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Describe a design

Describe what you want in plain English and Studio produces a real, printable parametric CAD model.

5 min read

The Design it box in Studio turns a plain-English sentence into a real, buildable 3D model. You describe the object; the engine writes the CAD, verifies its own work, and returns a finished design you can price and sell. This page explains how to get a good result on the first run and how to change a design afterward.

Writing your request

Open the Design it box on the Studio page, type what you want, and press Design it or Enter. The Workbench opens and your message is sent as the first turn. There is no form to fill in; a normal sentence is enough. Requests can be up to 2,000 characters, and Shift+Enter adds a new line without sending.

A short or vague request still works, because the engine expands it into a full engineering brief before it begins. The more you specify about size and purpose, the closer the first draft lands. The following details help most:

  • State what the object is and what it is for. “A desk stand that holds a phone at reading angle” gives the engine a goal to design toward.
  • Name the real object it must fit. When you mention a specific product, such as a MagSafe puck or a particular phone, Studio looks up its measured dimensions and designs against them. That grounding carries across every later change to the project.
  • Give the dimensions you care about, in millimetres. Overall height, a slot width, a hole diameter, or any measurement you already know.
  • Name a known mechanism if you want one. Requesting something such as a pendulum escapement starts the engine from a certified, proven version rather than an invented one.
Vague and specific requests

Vague: “a phone stand” returns a working phone stand.

Specific: “A desk stand for an iPhone 15 Pro, angled about 60°, with a cable slot at the back and a small lip so the phone cannot slide off.” The same engine lands much closer to the intended result.

How a design run works

Designing is not instant, because the engine builds the model in full. It writes complete CAD code, compiles it, examines a multi-view render sheet of its own output, measures it, and revises until the views are correct. A run can take up to about 25 minutes and dozens of steps. You do not need to wait at the screen, but you can watch the entire process.

The left pane streams a live feed titled “How this design was reached.” Every step the engine takes appears as a row, described in plain language.

The live step feed keeps the full design history, so you can always see how a model was reached.

StepWhat it means
PlanThe engine is deciding how to approach your request.
Looked it upIt fetched real-world dimensions to design against.
CompiledThe CAD code built cleanly into geometry.
Wouldn’t compileA draft failed to build and is about to be fixed.
MeasuredIt checked the actual size and shape of the result.
RefutedIt found a problem in its own draft.
Changed approachIt is trying a different design strategy.
ReviewedA fresh check of the near-final design.
DoneIt approved the design and is finalizing it.
  • Plan
    What it means
    The engine is deciding how to approach your request.
  • Looked it up
    What it means
    It fetched real-world dimensions to design against.
  • Compiled
    What it means
    The CAD code built cleanly into geometry.
  • Wouldn’t compile
    What it means
    A draft failed to build and is about to be fixed.
  • Measured
    What it means
    It checked the actual size and shape of the result.
  • Refuted
    What it means
    It found a problem in its own draft.
  • Changed approach
    What it means
    It is trying a different design strategy.
  • Reviewed
    What it means
    A fresh check of the near-final design.
  • Done
    What it means
    It approved the design and is finalizing it.

As soon as the first draft compiles, it appears in the center viewport with a Live draft · step N badge. This is a work in progress and updates as the engine continues. When the design is approved, the finished model replaces the draft and an assistant message arrives with the design notes, any print notes, and, if the model comes off the printer in pieces, a line such as “Prints as 3 separate pieces.” Occasionally the engine adds a “Heads up — an automated design review flagged this to double-check” note. This means one check did not fully clear; it does not mean the design is broken.

You can close the tab

The engine runs on our servers, not in your browser. If you close the tab, the design continues and finalizes the next time you open it, and you receive a notification and email when it lands. If a run goes silent past 40 minutes, it stops on its own and refunds the credit.

What each design message costs

Every message that asks the engine to design or change something spends one Studio credit, which is real money on your PrintPort credit balance, charged up front when you send. This is separate from what your card pays to print an order.

A flat price per authoring message. The assembly price applies when your request needs multiple parts.

MessageCost
A standard design or change$0.50
A multi-part assembly (several separate or moving parts)$1.50
  • A standard design or change
    Cost$0.50
  • A multi-part assembly (several separate or moving parts)
    Cost$1.50

Automatic refunds and the one exception

When a run delivers no design — a refusal, an error, an empty result, or a timeout — the credit is refunded automatically. The one case that stays charged is a keep: when you request a change and the engine determines the current design already satisfies it, nothing changes but the message still counts. New accounts created on or after 2026-07-07 receive a $10 welcome credit. Full details are on Studio credits.

Changing a design

You adjust an AI-designed model by chatting with it. Send a follow-up message, such as “make it 10 mm taller,” “add a keyhole slot on the back,” or “round the corners,” and the engine re-designs and re-verifies the whole model, then charges another credit for the new run. Each follow-up is a fresh, verified design rather than an adjustment to a single value.

This is also why an AI-authored design has no adjustable sliders. The engine verified exactly one configuration of your model, so it knows that specific version prints correctly rather than a full range of sizes. Instead of dials, the Workbench directs you back to chat. Templates are the exception: they ship with curated sliders until you ask the AI to change one, after which they are verified as a single configuration as well.

One design job at a time

You cannot run two paid jobs on one design at once. If you send a new message while a run is still in progress, the older run is cancelled and its credit refunded, and the new message takes over. Wait for a run to finish, or send the next change and let it supersede the last.

Reading the finished model — the viewport, materials and color, the size and price estimate, versions, and STL export — is covered on the Workbench page.

What Studio will not make

The engine refuses a small set of requests. If you ask for a weapon or something that copies a trademark or protected brand, it declines with a short message in the chat, leaves your current design untouched, and refunds the credit. No design is produced. If this happens by accident, rephrase your request around what you want to build and send it again.

Next steps

Once you have a design you like, continue with the following pages.

The WorkbenchRead the viewport, pick material and color, see the price estimate, browse versions, and export or save your design.Studio creditsWhat each action costs, the welcome credit, and how automatic refunds work.Generate 3DWhen your idea is organic or figurine-like, generate a mesh from a sentence or a photo instead.Start from a templateTwelve ready-made designs with live sliders, a faster path when one fits.Renders and product photosTurn a finished design into listing-ready photos.Studio overviewThe full design-to-sell loop and how Studio fits together.