Overview

Vantor Design Studio is a toy car 3D prototyping system. Toy makers and designers turn a sketch, a drawing or a photo into a 3D toy car, shape it and paint every panel, export DXF drawings for the mould maker or the 3D printer, and show the car to buyers and partners before the first prototype is made.

It runs on one system with two sides. The public website is your online showroom: the studio, its services and its toy cars. Every concept is a live 3D car that turns slowly on its card, and every concept opens as a full-screen presentation you can show to a buyer, a retail partner or a trade fair audience: they can turn the car, repaint any panel, open the doors, the hood and the trunk, and follow a tour of the views you prepared. The Studio is where the team works: concept details, the design files that hold each 3D car, the website text and pictures, enquiries from the contact form, users and their rights, and the settings.

This manual is for everyone who signs in to the Studio: managers, designers and the person who looks after the website. The first chapters show how to sign in, what visitors see and how presentations work. The rest follow the Studio menu from top to bottom. Use the search box at the top left to find any word in the manual.

How the pieces fit together

The website and the Studio share one database. What the team saves in the Studio shows on the website straight away; enquiries from visitors arrive in the Studio.

Words used in this manual

1. Getting Started

Everyone on the team works in the same Studio, at the address of your website followed by /Studio. You can also reach it from the small Studio link at the bottom of every website page. What each person sees depends on their rights, so two people may see quite different menus.

1.1 Signing in

The sign-in box.

1. Type your User name. Capital letters don't matter here.
2. Type your Password. Capital letters do matter here.
3. Click Sign in. The Dashboard opens.

You stay signed in on that computer or phone for 8 hours, and the time starts again while you keep using the Studio. ← Back to the website under the box opens the Home page.

1.2 Choosing your own password

When a manager creates your sign-in, or sets a new password for you, you sign in once with the password they gave you. Instead of the dashboard, the box then asks you to Choose your own password.

1. Type a New password of at least 8 characters, different from the one you were given.
2. Type it again in New password again.
3. Click Save and sign in.

Messages you may see: Use at least 8 characters for the new password., The two new passwords are not the same. and Pick a password that is different from the one you were given. If you see Sign in again with the password you were given., reload the page and start again with the manager's password.

1.3 Signing out

Click Sign out at the top right. You go back to the sign-in page and that computer is no longer signed in. Sign out on a shared computer, for example the one in the review room you present from.

If you have a design open with unsaved changes, the Studio first asks whether to save. See Leaving with unsaved changes.

1.4 Finding your way around

Every Studio page has the same frame.

The same page with the menu folded to icons with Collapse.

1.5 What you see depends on your rights

Each person has rights on each menu page. A manager sets them in Users. The rights use five letters:

Your rights shape the Studio in three ways:

• The menu. Only pages you may view are listed. A group with no page you may view is not shown.
• The buttons. Buttons for things you may not do are not shown or are greyed out. For example, without Add on Concepts there is no New concept button.
• Whose work you can change. Without the Edit any concept right, you can change only the concepts you lead and their design files. The others open read-only.

A designer's Studio: fewer menu pages and no messages or activity on the dashboard.

If you open a page you have no right to, for example from an old bookmark, the page says You don't have access to this page. Ask a manager if you need it. with a Back to the dashboard button. Every refused attempt is written to the activity log.

A website editor who opens Design from an old link.

1.6 Windows, questions and messages

• Windows. Many actions open a window over the page, for example a form or a choice. Close it with the ✕ at the top right, by clicking the dimmed area outside it, or with Esc.
• Questions before an action. Actions that can't easily be undone ask first. A red button warns you that something is taken away, for example Delete concept. The other button stops.
• Short messages. After you save, a short message appears at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. Problems with what you typed show in red under the box concerned.
• Times. Recent times show as just now, 12 mins ago or 3 hours ago. Point at one to see the exact date and time.

1.7 Using the Studio on a phone or tablet

The Studio works on phones and tablets. On a narrow screen the left menu folds away:

1. Tap the menu button at the top left. The menu slides in.
2. Tap a page.
3. To close the menu without choosing, tap ✕ or the dimmed page beside it.

Lists turn into cards you can scroll. Sign out is always in the top bar.

The dashboard on a phone, and the same page with the menu open.

1.8 Light and dark

The Studio opens in the theme set under Studio theme in Settings › Website. Anyone can switch for themselves with the sun or moon button in the top bar. Your browser remembers that choice on that computer, and it wins over the Studio theme from then on. The pictures in this manual show the dark theme.

The public website opens in the theme chosen in Settings (dark suits 3D cars on a big screen). Visitors can switch with the same kind of button in the website's top bar, and their browser remembers it.

2. The Public Website

The website has four pages in the top menu — Concepts, About, Services and Contact, with the studio logo leading to Home — plus the full-screen presentation of each concept. The sun or moon button switches between dark and light. On a phone, the menu sits behind the menu button.

The text and pictures of Home, About, Services and Contact are edited in Pages. The concepts come from Concepts and Design, the team on the About page from Users, and the address, phone, email, hours and social links from Settings.

2.1 Home

The top of the Home page with the live 3D car of the first featured concept.

The top of the Home page can show the live 3D car of the first featured concept (in the order set in Concepts). Further down, Featured concepts shows the concepts marked Featured on the home page, each with its slowly turning car (up to six). If no concept is featured, the first three concepts on the website are shown instead. The rest of the page is made of blocks you edit in Pages: numbers, services, steps, a call to action and so on.

2.2 Concepts

Every concept on the website, each as a turning 3D car.

The Concepts page lists every concept that is switched on for the website, in the order set in the Studio. Each card shows the concept's car turning slowly in its own presentation light, with its stage, body style, model year and summary. Click a card to open its presentation.

• Body style and Stage filter the cards. The small number on each chip says how many concepts it has.
• The search box finds concepts by any word in their name, code name, program, body style, stage, model year or summary.
• Light changes how every car on the page is lit: Each concept's own light, or Studio, Outdoor or Night for all of them at once.
• When nothing matches, the page says No concepts match these filters. with a Show all concepts button.

2.3 About and Services

About tells the story of the studio. Its Team block lists everyone marked Show in the team on the About page in Users, with their photo, job title and short bio, in the order set there.

The About page. The team block comes from Users.

Services describes what the studio does, with the blocks set in Pages.

The Services page.

2.4 Contact and the enquiry form

The Contact page shows the studio address, phone and email, the opening hours with a line that says whether the studio is open right now, and the enquiry form.

Studio details and the enquiry form.

After Send enquiry, the visitor sees a thank-you note, for example Your note about a concept design (Compact electric SUV) is with the studio. One of the partners will call or email you within two working days. The enquiry lands in Messages as New and shows on the dashboard.

To stop floods of messages, one email address or one computer can send up to six enquiries in five minutes. After that the form says You have sent several messages in a short time. Please wait a few minutes.

2.5 On a phone

Home and a presentation on a phone.

3. Presentations

Every concept opens as a full-screen presentation: a short deck of slides built around the live 3D car. It is made for the moment you stand in front of a buyer, a retail partner or a trade fair audience. It runs in any modern browser, on a laptop, a big screen or a phone, with nothing to install.

The presentation is built from what the team already keeps in the Studio: the concept details, the design file marked for presenting with its paint, colour sets and views, the renders in the concept's gallery, and the studio's contact details. Change any of these in the Studio and the presentation follows.

3.1 Opening a presentation

• On the website, click a concept card on Concepts or Home.
• In the Studio, click Open presentation on a concept's page, or Preview presentation in Design.
• To show a concept that is not on the website yet, send a private preview link.

The address of a presentation is the website address followed by Present?p= and the concept's web address, for example Present?p=vantor-aero-gt. A presentation remembers which slide is showing (for example #slide-4), so a link can open straight at that slide.

The cover: body style and stage, title, summary, code name, program, stage and model year, over the live car.

3.2 The parts of the screen

The light, unit, Paint, Open, Sizes and Export controls work on the slides that show the 3D car: the cover, the views and Size.

3.3 The slides

The deck is put together for each concept. Slides with nothing to show are left out.

The slides in order. The dark slides show the live 3D car.

A view slide. This view opens the doors, so the cabin shows.

The Size slide with ft chosen at the top.

3.4 Repainting the car live

Anyone watching can repaint the car: click Paint (or press P), or simply click a panel on the car. The paint panel opens on the right.

The paint panel: body colours, the finish, the parts list, quick looks and colour sets.

• Body: twelve ready colours, or any colour with the colour box, and the finish: Gloss, Metallic, Pearl, Matte, Satin or Carbon.
• Left and right sides match: paint one door, mirror or fender and its twin on the other side follows.
• Parts: every panel with its colour. Click one (or click it on the car) to give it its own colour and finish. Parts marked Same as body follow the body colour.
• Quick looks: one click for a ready scheme: Black roof, Black trim, Dark lower body, Sport (red calipers and dark rims), Carbon hood and roof, or All one colour.
• Colour sets: the schemes saved in Design. One click switches the whole car.
• Undo steps back; Back to the original returns to the paint of the design file.

Repainting in a presentation never changes the design file: the next visitor sees the original again. Studio users who may change the concept's design files also see Save as set: type a name and the current paint is saved as a colour set of the design file, ready for the next meeting. A design file keeps up to 24 colour sets.

3.5 Opening the doors, hood and trunk

The Open menu. The hood is open and shows the engine bay.

1. Click Open at the top. A small menu opens.
2. Click Hood, Doors or Trunk to open it; click again to close it. Open all and Close all do everything at once.

You can also double-click a door, the hood or the trunk on the car, or press O to open or close everything. Behind them is a simple engine bay, a cabin with seats and dashboard, and a trunk floor. On SUVs, hatchbacks, wagons and vans the tailgate lifts with the rear window; on a pickup the bed cover lifts. A two-door car has no rear doors. Going to the cover or to the Size slide closes everything again.

3.6 The tour

The tour plays the presentation by itself: every slide in turn, about 7½ seconds on each 3D slide and 6½ seconds on the others. On each view the camera flies to the angle you saved and the car opens, changes light or switches colours as the view says. It is made for a show stand, a reception screen or a client who wants to watch first and ask later.

While the tour plays the Play button turns into Pause, and a thin line above the slide strip runs down the time on the slide.

• Start it with Play the tour on the cover, Play at the bottom left, or T.
• It stops at the last slide. Pause or T stops it at any time.
• Anything you do yourself stops it too: changing slides, dragging the car, opening Paint or the Open menu. That way a presenter can take over at any moment.
• For a show stand that should play again and again, add &tour=loop to the address, for example Present?p=vantor-aero-gt&tour=loop. With &tour=1 the tour starts by itself and stops at the end.

The tour is only as good as its views: save them in the order you want to talk about the car, with a short description each. See Views and the tour.

3.7 Keyboard, clicker and touch

A presentation clicker works out of the box, because clickers send the Page Down and Page Up keys.

After you click into the 3D car, the arrow keys no longer change slides; Page Up and Page Down still do. Drag to turn the car, scroll or pinch to zoom. On a phone or tablet, swipe left or right across the slide (not on the car) to move between slides.

3.8 Switching design files

A concept can have several design files, for example Show car and Variant B, longer tail. Website visitors see only the file marked for presenting (the starred one in Concepts). Two kinds of viewer get a design file list at the top of the presentation and can switch between all files:

• someone who opened a private preview link;
• a signed-in Studio user who opened the presentation from the Studio, for example with Preview presentation in Design, which starts with that design file.

Switching keeps you on the same slide where possible and shows a message such as Showing Variant B, longer tail.

3.9 Private preview links

A private preview link lets you show a presentation to a buyer or a partner before the concept is on the website, or show them all design files. You make it on the concept's page in Concepts (see Sharing a private preview). The link looks like Present?p=nomad-lounge&k=NM3K7QX2PA: the part after k= is a code made for that concept, and the link stops working on the end date you chose.

• Anyone with a working link can open the presentation, even while the concept is hidden, and switch between all design files.
• The cover shows Private preview for a hidden concept. Studio users looking at a hidden concept, or at a file that is not the presented one, see Studio preview.
• Hidden presentations tell search engines not to list them.
• Someone who opens a hidden concept without a working link sees This concept is not available, with buttons to See all concepts or Contact the studio.

3.10 Saving a picture or a drawing

Click Export at the top and choose:

• Picture (JPG) or Picture (PNG): the car as you see it, with the same angle, light, paint, open parts and size lines. The picture is made 1,920 pixels wide and named after the concept and the slide, for example vantor-aero-gt-doors-open.jpg. A short message says Picture saved. Use it for a quick email to a client, or upload it to the Media library as a render.
• Drawing (DXF, one sheet) or Drawings (4 DXF files, zip): the design being shown, as AutoCAD drawings with side, top, front and rear views and their sizes, the same as Export in Design (see Exporting a DXF drawing). Paint changes made in the presentation do not change the drawing.

Who sees the two drawing choices is set in Settings › Website › Drawings in presentations: everyone (the first setting), or Studio users only. With Studio users only, visitors and private preview links see the two picture choices only.

3.11 Tips for presenting

• Before the meeting, open the presentation on the screen you will use and press F. The 3D car takes a few seconds to load the first time.
• Prepare the views in Design in the order you want to talk: three-quarter front, side, the doors open, the rear, the cargo space. Give each a description, so the slide speaks for itself when a buyer looks at it later on their own.
• Prepare two or three colour sets and let the buyers switch between them in the paint panel. If they come up with a new scheme in the room, save it with Save as set.
• Comparing proportions? Send a private preview link and switch design files live in the meeting.
• On a phone the deck works the same way; the paint panel opens over the lower half of the screen.

4. Dashboard

The dashboard is the first page after you sign in. It greets you by name with the date, and shows what is happening in the studio right now. Everyone who can sign in can open it; what it shows depends on your rights.

A manager's dashboard while a designer has a design open.

4.1 The tiles at the top

4.2 Open now

Lists every design someone has open for editing: concept and design file, who has it, when they opened it and when they last changed something. The heading reminds you of the rule, for example Locks close after 30 minutes without changes (the time comes from Settings). When nobody is editing, it says Nobody has a design open right now.

A design open by a designer, seen by a manager.

Managers (anyone with the Force unlock right on Design) see an Unlock button next to designs other people have open. The browser asks first. Use it only when someone left a design open and can't be reached; see A manager unlocks a design.

4.3 Recent saves

The most recently saved design versions, newest first: concept and file, a label with the version number, who saved it last, when, and its note. The label says how that version began: Saved (the first version of a file), Version up or Rollback. Because Save updates the current version, a file you keep saving moves to the top with the same number. All designs → opens Design.

4.4 New messages and recent activity

New messages shows the newest unanswered enquiries with the sender, company, what they need, the time and the start of the message. Open Messages to answer them.

Recent activity (for people with the Activity log right) shows the last entries of the Activity log. Refused attempts are shown in red. Activity log → opens the full log.

4.5 Your areas

At the bottom, Your areas lists every page you can open, grouped like the menu, with one line on what each is for. It is a quick way to see what your rights allow.

5. Concepts

Concepts holds every toy car of the studio: its name and details, whether it shows on the website, who leads it, its design files and its pictures. Open it from Work › Concepts.

Every concept with its body style, stage, designer, design files, website switch and last change. A star marks a concept featured on Home.

5.1 The list

Each row shows the cover picture, the concept name with its code name and program, body style, stage, the designer who leads it, how many design files it has, whether it is on the website and when it last changed. Search finds a name, code name or program; Body style, Stage, Designer and On the website narrow the list. Click a row to open the concept.

The switch in the On website column shows or hides a concept at once, for the people who may change it. The line under the page title tells you what you can do: change any concept (managers), change the concepts you lead (designers), or only look.

5.2 Making a new concept

A new concept needs only a name and a body style.

1. Click New concept (needs the Add right on Concepts).
2. Type the Concept name and pick the Body style: Sedan, Coupe, Convertible, CUV, SUV, Hatchback, Wagon, Roadster, Pickup or Van.
3. Click Make concept. Concept made. Add the details, then start a design file.

You lead the new concept, and it stays hidden from the website until you show it.

5.3 Details and the website

A concept's page: details on the left, website, designer and delete on the right.

In the Website box:

• Show on the website: the concept is on Concepts and its presentation is open to everyone.
• Featured on the home page: the concept shows in Featured concepts on Home, and the first featured concept can fill the top of the Home page.
• Order: lower numbers come first (0 to 9999).
• Presentation light: Studio, Outdoor or Night: the light the car is shown in on the cards and when its presentation opens.

Click Save at the top: … saved. Open presentation opens it in a new tab.

5.4 Who leads a concept

The person who made the concept leads it. The Designer box shows who that is, with the created and updated dates. The designer can change the concept and its design files; other designers can only look at it. A manager (the Edit any concept right) can hand it to someone else with Leads the concept: only designers and managers can lead a concept.

5.5 Design files

The design files of a concept and its pictures. The starred file is the one the website presents.

A design file holds one car: its body, sizes, wheels, paint, colour sets and views. Make several to compare variants. Each row shows the version, who saved it last and when, and whether it is Free or open in Design right now.

• New design: give it a Name and choose Start from A new body (pick the body style) or A copy of another design file (its current version). A concept holds up to 20 design files.
• Open in Design opens the file in the car editor.
• Rename, for example to Variant B or Show car.
• Present this one makes the file the one the website presents. The star moves to it.
• Delete removes the file and its saved versions for good. If it is the presented file, you first choose which file the website presents instead. The only design file can't be deleted.

5.6 Cover and render gallery

The Pictures box holds the cover and the render gallery. They are kept with the concept: changing or deleting a picture in the Media library later does not change them.

• Cover: shown on cards before the 3D car has loaded, on devices that can't show 3D, and on The concept slide. Change picture picks one from the Media library or uploads one; Remove takes it away.
• Select from a view makes the cover straight from the 3D car: pick the Design file and one of its views, choose Full HD or 4K, and click Use this picture.
• Render gallery: the pictures of the Renders slide, up to 24. Add pictures picks several from the Media library at once. Give each a caption; the arrows change the order and the bin removes one.

Making the cover from a saved view of the 3D car.

Pictures uploaded from your computer are JPG, PNG or WebP, up to the size set in Settings (15 MB unless changed) and 20,000 pixels on each side.

5.7 Sharing a private preview

A working preview link with its end date.

1. On the concept's page, under Private preview link, choose how long the Link works for: 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 or 90 days.
2. Click Make a preview link. Preview link ready for 14 days. Any older link no longer works.
3. Click Copy and send the link to the people who should see the concept. Open tries it yourself.

The box then shows Works until and the date. Later you can:

• Set new end date: the same link works for the chosen number of days from now. After the end date the box says This link expired on … and the button reads Turn back on.
• New code: a new link; the old one stops at once.
• Stop sharing: the link stops working.

Anyone with the link can open the presentation and switch between all design files, even while the concept is hidden. Website visitors only see the file marked for presenting.

5.8 Deleting a concept

Delete concept (in the box at the bottom right) removes the concept, every design file with its history, and the pictures kept with it, for good. The Studio asks first; Keep it stops. The Media library is not changed. To take a concept off the website without losing anything, untick Show on the website instead, or set its stage to Shelved.

6. Design

Design is where the cars are made. Each design file holds one 3D car: you set its body style, sizes and shape, take its outline from a drawing or a photo if you have one, paint every panel, save colour sets and the views of the presentation. Save keeps your work in the current version; Version up keeps that version as it is in the history and starts the next one, so every milestone stays available.

Open it from Work › Design, or with Open in Design next to a design file on a concept's page.

6.1 Opening a design

Pick a design file. It opens for editing when nobody else has it open.

Work › Design first shows every concept with its design files: each file's version, who saved it last and when, and whether it is Free or open right now. Hidden concepts say hidden from the website. The search box at the top right finds concepts and design files. Each file has a button on the right: Edit when you can change it and it is free (or already open by you), otherwise View.

Whether you can change the file depends on three things:

• Your rights. You need the Edit right on Design.
• The concept. You must lead the concept, or have the Edit any concept right (managers).
• Nobody else has it open. Only one person can change a design at a time.

If all three are true, the file opens for editing and the header says Editing. Otherwise it opens View only: you can turn the car, open its doors, look at the paint, the views and the old versions, but not change anything.

6.2 The editor

The editor: the header with the save buttons, the 3D car with its toolbar, and the side panel with its tabs.

6.3 Shape: body, wheels and look

Every change shows on the car at once. Sizes can be typed in the units chosen at the top: in mm you can type 4850 or 4.85 m; in ft you can type 15' 11, 15.9 or 191".

The side windows follow the body: the front window reaches forward to a thin pillar beside the windshield, and cars with a tailgate (SUV, CUV, Hatchback, Wagon, Van) get a rear quarter window behind the rear door; sedans, coupes and convertibles keep a solid pillar there.

A size outside its range is set to the nearest allowed value. Without the Edit right the fields are greyed out.

6.4 Outline from a drawing or photo

The side outline of the car (roof line, hood, tail and the wheel arches) starts from the body style. If you have a side view of the car, the Studio can take the outline, the size and the wheels from it. You can fine-tune everything afterwards.

Your original files stay on your computer. A trimmed copy of each drawing (only the car's lines, usually 20 to 100 KB) and of each photo is saved with the design so the outline can be edited later: photos as a smaller copy (about 1,100 pixels wide for the side, 900 for the others), so the outline can be edited later; the copies are only shown inside the Studio.

Four boxes, one per view: Side, Front, Rear and Top. Only the side view is needed.

The window has tabs at the top: All, Side, Front, Rear and Top. All shows the four views side by side (one under the other on a phone); a view that is in has a tick on its tab, a DXF or Photo tag, Replace and, except for Side, × to remove it. Click a picture or its tab to work on that view on its own, full size. Each box takes a DXF drawing or a JPG, PNG or WebP photo: the Studio tells from the file which it is. Click the box, or drop the file on it.

1. On the Shape tab, click From a drawing or photo.
2. Click Add side view and pick the file. A DXF sheet that holds several views fills the other boxes too.
3. Photos only: mark the wheels. Two rings labelled Front wheel and Rear wheel appear on the photo. Fit each ring to a wheel: drag the middle dot to move it, the side dot for its width and the top dot for its height. Pick the Body style of the car in the photo (it starts with the design's style; choosing another one also changes the design's style when you use the outline) and check Front of the car (Left or Right); for an angled photo it starts on the side of the bigger wheel. The line under the photo says how it was taken, for example The photo is seen about 28° from the side, one wheel 15% smaller, ground line tilted 2°. It will be straightened into a side view. For a straight side photo it says the photo is used as it is. A small picture is enlarged so it is easy to work on, and the window says so: This picture is small (… pixels); a larger one traces more accurately. Click Next: the outline.
4. The Side tab shows the side view (for an angled photo, the straightened picture) with the outline found in it (the orange line), its dots, and the two wheels labelled Front wheel and Rear wheel.
5. Correct what is wrong:
   • drag a dot on the orange line to move that part of the outline; click the line between two dots to add a dot there, and double-click a dot to remove it;
   • drag a wheel's middle dot to move it, or its ring to change its size;
   • drag the blue dashed Window line up or down to the bottom of the side windows (drag its white end dot to tilt it), Window top to their top edge, and the blue Hood mark left or right to where the hood meets the windshield (the front door starts just behind it). Rear glass line (checked at the start) shows a third mark for where the rear glass meets the trunk or tailgate; unchecked, the rear glass sits where the body style usually puts it. For an angled photo the lines start where the body style usually has them;
   • or click Trace by hand and click along the top edge of the car from one end to the other, then click Done (Remove last point takes back a click). Back to the found line drops your own line and puts the blue lines back where they started.
6. Check Front of the car: Left or Right, and the Real length. A drawing that says its units sets the length for you; otherwise it is a guess and the window says so. For a photo, type it.
7. For a photo, Use the photo’s body colour (checked at the start) paints the car in the colour read from the side of the car between the wheels; the small square shows it. Light and shade change colours in a photo, so it is close rather than exact. Click Pick on the photo and then a spot on the car to take the colour from there instead.
8. Move Smooth the outline between Exact and Smooth. For a photo, Background sets how much of the picture counts as the car (Pick up more or Pick up less); moving it finds the line again and drops your own changes to it.
9. The line under the picture sums up what will be used, for example 4,655 mm long · 1,314 mm high · 1,927 mm wide · wheelbase 2,830 mm · tyres 710 mm across. Click Use this outline. The Studio asks Use this outline?: click Use and save to use it and save the design straight away (a normal save, not a new version), or Cancel to go back to the window. A short message says Outline used and saved.

6.5 Front, rear and top views

These views are optional. Add them on All, or on their own tab. Their size always comes from the side view when you click Use this outline: a drawing uses its own units (or, without units, the scale of the side drawing); a front or rear photo is scaled to the car's height, and a top photo to its length. So take front, rear and top photos straight on.

The Front tab: the outline, the middle line, and boxes for the headlamp, grille and fog lamp.

On the Front and Rear tabs, drag each coloured box onto the part in the picture and drag its corners to fit it: Headlamp (blue), Grille (yellow, always centred), Lower grille (green, always centred), Fog lamp (purple) and Rear lamp (blue). The dashed copy on the other side follows. The style buttons under the picture set each part's style; moving a box guesses one from its shape (a box across the middle is a light bar, a square one round, a long thin one slim) until you click a style yourself. None under Lower grille or Fog lamps leaves them out. When you use the outline, the boxes set the Width, Height, Position and Side position of those parts on the Exterior tab, and a box shaped like a wide rectangle picks the Rectangle headlamp. A light band shows the nose face, where these parts can sit on the car, and a dashed box over each part shows where it will land. When a box reaches outside the band, the dashed box shows where the part stops and the line under the picture says so. For a drawing exported from the Studio the boxes start on its lamps and grille; otherwise they start where the design has them, so move them onto the real parts.

Put the outline on the body, not on the mirrors or a shadow. The line under the picture says what the view gives, for example Width 1,980 mm · narrows 13% toward the roof · roundness 0%. If a photo's background is busy, move Background or drag the dots. If the car is not found, the box shows Car not found.

The views are checked against the side view. A size more than 2% away, for example a top view shorter than the side view, gets a red Size does not match tag and is named under the picture; it is a warning only. A width outside 1,400 to 2,600 mm is left out until you fix that view.

On a plain background the line follows the car's outline against the background. On a busy background (trees, hills, buildings, a road) the line instead follows the strongest edges where the roof and the hood are expected for the chosen body style, guided by the two wheels; the window then says The line follows the edges of the car, guided by the wheels. Either way it is a starting point: drag the dots where it is off. The Body style picked with the wheels guides the line, so make sure it matches the car.

If the line touches the edge of the picture, or the car looks too long and flat (or too short and tall) for a side view, the window says so in orange: This does not look like a straight side view on a plain background. Check the line, drag its points, or trace it by hand.

A DXF sheet with side, front and top views fills three boxes. Its front view is drawn without wheels, so it is shorter than the side view and is marked.

The Shape tab then says where the outline came from, for example From the drawing Sample_Concept.dxf (side, top, front views). Back to the style outline returns to the outline of the body style. Undo works too.

6.6 Editing the outline later

Click Edit outline on the Shape tab to change the outline at any time, also after closing and opening the design again.

• For a design made from a photo, the window opens on the saved photo with your dots, the Window line, the Hood mark and the wheels as you left them. Back to the wheels lets you fit the rings again.
• For any other design (a body style or a drawing), the window shows the current outline on a grid of 250 mm squares, with the wheels and the sills. Drag the dots and the blue lines; moving the ends changes the length, raising the roof changes the height. Start again puts everything back.
• For a design made from a drawing, the window opens on the saved drawing with your dots, wheels and lines as you left them.
• Front, rear and top views, drawings and photos, come back on their tabs with your dots, middle and ground lines, and boxes.
• Designs made from a drawing before drawings were kept open on the grid, and their front, rear and top boxes are empty: add the files again to change them.

Click Use this outline and Use and save to rebuild the 3D and save; Undo takes it back. Using an outline again replaces any changes made with Edit body.

6.7 Exporting a DXF drawing

Click Export in the toolbar above the car and choose one of the two drawing options. The file is named after the concept, the design and its version and downloads at once. It shows the car as it is on screen, unsaved changes included.

• Drawing (DXF, one sheet): one file (for example Terra Trail - Review model v3.dxf) with the side, top, front and rear views, drawn at full size in millimetres (see Size and scale for toy sizes).
• Drawings (4 DXF files, zip): one zip with four files, one view each (… - side.dxf, - top.dxf, - front.dxf, - rear.dxf). Each view starts at 0,0 and has its own dimensions and the size table. The four files are zipped because browsers block several downloads from one click.
• Layers: OUTLINE (body), GLASS (windows), PANELS (door, hood, cowl and trunk lines, character lines; the hood outline and hood lines in the top view), WHEELS, PARTS (mirrors, handles, molding, exhaust, roof rails, antenna, rear wiper), LAMPS (head and rear lamps), GRILLE, LGRILLE (lower grille), FOGLAMPS, TEXT and DIMS.
• Real dimensions for length, wheelbase, front and rear overhang, height, tyre diameter and width; they can be moved and restyled like any other dimension.
• A size table: concept, body style, doors, length, width, height, wheelbase, overhangs and tyres.

The file is an AutoCAD 2000 DXF. Open it in AutoCAD with File > Open (choose the DXF file type) and use Save As to keep it as a DWG; DraftSight, BricsCAD, LibreCAD and Fusion open it too. Either export can be brought back with From a drawing or photo: pick the sheet, or pick the side file and add the top, front and rear files. The length, width, wheelbase and tyres come back exactly.

6.8 Size and scale

The 3D car is drawn at real car size, in millimetres: every size on the Shape tab, the size bar and the DXF drawings are full-size. A toy car is the same car scaled down, so you design the shape at real size and scale it when you make the toy.

In AutoCAD (or DraftSight, BricsCAD): open the exported DXF, type SCALE, select everything, pick 0,0 as the base point and type the factor, for example 1/64. The dimensions measure again at toy size (4,720 becomes 74). Text and dimension arrows shrink by the same amount, so raise DIMSCALE and the text height afterwards, or turn off the TEXT and DIMS layers before you print.

For 3D printing: set the scale in your modelling or slicer software instead, for example 1.5625% for 1:64.

6.9 Bending the body by hand

Instead of typing sizes you can shape the body with the mouse, like pushing clay:

1. Click Edit body in the toolbar. A short message explains what to do and the pointer turns into a cross.
2. Grab the roof, the hood or the trunk and drag up or down to raise or lower that part of the body line.
3. Grab a side (a door, fender or quarter) and drag outward or inward to make that part of the body wider or narrower. This works best when you look at the car from the front, the back or above.
4. Let go. The car is redrawn and the change can be taken back with Undo.

The change is strongest where you grabbed and fades out smoothly along the car, so the line stays clean. The doors, lights, panels and paint follow the new shape. Pulling the highest point of the roof up makes the car taller, and pulling the widest point out makes it wider: the Height and Width fields follow. Dragging the floor still turns the car; the wheels, mirrors and open parts can't be bent. Click Edit body again to switch it off; grab the bottom or the top edge of the side windows to move the Window line or the Window top up or down (the sliders follow); tapping Ctrl on its own (press and let go, without another key) switches it on or off too. It is there only while you are editing.

6.10 Exterior parts

The Exterior tab with the Front group open: a light bar for headlamps and turbine rims on the car.

The Exterior tab gives each part a style and a size. The parts are in four groups: Front, Side, Rear and Roof. The groups start closed; each header shows a short summary of the chosen styles, and a click opens or closes it. The groups you open stay open until you close the page. Click a style and the car changes at once; move the sliders to adjust it. Colours stay on the Paint tab (the new parts, like Exhaust tips, Roof rails and Soft top, appear there when the car has them). Back to the standard parts returns every part to its first style.

The Roof parts are hidden while the roof is open. The roof rails and antenna appear in the side, front, rear and top views of the DXF drawings, the roof lines in the top view and the rear wiper in the rear view.

The headlamps, rear lamps, fog lamps, grille and lower grille can also be set by drawing boxes on a front or rear view. See Front, rear and top views.

Lamps and the grille are drawn as separate pieces laid on the body, with clean edges and a dark rim. The parts are drawn by the Studio, so they show the idea and the proportions rather than a finished part. The website and the presentation show them the same way.

6.11 Paint

The Paint tab with the front door chosen.

• Body colour: the colour box and the finish: Gloss, Metallic, Pearl, Matte, Satin or Carbon.
• Left and right sides match: the doors, fenders, quarters, skirts and mirrors of both sides share one colour, and the list shows each pair once.
• Parts: click a part in the list, or click it on the car (it glows briefly). Untick Same as body to give it its own colour and finish. The grille, rims and brake calipers always have their own colour.

The parts are: hood, front bumper, grille, front fenders, front doors, rear doors, rear quarters, side skirts, mirrors, roof, pillars, trunk, rear bumper, rims and brake calipers. On a 2-door car the rear doors are part of the rear quarters.

6.12 Quick looks and colour sets

Quick looks and the colour sets of the design.

Quick looks paint a ready scheme over the current paint in one click: Black roof (roof and pillars), Black trim (mirrors, grille, rims), Dark lower body (bumpers and skirts), Sport (red brake calipers, dark rims, carbon mirrors), Carbon hood and roof, and All one colour (every part back to the body colour). Undo takes a quick look back.

Colour sets are named paint schemes for the presentation, for example Launch edition:

1. Paint the car.
2. Type a name under Colour sets and click Save as set. Colour set “Launch edition” saved. A set with the same name is replaced.
3. Use paints the car with a set; ✕ deletes it. Save the design to keep the changes.

A design keeps up to 24 colour sets. People who can only look at the design see Show instead of Use.

6.13 Views and the tour

The Views tab. The third view opens the doors.

Views are the stops of the presentation tour: each becomes a slide, in the order of the list. A view keeps a camera angle, a name, a short description, which parts are open, and if you like a light and a colour set.

1. Turn and zoom the car to the angle you want. Open the hood, doors or trunk if the view should show them.
2. Type a name, for example Three-quarter front, and click Add this view. The open parts are kept with the view.
3. Write a short description: what to look at in this view. It shows on the slide.
4. Under the description, Hood, Doors and Trunk say what the view opens; click one to change it.
5. Light: Keep as it is, or switch to Studio, Outdoor or Night when the slide comes.
6. Colours: Keep as they are, or switch to one of the colour sets when the slide comes.

On each view, Go shows it on the car (camera, open parts, light and colours), Set replaces its camera and open parts with what you see now, ↑ moves it up and ✕ deletes it. A design keeps up to 24 views; names have up to 60 characters and descriptions up to 400.

6.14 Saving and versions

A design file has a version number, shown next to its name (v3). You always work on the current version.

Version up asks for an optional note, for example Board review set, longer tail. The box says Version 3 is saved and kept as it is in the history. You go on working on version 4. The note goes on the version that is kept.

Every save updates the website car, the presentation and the concept's Updated time at once. If the server does not answer: The server did not answer. Your changes are still here. Try again.

6.15 History and rollback

The versions of a design, newest first.

The History tab lists the last 200 versions, newest first, each with its number, how it began (Created, Saved, Version up, Autosave, Rolled back, Unlocked by manager), who saved it last, when, and its note.

1. Click a version to look at it. The car shows that version and a bar says Looking at v2 … Read only.
2. Back to my design (or Esc) returns.
3. To bring it back while you are editing, click Roll back to this version, then Roll back. The box explains, for example: Version 3 stays in the history as it was last saved, and version 2 comes back as version 4. Nothing is lost, and you can roll forward again. If you had unsaved changes, they are replaced, but Ctrl+Z brings them back.

Rolling back never deletes versions. The new version is marked Rolled back.

6.16 One person at a time

When you open a design for editing, the Studio locks it to you. Everyone else who opens it sees it read-only, with a yellow bar: In use by Sofia Lind since 8:29 PM — view only. Their page checks every 30 seconds; Check again checks at once. When you close the design, their bar turns green, The design is free now, with an Open for editing button.

A manager opens the design a designer is editing. It is read-only; as a manager she also gets an Unlock button.

How a lock starts and ends. The idle time is set in Settings (30 minutes unless changed).

While you edit, your window tells the server every 30 seconds that it is still open. That is how the Studio knows a window has really gone away: two minutes without that signal and the design is free again.

6.17 Idle: saved and closed for you

A design left open without changes blocks everyone else. So after the idle time set in Settings with no activity, the Studio closes it for you.

• Two minutes before, a yellow bar counts down and adds Your changes are saved before it closes. or It closes so others can open it. Moving the mouse or clicking Keep working starts the time again.
• If nobody reacts, unsaved changes are saved into the current version, the design is closed, and a box says Saved and closed after 30 minutes without activity. Nothing is lost. Reopen opens it again.

6.18 When someone else has it open, and unlocking

When you see In use by … — view only, you can look, open the doors, read the history and play the views. Wait until they close it (the bar turns green), or ask them to save and leave. If they are away, the lock ends by itself after the idle time, or two minutes after their window closed. Want to try an idea meanwhile? Make a copy with New design › A copy of on the concept's page.

A manager (the Force unlock right) sees Unlock in the yellow bar and on the dashboard under Open now. Unlocking asks first: the other person's last save is kept in the design, and the Activity log notes the unlock. After Unlock the manager's window opens the design for editing.

The person who had it open sees, as soon as their window next talks to the server, a red bar Editing stopped with the reason, and that their unsaved changes are still in the window:

• Copy my changes as a new design saves what is in the window as a new design file in the same concept, named like Show car (copy). This needs the Add right on Design.
• Open again reloads the design. With unsaved changes it asks Open again without your changes? first.

6.19 Leaving with unsaved changes

If you click a menu link, Sign out or another link while there are unsaved changes, the Studio asks whether to save first: Save and leave saves into the current version and goes on, Leave without saving drops the changes, Stay here stays. Either way of leaving closes the design so others can open it. Closing the browser tab with unsaved changes makes the browser itself ask.

When you are done for now, the quickest way out is Save & close.

6.20 View only for other reasons

A blue bar explains why you can't edit:

• Only the concept's designer or a manager can change this design. — you are a designer, but not on this concept.
• You can look at designs but not change them. — you have only the View right on Design.

6.21 Small screens

Editing needs a window at least 760 pixels wide. On a phone or a narrow window the design opens with Use a larger screen to edit — view only. The editor needs a window at least 760 pixels wide. You can still turn the car and read its sizes and history. Opening a design on a phone never locks it, so it doesn't block a colleague at their desk.

6.22 Keyboard shortcuts

On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl for saving, undo and redo; Edit body uses the Control key.

7. Pages

Pages is where you change the text and pictures of the four website pages: Home, About, Services and Contact. Each page is a stack of blocks — a page top, text, cards, numbers and so on — that you edit right on a preview of the page. Open it from Website › Pages.

The Home page in the editor. Click any text to change it.

7.1 Changing text and pictures

1. Pick the page with the tabs Home, About, Services, Contact.
2. Click any text and type. Select words to make them bold or a link (a page name like Concepts or Contact, or a full address starting with https://).
3. Click a picture box (Add a picture or video) to choose from the Media library, or upload a new photo right there.
4. Buttons have a label and a link: Main button and Second button.
5. Click Save page. Home saved. It is live on the website.

Unsaved changes are marked next to the buttons, and leaving asks first. Open page opens the page on the website.

7.2 Moving, hiding and adding blocks

• Drag a block by its handle (the dots), or use the up and down arrows, to move it.
• Hide keeps a block but hides it on the website; Show brings it back.
• The bin removes a block after asking. It disappears from the page when you save; use Hide to keep it for later.
• Some blocks have items, for example cards or steps. A block can have up to 12 items.

Blocks marked From your data — Featured concepts on Home, Team on About, and Contact details and form on Contact — take their content from Concepts, Users and Settings. They can't be removed, but you can move them, change their titles or hide them.

7.3 Versions

Versions lists the last 20 saved versions of the page. Restore next to one makes it live right away; the current version stays in the list, so you can switch back. People with only the View right on Pages see the pages read-only.

8. Media Library

The media library holds the studio's renders, photos, videos and PDF documents. Concept covers and galleries, staff portraits and the website pages all pick their files from here. When a concept uses a library picture, it keeps its own copy, so you can change or delete the library picture later without changing the concept. Open it from Website › Media library.

Each item shows its name, kind, size, tags and whether it is used.

8.1 Uploading

People with the Add right see three panels at the top. Click one to open it.

Tags help you find files later and steer the choosers: the cover and gallery chooser in Concepts opens on renders, and the photo list in Users puts portraits first. A good tag set is render plus the concept name, for example render, aero gt.

8.2 Finding files

The chips All, Photos, Videos, PDFs show how many there are of each. Search looks in name, tag and description; Tag picks one tag; Used shows files in use or not used yet.

8.3 Details, changing and deleting

A render with the places it is used on.

Click a file to open it. You can change its name, tags and description, play a video or open a PDF, and see its type, size, who added it and when, and every page or block that uses it. With the Edit right you can replace the file or change a video's cover picture.

Deleting needs the Delete right. A file that is still used can't be deleted: the Studio names where it is used. Choose another picture in those places first, then delete it.

9. Messages

Messages holds the enquiries sent with the form on the Contact page. Reply by email, then mark the message replied or done. Open it from Website › Messages.

Open messages, newest first, with the counts at the top right.

9.1 The list

The top right counts new, replied and done messages. Search finds a name, email, company or words; Status shows Open (not done) (the default), New, Replied, Done or Everything; Service narrows by what they need. Each row shows the sender, the service with budget and start, the start of the message, when it arrived and its status.

9.2 Answering

A message with the sender's details, the answer buttons and the team note.

1. Click a message. It shows its status, when it arrived, email, phone, company, service, vehicle, budget, start and the message.
2. Click Reply by email. Your email program opens with the subject Your enquiry to Vantor Design Studio and a friendly first line.
3. Back in the Studio, a question asks Did you send the reply? Click Mark replied.
4. Write a Team note (Only the studio sees this note), for example Called back on Tuesday. Review booked for Friday., and click Save note.
5. When the enquiry is finished, click Mark done.

The status shows who handled it. With the Delete right, Delete removes a message and its note for good. People with only View can read messages but not change them.

10. Users and Permissions

Users holds everyone who can sign in to the Studio, their role, which areas they can open, and who shows on the About page. Open it from Studio › Users.

The user list.

10.1 The list

Each row shows the name and title, user name, role, how many concepts they lead, status (Active or Inactive, and New password at next sign-in), last sign-in, and whether they are on the About page. Search finds name, user name or title; Role and Show narrow the list. Click a row to open the person.

10.2 Adding a user

1. Click Add user.
2. Under Who: Full name, Job title (shown under their name), User name (3 to 40 lowercase letters, numbers, dots, dashes or underscores), Role, Email and Phone.
3. Under Password: a starting password of at least 8 characters, twice. Give it to them in person. They choose their own password the first time they sign in.
4. Under About page: tick Show in the team on the About page if they should appear there, set the Order in the team, pick a Photo from the media library (or No photo for initials), and write a Short bio. A bio is needed when they are shown.
5. Click Save.

A new person starts with the default rights of their role. If the user name is taken: Someone already uses this user name. Pick another.

10.3 A person's page

Details, sign-in and permissions of one person.

• Details: role, concepts they lead, email, phone, About page and bio. Edit details opens the same form as Add user. Changing the role also resets their rights to that role's defaults.
• Their activity opens the activity log filtered to this person.
• Sign-in: user name, status, last sign-in, and on how many devices they are signed in now.
• Set a new password: they are signed out everywhere and choose their own password the next time they sign in. Tell them the new password in person.
• Sign out everywhere: ends all their sessions, for example after a lost laptop.
• Make inactive: they can't sign in and are not shown on the About page; they are signed out at once. Make active again undoes it.
• Delete (Added by mistake?): only for someone who never did anything. Otherwise: Make them inactive instead: they can't sign in, and the records keep their name.

10.4 Permissions

The Permissions box lists every Studio page by menu group (Work, Website, Studio). Open a group and tick what the person can do on each page: View, Add, Edit, Delete and the page's extra right (Edit any concept, Force unlock). View comes with any other tick. Then click Save permissions. Reset to … defaults ticks the defaults of the person's role; save to keep them.

• Everyone who can sign in opens the dashboard, so Dashboard is always on.
• Managers always have every right.
• Someone who is not a manager but has rights on Users can help with accounts, with limits: they can only give rights they have themselves (the others are greyed out), and they can't change managers.

10.5 Roles and default rights

The default permissions of a role.

The tab Roles and default rights lists the roles with how many people have each. Click a role to see and change its default permissions, then save. Saving changes the defaults only: people who already have this role keep their own permissions until you reset them.

Add role makes a new role with a name and an order in lists. A new role starts with no permissions; tick its defaults after saving. Rename changes a role's name. Delete role works only for a role nobody has. The manager role can't be deleted or changed.

10.6 Default rights of each role

X on Concepts is Edit any concept; X on Design is Force unlock. Without Edit any concept, Edit on Concepts and on Design applies only to the concepts the person leads.

11. Settings

Studio details, the look of the website, opening hours, design locks and concept file sizes. There are four tabs; each tab is saved on its own with its own button, and a message confirms what changed. Open it from Studio › Settings. Changes show on the website within about 30 seconds.

11.1 Firm

Click Save firm details.

11.2 Website

• Accent colour: buttons, links and the logo on the website and in the Studio.
• Website theme and Studio theme: Dark or Light, the theme each opens in. Each person can still switch with the sun or moon button, and their own choice comes first.
• Units: Metric (mm) or Imperial (ft and in): what people see first in Design and in presentations. Anyone can switch between mm and ft there, and their choice is remembered on their computer. Sizes are always stored in mm, so switching never changes a car.
• Drawings in presentations: who can download DXF drawings from Export in a presentation: Everyone, also website visitors (the first setting) or Studio users only. Pictures can always be saved.
• Social links: the links shown in the website footer, in the order of the list. Each row has a name, a link that starts with https://, and Show. Add, move and remove rows; untick Show to keep a link without showing it.

Click Save website settings.

11.3 Opening hours

For each day, tick Open and set the opening and closing time. The Contact page shows the hours and whether the studio is open right now. The closing time must be after the opening time. Click Save opening hours.

11.4 Design files

• Close idle designs after: from 15 to 240 minutes (30 unless changed). When someone leaves a design open without changing anything, it is saved and closed for them after this time, so others can work on it. A design whose window was closed is free again after 2 minutes.
• Largest concept picture: from 1 to 50 MB for each picture (15 unless changed). Concept pictures you upload from your computer are kept in the database with their concept. The line under it shows how much is stored now.

For a car outline, a smaller copy of each photo and a trimmed copy of each drawing (only the car's lines) are kept with the design so the outline can be edited later; the original files stay on the designer's computer. Click Save design settings. People with only the View right see the settings read-only.

12. Activity Log

Sign-ins, saves, locks and every important change, newest first: who did what, to what, and from where. Open it from Studio › Activity log.

Each row: when, who, the action, its target, OK or Failed, and the IP address.

• Who: everyone, the website (not signed in, for example contact form messages), or one person.
• From and To: a date range.
• Action or target: a word to look for, for example signin, design save or Aero.
• Failed only: only refused or failed attempts, such as wrong passwords or someone trying a page they have no right to.

The log shows 50 rows per page. Download list (CSV) saves the rows that match your filters as a spreadsheet file, up to 5,000 rows.

Typical actions: signin, password change, concept add, concept save, concept shown, concept hidden, concept preview link, design add, design open, design save, design autosave, design version up, design close, design lock taken, design unlock, design rollback, colour set saved, save page, upload photo, delete media, website message, add user, permissions, set password, change settings.

13. My Account

Click My account at the bottom of the menu, or your name in the top bar.

Your password, and a summary of what you can do.

13.1 Changing your password

1. Type your Current password.
2. Type a New password of at least 8 characters, and again in New password again.
3. Click Save new password. Your new password is saved.

Other places where you are signed in are signed out. If the current password is wrong: The current password is not right. After six wrong tries in five minutes, it is refused for a few minutes even when right.

13.2 What you can do

The right-hand box sums up your rights in plain words, for example that you are a manager who can edit any concept and unlock a design someone else has open, or a designer who can change the concepts you lead.

14. Going Live

This chapter is for the person who installs the website and the Studio on a server: what you need, the database, the settings file, the folders, the first sign-in and the order in which to fill in the studio's details.

14.1 What you need

• A Windows server with IIS and the .NET 10 Hosting Bundle, or any host that runs .NET 10 web apps.
• Microsoft SQL Server (Express is enough for one studio) and SQL Server Management Studio to run the setup script.
• Room for the database to grow: concept pictures are stored in it. SQL Server 2025 Express allows 50 GB per database (10 GB on SQL Server 2022 and older). Settings › Design files shows how much the concept pictures take.
• A web address with HTTPS. Staff passwords and your clients' enquiries travel over it, so never run the live site on plain HTTP.
• Browsers with WebGL for the 3D cars: any current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Older devices see the cover pictures instead.

14.2 Create the database

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your server.
2. Open data/CarPrototype_Init.sql (in the website's data folder) and run it. It creates the database CarPrototype, its tables and indexes, and the starting rows: the Studio menus, the three roles (Manager, Designer, Website editor) with their default rights, and the starting settings.
3. Create a SQL sign-in for the website with read and write rights on that database, or use one you already have.

14.3 The settings file

The file appConfig/application.cfg holds the few settings that belong to the server rather than to the studio. Open it in a text editor and change these lines (keep the others as they are):

app.app.runmode | 1
app.Settings.encryptkey | (a long random text of your own)
app.sqldb.source | (your SQL Server name)
app.sqldb.catalog | CarPrototype
app.sqldb.id | (SQL sign-in)
app.sqldb.password | (its password)
user.admin.user | admin
user.admin.passhash | (see below)
user.folders.vault | vault
user.trust.proxy | 0

To make the password code for user.admin.passhash, run this in PowerShell, type the password and copy the 64-character result into the file:

$p = Read-Host "Password"; [BitConverter]::ToString([Security.Cryptography.SHA256]::Create().ComputeHash([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($p))).Replace("-","").ToLower()

14.4 Folders the website writes to

Give the website's account (on IIS, the application pool identity) Modify permission on these folders:

14.5 The first sign-in

The settings file opens the door once; after that everyone signs in with their own account.

1. Open /Studio and sign in with the user name and password from the settings file.
2. That account becomes a Manager (title Studio manager) with every right. Open Users to give it your real name.
3. In Users, add each person who will use the Studio, with their role and a starting password. The first time they sign in, they choose their own password.
4. Make at least one more person a manager, so the studio never depends on one account.

14.6 Set up the studio, in this order

1. Settings: studio name, tagline, city, address, phone, email, time zone; accent colour, themes, units, social links; opening hours; design idle time.
2. Users: every person, their role and rights; who shows on the About page with photo and bio.
3. Media library: renders (tag them render), portraits, videos and PDFs.
4. Concepts and Design: each concept with its details, cover and gallery; its design files with shape, paint, colour sets and views; then switch it on for the website.
5. Pages: the text and pictures of Home, About, Services and Contact.
6. Test: open every page on a computer and a phone, play each presentation's tour, and send yourself an enquiry from the Contact page.

14.7 Keeping it safe

• Back up the database every night, and the images/ folder with it. The database holds every concept with its pictures and every design version, so its backup is also your design archive. Try a restore on a spare machine once.
• Use HTTPS only.
• Studio sign-ins last up to 8 hours and renew while the person keeps working. Signing out ends the sign-in at once.
• After 6 wrong passwords within 5 minutes, that user name is paused for a few minutes.
• Setting a new password for someone, making them inactive, or Sign out everywhere ends all their sessions. Use it when a laptop or phone is lost, or when someone leaves (make them inactive rather than deleting them, so their history stays).
• Every Studio action is checked again on the server, whatever the browser shows, and every refused attempt is written to the Activity log.
• Private preview links work like a password: send them only to the people who should see the concept, keep the end date short, and use New code or Stop sharing when a link has done its job.

15. Reference

15.1 Rights on each page

15.2 Statuses and labels

15.3 Lock and session timings

15.4 Limits

15.5 Addresses

16. Quick Answers

16.1 Questions people ask