Reference Board & 3D Preview
Halfway through a drawing and you suddenly want to glance at a reference, but switching windows breaks your flow?
Nephele's reference board and 3D preview are two floating always-on-top windows that stay hovering above your drawing software, so you can glance at them anytime without switching back and forth between windows.
Reference Board (Pinned Images)
The reference board is a borderless, transparent window where you can pin any image, like a digital corkboard.
How to Pin an Image
| Method | What to do |
|---|---|
| Image picker | Open the image picker in an Agent conversation or a tool, check "Pin to screen," and once confirmed the image floats out automatically |
| Eagle library | Right-click an image in the Eagle view and choose "Pin to Reference" |
| Drag and drop | Drag an image straight from your file manager or a web page into the reference board window |
| Agent tools | After fetching reference images with tools like find_references, choose "Pin to screen" |
提示
Supported formats: PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, BMP, TIFF, SVG
Working with Images
Every pinned image is independent, and you can:
- Move: hold the left mouse button and drag
- Rotate: drag the rotation handle at the top of the image, or click the +/- 90 degree buttons in the bottom toolbar
- Scale: drag the scale handle at the bottom-right corner of the image, or double-click the image to reset all of its transforms (rotation / scale / flip / crop)
- Select: click an image once and a selection border appears
- Delete: with the image selected, press Delete or Backspace
Working with the Canvas
When images pile up, you can manipulate the whole canvas:
- Pan the canvas: hold the middle mouse button and drag, or Ctrl + left-drag
- Zoom the canvas: scroll to zoom, centered on the mouse pointer
Lock Mode
Press Ctrl + Shift + L to toggle the lock state:
- Unlocked: normal interaction, you can move, rotate, and scale images
- Locked: the window becomes click-through, so clicks pass through to the drawing software underneath. The title bar and UI hide automatically, leaving only the images floating on top
To unlock again, press Ctrl + Shift + L once more, or bring up the floating bar at the edge of the screen to unlock.
技巧
The intent of lock mode is to treat the reference board as a transparent layer of tracing paper laid over your drawing software, so you can look at your reference and draw at the same time without accidental clicks.
Clear
Click the "Clear" button in the bottom toolbar, or choose "Clear all" from the right-click menu, to remove all images at once.
3D Preview
The 3D preview is a standalone model viewer that lets you drag in OBJ, glTF, GLB, PMX (MMD models), and Blender (.blend) files to view them. Like the reference board, it is a borderless always-on-top window that can hover above your drawing software.
Opening a Model
| Method | What to do |
|---|---|
| Drag and drop | Drag the model file straight into the 3D preview window |
| File dialog | Click the folder button at the bottom of the window to choose a file |
提示
PMX and Blender (.blend) formats are automatically converted to GLB in the background before loading, so you don't have to handle it manually.
Camera Controls
- Orbit the view: left-drag (orbit camera, rotating around the model's center)
- Pan: middle mouse button drag
- Zoom: scroll wheel (adjusts the camera distance)
Lighting Controls
The default scene has three layers of light:
- Ambient light (IBL): overall illumination simulating studio skylight
- Key light: a directional light that determines the shadow direction
- Rim light: outlines the edges of the model
You can adjust:
- Right-drag: rotate the key light direction (see shadow changes in real time)
- Brightness slider (lightbulb icon): adjust the key light intensity
- Exposure slider (sun icon): adjust the ambient light (IBL) exposure
Model Display
- Scale slider: 0.01x to 10x, adjusts the size of the model itself
- FOV slider: 20 to 90 degrees, adjusts how wide the camera's field of view is
- Reset button: restore the camera, lighting, FOV, and scale to their default state in one click
Multi-View Mode
Click the "1V / 3V" button in the bottom toolbar to switch:
- 1V: single-view free orbit mode (default)
- 3V: a four-pane split showing simultaneously
- Free: free viewpoint
- Front: front view
- Side: side view
- Top: top view
When drawing anatomy or mechanical designs, the four-pane split lets you quickly confirm proportions and angles.
Lock Mode
Just like the reference board, press Ctrl + Shift + L to toggle click-through lock. Once locked, the model still displays but won't interfere with what you're doing in the software underneath.
Shortcut Summary
| Shortcut | Reference Board | 3D Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Lock / unlock window | Lock / unlock window |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete selected image | — |
| Left-drag | Move image | Orbit camera |
| Right-drag | — | Rotate key light |
| Middle-drag | Pan canvas | Pan camera |
| Scroll wheel | Zoom canvas | Zoom camera distance |
| Double-click image | Reset all image transforms | — |
Tips
The reference board is good for:
- Color references (pin a few color swatches beside you)
- Pose references (figure dynamics)
- Detail references (clothing textures, prop design)
The 3D preview is good for:
- Anatomy support (a posed model as a proportion reference)
- Mechanical/architectural perspective references
- Light and shadow references (rotate the model to observe how light and dark fall under different lighting)
Both windows support free resizing (drag the edges), so you can shrink them into narrow strips on one side of the screen without taking up canvas space.