glued angles, for Flat (glued).
• The board and its caliper, set once when the scene still has the default board. A board you choose yourself is never replaced (see Board and material).

Your own settings always win: an angle you set, a base panel you pick and a board you choose override the dieline's. The data finds its creases even when the die draws them differently: a crease interrupted by a window or a slot, a crease that stops short of a slit, one crease line under several flaps, or the same die placed elsewhere on the page. The tab warns when the fold data doesn't fit the die:

• 3 fold hints of the dieline match no crease. The die was changed or redrawn since the dieline was made. The creases the data still matches keep their folds.
• The dieline's base point is not inside a panel of the die. The largest panel is the base.
• 1 fold hint names a parent panel that is not beside its crease. The fold still works, taking its parent the usual way.
• 1 fold hint of the dieline contradicts another one for the same crease or panel and was ignored. Two parts of one fold line fold differently, or two creases both claim the same panel. The first one is used.
• The dieline's fold hints are not version 1 and were ignored.

Files without fold data fold as described above.

Save the view#

Save this view keeps the camera's position with the carton, so the carton opens, and is shared, from that angle. Every other 3D setting saves on its own: the fold, the angles, the base panel, the board, the finishes and the lighting. See Board and material, Finishes and Lighting, snapshots and 3D files.