---
title: "Guide 1: Initialize and layout a 3D model in a view"
description: "Overview"
permalink: /docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/display-3d-model/display-3d-model-guides/guide-1-initialize-and-layout-a-3d-model-in-a-view/
---
# Guide 1: Initialize and layout a 3D model in a view

### Overview

In this guide, we'll show a few common controls that configure the layout of a 3D model in the `display-3d-model` component. This includes:

* Manual controls such as setting the scale of a model and adjusting its X, Y or Z offset.
* Automatic configuration controls, such as auto-scaling or auto-centering a model in the viewer.
* The ability to load a different 3D model (FBX file).

The view we'll build will look as follows:

![](./media/spaces-2f9tchlr67elhbojpvhhud-2fuploads-2f45gtrljftyk4be0admtp-2fdisplay-3d-model-layout-guide-overview-067ce890.png)

#### Developer notes:

* Your app must be on version **4.85.0** or greater of the JourneyApps Runtime. This version introduces the [`grid`](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/grid/) UI component, which we'll use to layout the `display-3d-model` UI component and its controls in the view.
* You should have a zipped .fbx file ready to upload into the app. If you don’t have a 3D model to test with, feel free to download the sample 3D model we're using in this guide [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETy12IRmAXRTHt0xnbEvg9-aHaJXoCxO/view?usp=sharing).
* The [complete data model and view code](#complete-view-code) section at the end of this guide contains the complete view XML and JS files, which may be easier to copy and paste than the individual snippets below.

### Load and display the 3D model in your view

First, we'll add a `capture-file` UI component to our `main` view, which will allow us to upload the .fbx file containing the 3D model. The `capture-file` component must be bound to a variable of type [`attachment`](/docs/data-model-configuration/model/field/#file-attachment-attachment).

**main.view\.xml**

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view title="3D Model Viewer">
    <var name="animation_file" type="attachment" media="any" />
    
    
    <heading>Update 3D model:</heading>
    <capture-file bind="animation_file" label=".fbx.zip file" downloadable="true" />

</view>
```

Next, we'll initialize the `display-3d-model` UI component.

For this, we'll use a [`grid`](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/grid/), where the `display-3d-model` component spans the first 3 columns, and the previously added `capture-file` component is placed in the 4th column.

The main view XML code now looks as follows:

**main.view\.xml**

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view title="3D Model Viewer">
    <var name="animation_file" type="attachment" media="any" />   
    <var name="scale" type="number" />
    
    <grid column-count="4">
        <cell column-span="3">
            <display-3d-model
                bind="animation_file"
                scale="scale"
                
                material-vertex-groups="false"
            />
        </cell>
        <cell>
            <heading>Update 3D model:</heading>
            <capture-file bind="animation_file" label=".fbx.zip file" downloadable="true" />
        </cell>
    </grid>

</view>
```

Note that we are including the `material-vertex-groups="false"` attribute in this basic view. We're simply doing this to expose the model's various colored elements in our examples going forward.

And in the view JS, we'll initialize the 3D model's scale to a default value:

**main.js**

```javascript
// This function is called when the app navigates to this view (using a link)
function init() {
    // initialize any data here that should be available when the view is shown
    view.scale = 0.1;
}
```

A zipped .fbx file can now be uploaded using the `capture-file` component. The uploaded 3D model will then display in the `display-3d-model` component.

![](./media/spaces-2f9tchlr67elhbojpvhhud-2fuploads-2fz3u1pcen8xhcxhch9f5q-2fdisplay-3d-model-guide-1-basic-view-417bf14b.png)

<Info title={"Zipped FBX files requirement"}>

In this particular setup it should also be possible to upload a non-zipped .fbx file into the `capture-file` component. The requirement for zipping the file becomes relevant when the file gets uploaded into the database (e.g. you want to store it as an [`attachment`](/docs/data-model-configuration/model/field/#file-attachment-attachment) field type) - as the field type supports .zip files and not .fbx files.

</Info>

### Set up manual config controls

Now that a 3D model is displayed, we want to give users to ability to configure the scale and offsets of the model. We'll do this by adding variables to store the values for the offsets (a variable for scale already existed), and add `text-input` UI components for users to enter or adjust the values:

**main.view\.xml**

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view title="3D Model Viewer">
    <var name="animation_file" type="attachment" media="any" />
    <var name="scale" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_x" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_y" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_z" type="number" />
    
    <grid column-count="4">
        <cell column-span="3">
            <display-3d-model
                bind="animation_file"
                scale="scale"
                offset-x="offset_x"
                offset-y="offset_y"
                offset-z="offset_z"
                
                material-vertex-groups="false"
            />
        </cell>
        <cell>
            <heading>Manual config:</heading>
            <text-input label="Scale" bind="scale" required="false" />
            <text-input label="x Offset" bind="offset_x" required="false" />
            <text-input label="y Offset" bind="offset_y" required="false" />
            <text-input label="z Offset" bind="offset_z" required="false" />
            
            <heading>Update 3D model:</heading>
            <capture-file bind="animation_file" label=".fbx.zip file" downloadable="true" />
        </cell>
    </grid>

</view>
```

We need to update our `init()` function to set initial values for the offsets:

```javascript
// This function is called when the app navigates to this view (using a link)
function init() {
    // initialize any data here that should be available when the view is shown
    view.scale = 0.1;
    view.offset_x = 0;
    view.offset_y = 0;
    view.offset_z = 0;
}
```

Increasing or decreasing the scale should now increase and decrease the scale of the 3D model respectively. Increasing e.g. the x-offset, should move the 3D model further along the x-axis.

### Set up automatic config controls

`display-3d-model` comes with a number of [component methods](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/#component-methods) which allow users to further interact with the 3D model. We'll explore [`computeScaleFactor`](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/#computescalefactor) to auto-scale the 3D model, as well as [`computeCenterOffset`](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/#computecenteroffset) to auto-center the 3D model in the component.

On the view XML side, we will add two buttons to let users trigger these methods. We also need to add an [`id`](/docs/build/ui-components/all-ui-components/#id) attribute to the `display-3d-model` component, which is needed for the methods to identify the component:

**main.view\.xml**

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view title="3D Model Viewer">
    ...
    
    <grid column-count="4">
        <cell column-span="3">
            <display-3d-model
                id="example"
                ...
            />
        </cell>
        <cell>
            ...
            
            <heading>Auto config:</heading>
            <button label="Auto-Scale" icon="fa-search-plus" on-press="$:autoScale()" validate="false" />
            <button label="Auto-Center" icon="fa-bullseye" on-press="$:autoCenter()" validate="false" />
            
            ...
        </cell>
    </grid>

</view>
```

The buttons call two functions respectively: `autoScale()` and `autoCenter()`.

The `autoScale()` function, which uses the `computeScaleFactor` component method, could look as follows:

**main.js**

```javascript
function autoScale(scaleFactor) {
    if (!scaleFactor) {
        // Let the user select a scale factor, from a predefined set of options
        var options = ["10", "100", "200", "250", "500"];
        var result = optionList(options, { title: "Select an auto scaling factor" });
        if (result >= 0) {
            scaleFactor = Number(options[result]);
        } else {
            return;
        }
    }
    console.log("Scalefactor: ", scaleFactor);

    // Compute the 3D model scale, given the user's selected scale factor
    var newScale = component.display3dModel({ id: "example" }).computeScaleFactor(scaleFactor);
    if(!newScale) {
        notification.error("Error: Scale could not be computed.");
        return;
    }
    console.log("New scale: ", JSON.stringify(newScale));

    // Set the scale attribute of the display-3d-model component to the new value
    view.scale = Number(newScale.toFixed(3));
}
```

The `autoCenter()` function, which utilizes the `computeCenterOffset` component method, could look as follows:

**main.js**

```javascript
function autoCenter() {
    // Compute the model's x, y and z offsets
    var offsets = component.display3dModel({ id: "example" }).computeCenterOffset();
    if(!offsets) {
        notification.error("Error: Offsets could not be determined.");
        return;
    }  
    console.log("Offsets ", JSON.stringify(offsets));

    // Set the offset attributes of the display-3d-model component to the computed offsets
    // This should center the model on-screen
    view.offset_x = offsets[0];
    view.offset_y = offsets[1];
    view.offset_z = offsets[2];
}
```

### Complete view code

Below is the complete View XML and JS code used in this guide:

**main.view\.xml**

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view title="3D Model Viewer">
    <var name="animation_file" type="attachment" media="any" />
    <var name="scale" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_x" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_y" type="number" />
    <var name="offset_z" type="number" />
    
    <grid column-count="4">
        <cell column-span="3">
            <display-3d-model
                id="example"
                bind="animation_file"
                scale="scale"
                offset-x="offset_x"
                offset-y="offset_y"
                offset-z="offset_z"
                
                material-vertex-groups="false"
            />
        </cell>
        <cell>
            <heading>Manual config:</heading>
            <text-input label="Scale" bind="scale" required="false" />
            <text-input label="x Offset" bind="offset_x" required="false" />
            <text-input label="y Offset" bind="offset_y" required="false" />
            <text-input label="z Offset" bind="offset_z" required="false" />
            
            <heading>Auto config:</heading>
            <button label="Auto-Scale" icon="fa-search-plus" on-press="$:autoScale(null)" validate="false" />
            <button label="Auto-Center" on-press="$:autoCenter()" icon="fa-bullseye" validate="false" />
            
            <heading>Update 3D model:</heading>
            <capture-file bind="animation_file" label=".fbx.zip file" downloadable="true" />
        </cell>
    </grid>
</view>
```

**main.js**

```javascript
// This function is called when the app navigates to this view (using a link)
function init() {
    // initialize any data here that should be available when the view is shown
    view.scale = 0.1;
    view.offset_x = 0;
    view.offset_y = 0;
    view.offset_z = 0;
}

// This function is called when the user returns to this view from another view
function resume(from) { }

function autoScale() {
    // Let the user select a scale factor, from a predefined set of options
    var scaleFactor = 1;
    var options = ["10", "100", "200", "250", "500"];
    var result = optionList(options, { title: "Select an auto scaling factor" });
    if (result >= 0) {
        scaleFactor = Number(options[result]);
    } else {
        return;
    }

    console.log("Scalefactor: ", scaleFactor);

    // Compute the 3D model scale, given the user's selected scale factor
    var newScale = component.display3dModel({ id: "example" }).computeScaleFactor(scaleFactor);
    if (!newScale) {
        notification.error("Error: Scale could not be computed.");
        return;
    }

    console.log("New scale: ", JSON.stringify(newScale));

    // Set the scale attribute of the display-3d-model component to the new value
    view.scale = Number(newScale.toFixed(3));
}

function autoCenter() {
    // Compute the model's offsets
    var offsets = component.display3dModel({ id: "example" }).computeCenterOffset();
    if (!offsets) {
        notification.error("Error: Offsets could not be determined.");
        return;
    }
    console.log("Offsets ", JSON.stringify(offsets));

    // Set the offset attributes of the display-3d-model component to the computed offsets
    view.offset_x = offsets[0];
    view.offset_y = offsets[1];
    view.offset_z = offsets[2];
}
```