User Interface Guide
Live app shell — Create, modules, Projects, Renders, viewer tools, and derivation graph
Last updated: 2026-09-19
360 Hextile is a desktop app (Tauri + local CUDA backend). This page describes the live shell as shipped — not a fixed multi-tab encyclopedia from early builds.
Where things live
| Place | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Header | App menu (Copilot, Learning Mode, Documentation, License…), project switcher, Create, main nav, Add Module, GPU status |
| Create | Pick a source and start a new render — see Creating Renders |
| Projects | Project folders / libraries — see Projects |
| Renders | Library + open a render in the 360 viewer |
| Pipelines | Model / pipeline catalog |
| Sequences (Pro) | Image sequences & animation — Sequence |
| GPU | Device, VRAM, unload — GPU Management |
| Settings | Paths, models, license, update channel |
There is no separate “Dashboard of twelve locked tabs.” Config modules appear when relevant to the active pipeline; use Add Module to surface optional modules that are not on by default.
Journey 1 — Create
- Click Create.
- Choose a source: Import Image, 360 LoRA, Patterns, Fractals, Solid Color, or Sequence (Pro).
- Configure and start — the result opens on Renders with a derivation graph node.
Detail: Creating Renders · Input Sources.
Journey 2 — Modules (not a fixed 12-tab strip)
Modules (Input, Hextile, Diffusion, Prompt, ControlNet, IP-Adapter, LoRA, Sequence, Post Process, Upscale, Output, Coverage, …) are schema- and pipeline-aware. What you see depends on the selected pipeline and what you add.
- Add Module (header) enables modules that are valid for the current pipeline but not currently visible.
- Unavailable modules for a pipeline stay out of the way — they are not a wall of lock icons on every screen.
- Compatibility matrix: Modules.
Actionable next step: open Add Module once on Create/config and note which optional modules your pipeline exposes.
Journey 3 — Projects & library
- Projects isolate libraries on disk — switch projects from the header project control.
- On Renders, use lifecycle buckets (Active / Archived / Trashed) — Library Lifecycle.
- Empty Trash permanently deletes trashed items (including 360-LoRA pool items when they share trash).
Journey 4 — Open a render & viewer tools
Open any render from the library. The 360 viewer is the workspace for transform and edit tools under viewer/tools:
The far-left Resize control is one popover with two jobs. Size chooses an absolute destination such as 4K, 8K, or a custom width. Upscale applies a native-relative 2×, 4×, 8×, or 16× Real-ESRGAN Alpha step, subject to the 16K edge cap. Projection-Aware Upscale is available for 2:1 equirectangular images. Resize and Upscale remain separate graph operations even though they share one toolbar control; there is no separate Upscale toolbar button.
| Tool class | Examples | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Local edit | Spot Edit | Shape, template, or one-subject Cutout mask → Preview → durable graph draft → Commit or Discard — Spot Editing |
| Face sample | Tile Preview | Single-face draft + multi-draft filmstrip; next-face Render auto-promote or resolve — Tile Preview |
| Transform | De-Pinch, Image Offset, Möbius Warp | Geometry changes → graph outputs |
| Leaf shot | Reframe / Save Shot | Framing leaf artifacts (e.g. reframes.json) — not graph nodes; does not advance head |
| FX | Post Process (viewer tool) | Effects on the open panorama — also see Post Process |
Tools are not a separate product “tool palette home.” They live on the open render.
Generation passes are not a viewer toolbar tool. Configure the stack with Multi-Pass and the left-side Pass panel, then use the header RENDER menu: Current pass appends the selected configuration and All passes appends the enabled stack. Select the resulting graph nodes to inspect their images, tiles, recipes, and stored parameters. See Multipass.
Actionable next step: open a finished render → Spot Edit → place and select one spot. Use Cutout if you want the subject itself to define the inpaint mask, then Preview → confirm a draft on the Graph tab → Commit to promote (or Discard to kill). For multi-roll: Lock position → Preview twice → filmstrip Variations → Commit the active frame.
Dome Mode
Dome Mode is a viewer pose on the open render. It is not the npm embed package — that lives on 360 Viewer. Open a finished render, then the Render Widget Dome tab.
The switch label is Enable Dome Mode. Controls appear only while it is on. The tab is locked while the viewer is hydrating or a video session owns playback.
Viewport
| Control | Range | Stores on |
|---|---|---|
| Dome FOV | 90°–270° (reset 180°) | the render |
| Tilt (Pitch) | −90° to 90° | the render |
| Pan (Yaw) | −180° to 180° (Advanced) | the render |
| Roll | −180° to 180° (Advanced) | the render |
| Limit vertical rotation | on/off | this session only |
FOV, tilt, pan, and roll write through the document’s viewer.dome settings. Limit vertical rotation does not.
Guides
Guides are session-local overlay chrome. They do not bake into the panorama.
- Grid opacity
- Show ticks / Show degrees
- Show directions at 4 or 8 compass points
- Show north marker
Export Dome
Export Dome is on the Dome tab while the mode is enabled and a video session does not own the viewer. It writes the current dome framing. The header Export dialog can seed from the same request.
Use Export Dome for the posed dome crop. Use Output fulldome to convert the equirectangular panorama to a fulldome plate. They are different doors. See Output.
Actionable next step: Enable Dome Mode → FOV 180° → look through the viewport → Export Dome.
Render viewport panel
While the open render is actively painting tiles, the 360 viewer shows Render viewport. Lock on current rendering image is on by default and turns the camera toward each completed tile after a 1500 ms delay. Set the delay from 0 to 5000 ms, or turn the lock off.
Your own camera input wins. Follow pauses while you drag or steer the camera, use another viewer tool, track a Reframe target, or enable auto-rotate. The panel leaves when the render is no longer live.
Mirror
Mirror folds one hemisphere across a great-circle seam, or reflects the whole sphere. Open it from the viewer Transform tools on a render.
- Mirror one side copies the side you keep across the seam.
- Reflect sphere inverts the whole sphere. Text and handedness reverse.
- Vertical, Horizontal, and Free set the seam axis. Swap source keeps the other hemisphere (fold only).
Commit writes a mirror step on the derivation graph. Mirror is not Layers Flip horizontal / vertical, and it is not a flat pixel flip of the equirectangular file.
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope repeats a spherical source wedge around an aim point, or folds the sphere through a finite mirror group. Open it from the viewer Transform tools on a render.
Set the wedge count, aim, and fold mode, then commit to bake a graph step. It is a geometry transform, not a Layers effect.
Reframe
Reframe is a live viewfinder for photographing the open 360. Aim yaw, pitch, roll, FOV, aspect, and projection (gnomonic or stereographic).
- Save Shot writes a leaf still into that render's reframes gallery. Shots are not derivation-graph nodes and do not advance head.
- Export writes a full-quality file and leaves the tool armed.
Reframe does not replace Resize or Upscale.
Journey 5 — Derivation graph: head vs active
On the render detail Graph tab:
- Head — the current tip of the derivation chain (what “current result” means for many follow-on ops).
- Active — the node you have selected for inspection or as the parent of a new edit.
Edits (Spot, De-Pinch, and the Resize popover's Size or Upscale actions, etc.) create nodes; they do not silently overwrite history. See Derivation Graph.
Actionable next step: after a Spot commit, select the parent node vs the new spot node and confirm which is active vs head before the next edit.
Prompt & directional tools
Directional prompt interpolation (product language: Directional, Alpha) lives under Prompt / Worlds. Double-click a posed row in the Prompt Tiles list or the Spot companion list to glide the 360 viewer to that direction (Camera smoothing; FOV unchanged). See Directional Tiles and Prompt System.
GPU & updates
- VRAM pressure, unload, quant: GPU Management.
- Desktop updates: Settings / update channel — Updates. Public notes: release notes.
License (UI implications)
Any valid license: full resolution, Real-ESRGAN Alpha, post-process. Pro unlocks sequences and 4 machine activations (Standard: 2). No STD-8K / PRO-16K license gate — License Activation.
Keyboard & help
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- In-app: menu → Documentation (contextual when wired) · Learning Mode toggle · Copilot
See also: Getting Started · Creating Renders · Spot Editing · GPU Management