Release notes — July 25, 2026
The July release. Everything from early access lands for everyone:
- ☾ Dark source. A light that radiates darkness. Where a lamp brightens the model, a dark source drains the light out of everything near it, in every render style. Use it for void creatures, cursed gems, and reverse OSL. Each one has its own Radius and a Wrap control that goes from a sphere of gloom to darkening only the surfaces that face it.
- 🖼 Render styles. On top of the material looks, pick a whole-model render style that composes with them: Cel shaded, Value study (greyscale, for reading your values), or Vibrant. Realistic stays the default.
- 💎 Gem finish. A region material that lights up on the side away from the light, the inverted-transmission look of painted gemstones. Each gem area gets its own Window (how tightly the lit window hugs the far side) and Glow (transmitted brightness) controls, so a tiny eye lens and a big chest jewel don't share one setting.
- ✨ Glow-region lights. A painted area can now BE a light source: lava, runes, a glowing blade. Pick the area under Regions and add its glow light. It casts real light on the rest of the model, and the area's own surface glows at the light's level. Turn the intensity up and the surface burns hotter with it.
- ⚙ Simpler panel, advanced when you want it. The controls now start with the essentials. Flip the Advanced toggle for the full set, exactly like the main app.
- Smooth shading on every STL. Print-file STLs arrive as disconnected triangles, which used to render faceted. The studio now welds them and keeps sharp creases sharp, so models read smooth and sculpted, the way your print looks after priming.
- 🎨 Matte paints catch the light now. The matte and flat paint materials were rendering too dark, so sculpted detail sank into shadow. They now take the studio light the way they should. Rigs you saved with a matte look pick this up on their own.
- Truer NMM metals. The Silver and Gold NMM looks have been retuned with full metallic response and adjusted tints, so the reference highlights sit closer to well-painted NMM.
- 📱 Smoother on phones. While you orbit or drag, the studio draws at a lighter resolution and snaps back crisp the moment you stop. Spinning a dense model on a phone stays fluid instead of chugging.
- 🧭 Navigation cube (Assembly). The little labelled cube in the corner of the view, the one every CAD app has. Click TOP, FRONT or any face to snap the camera to that view; click the face you are already looking at to flip to the opposite side; drag the cube to orbit freely.
- ⬇ Save parts separately (Assembly). Every part now has a download button that saves just that part as its own STL, positioned exactly as placed. Useful for splitting an assembly across print plates.
- In the full Chromatory app, the workbench now also cuts: automatic seam detection splits a merged kit back into its parts, and a scissor tool cuts along a line you click out, with the cut snapping itself to the model's creases. Those need the app's local geometry engine, so they are not in the browser tools.
Release notes — July 14, 2026
- 🖌 Paint regions. Mark out areas on the model — armour, cloth, skin — and give each its own colour and finish (matte, satin, gloss or metal). Paint with a brush or click-to-fill, down to a fine detail size for clean edges. Highlight one area at a time to focus on it, and save or load your painting as a file.
- Shadows that actually block light. Line-of-sight is now properly occluded — a lantern behind the model no longer lights the front, and large / soft light sources cast solid shadows too (they used to leak straight through).
- Redesigned controls. The panel is now organised into collapsible sections — Look, Lights, Regions, Rigs, Capture and Scene — matching the full Chromatory app, so the two feel the same.
- 🧩 Assembly: close joint gaps. Kits often leave a little clearance between parts so they slot together. A new export option nudges those mating surfaces to overlap, so the combined STL prints as one solid piece instead of two with a seam — your outer detail and dimensions stay exactly as sculpted.
Release notes — July 13, 2026
- 🧩 Assembly workbench. New free tool: load a multi-part kit's STLs, snap the parts together, and export one combined STL — ready for the Light Studio or your slicer. Find it linked at the top of the page.
- Scene: multiple STLs. Add extra models (a base, scenery, a second mini) as movable props and light the composed scene together.
- Light sources look like light sources. The handle spheres now glow at each light's colour and brightness. A new "Light source dots" toggle hides them while the lights keep shining — saved renders follow the toggle.
- Rigs save everything. A saved rig now restores the look, colour and sliders — not just the lights — and the panel follows along on load.
Release notes — July 10, 2026
- Lock highlights. Freeze specular reflections as seen from your chosen painting view, then orbit freely — the hotspots stay where you'll paint them.
- Shadow colour & strength. Shade toward a colour (try a cool blue-violet) instead of black, and back the occlusion off to taste.
- Light management. Click a light in the panel to select it in the view; switch lights off without removing them; clone a light with all its settings; Delete removes and Ctrl+Z undoes.
- Stability. Fixed a crash with multiple large light sources, and light handles can no longer vanish under the table.