Complete a linked CAD drawing in 3D

1. Check the saved CAD drawing and project link

Open CAD → Draw and load the saved drawing. Check its job and quote assignment. Complete in 3D needs a linked quote with areas; if the link is missing, assign the correct job and quote, save and reopen.

Review drawing units, closed outlines and openings first. The 3D workflow reads the linked quote's areas, materials and slab counts. Its assembly and nesting are saved on the CAD drawing; they do not redraw or reprice the quote.

2. Open Complete in 3D

Choose Complete in 3D. The host row contains Pieces, Screenshot, Shop DXF and Client PDF. The studio has Assemble, Splashes & Folds, Finish and Review stages, plus Vein match.

The same controls can appear in quote workflows with different save and publication behavior. In this CAD workflow, Save and Preview are internal CAD controls.

3. Map pieces to quote areas

Open Pieces to inspect the P1, P2 and other extracted outlines. Choose the correct quote area for each piece, then close the mapping panel. In the scene, counter labels use CT1, CT2 and so on.

A piece moved to another area becomes available in that area's storage tray. Place it on an appropriate slab again. Recheck material, thickness and slab choice after changing an area.

4. Set camera controls for your device

Open Controls and choose the Windows or Mac instructions that match your device. Follow its orbit, pan and zoom gestures. Moving the camera changes the view, not the counter dimensions.

Use the viewing controls to recover a useful angle before selecting an edge or recording a screenshot. Camera movement and moving a selected piece are separate actions.

5. Select one piece or a group

On Assemble, click a solid face of a piece to select it. Clicking through an opening selects empty space. Hold Shift while clicking to add pieces, or right-drag a selection box. Check the selected count and highlighted pieces before a group operation.

The sidebar shows a single piece's position, rotation, standing state and raised height. Clear the selection when you want to work on another piece independently.

6. Move, rotate and mirror the assembly

Drag the selected piece to change its assembly position. Snap to 1-inch grid controls grid alignment; Magnetic edge mating helps compatible edges meet.

Rotate 90° or press R for a quarter turn. Enter an angle beside Rotate by ° for a different rotation. Mirror or X flips the piece; Flip top↔bottom to floor is a separate operation. These assembly moves do not change the piece's slab nesting.

7. Stand a piece up or choose its standing edge

Use Stand up or S to stand a selected piece; Lay flat returns it to a flat orientation. Stand on next edge cycles its support edge.

The edge-picking controls let you hover an edge, inspect the ghost preview and click to apply the fold or flip. Set the intended angle before committing; Escape cancels the edge operation.

8. Set height and nudge precisely

Use Height / Raise to move the selected piece or group up and down. The ±1-inch and ±6-inch buttons change the height; Floor and Counter 36-inch presets set it directly. You can also type a height or use the piece length/depth presets.

Nudge changes position in one-inch increments, with Up and Down for height. Read the position and height values after the change. Raising a deck and standing a side panel are separate operations.

9. Assign panel roles and make connections

What is this piece? identifies a Counter top, Waterfall panel, Backsplash or Side panel. These roles help assembly tools understand the part; assigning a role does not replace its drawn geometry.

When matching suggestions are offered, Assign only records the relationship, while Assign & build it up also arranges it. Review the highlighted pieces before accepting. Build it up and Connect propose an arrangement; inspect the ghost, then Apply or Cancel. An unmatched-size warning means the part needs manual placement or a corrected outline. With multiple pieces selected, Connect attempts to join them.

10. Inspect mitered assembly edges

Use the miter edge picker on a selected piece. Click the intended edge, choose or enter its miter angle and Apply. An existing setting can be removed from the same prompt.

Compatible mitered edges can mate face-to-face; the displayed joint angle comes from both edge angles. Check the physical result and use Escape to cancel an uncommitted edge selection.

11. Undo or reset an assembly move

Use Undo to reverse an unwanted edit. Reset this piece or selection restores selected pieces to their drawn arrangement. Reset all to drawn layout asks before moving every piece back.

Review the scope before resetting. A camera adjustment, an assembly move and a nesting move are different changes.

12. Open the slab nesting drawer

Choose Vein match. Switch between areas and inspect each slab. Blank slots come from the linked quote's slab information, and new CAD pieces begin in the storage tray.

Drag a storage chip onto a slab. Drag a placed outline to move it, including between slabs in that area. A piece kept off-slab will not appear in that slab's Shop DXF.

13. Choose actual inventory slabs

On a blank slot, choose Add slab from inventory. Search by serial, color or material, inspect the displayed dimensions and select the intended slab.

This copies the slab's dimensions, serial and available photo into the slot. For a linked job it also attempts to allocate the inventory slab to that job. If the allocation fails, a message directs you to Inventory; do not assume the visual selection completed the allocation.

14. Match veining and refine nesting

Select a nested outline to use the drawer's nudge and rotation controls. Choose a nudge step or enter a custom value in inches. Choose a rotation step or enter a custom angle, then use the clockwise or counter-clockwise button.

The slab photo and 3D texture update with placement. Inspect the actual photo, grain direction, openings and adjacent pieces. Slab rotation and assembly rotation are independent.

15. Add or remove a seam from the nest

Right-click a piece in Vein match to open Place Seams. For CAD polygon outlines, Free seam lets you click a first point on the boundary and then a second boundary point to define the cut. Review the cut before confirming the second point.

Click an existing seam or its remove button to delete it. J-seam is available only when the outline has a suitable inside corner. Choose Done, inspect the resulting separate slab pieces and Save. This CAD seam edit stays on the CAD drawing; it does not change the linked quote.

16. Resolve overlaps and unnested pieces

Overlapping pieces are marked red. Saving or exporting stops and opens the affected slab so you can separate them.

An export warning lists pieces that are still off-slab. Go back & nest lets you resolve them. Export anyway deliberately leaves those pieces out of per-slab output; the ZIP also includes the raw drawing.

17. Review Splashes & Folds and Finish

Splashes & Folds lists generated strips when they exist, with individual Flip and Flip all controls. CAD outlines are imported as pieces, so an independent backsplash or waterfall may need its panel role and assembly position set on Assemble. An empty strip list does not create one automatically.

On Finish, select a piece to inspect its material and vein. The edge-color legend explains the types present in the current model.

18. Choose a scene and lighting

On Review, choose a scene, then adjust Brightness, Warmth and Reflections. Reset returns those lighting controls to their defaults.

Finish preview offers As quoted and alternative surface appearances. This is a visual preview; changing it here does not change the quote's material specification or price. Play and animation Export currently open a development-access gate; they are not generally available output controls.

19. Group rooms and save camera views

Select the pieces for a room, choose New room from the selected pieces and give it a name. Rooms organize the preview; they do not replace quote-area assignments.

Orbit to a useful camera angle and choose Save this view. Name the view, then use its button in Preview to return to that angle. Save the CAD assembly to retain rooms and views.

20. Save and reopen the CAD assembly

Choose Save and wait for Saved. A failed save leaves the draft available so you can retry; it is not a successful cloud save.

Reopen the saved CAD drawing and Complete in 3D to confirm the assembly and nesting. Preview shows the saved-view presentation inside the CAD workflow. It does not publish the CAD assembly to the customer portal.

21. Capture 2D and 3D views

In the CAD editor, choose 2D SHOT for a drawing screenshot. Inside Complete in 3D, set a useful angle and choose Screenshot for a 3D capture.

Use View Screenshots in CAD to review the saved images. The gallery and client package place 3D captures before 2D captures. Set the desired viewpoint before capturing; a screenshot is a still image.

22. Export and inspect the Shop DXF ZIP

Choose Shop DXF. The workflow saves the current assembly/nesting before exporting; a save failure or overlap stops the export.

The ZIP contains the raw CAD drawing plus a separate DXF for each populated slab. Per-slab files contain slab outlines, nested piece boundaries and an information layer. Open the files and verify the slab, dimensions, rotations, openings and required pieces before using them downstream.

23. Create the Client PDF in job files

Choose Client PDF and answer whether to include slab layout pages. OK includes nesting pages; Cancel at this particular question creates the snapshots-only version instead. It does not cancel the whole package.

The PDF is saved in the linked job's files. Its configured sections can include a cover, 3D captures, 2D captures, optional slab layouts and an area/slab summary. Open the generated file and review every page before sharing.

24. Keep sharing and email delivery explicit

Creating a Client PDF saves a job file; it does not email it or publish the CAD assembly. Use the job's file and sharing controls when you are ready to share the reviewed document.

For system-email actions, SlabOS sends through its mailing engine by default. A connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox is used only when the user also enables Send system emails as me. Connecting a mailbox alone does not switch system delivery.

Check the result

• The saved CAD assembly and reopened nest show the intended pieces, areas, heights, orientations and slab assignments.
• Required pieces are on slabs without overlaps, and the exported DXFs and PDF pages match the intended output.
• The quote remains the source of area/material information. CAD Save and Client PDF do not automatically publish or email the work.