Learn FabNote

Overview

A FabNote scene is a 3D Gaussian splat — a photoreal point-cloud-like representation reconstructed from ordinary photos or video, rather than a hand-modeled mesh. Because it is reconstructed from reality, it keeps the wear, wiring, labels and clutter that make a real unit recognizable, and it renders in a browser with nothing to install.

Two audiences use the same scene differently:

• Visitors open a card from the library and land in the viewer — orbit the model, read whatever instructions were written for it, and check off steps as they build.
• Authors sign in with Dev Mode to upload new scans, and open a scene in the editor to clean it up and write the annotations, steps, parts and measurements that visitors see.

Supported files

The library accepts these splat formats directly:

• .ply — the uncompressed original scan; the editor always edits this, never a compressed copy.
• .sog / a SOG folder (meta.json plus its .webp textures) — a compressed delivery format, often an order of magnitude smaller than the source .ply.
• .splat, .ksplat, .spz — other common splat interchange formats.

Whichever format you upload, FabNote builds a compact viewing copy in the background the first time it's needed, so the library page shows an "Optimizing for fast viewing…" note on a scene that's still being compressed; it streams from the original until that finishes. A format the browser viewer can't open directly can still be opened in the editor and re-saved as a viewable .ply with Save to Library.

The library

The home page — a gallery of every scene that has been published.

Each card shows a thumbnail and the scene's name. Clicking a viewable card's cover opens it in the viewer. A scene that can't be viewed in the browser (an unconverted format) is hidden from ordinary visitors entirely and only shows up once you're signed in to Dev Mode.

Signed in (Dev Mode)

Once unlocked, the page grows a drop zone for uploading new scans above the gallery, and every card grows action buttons:

• Edit — opens the scene's original .ply in the editor.
• Download — downloads the original file as uploaded.
• Rename — changes the display name shown on the card and in the viewer.
• Delete — permanently removes the scene. This can't be undone.

Uploading a large file streams it in chunks with a resumable progress bar, so a dropped connection can pick back up rather than restarting from zero.

The 3D viewer

Opened from a library card, or shared directly as /view/<id>.

The screen splits into the model on the right and an instructions panel on the left (drag the handle between them to resize it, or collapse it entirely to let the model fill the screen). If the scene has no written instructions yet, the panel says so and the model is still fully explorable.

The toolbar

• Markers — cycles annotation pins between showing only the current step's, showing all of them, or hiding them.
• Measure — the same, but for on-model measurement lines.
• Re-center — flies back to the current step's saved view.
• Flip — rights the scene if it loaded upside-down or on its side.
• Full screen
• Help — opens the controls sheet, with the current control scheme, the link-colour legend, and a manual Touch/Mouse/Auto override for a touchscreen laptop that's being misdetected.

Photos and links

Any picture attached to a step opens in a full-screen lightbox with previous/next navigation. Links inside the instructions text are colour-coded by what they point at — see What links point to.

What links point to

Instruction text isn't just prose — phrases in it are links the author wired up in the editor, each colour-coded by what happens when you click it.

These are the same six kinds the editor's step text understands when you type [label](#ann=<id>)-style links — see Assembly instructions.

Tracking a build

If you're building more than one physical unit from the same scene, the viewer can track progress per unit rather than just per scene. Pick Unit being built at the top of the steps list to either keep "just viewing" or start tracking a named unit (a serial number or label, with optional notes).

Once tracking a unit, each step gets a Done — next step button, and completed steps show a checkmark and a completion date. Progress is saved on the server, so every device on the floor looking at that unit sees the same ticks — one tablet can pick up where another left off. A unit can also be deleted along with everything ticked off on it, which can't be undone.

Keyboard & controls

Mouse & keyboard

Touch

FabNote guesses touch vs. mouse automatically; force one or the other from the viewer's Help sheet if a touchscreen laptop gets it wrong.

The editor

Opened by clicking Edit on a library card while signed in to Dev Mode.

The editor is where a raw splat gets cleaned up and turned into an annotated build guide. It's a full 3D editing environment: selection tools (box, lasso, polygon, brush, flood-fill, eyedropper, sphere and rectangle) for isolating and deleting stray "floater" splats, move/rotate/scale gizmos, color and tone adjustments, and an Undo/Redo history.

Saving

Editing happens on the original .ply, never on the compressed viewing copy — so precision isn't lost round-tripping through it. Use Save to Library (or Save to Library As to keep the original and save a copy) to write changes back; the viewer's compact delivery copy is then rebuilt in the background.

Setting up the view

• Set Default View — the camera angle the scene opens on in the library and viewer.
• Ground plane — levels the scene so "up" in the editor matches "up" for the viewer's gravity and re-center behaviour.
• Units (Edit menu) — the real-world unit every length in the scene (annotations, measurements, dimensions) is written and displayed in: meters, millimeters, inches or feet.

Annotations

A pin placed on the model — the anchor everything else (steps, parts, photos, measurements) attaches to.

Use the annotation tool in the editor's bottom toolbar and click a point on the model to drop one. Each annotation has:

• A title and free-text description.
• An assembly type — Electrical, Mechanical, Plastic Fab, or Plumbing (Plastic / Stainless / Sanitary) — used to color-code and group related annotations.
• A bill of materials section — see Bill of materials.
• Alternate views — extra saved camera angles beyond the annotation's default one, so a single pin can show a part from more than one side.
• Resources — images, video, documents, links or free text dropped or pasted directly onto the annotation (Ctrl+V pastes an image straight from the clipboard).
• Measurements — see Measurements.

Typing another annotation's title in [brackets] inside any text field links to it automatically; a pasted URL becomes a link the same way.

Assembly instructions

The ordered list of steps a visitor walks through in the viewer, written from the editor's Assembly Instructions panel.

Each step has:

• Instruction text — what to do, which can contain the same six kinds of link the viewer renders in color: an annotation, a camera view, a measurement, a part/tool, a photo, another step, or a plain web link.
• An optional caution note, image or video.
• Sub-steps, for breaking a step into smaller ticks without splitting it into a whole separate numbered step.
• The parts and tools it uses, pulled from the bill of materials.
• Any measurements taken specifically for that step.

Steps can be reordered, and the whole instruction set can be exported to a file and re-imported — useful for keeping a backup, or copying a build guide's structure onto a similar scene. Importing replaces every existing category and step, so export first if you want to keep what's already there.

Bill of materials

Every part, tool and consumable used anywhere in the build, in one searchable table.

A part entry carries a name, part number, brand, vendor, a product URL, and a free-text description. Parts can be grouped into categories and moved between them; the table can be filtered by category or searched by name, part number, brand or vendor, and exported as a CSV.

An item attached to a step is one of three kinds:

• A part pulled from the bill of materials.
• A tool — something used but not consumed or installed.
• A consumable — solder, adhesive, fasteners, anything used up rather than a permanent part of the assembly.

Clicking a part anywhere — the BOM table, a step's parts list, or a link inside instruction text — jumps to where it's used, so it's easy to check every place a given part shows up.

Measurements

A dimension taken directly on the model: click two points, get a distance.

A measurement is anchored in the model's own space, so it rides along correctly even if the splat it's measuring gets moved, rotated or rescaled later. While placing one, the second point snaps to 45° increments from the first by default — hold Ctrl to place it freely instead.

Measurements can belong to a specific annotation or a specific assembly step, and are written in whichever unit the scene is set to. Linking one into instruction text (a measurement link) shows it on the model the moment a visitor reads that step.

Dev Mode & access

By default, anyone with the link can browse the library and open viewable scenes — nothing to sign in for. Uploading, editing, renaming and deleting all sit behind Dev Mode: click the lock icon in the header and enter the deployment's password to unlock them for that session. Signing out (Exit Dev Mode) hides them again immediately.

Glossary

Splat / Gaussian splat

A 3D scene made of many small, soft-edged colored blobs (Gaussians) rather than polygons — captured from the real thing, and fast enough to render in a browser.

Annotation

A pinned point on the model that carries a title, description, parts, photos, views and measurements. The anchor for everything else.

Assembly step

One entry in the ordered build sequence a visitor works through in the viewer.

Bill of materials (BOM)

The searchable table of every part, tool and consumable used across a scene.

SOG

The compressed delivery format the viewer prefers once it's built, kept alongside the original so editing never loses precision.

Unit (build tracking)

One physical thing being built from a scene, tracked separately so several units can be at different steps at once.

Potential use cases

Anywhere someone has to build, install, fix or inspect a real physical thing and would rather see it than read about it.

Every idea below leans on things FabNote already does: a photoreal scan anyone can open from a link on a phone, tablet or PC; numbered steps with sub-steps, cautions, photos and video; pins on the model that carry parts, documents and extra camera angles; a bill of materials with part numbers, vendors and CSV export; real-unit measurements; and per-unit progress tracking (by serial number) that every device on the floor sees.

Manufacturing & assembly

• Work instructions at the station — a tablet beside the bench shows the scanned assembly, each step flying the camera to the exact spot it's talking about.
• Low-volume and custom builds — skids, panels, machines and one-off fixtures where no CAD-based work instruction exists or the as-built differs from the drawing.
• Serial-number build travelers — track each unit separately with Unit being built, so step completion and dates are recorded per serial and a second shift picks up exactly where the first stopped.
• Multiple units in flight — several frames or skids at different stages on the same floor, each with its own progress, all from one master scene.
• Electrical panel and control cabinet wiring — pin terminal strips, breakers, PLC I/O and wire runs as Electrical annotations, with the parts list for each.
• Wire harness and cable routing — show the path, tie-down points and connector orientation that a 2D drawing hides.
• Mechanical assembly — bolt patterns, torque callouts in caution notes, shims, bearing and seal installation, alignment points.
• Plastic fabrication — weld seams, bend lines, cut-outs and bonded joints on tanks, hoods, guards and enclosures.
• Process piping and plumbing — plastic, stainless and sanitary runs, valve and instrument locations, slope and clearance measurements.
• Sanitary / hygienic equipment builds — food, beverage, dairy, pharma and biotech skids where weld locations, drainability and fitting types matter.
• Welding and fabrication — mark weld locations, fit-up dimensions and sequence, with a caution note for distortion-sensitive welds.
• Kitting and pick lists — export the BOM as CSV to pull parts, tools and consumables per step before the build starts.
• Line-side reference for rework — pull up the as-built unit to see what "right" looks like when a unit fails test.
• New product introduction (NPI) — scan the first article, then turn it into the build guide for production.
• First-article and as-built records — keep a 3D snapshot of exactly how a unit left the shop.
• Engineering change rollout — re-scan after a change and keep earlier versions so the floor can see what moved.
• Supplier and contract-manufacturer handoff — send a link instead of a binder so an outside shop builds it your way.
• Tooling, jigs and fixtures — document how a fixture is set up, loaded and adjusted.
• Machine changeover / setup — step-by-step changeover on presses, molders, fillers, packaging lines and CNC cells.

Field installation & commissioning

• Installation guides that travel with the equipment — a QR code on the crate opens the scene on the installer's phone, no app to install.
• Site surveys — scan the room, roof, mechanical space or pad before the job, then measure clearances, door widths and pipe runs from the office.
• Pre-install planning — mark anchor points, utility connections, drain and vent locations and service clearances on the scanned site.
• Rigging and placement — show lift points, setting order and final position.
• Utility hookup — electrical feeds, water, air, steam, gas and drain connections with sizes and fittings in the parts list.
• HVAC and refrigeration installs — rooftop units, split systems, chillers, walk-in coolers and freezers, refrigerant line routing.
• Electrical contracting — switchgear, panelboards, MCCs, conduit runs, EV chargers.
• Solar and battery storage — racking layouts, inverters, combiner boxes, battery cabinets, roof penetrations.
• Low-voltage and IT — server racks, network closets, cable trays, security cameras, access control, AV systems.
• Fire protection and life safety — sprinkler risers, valves, alarm panels and suppression systems.
• Commissioning checklists — step-by-step start-up and verification with each step ticked off and dated per unit.
• Turnover packages — hand the owner an annotated 3D as-installed record with every part number, manual and photo attached.
• Multi-site rollouts — the same kiosk, display, fixture or equipment package installed identically across many stores, branches or plants, each site tracked as its own unit.
• Retail and store fixtures — shelving, displays, signage and point-of-sale setups.
• Commercial kitchen installs — hoods, fryers, dish machines, ice machines and their utility connections.
• Residential trades — water heaters, furnaces, heat pumps, water treatment, generators and appliances.

Service, maintenance & repair

• Service manuals on the real machine — show where the filter, belt, sensor or fuse actually is, not where a drawing implies it is.
• Preventive maintenance routines — lube points, inspection points, filter changes and belt tensioning as numbered steps.
• Troubleshooting guides — link steps to each other to branch: "if the light is off, go to step 12."
• Field technician reference — a tech opens the exact model on site before touching anything.
• Remote support — the office and the tech on site look at the same scene and talk about the same pin.
• Spare parts identification — click a component to see its part number, brand, vendor and a link to order it.
• Parts ordering and stocking — export the BOM for a van stock list or spares kit.
• Lockout / tagout — mark every energy-isolation point (disconnects, valves, air dumps, stored energy) with caution notes.
• Repair and overhaul procedures — teardown and reassembly order for pumps, gearboxes, valves, compressors and motors.
• Warranty work — show the dealer or service partner exactly what to replace.
• Calibration procedures — where each adjustment, test port and gauge is.
• Fleet and heavy equipment — trucks, trailers, forklifts, ag and construction machinery, with service points pinned.
• Facilities management — boiler rooms, mechanical rooms, pump stations and roof equipment documented for whoever's on call.
• Building automation — controllers, sensors, actuators and dampers that are hard to find above ceilings and behind walls.
• Elevators, escalators and doors — machine rooms, controllers and operator mechanisms.
• Vending, kiosk and appliance service — routes of near-identical machines with one shared guide.
• Medical and lab equipment service — imaging, sterilizers, analyzers and lab instruments.
• Marine and RV — engine rooms, bilges, plumbing and electrical in cramped spaces.
• Aviation ground support — GSE, hangar equipment and fixed systems (as a reference, alongside approved maintenance data).

Quality, inspection & documentation

• Inspection checklists — each inspection point a step, completed and dated per unit.
• Dimensional checks — on-model measurements in mm, inches or feet for clearances, spacing and placement.
• Defect and nonconformance records — pin the defect, attach photos and notes.
• Customer and auditor walkthroughs — share a link instead of flying someone in for a factory acceptance test (FAT) or site acceptance test (SAT) preview.
• Regulatory and compliance documentation — keep labels, nameplates, guarding and signage on record exactly as installed.
• Condition and damage reports — shipping damage, insurance claims, before/after repairs.
• Pre-purchase and used-equipment inspections — let a remote buyer walk around a machine.
• Asset records — one scene per asset with its full parts list and manuals attached.
• Capturing tribal knowledge — get a retiring tech's "how it's really done" into steps and pins before they leave.
• Revision history — saved versions of every scene and instruction set, restorable if an edit goes wrong.

Training & onboarding

• New-hire onboarding — learn the machine before standing in front of it.
• Cross-training — operators learning a second line, techs learning a new product.
• Operator training — controls, start-up and shut-down, normal operation.
• Safety training — pinch points, hot surfaces, guarding, PPE and emergency stops marked with cautions.
• Apprenticeships and trade schools — real equipment for electrical, HVAC, plumbing, welding and millwright programs, without needing the equipment in the classroom.
• Dealer and distributor training — a consistent product walkthrough for every partner.
• Multilingual or low-literacy crews — the model and photos carry most of the meaning, so less depends on reading the text.
• Self-paced refreshers — rarely done tasks (annual shutdowns, seasonal startups) that nobody remembers between times.

Sales, customer support & communication

• Sales demos — show a prospect a real unit and its features in the browser.
• Quoting and estimating — measure the job from a scan and price it from the BOM.
• Customer self-service — owner-level instructions for filter changes, resets and simple fixes, reducing service calls.
• Support tickets — support sends a link to the exact step instead of describing it.
• Engineering ↔ shop floor — engineers see what was actually built; the floor sees what engineering meant.
• Project status for customers — show build progress on their unit.
• Trade show and marketing — an interactive, photoreal model of a product too big to ship to a booth.

Construction & built environment

• MEP coordination — scan in-wall and above-ceiling work before it's closed up.
• As-built capture — record exactly where pipes, conduit and ducts went.
• Punch lists — each item a step or pin, ticked off as fixed.
• Prefab and modular construction — assembly guides for prefabricated racks, pods, skids and modules.
• Renovation planning — measure the existing space before design.
• Infrastructure — pump stations, lift stations, substations, telecom huts and water treatment equipment.

Specialty industries

• Food & beverage — sanitary washdown, CIP (clean-in-place) circuits, filler and packaging changeovers.
• Brewing, distilling and wineries — tanks, glycol systems, transfer piping.
• Pharma and biotech — process skids, clean utilities, single-use system setups.
• Water and wastewater — chemical feed, filtration, UV and RO systems.
• Oil, gas and chemical — skid packages, metering stations, wellhead equipment.
• Agriculture — irrigation, grain handling, dairy parlors, greenhouse systems.
• Automotive — vehicle upfitting, aftermarket installs, EV conversions, shop equipment.
• Energy — generators, turbines, transformers, switchgear.
• Labs and research — custom apparatus and test rigs that only one person knows how to rebuild.
• Entertainment and events — staging, rigging, lighting and AV setups that are put up and torn down repeatedly.
• Furniture and casework — assembly and install instructions for commercial furniture, millwork and fixtures.