Publishing a Configurator: Releases and Embeds

A Rig Cad project becomes a product configurator in four steps: tidy the variables so only the right ones show, make the project public, enable embedding to create its first retained version, and hand out the configurator link or drop the embed into an article or a shop page. This article walks those steps, explains what a release is and why embeds follow one, and lists what a customer can and cannot do once they are looking at your model.

Table: Where a project can be opened and who each surface is for.

The configurator is the surface a customer sees. It shows the exposed variables in order, the readouts, the viewport, and a download button when the project's download permission allows it. It does not show the tree, hidden helpers, or anything you marked showInConfigurator: false. An article embed is the same configurator inside a page, with a few extra controls the article author sets.

A configurator is only as good as its variable list, and every control on that list comes from the variable metadata:

• isPrimary marks the handful of controls that matter most; embeds can show those first or only those.
• showInConfigurator: false hides helpers such as a derived pitch or a construction margin.
• Type, min, max, step and unit decide whether a control is a slider, a spinner, a toggle, a text field or a picker, and how far it goes.
• Select labels are what the customer reads; PLA (1.24 g/cm3) beats 1.24.
• maxLength on a string keeps a name from growing past the geometry it drives.
• Groups with a visibilityExpression reveal a section of controls only when a mode calls for it.
• Readouts with pretext and posttext are the configurator's way of talking back: a mass, a wall check, a warning margin.
• Validators turn an impossible combination into a message instead of a broken model.

The demo projects in this series follow that pattern: three to nine primary controls, helpers hidden, at least one readout, at least one validator. Beyond Sliders is the design method behind the choices; this article is about shipping them.

Project options on the project page hold the switches that matter. Visibility makes the project public; a private project cannot be embedded or shared as a configurator. Allow editing and Allow forking control what other signed-in users may do. Download permission decides whether the configurator's download button appears for everyone, for signed-in users, or only for you; a shop that sells prints usually keeps it to Owner Only, while a project meant to be printed by its readers opens it. Instant Open publishes a compute bundle on each Save/Update so the configurator loads faster.

Enable embedding in Sharing & Embed does two things at once: it turns on the anonymous embed route, and it publishes the current saved version as the project's first retained version. The Published Versions panel lists every retained version, with one marked as the active embed. Later saves create new versions; the embed keeps following the active one until you move it, so a half-finished edit in the editor never leaks into a page that is already live.

Embed Options set what the embedded configurator shows: the parameter panel, node colours, the download button, a progress indicator, the project name, a reset-view button, and whether the Rig Cad badge is hidden. Copy configurator link gives a URL anyone can open without signing in.

When a project is embedded in an article, the author chooses which version the embed tracks.

Table: Revision modes for an article embed.

The embed also carries its own presentation choices: a previewMode of card, featured, configurator or editor; the list of exposedParameterNames so a tutorial shows only the controls it discusses; parameterDefaults that open the model in a particular state; and whether export is enabled. The editor preview mounts a disposable copy of the project with sync disabled, so a reader can rearrange the tree without touching your file.

The demo below is the released Name Tag Generator from the Parametric Goods series, with its text and font controls exposed and nothing else.

They can move every exposed control within its bounds, read every readout, see a validator message when they leave the safe region, and download the result if you allowed it. They can fork the project to their own account if forking is on, which gives them the tree and every hidden helper. They cannot see hidden variables, cannot edit the tree from the configurator, and cannot reach a version you have not retained.

That has two consequences for a seller. First, the validators and readouts are your only voice in the room, so every failure mode in Beyond Sliders should have one. Second, if the geometry is the product, keep download permission to yourself and let the configurator be the order form; Personalized Prints That Sell describes how the customer's typed order then reaches your editor, and Pricing Customized 3D Prints covers turning exposed options into option surcharges.

The overview of the whole order-to-print path is Parametric Goods: From Customer Choice to Printable Product. If the exported file is the deliverable, Export for the Slicer covers formats and mesh weight. And a configurator that feels slow to a reader is usually one of the rows in Why Is My Model Slow?, because the embed solves the same tree the editor does.