Starting View

Set the default camera position and orientation that viewers see when they first open your asset. The Starting View also determines your asset's thumbnail preview.

Written By Nira.app

Last updated 7 days ago

Prerequisites

  • A Nira account on any plan (Individual, Professional, or Enterprise)

  • At least one uploaded asset in Ready status

  • Edit Mode access (Editor, Team Member, or Admin role)

What Is the Starting View?

The Starting View is the camera position, orientation, and pivot point that loads when anyone opens your asset for the first time (or refreshes the page). It serves two purposes:

  1. First impression: Controls what viewers see when they click your asset link

  2. Thumbnail: The Starting View is captured as the asset's thumbnail preview, visible in the asset list, preview page, and embedded views

💡 Tip: Treat the Starting View as the "cover image" of your 3D asset. A well-chosen Starting View makes your asset list easier to scan, gives clients an immediate sense of the data, and reduces the time recipients spend navigating to the most important features.

Setting the Starting View

  1. Open your asset and enter Edit Mode

  2. Navigate to the camera position you want viewers to see first:

    • Use orbit, pan, and zoom to frame the model

    • Click on the model surface to set the camera's pivot point

  3. Once you're satisfied with the view, click the Set Starting View button in the top-center of the editor

[SCREENSHOT: The Set Starting View button location in the top-center of the editor toolbar]

That's it. The camera position, orientation, and pivot point are saved. The asset thumbnail will also update to reflect this view.

ℹ️ Note: The Set Starting View button is only visible in Edit Mode. If you can't find it, confirm you're in Edit Mode (click the Edit Mode toggle button).

Tips for Choosing a Good Starting View

Frame the full asset

For most assets, the best Starting View shows the entire model at a comfortable distance. Viewers can then zoom into areas of interest. Press F (frame/fit) to quickly center the full asset, then adjust from there.

Click the surface to set a good pivot point

Before setting the Starting View, click on the center of your model to set the camera's pivot point. This ensures that when viewers orbit after loading, the rotation feels natural and centered.

💡 Tip: If your model is offset from the scene center (common with georeferenced data), setting a pivot on the model surface is especially important. Without it, orbit rotation will be centered on the coordinate origin, which may be far from the visible geometry.

Consider your audience

  • Client delivery: Show the most visually impressive or important angle

  • Inspection reports: Frame the area most likely to contain defects

  • Site overview: Show the full site from an elevated angle

  • Interior spaces: Position inside the building or tunnel entrance, facing inward

Match your View Variant default

If you've set a default View Variant, the Starting View should make sense with that variant's settings. For example, if your default variant hides the terrain and shows only the structure, your Starting View should frame the structure, not empty space where the terrain was.

Updating the Starting View

You can change the Starting View at any time:

  1. Enter Edit Mode

  2. Navigate to the new desired camera position

  3. Click Set Starting View again

The thumbnail will update accordingly. Previous Starting View positions are not stored — only the most recent setting is used.

ℹ️ Note: If you have viewers currently looking at the asset, they won't see the new Starting View until they reload the page. The change only affects the initial load camera position.

Starting View and Georeferenced Assets

For georeferenced assets (those uploaded with real-world coordinate data), the Starting View is particularly important because:

  • The default camera position may be at the coordinate origin, which could be very far from the actual model if using a large-offset CRS

  • The initial load may point at empty space if the camera isn't positioned to face the geometry

⚠️ Warning: If your georeferenced asset opens to a blank or distant view, this is almost always a Starting View issue. Enter Edit Mode, navigate to your model (press F to frame it), set the pivot by clicking on the surface, and then click Set Starting View.

Troubleshooting Georeferenced Starting View

If pressing F doesn't center the model:

  1. Check that the upload completed fully (all files processed)

  2. Try zooming out significantly — the model may be very far from the camera origin

  3. If the model is placed correctly but the camera is wrong, manually orbit and zoom to find the geometry, then set the Starting View

Starting View for 3DGS Assets

3D Gaussian Splat assets can have unique Starting View challenges:

  • 3DGS scenes often have artifacts or low-quality regions at the edges of the trained area. Set the Starting View inside the well-captured zone.

  • Splat size and spherical harmonic settings (configured in View Settings) affect how the scene looks at the Starting View — adjust those before setting the view.

💡 Tip: After setting the Starting View for a 3DGS asset, open the asset in a new browser tab (or incognito window) to verify the viewer loads to the position you intended. 3DGS rendering can look different at the exact Starting View angle compared to nearby positions.

Thumbnail Behavior

The Starting View determines the asset thumbnail shown in:

  • Asset list (your dashboard)

  • Asset preview page (the page viewers see before loading the 3D view)

  • Public homepage (if the asset is listed publicly)

  • Embedded previews (before the pixel stream connects)

The thumbnail is a static image captured at the moment you click Set Starting View. It reflects the current display settings (textures, lighting, background) at that point.

ℹ️ Note: If you change display settings (e.g., switch from RGB to Classification mode) after setting the Starting View, the thumbnail will still show the old display mode. Re-click Set Starting View to update the thumbnail to match the new settings.

Orthomosaic Thumbnails

For orthomosaic assets, the thumbnail is typically generated from the 3D view, not the 2D orthomosaic viewer. If you want the thumbnail to show a top-down map-like view, set the Starting View using orthographic top-down projection (key 5 for top view) before clicking Set Starting View.

ℹ️ Note: Automatic thumbnail generation from the 2D orthomosaic viewer is not currently supported. The thumbnail always comes from the 3D viewer's Starting View.

What's Not Supported

  • Per-viewer Starting Views: All viewers load the same Starting View. Individual users cannot set personal starting positions.

  • Animated starting sequences: The Starting View is a static camera position. There's no fly-in animation or transition sequence when loading.

  • Starting View per View Variant: The Starting View is stored in Base Settings. View Variants can override the camera position, but the "Set Starting View" action always saves to Base Settings.

  • Starting View history: Previous Starting View positions are not stored. Once overwritten, the old position is gone.

Troubleshooting

"The asset opens to a blank screen or shows empty space."

Cause: The Starting View is positioned away from the model geometry, or no Starting View has been set (defaulting to the coordinate origin).

Fix:

  1. Enter Edit Mode

  2. Press F to frame the full asset

  3. Click on the model surface to set a pivot point

  4. Click Set Starting View

"The thumbnail doesn't match what I see in the viewer."

Cause: You changed display settings (background, display mode, lighting) after the last time you clicked Set Starting View.

Fix: Navigate to your desired view with the current display settings, then click Set Starting View again. The thumbnail updates to reflect the current visual state.

"Viewers say the model takes too long to appear after opening."

Cause: This is likely a network or loading issue, not a Starting View issue. However, a Starting View positioned inside dense geometry (e.g., in the middle of a large point cloud) may take longer to render the first frame.

Fix:

  1. Set the Starting View to an exterior or overview position where less data needs to load initially

  2. Check the asset file size and type — very large meshes (300M+ triangles) benefit from being exported in parts

  3. See Diagnosing Connectivity & Performance Issues

"3DGS Starting View looks different every time I load."

Cause: 3DGS rendering involves progressive loading of splat data. The initial frame may look slightly different as Gaussian data streams in.

Fix:

  1. Set the Starting View from a stable, well-captured area of the 3DGS scene

  2. Avoid setting the Starting View at the edge of the captured area where splat density drops

  3. Verify by loading the asset in a new browser tab to see the experience from scratch

Technical Notes

  • The Starting View is stored in the asset's Base Settings

  • Setting the Starting View saves three components: camera position, camera orientation (rotation), and pivot point

  • The thumbnail is generated server-side at the moment of saving and may take a few seconds to appear in the asset list

  • The Starting View persists until explicitly changed — uploading additional files to the asset does not reset it

  • For embedded assets (iframe), the Starting View determines the first frame shown once the pixel stream connects