3DPrintCAD Student Studio

The full guide

1Download

Student Studio version 1.0.0. Only the teacher's computer needs it. See what's new in each version.

Computer	Download	Good to know
Windows 10 / 11	Windows installer	64-bit. Installs for your user - no administrator needed.
macOS, Apple chip	macOS (M1 and later)	macOS 12 or later. Apple menu → About This Mac shows the chip.
macOS, Intel	macOS (Intel)	macOS 12 or later.
Linux	AppImage .deb	64-bit (x86-64). The .deb is for Ubuntu, Debian and Mint; the AppImage runs on most others.

To check a download, compare its SHA-256 with the list in SHA256SUMS.txt.

2Install it

3The network and the firewall

Student Studio turns the teacher's computer into a small web server for the class. The students' computers must reach it over the network:

• The same network. The teacher's computer and the students' computers must be on the same school network (cable or Wi-Fi) - the Teacher Dashboard shows the address students open, such as http://192.168.0.150:8780.
• The firewall must let it in. Windows asks the first time Student Studio starts: allow it on Private networks. If you clicked Cancel: open Windows Security → Firewall & network protection → Allow an app through firewall, click Change settings, and tick 3DPrintCAD Student Studio for Private. On a network Windows calls "Public", set the school network to Private (Settings → Network & internet → the network → Private network) or allow Public too. macOS: allow incoming connections when asked, or in System Settings → Network → Firewall → Options. Linux: sudo ufw allow 8780/tcp.
• Some school Wi-Fi keeps devices apart ("client isolation"), so no computer can reach another. If students cannot open the address, ask the school's IT about it - or use a classroom router or the teacher's phone hotspot for the class.
• The port. Student Studio uses port 8780. If something else uses it, it takes the next one that is not in use (8781, 8782…) - always use the address the dashboard shows. To use another port (when the school's network needs one), open Settings in the dashboard, type it (1024-65535; empty = 8780) and click Restart now; the firewall may ask again.

4Make a class

Click ＋ New class and give it a name, such as 7B - 3D design (click the name at the top to change it later). Then choose in How students join:

• Students need the class code (on at first): a 5-letter code, new each time the class starts, that students type with their name. Turn it off and students type only their name - then anyone on the network who opens the address can join.
• Student ID: Not asked, Optional or Required. A student who types an ID is known by it - the same ID again is the same student on any computer, even with the name typed differently. Without an ID, a student is known by their name.

Every student gets one project for the class, the Class work, and one more for each task you give. Students cannot make other projects - everything they make in the class is in front of you.

5Tasks

A class does not need a task - without one, students work on their class work. When you want to give one, click ＋ New task:

1. Write the Title and What to do - what to make, sizes, steps, what to hand in - and add up to 12 reference pictures (PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to 10 MB each; click Add pictures or drop them on the window).
2. Save as draft keeps it for later - students do not see it. Save and send sends it at once: it pops up on every student's screen, and each of them gets a new, empty project for it.

The Tasks list shows every task of the class: draft or sent (and when), how many students have started it, and its buttons:

• Work - the students' work for this task (below, in Students' work).
• Show in editor - your own project for this task, in the editor: show the class how to do it on the projector. It is kept on your computer and is not part of the students' work.
• Send a draft, or Hide a sent task (students no longer see it; their work for it is kept, and it comes back when you send it again).
• ✎ edits the task - for a sent task, students see your changes as soon as you save. 🗑 deletes it, with the students' work for it, after a popup that says how many students that is.

6Start the class

Click Start class. The dashboard shows the address students open and, when the class uses one, the 5-letter class code - a new code each time a class starts. Show on the projector shows both big for the whole room (Esc closes it). One class runs at a time.

7How students join

1. The student opens the address in their browser - Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari on a computer.
2. They type their name - and the class code and their student ID when the class asks for them - and click Join. A wrong code, or a missing ID that is required, is refused with a message.
3. The editor opens with their Class work.

Students on phones or tablets: the editor needs a computer with a mouse (a phone or tablet shows a page that says so).

8Students at work

A bar at the top of the editor shows what is open (the class work or a task), the student's name and Saved to your teacher with the time - the work goes to the teacher's computer every few seconds after each change.

• When you send a task, it pops up: Open this task opens a new project for it (or Later). Task in the bar shows the task again - click a picture to see it big.
• Tasks in the bar lists the student's Class work and every task you have sent, with a picture of their work for each - a click opens it. This is their only list of projects: the editor's own projects screen and its New button are not there in class.

Students have the whole 3DPrintCAD editor: basic shapes, text, SVG files and Image to SVG, sketches, every body tool, paint, measuring and print prep, and STL / 3MF export. The generators of the website are not part of Student Studio.

The editor works only while the class does. If Student Studio is closed or the network is down for a few seconds, the editor is covered with The class is not reachable and waits; when the class ends, with This class has ended. Nothing is lost: the work stays in the student's browser and is sent as soon as the class is back. If a student moves to another computer, they join again with the same name (or the same student ID) and get all their work back.

9Students' work

The dashboard keeps itself up to date - every few seconds, nothing to reload. Students' work has a tab for the Class work and one for each task (the number is how many have work in it). Every student has a card for the work in that tab: a green dot while connected, Working on it now when they have it open, a picture of it and when it was saved. Its buttons:

• Open - the work in a window of its own, live: each time the student saves, it updates (the view stays where you turned it). The list in its bar has the student's other work in the class.
• Change it right there: the moment you change something, that project is yours for a while - if the student has it open, their editor waits (Your teacher is changing this project) - and every change you make is sent to the student. Click Give it back to … (or close the window) and the student carries on with your changes.
• STL / 3MF - the work as a file for the slicer (3MF keeps its colours).
• ⤓ - the work as a .3dpcad project file; it opens in 3DPrintCAD on the website (Projects → Import backup).

If the student saved newer work after you opened it, the window asks before you change it: load their newest, or keep yours.

10Show something on the projector

Open the editor at the top of the dashboard opens the 3DPrintCAD editor for your own projects, in a window of its own. Show in editor on a task opens your own project for that task, with the task's text a click away - build the example in front of the class. The editor's full-screen button (bottom left of the 3D view) fills the projector. Your own projects stay on your computer and are not part of any class.

11End the class

End class stops it: nobody can join any more, and the students' editors are covered with This class has ended (their work stays in their browser). Everything saved so far stays on your computer. Start again later reopens the same class with a new code; students join with the same names and carry on.

Delete removes a class for good: its tasks, their pictures and every student's projects are deleted from your computer. A popup says how many students and projects that is, and nothing is deleted until you confirm. To keep the work, download it from the students' cards first.

Closing Student Studio while a class runs asks first: while it is closed, students cannot join and their work is not saved to your computer.

12Where everything is kept

Classes, tasks, pictures and students' work are kept on the teacher's computer, in Student Studio's data folder - the Data folder button opens it:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\3DPrintCAD Student Studio\classroom
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/3DPrintCAD Student Studio/classroom
• Linux: ~/.config/3DPrintCAD Student Studio/classroom

The data folder is separate from the program: updating, reinstalling or uninstalling Student Studio leaves it in place. Copy the folder to keep a backup, or to move your classes to another computer (close Student Studio first). Before a new version changes how the data is stored, it keeps a copy of the old data in backups.

13Updates

When the teacher's computer is online, Student Studio checks this site for a newer version and shows it at the top of the dashboard: What's new, Download and Later. Download the new installer from this page and install it over the old one - you do not need to uninstall anything first, and your classes and students' work are kept.

Student Studio never updates itself and never interrupts a class: while a class runs, the message says to install it after class. What's new in the dashboard lists every version's changes, also on the What's New page.

14Good to know

• Names or student IDs, not accounts. A student is their student ID - or, without one, their name - in a class: joining again with the same one (on any computer) is the same student, with the same work. That is how a student moves to another computer; it also means that someone who knows the class code and a classmate's name or ID could join as them and open their work. Keep the class code on, show it only in the room, and end the class when it is over - the next start gets a new code.
• Nothing leaves the classroom. Students' names and work stay on the teacher's computer and in the students' browsers. Student Studio contacts 3dprintcad.com only to check for a new version - no names, no work and no other data are sent.
• The teacher's pages stay on the teacher's computer. The dashboard and student work can only be opened in Student Studio on the teacher's computer - from the network they are refused.
• The editor is the 3DPrintCAD editor without the generators. Projects move between Student Studio and the website with .3dpcad files.
• Not guaranteed to be safe for every use. As on the website, check printed parts before you rely on them - see the Terms of Service.

Questions