BeamDown Quick-Start Guide

Introduction

Welcome to the BeamDown community! BeamDown is an evolving platform with ongoing development and addition of new features. We’ve designed it to be as intuitive as possible, so you can start building custom terrain right away – no prior 3D modelling experience needed. The Intro Builder is recommended for new users.

Accessing BeamDown

Log into BeamDown at https://beamdown.saucermenstudios.com.au

New accounts will need to reset their password here

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Basic Usage Guide

How to build

1. Log in to BeamDown here
2. Ensure the ‘Build’ mode is active at the top of the screen
3. Using the palette window on the right hand side, click on a set (EG ‘Grid City’), then click a title such as ‘Frame’ or ‘Wall’. This will show you all of the assets for that category.
4. Click and drag an asset from the pallet onto the main grid area. You can also right click to clear your mouse.
5. Click on the asset you placed onto the grid – Dots will appear. Hover you mouse over the dots to see what they are.
6. Click on any of the dots (Mount Points) to reveal the assets that can be placed onto it. They will appear in the pallet where you can click them to place them (no need to drag and drop these).
7. Drag items onto snap points from the pallet – Hover your mouse over the white orbs until they turn green.

Floorbuilder (Freeform)

Sets using the Freeform builder such as the ‘Sci-fi Building Generator’ can use the Floorbuilder which automatically adapts to the connected wall shape so that you build conforms to a 1in grid.

1. Within a compatible set, select the Floorbuilder from the palette
2. Drag your chosen floor style onto the build plate or snap to a compatible wall (it will turn green when snapped)
3. The floor model will adapt to the snapped wall – Use the Q/E keys to rotate the floor
4. Some floor pieces can be selected when placed to mount additional details

Note – Floor models have different styles and sizes

Editing Sockets:

Many walls and other components have areas for connection sockets such as magnets, pegs, OpenLock Clips etc. Not all models have sockets

1. Select a model(s)
2. Switch to ‘Socket’ mode at the top of the screen
3. Click on a Mount Point to see the available sockets in the pallet. Select all Mount points by clicking twice on a Mount Point.
4. Click on your chosen socket in the pallet.

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Usage Controls

Selecting Models

• You can drag a box around multiple models to select them all-together
• To select an object mounted onto another, click multiple times on the area to move through the hierarchy

Keyboard & Mouse Controls

• Q/E – Rotate selected object
• LMB – Select object or Mount Point
• RMB – Orbit view / Menu / Clear mouse
• MMB – Pan view
• Wheel – Zoom view
• DEL – Delete selected object
• F1 – Auto rotate around scene

Right-Click Menu

• Group (top) – Combine the selected models into one group for moving, exporting and saving
• Copy (right) – Duplicate the selected models
• Delete (bottom) – Trash the selected models
• Move (left) – Move the selected objects to a new position

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Saving Layouts (Blueprints)

Saving your build to the cloud is easy:

1. Select all your models by dragging a box around them
2. Right click your selection
3. Choose ‘Group’ from the right click menu (top option)
4. Switch to ‘Export’ mode at the top of the screen
5. Name your build
6. Click Save

Note – Saved projects are capped at 100 per user, but you can freely delete and create new ones as needed.

Loading your Builds

Saved files are known as ‘Blueprints’. To load these from the cloud:

1. Click the ‘Blueprints’ button at top right of the screen
2. Select ‘My Builds’ in the popup window (top right)
3. Locate your file and click Load

Exporting STL Files

Downloading an STL file of your build is done in a similar way to saving:

1. Select all your models by dragging a box around them
2. Right click your selection
3. Choose ‘Group’ from the right click menu (top option)
4. Switch to ‘Export’ mode at the top of the screen
5. Name your build
6. Click Save

Showcase your Projects:

Want to show off your BeamDown creations to others in the community or build-off a project you’ve seen? It’s easy!

1. Click ‘Load’ (top left of BeamDown screen
2. Choose a saved project from your Blueprints
3. Click ‘Share’ to generate a unique ID
4. Click ‘Show ID’ …..
5. A gif opens up in new tab – Copy the URL to showcase your build

To load a build from someone else’s ID, paste the ID or URL of the gif into the ‘Blueprint ID’ area.  If you don’t have the assets required to load the project, it will direct you to grab their bundles.

Try it with the ID below:
16dd3321-22b4-47c6-9e17-cb17b17a3d0b

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Getting support

Contact alex@saucermenstudios.com.au or join the BeamDown community at Discord.