HTML proofs

File › Export › Export Proof (HTML)… (also in the 3D menu and the 3D page's right-click menu) writes a 3D page as one HTML file to send to a customer or a colleague for approval. It opens in any recent web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, on a computer, a phone or a tablet), with nothing to install and nothing to download: the folded design and the viewer are inside the file, so it works offline, attached to an email or put on a web site as it is.

In the proof they can:

• turn it (drag), zoom (scroll or pinch) and move it (right-drag, or two fingers);
• play the fold: Play folds it up from flat, Pause stops it, and the slider (from Flat to Folded) shows it at any point of the fold;
• Turn: it turns slowly by itself until it is dragged;
• Light or Dark: the background;
• Save Image: the view as it is, as a PNG picture;
• Print: the view as it is with the information beside it;
• View in your space (on phones and tablets that can): see it life-size on a table or the floor, in augmented reality.

The drawing's title and the information chosen are shown beside it.

The options

After you choose File › Export › Export Proof (HTML)…, the dialog asks:

The model

• The fold, to play: the fold animation and its controls (play, pause and the slider). Without it, the proof shows the design as the 3D page does now.
• Fold up when opened: it folds up from flat once when the proof opens; else it opens folded.
• Turn by itself: it starts turning (a button in the proof turns this on and off).
• Augmented reality: the View in your space button, on phones and tablets that can.
• Background: light or dark to start with (a button in the proof changes it).

What it says, beside the model and printed with it:

• Title: the drawing's name to start with.
• Sizes: the drawing's length, width and depth (its L, W and D), inside or outside as the length's label says (as for pallet software).
• Material: the drawing's material (or the 3D page's) and its thickness.
• What it is: its classification: category, style, product, tags and description, those it has.
• The drawing's notes: the notes kept with it (an order's details from a CF2 file, say).
• Date: today's date.
• Notes: anything you want to say to the person approving it.

The choices are remembered for the next proof; the title and notes belong to each drawing. Then choose where to save the .html file: it is offered the drawing's name and version (carton-v3.html; see File names).

What is in the file

The proof is one .html file. Inside it:

• the 3D page as a binary glTF model, as 3D › Export › Export 3D Model… writes it (a part for each panel, the fold animation, the artwork as textures: see glTF, OBJ and STL), standing as the 3D page shows it;
• with augmented reality, a USDZ model for iPhones and iPads too (as 3D › Export › AR Proof for iPhone and iPad… writes it: see AR proofs on iPhone and iPad);
• Google's <model-viewer> (version 4.3.1), which shows it, with its licence (Apache 2.0) and those of what it includes (three.js, Lit, fflate).

It asks for nothing on the internet. Most proofs are a few MB; artwork in large images, and augmented reality (a second model), make them bigger. A proof over 50 MB is large to email, and you are asked before it is written.

Augmented reality

View in your space shows on phones and tablets that can show 3D models in the room:

• iPhone and iPad: AR Quick Look opens the USDZ model in the proof, folds it up and stands it life-size.
• Android: Chrome shows it in the room (WebXR). Google's Scene Viewer, used where Chrome can't, needs the proof on a web site (https): it can't open a model from a file on the phone.

On a computer the button doesn't show.

To collect comments and an approval as well, share the drawing for review on the web site instead: see Reviews: comments and approval. The review page has the same augmented reality.

Printing

Print prints the view as it is (turn and fold it first as you want it), with the title and the information beside it, without the buttons. Save Image saves the same view as a PNG picture. For pictures of every side, a contact sheet or video, see Proof images and video.

To email a proof instead of saving it, use File › Send by Email › Export Proof (HTML)…: see Emailing exports.

If it doesn't show

• The proof needs a browser that draws 3D (WebGL): any recent one does. If it says it can't show 3D models, update the browser, or turn on its graphics acceleration.
• Some email programs show attachments in a preview that runs no scripts: save the file and open it in a browser.