Make your first render

Build a small set, frame a shot, generate an image. Around 30 minutes from a fresh project to a render.

Build a small set, frame a shot, generate an image. Around 30 minutes from a fresh project to something you could show a client. Working through this once gives you the shape of the whole product.

Watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_glYD5b8jw

A finished render: yellow Lamborghini on a wet Manhattan street at night, the canonical hero output of the first-render walkthrough

What you'll have at the end

A project with one scene, one shot, and one rendered image of a Lamborghini on a city street at night. Not finished work, but enough that you understand the Build → Compose → Visualize loop and have a frame to riff against.

Before you start

Sign in. Create a new project from the homepage. Give it a name (don't leave it Untitled – the auto-prompt uses project and scene names later). The empty 3D scene that opens is your starting state.

The rest of this page assumes you can orbit, pan, and frame without thinking about it. Quick recap: Option/Alt + drag to orbit, Shift + drag to pan, F with an object selected to frame it. If any of that feels unfamiliar, spend five minutes on Viewport navigation first.

Build the scene

Switch to Build mode in the top-center toolbar (it's the default for new projects). The asset library is along the bottom of the screen.

1. Add a road. Open the asset library. Type "city street" or "asphalt" in the search. Drag a long road segment into the viewport. It lands flat on the ground plane.
2. Add buildings. Search "building" or browse the Architecture category. Drop two or three buildings on either side of the road. Don't worry about exact placement; AI Composer can clean it up later.
3. Faster: prompt for a city block. AI Composer's prompt input runs full-width across the bottom of the Build-mode viewport. Type "create a quiet Manhattan city street at midnight with skyscrapers". Hit enter. Wait. The agent returns a populator with road, buildings, sidewalks, lamp posts. The Chat History panel on the right shows the agent's response. Adjust the populator's footprint if needed.
4. Add the hero. Search "car" or "supercar" in the asset library (searching "Lamborghini" returns no results). Drag one in and place it center-frame on the road.
5. Name the hero. With the car selected, open the contextual menu → Details. Set the Name to Lamborghini. This name is what the auto-prompt reads when it builds the Subjects block in Visualize – without a specific name, the model can't identify it as the hero.
6. Add an image reference. Still in Details → Image reference. Upload a photo of the actual Lamborghini Revuelto (or whatever car you have). The visualizer uses it to lock in the surface.
7. Set the time of day. Open Environment mode with the Environment button in the bottom toolbar of Build, then open Main Light. Drag Time of Day to midnight, or late evening. The scene goes dark; the building masses still read as silhouettes.

You now have a usable set. About six minutes in.

Compose the shot

Switch to Compose mode.

1. Add a shot. Click Add Shot in the toolbar. The current viewport framing becomes Shot 1.
2. Get into a low angle. Click the free-cam icon in the bottom-left of the Compose viewport to enter free-cam mode. Drag to drop the camera near street level. Then select the Lamborghini in the scene outliner and press F to frame it – when you first add a shot, the camera may not be pointing at the hero at all, so selecting it in the outliner first ensures F frames the right target. The picture-in-picture in the top-left shows where you are in the world.
3. Set the lens. Open the shot details panel in the toolbar at the bottom of the Compose viewport. Choose a 35mm. Wider feels more dramatic for an automotive hero shot.
4. Set the aspect ratio. Same toolbar, switch to 2.39:1 cinematic.
5. Name the shot. Click the shot name in the details panel and rename it "Lambo hero, low angle, midnight". The visualizer reads this string when it builds the prompt.

Eleven or twelve minutes in.

Visualize the render

Switch to Visualize mode.

1. Read the auto-prompt. The right panel shows the Scene tab with three blocks: [Scene Context], [Environment & Props], [Subjects]. The Lamborghini should be in the Subjects block. If it's not, check two things: the object name (step 5 in Build – without a name like "Lamborghini" the auto-prompt can't surface it) and the image reference (step 6 in Build).
2. Pick a model. The top-right of the panel has the model dropdown. Pick one – see Models for when to reach for which.
3. Pick the resolution. 1K is a credit-cheap way to see if the framing is right. Use 2K only when you're committing to the look.
4. Add a style preset. Click the Style tab. Pick Photograph for a photoreal treatment or Storyboard Concept for a sketch look – see Style presets for the current set. The Style block fills with descriptive text the model uses for surface treatment. Note: the available style options can differ by model; the picker shows what the active model supports.
5. Add a lighting preset. Click the Lighting tab and pick a preset – the picker carries a wide library of named atmospheres, from dramatic to moody (see Lighting presets). The Lighting block fills accordingly.
6. Generate. Click the green button at the bottom of the panel. The job runs; the result lands in the sidebar gallery on the right of the viewport.

If the render is wrong: don't immediately regenerate.

• Wrong composition? The fix is in Compose mode – move the camera, change the lens.
• Wrong subject? The fix is in Build – better image reference, more specific name on the object.
• Wrong style or mood? Swap the preset; that's what they're for.
• Stubborn extra object that won't go away (the famous "extra cop car" problem)? Use the Edit images pencil tool to paint it out directly within Intangible. Or download the render and upload it as a start frame via First and last frame.

If the render is right: download it, favorite it, move on. Add another shot in Compose. Render that. The loop is the same.

Around 30 minutes, give or take.

What's next

• Image reference: the technique most directly responsible for consistent character and product rendering.
• The three modes: the mental model that makes everything else readable.
• How the visualizer thinks: why the model is given a 3D scene and not just a paragraph.
• Sets: save the city block you just built for the next project.