Sign in required

Help & Documentation is available to signed-in users. Please sign in to access our guides and tutorials.

Sign In / Sign Up
Documentation
  • Getting Started
  • Orienting Your Model
  • Region Identifier
  • Add Text & Border
  • Seller Notes
  • File Formats
  • Color Library
  • Using with Etsy
  • Add to Your Store
  • Merchant Sites
  • Webhooks
  • Collaborations
  • Order Codes
  • Order Manager
  • Export to Slicer
  • Ad Generator
  • Saved Ads
  • AI Assistant
  • Troubleshooting
  • FAQ
Dashboard Help & Documentation

Help & Documentation

Learn how to create customizers and manage orders

Getting Started

Configura helps you create interactive 3D customizers for your products. Here's the basic workflow:

Upload Your 3D Model
Go to "Create New Customizer" and upload an STL file. The model will appear in the 3D viewer.
Set the Product Orientation
Use the rotation controls to position your model how customers should see it. This becomes the default view.
Identify Customizable Regions
Use the Region Identifier tool to mark which parts of your model customers can customize with different colors.
Set Up Colors
Define the color palette available for each region. You can use your saved Color Library.
Add Seller Notes (Optional)
Include helpful information for your customers that will appear after they finish customizing.
Publish & Share
Click Publish to create your customizer. You'll get a link to share with customers or embed in your Etsy listing.

Orienting Your Model

Properly orienting your 3D model is crucial for a great customer experience. The orientation you set in the generator becomes the default view for your buyers.

Why Orientation Matters

When customers open your customizer, they should immediately see your product from its most recognizable angle. A figurine should stand upright, a mug should show its front design, and a phone case should display as if lying on a table.

Understanding the Coordinate System

Configura uses a standard 3D coordinate system:

  • Y-axis (Green) — Points UP toward the sky
  • X-axis (Red) — Points RIGHT
  • Z-axis (Blue) — Points toward the CAMERA (front)
Orient your model so Y-axis points up and the front face faces the camera
Example of correct orientation: Y-axis (green) points up, front of model faces the camera

How to Orient Your Model

Identify the "Up" Direction
What direction should point to the sky? For a figurine, it's the head. For a cup, it's the opening.
Align with Y-Axis
Use the X and Z rotation sliders to make your model's "up" align with the green Y-axis.
Set the Front Face
Rotate around Y to position the most important face toward the camera.
Verify in Preview
Use the preview to confirm your orientation looks correct before publishing.
CAD Software Note
Many CAD programs use Z-up coordinates. If your model appears sideways, try rotating X by -90° to convert from Z-up to Y-up.

Region Identifier Tool

The Region Identifier lets you mark which parts of your model customers can customize. Each region can have its own name and color options.

How It Works

Create a Region
Click "Add Region" and give it a descriptive name like "Body", "Handle", or "Accent Stripe".
Select the Region
Click on a region in the list to make it active. It will highlight in the viewer.
Paint Triangles
Click on areas of your 3D model to assign them to the selected region. Hold and drag to paint multiple triangles.
Adjust Brush Size
Use the brush size slider to paint larger or smaller areas at once.

Region Order Matters!

The order of regions in your list (top to bottom) becomes the order customers see in the customizer. This is important for creating a logical flow for your buyers.

Best Practice
Arrange regions in the order customers would naturally think about them. For example, for a pet tag: Back → Face → Name Plate → Name → Accent details. This creates an intuitive customization experience.

Drag to reorder: You can click and drag region boxes to quickly change their order. The order from top to bottom in the generator will match exactly what buyers see in the customizer.

Regions in random order:
Accent 2, Back, Name, Accent 3...
Poor Order: Accent 2, Accent 3 scattered randomly
Logical flow:
Back → Face → Name Plate → Name → Accent
Good Order: Logical flow from Back → Face → Name
Tip
Name your regions from the customer's perspective. "Left Wing" is clearer than "Region 3". Good names help customers understand what they're customizing.

Add Text & Text Border

The Add Text feature lets your customers personalize products with custom text directly on the 3D model. This is perfect for name tags, keychains, signs, and any product that benefits from personalization.

Enabling Text Customization

In the Generator, click the "Add Text" toggle to enable text customization for your product. Once enabled, you'll see options to configure how text appears on your model.

  • Click a surface — Select where on the model the text should appear
  • Default text — Set placeholder text customers will see initially
  • Font selection — Choose from system fonts or upload custom fonts in your Font Library
  • Text size — Adjust how large the text appears on the surface
  • Extrusion depth — Control how far the text "pops out" from the surface

Text Border (Outline)

Text Border adds a contrasting outline around your text, making it more visible and giving it a professional, polished look. This is especially useful for decorative fonts or when the text needs to stand out against the model.

  • Border width — Adjust the thickness of the outline (0.5mm to 3mm)
  • Border color — Customers can choose a separate color for the border
  • Border depth — Control the extrusion depth of the border layer

Font Library

Upload custom fonts (TTF or OTF files) to your Font Library to give customers more personalization options. Access your Font Library from the dashboard under Library → Font Library.

  • Upload fonts — Drag & drop TTF/OTF files or click to browse
  • Preview fonts — See how each font looks before using it
  • Use in customizers — Select uploaded fonts in the Generator
Best Practices for Text
• Use bold, simple fonts for best 3D printing results
• Avoid very thin or script fonts that may not print well
• Test your text settings with a sample print before listing
• Consider offering 2-3 font options rather than overwhelming customers

Seller Notes

Seller Notes let you include helpful information that customers see after they finish customizing their product. This appears in the final confirmation popup along with their order code.

What to Include

Use this space to communicate anything customers need to know when placing their order. This is your chance to provide extra guidance or helpful reminders.

  • Order instructions — How to include the code when ordering
  • Processing times — "Custom orders typically ship within 3-5 business days"
  • Material info — "Printed in durable PLA plastic"
  • Size details — "Actual size: 2.5 inches tall"
  • Care instructions — "Hand wash only, not dishwasher safe"
  • Contact info — "Questions? Message us on Etsy!"
Example Seller Note
"Thanks for customizing your pet tag!

Copy the code above and paste it in the 'Personalization' field when ordering on Etsy.

Custom orders ship within 2-3 business days.
Tag size: 1.5" x 1" — perfect for medium to large pets.

Questions? Send us a message anytime!"

Supported File Formats

Configura accepts STL and 3MF files. STL is the universal 3D-printing standard and works with every CAD package and slicer; 3MF keeps the original vertex structure, so uploading the 3MF straight out of your slicer gives smaller, faster slicer exports later.

Upload Tips

  • Binary STL files load faster than ASCII STL files
  • Keep file sizes under 50MB for best performance
  • Ensure your model is watertight (no holes or gaps)
  • Models are automatically centered and scaled in the viewer
Which should you upload?
If your model came out of a slicer, upload the 3MF. If it came out of CAD, STL is fine — Configura reconstructs the geometry on upload either way. See Export to Slicer for why the original format affects your exports.

Color Library

Your Color Library is the set of colors you reuse across customizers — normally one entry per filament you actually stock. Building it once means you are picking from your real inventory every time you set up a product, instead of typing hex codes from memory.

Building your library

Open it from the dashboard under Library → Color Library.

  • Add colors — enter a hex value or use the picker, and give it the name you know it by ("Bambu Matte Ivory" beats "#F7F3E8").
  • Save palettes — group colors you offer together so you can apply the whole set to a region at once.
  • Color of the day — a rotating suggestion, useful when you want a seasonal accent and don't want to start from a blank page.

Using it in a customizer

When you set up the colors for a region in the Generator, your saved colors and palettes are available to pull from. Buyers only ever see the colors you put on that region, so the library is what keeps your listings consistent with what you can actually print.

Name colors the way you buy them
Whatever name you save here is what you'll see in the Order Viewer when a customer's order comes in. Matching your filament spools' names turns fulfilment into reading a label rather than matching a swatch.

Using with Etsy

Once you publish a customizer, you'll get a unique URL. Here's how to use it with your Etsy listings:

Copy Your Customizer Link
From your Dashboard, click the copy icon next to your customizer to copy the URL.
Add to Your Etsy Description
In your Etsy listing description, add something like: "Customize your colors here: [paste link]"
Explain the Process
Tell customers to use the customizer, then include their 6-character code in the "Personalization" or "Notes to Seller" field when ordering.
Fulfill the Order
When you receive an order, enter the code in your Order Viewer to see exactly what colors to print.
Example Listing Text
"This item is fully customizable! Choose your own colors:

1. Visit our color picker: [your link]
2. Design your perfect combination
3. Copy your 6-character code
4. Paste the code in 'Notes to Seller' when ordering

We'll print your exact design!"

Add to Your Store

Get your customizer live on Etsy, Shopify, Squarespace, or your own website in minutes. The Add to Your Store page generates the exact snippet you need for each platform — no coding required.

Open Add to Your Store
From the main menu, pick Integrations → Add to Your Store.
Pick a Customizer
Select which published customizer you want to embed. You can have a different one per product.
Choose Your Platform
Etsy, Shopify, Squarespace, WordPress, or a generic any website snippet. Each gives you a slightly different code block tuned to that platform's editor.
Copy & Paste
Copy the generated code and paste it into your listing description or product page editor. The customizer appears inline for buyers.
Two different flows
The snippets fall into two categories:

• Cart-enabled (merchant) embed — Shopify, BigCommerce, custom storefronts. Buyer hits Add to Cart inside the customizer; the order goes straight into your store's checkout. Requires a merchant to be registered on the Merchant Sites page so postMessage from the parent storefront is trusted.

• Code-based snippet — Etsy, generic link. Buyer customizes, gets a 6-character code, pastes it into the order notes at checkout. You fulfill manually using the Order Manager.
Etsy tip
Etsy doesn't allow iframes inside listings, so the Etsy snippet is a styled link your buyer taps to open the customizer in a new tab. They customize, get their 6-character code, then paste it into your listing's Personalization field at checkout.

Merchant Sites

A merchant is a registered storefront where you've put a cart-enabled embed — Shopify, BigCommerce, your own checkout page, etc. The Merchants page is where you configure how that embed behaves on each site: which origins are allowed to load it, what branding it uses, and the SKU/price the Add to Cart button posts back to your storefront.

Merchant embed vs other embeds
The merchant embed is the cart-enabled embed specifically. The Etsy snippet and the generic any-website link from Add to Your Store are separate — they use the 6-character code flow instead of a cart, so they don't involve a merchant registration at all.

What a merchant gives you

  • Allowed origins — only sites you've registered can load your customizer with cart enabled. Stops anyone else from putting your customizer on their store.
  • Branding overrides — swap the primary color and logo so the customizer feels native to that store.
  • Per-product SKU and price mappings — the values the Add to Cart button sends to your storefront for each customizer.

Where SKU and price come from

When a buyer clicks Add to Cart, the embed needs to tell your storefront which product and price to add. It gets those values from one of two places, in priority order:

  1. The merchant product mapping you set here (wins if filled in)
  2. URL params on the embed snippet (?sku=...&price=...) — the Add to Your Store snippet generator includes these automatically

Fill in the mapping here when you want to override what the snippet contains — e.g. charging a different price on a partner's Shopify than on your own. Leave it blank to use the URL-param values straight from the snippet.

Open Merchant Sites
From the main menu, pick Integrations → Merchants.
Add a Merchant
Click + Add merchant, give the site a friendly name (e.g. "My Shopify store"), and paste the site's URL so postMessage validation knows to trust it.
Set Branding (Optional)
Override the primary color or logo so the customizer feels native to that store.
Map Products (Optional)
For each customizer on this merchant, you can set SKU and price here to override what's in the embed URL. Skip if the URL params from the snippet are already correct.
Security note
Only registered merchant origins can use postMessage to communicate with your embedded customizer. If you forget to register a site before embedding, the customizer still works for buyers but the cart-completion handshake won't reach your storefront.

Webhooks

Get notified when a buyer starts customizing but doesn't complete an order. Connect to Zapier, Make, or any automation platform that accepts an HTTP POST — perfect for recovering abandoned customizations via email, SMS, or your CRM.

When the webhook fires

There is one event: customization.abandoned. When a buyer customizes one of your products and then goes idle without ordering, Configura waits for your chosen timeout and POSTs their color choices, product info and session data to your URL.

  • Abandonment timeout — 15, 30 or 60 minutes of idle time. 60 is the default and the one we recommend; shorter windows catch buyers who are still deciding.
  • Signing secret — shown once when you first save an endpoint. Verify the X-Configura-Signature header with it so you know the request came from Configura.
  • Delivery log — every attempt is recorded on the Webhooks page so you can see what was sent and whether your endpoint accepted it.
Open Webhooks
From the main menu, pick Integrations → Webhooks.
Get Your Endpoint URL
In Zapier/Make/your tool, create a new automation with a "Webhook" / "HTTP" trigger. Copy the URL it gives you.
Register the Webhook
Paste that URL into the Webhooks page (it must be HTTPS), pick your abandonment timeout, and save. Copy the signing secret it shows you — it is only displayed once.
Test It
Click Send test event to verify the connection. Your automation tool should receive the test payload immediately.
Common automation
Build a "rescue" flow: pipe the abandoned event into Zapier, wait a few hours, then send the buyer an email with a link back to the design they built. The payload carries their color choices, so you can show them exactly what they left behind.

Collaborations

Customizers that other Configura users have invited you to edit. When you make changes, they're submitted to the owner for review before going live — so you can contribute to someone else's product without breaking it.

How it works

  • The customizer owner invites you by email
  • You accept the invitation from the Collaborations page
  • You can open and edit their customizer like your own
  • When you save, the changes go to the owner as a pending review
  • The owner can approve, reject, or merge your changes
Receive an Invitation
When a Configura user invites you to collaborate on their customizer, you'll get an email with a link. Invitations are matched to an existing Configura account, so the person you invite needs to have signed up first.
Accept
Click the link, sign in to your Configura account, and accept. The customizer appears in your Collaborations page.
Edit
Open the customizer and make changes — colors, text, regions, materials. The interface is the same as editing your own customizers.
Submit for Review
When you save, your edits are queued for the owner's review. They'll get notified and can accept or decline.
Use cases
Hire a freelance designer to touch up your customizers without giving them full account access. Or partner with another seller to maintain a shared product line where either of you can propose changes.

Order Codes

When customers finalize their design, they receive a unique 6-character code (like "XK7M2P"). This code stores their exact color selections.

For Sellers

  • Enter codes in the Order Viewer to see customer selections
  • Save orders to your Order Manager to track them
  • Export directly to your slicer with customer colors baked in
  • Mark orders as complete when fulfilled
  • Export order data to CSV for record keeping

For Customers

  • Codes are generated automatically when saving a design
  • Customers should copy the code and include it with their order
  • Codes don't expire and can be reused

Order Manager

The Order Viewer is where you look up a single code; the Order Manager is where the orders you've saved live. Open it from the dashboard under Orders → Order Manager.

Tabs

  • Open Orders — everything you've saved and not yet fulfilled.
  • Completed — orders you've marked done. They stay searchable.
  • Trash — deleted orders stay here for 30 days, then are permanently removed. You can restore anything in that window.
  • Etsy — appears only once you've connected an Etsy shop, and lists orders pulled in from it.

What you can do

  • Open any order back into the Order Viewer to see the 3D model in the customer's colors
  • Mark orders complete as you fulfil them
  • Select several at once for bulk actions
  • Export to CSV for your own records or accounting
Deleting a customizer doesn't delete its orders
Saved orders keep their own copy of what the customer chose, so they stay readable in the Order Manager even after the customizer they came from is edited or removed. The live customizer link stops working; the order history does not.

Export to Slicer

Configura can export 3MF files with customer color selections baked in, ready to open directly in your slicer software. No manual color assignment needed!

Supported Slicers

  • Bambu Studio — Uses standard 3MF color groups. Colors map directly to your AMS filament slots.
  • PrusaSlicer — Uses MMU painting format. Compatible with Prusa MMU and other multi-material setups.

How to Export

Load an Order
In the Order Viewer (seller-viewer.html), enter a customer's order code or select from your saved orders.
Choose Your Slicer
Click the export button for your slicer: "Bambu Studio" or "PrusaSlicer".
Open in Slicer
The downloaded 3MF file will have all color regions pre-assigned. Just open it and map colors to your filaments.
Slice & Print
Assign your physical filaments to each color and slice as usual. The customer's exact color choices are preserved.
Pro Tip: 3MF Upload Recommended
For best results, upload your original model as a 3MF file (exported from your slicer). This preserves the exact vertex structure, resulting in faster slicer loading and smaller file sizes compared to STL uploads.

Bambu Studio Setup

When you open a Configura export in Bambu Studio:

  • You may see "3MF is not from Bambu Lab" — this is normal, click "Load geometry and color data"
  • Colors will appear in the Object List panel
  • Click "Edit" → "Flush into objects" if colors don't show immediately
  • Map each color to your AMS slots in the filament panel

PrusaSlicer Setup

When you open a Configura export in PrusaSlicer:

  • Ensure you have a multi-material printer profile selected
  • Painted regions will appear in the extruder color panel
  • Assign each extruder to your desired filament
  • The MMU painting data is preserved from your original 3MF
Original File Matters
Export quality depends on your original upload. 3MF files from your slicer produce the best exports. STL files work but may have slightly larger file sizes.

Ad Generator

Create professional marketing images for your Etsy listings, social media, and ads. The Ad Generator lets you showcase your customizable products with beautiful backgrounds and layouts.

Getting Started

Open it from the dashboard under Marketing → Ad Generator. You need at least one published customizer, because the ad is rendered from your live 3D product.

  • Panel count — how many product panels sit in the ad. One hero shot, or several to show the same product in different colors.
  • Product per panel — pick which customizer each panel shows, and the colors it is wearing.
  • Aspect ratio — Square (1:1) for Etsy and Instagram posts, Portrait (4:5) for the IG feed, Story (9:16) for Reels and TikTok, Pin (2:3) for Pinterest, Wide (16:9) for banners.

Frame Styles

Each panel sits inside a browser-style frame. Four styles are available:

  • Classic — a plain light browser chrome. The safest choice on a busy background.
  • Glass — frosted translucent chrome that picks up the background behind it.
  • Neo — a soft, rounded take with a heavier shadow.
  • Crystal — the most decorative: tinted glass with colored traffic-light dots.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are grouped into categories along the top of the background panel:

  • Simple — clean gradients that keep the product the loudest thing in the frame.
  • Artistic — patterned and illustrative scenes.
  • Vivid — high-saturation, high-contrast treatments.
  • Mockups — photographic settings your product is dropped into.
  • Custom — set your own gradient colors, or upload your own photo as the background.
  • AI — generate a background from a text prompt.

Text & Branding

Add copy over the top of the composition:

  • Headline — the main line (e.g. "Customize Your Colors")
  • Tagline — a supporting line underneath
  • Call to action — the prompt, e.g. "Shop Now"
  • Fonts and colors — pick a face and set text colors for contrast against your background

Exporting Your Ad

Exports are PNG, rendered at 4000px on the long edge regardless of which aspect ratio you picked — well above what Etsy, Instagram or Pinterest need, so there is headroom to crop.

  • Download — writes the PNG straight to your machine.
  • Transparent background — toggle this before downloading to get a real alpha channel instead of the background. The checkerboard in the preview is a screen affordance only; it is never in the file.
  • Save to library — keeps the ad in Saved Ads so you can download it again later.
Ad Tips
• Use contrasting colors between your product and background
• Keep text short and punchy — less is more
• Show off color variety by featuring the same product in different colors
• Use a multi-panel layout to make the customization itself the selling point

Saved Ads

Manage your marketing creatives in one place. Saved Ads stores all the ads you've created in the Ad Generator, making it easy to reuse, edit, or download them later.

Accessing Saved Ads

Navigate to Marketing → Saved Ads from your dashboard to view all your saved creatives.

  • Grid view — See thumbnails of all your ads
  • List view — See ads with details and metadata
  • Search — Find ads by name
  • Sort — Order by date created or name

Managing Your Ads

Each saved ad can be:

  • Downloaded — Re-download the PNG anytime
  • Renamed — Give your ads descriptive names
  • Deleted — Remove ads you no longer need
  • Previewed — Click to see full-size version
Organization Tip
Name your ads descriptively (e.g., "Blue Keychain - Instagram Square" or "Holiday Sale Banner") so you can easily find them later. This is especially helpful if you create ads for multiple products or platforms.

AI Assistant

A support chat that knows how Configura works. Reach it from the dashboard sidebar under Help & Docs → AI Assistant, or go straight to ai-assistant.html.

It's the fastest route for the questions this page answers at length — how to orient a model, why a code isn't loading, how to get an export into Bambu Studio. Ask in your own words; it will point you at the right section here when there's more detail to read.

When to email instead
The assistant answers questions about using Configura. Anything about your account, billing, or an order that looks wrong in the database needs a human — use the support page.

Troubleshooting

Model Won't Load

  • Check the file format is STL or 3MF
  • Ensure the file isn't corrupted (try opening in another program)
  • Large files (50MB+) may take longer to load
  • Try refreshing the page and uploading again

Model Appears Sideways

  • Your CAD software likely uses Z-up coordinates
  • Rotate X by -90° to convert to Y-up
  • See the Orienting Your Model section

Order Code Not Working

  • Codes are case-sensitive — enter exactly as shown
  • Ensure there are no extra spaces
  • Check that the code is exactly 6 characters

Colors Look Different When Printed

  • Screen colors and filament colors vary — calibrate your filament library
  • Use the exact hex codes shown in Order Viewer for color matching
  • Consider creating swatches of your available filaments

Exported 3MF Loads Slowly in Slicer

  • Upload your original model as 3MF instead of STL for best export quality
  • STL files need geometry reconstruction which can increase file size
  • 3MF files preserve the original vertex structure for optimal performance

Bambu Studio Shows "Not from Bambu Lab" Warning

  • This is normal — click "Load geometry and color data" to continue
  • Colors will be imported and can be mapped to your AMS filaments
  • If colors don't appear, try Edit → Flush into objects

Frequently Asked Questions

Can customers save their design and come back later?

Yes! When customers save their design, they get a code. They can bookmark the page or note the code, and their design will be there when they return.

How many colors can I offer?

There's no hard limit, but we recommend 8-20 colors for the best customer experience. Too many options can be overwhelming.

Can I edit a customizer after publishing?

Yes! Click "Edit" on any customizer from your Dashboard. Changes are saved when you click Update. Existing order codes will still work.

What happens if I delete a customizer?

The customizer link will stop working, but existing order codes remain valid. You can still view saved orders in your Order Manager.

Do I need to be online to view orders?

Yes, order data is stored in the cloud. You need an internet connection to load order codes and view customer selections.

Can I export directly to my slicer?

Yes! From the Order Viewer, you can export 3MF files with customer colors already baked in. We support Bambu Studio and PrusaSlicer. Just open the exported file in your slicer and assign filaments — no manual painting needed.

Which slicer should I use for export?

Use "Bambu Studio" export if you have a Bambu Lab printer with AMS. Use "PrusaSlicer" export for Prusa MMU or other multi-material setups. Both formats preserve your customer's exact color selections.

Still Need Help?

We're here to help you succeed.

Email: support@configurastudio.com

Configura
Support Privacy Terms

© 2026 Configura Studio. All rights reserved.