English
Deutsch
日本語
简体中文
Français
Every setup in the community is a real set, not a picture of one: the lights, light shapers, model, room, props and camera settings themselves. The download is added to the project you have open, so you can load it, switch single lights off and see what each one contributes.
Applies to BASIC, STUDIO, CINEMA · You need: an internet connection and a project open — a setup needs a project to be added to.
Where to find it
The download button is on the setup’s page in the community site; the program reacts to it. The folder the setup lands in comes from the dropdown above the Timeline in the left panel of the COMMUNITY tab.
How to download a setup
- In the program: open the COMMUNITY tab with the project you want the setup in.
- In the program: pick the destination folder in the dropdown above the Timeline. Keep that folder selected until the setup has arrived — the download lands in whichever folder is active when the import finishes, not in the one that was active when you started.
- On the website: start the download on the setup’s page. → A placeholder appears in the Timeline while the file transfers.
- In the program: when the import finishes, the setup is a shot in that folder and it is selected for you.
- In the program: double-click the new entry. → The program switches to the SETUP tab with the set loaded.
From here it behaves like any other shot of your project: rename it, move it to another folder, render it, put it on a set plan.
This short clip shows the community in set.a.light 3D and how a setup is shared.
What you get
- The complete set of that one shot — lights, light shapers, model and pose, room, props and camera — not the whole project of the person who shared it.
- A unique name inside your project. If a shot of that name already exists, a number is appended.
- Your own copy, with a new shot ID: it is independent of the original from now on. The community ID travels with it, so Open in Community on the RENDER tab still finds its page.
- A rating of
0. The rating the author gave the setup is not imported, so the stars you see are yours.
Sets saved with an older program version are converted while they load, so older entries still open.
What you do not get
Two kinds of material never travel inside a shared set file, deliberately: 3D objects somebody imported themselves, and environment maps they added themselves — an HDRI is a large image file and a set file would carry it into every save. If a setup was built with either, that part is missing from your copy and has to come from the uploader separately: a missing object stands in the studio as a warning marker, a missing environment map is quietly replaced by Overcast. Everything the program ships with, and every light, light shaper, camera or lens the uploader built inside set.a.light 3D, is included.
When a download does not arrive
| What you see | What happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The placeholder disappears, no setup arrives and no message is shown | The download was still running when you closed the project or opened another one, so nobody was waiting for it any more | Start the download again with the project you want it in open |
| Download Failed with “Could not load the set file. The file was saved with a newer version (…) of set.a.light 3D.” | The setup was published from a newer version than yours | Update the program — the dialog offers the update when one is available — then download again |
| Download Failed with “Loading the set file failed. If this issue persists, please submit a bug report with the community entry you were trying to load.” | The transfer did not get through, or the file could not be read | Check your internet connection and try again; if it repeats, send the bug report and name the entry — that is what makes it reproducible |
Where the downloaded files are kept
Your copy of a setup lives in your project file, so you never need the downloaded file itself. The program keeps it anyway, in a hidden downloads folder inside its own local data, and takes a second download of the same setup from there instead of the internet — which is why it is quicker.
Do not delete that folder while set.a.light 3D is running: the program checks the cached files when it starts, so a file removed behind its back can leave an entry that points nowhere. Restart the program after any manual cleanup. A download whose import failed is dropped from the cache by itself, so re-trying the same setup really fetches it again.
Tips & limits
- A downloaded setup with more than five lights loads and renders in BASIC. What BASIC refuses is adding another light: “You can only create up to 5 lights in the BASIC edition. Please purchase an upgrade to STUDIO or CINEMA if you want to use more lights.” See BASIC, STUDIO and CINEMA compared.
- A download is also a parts store: you can lift a pose, a light or a dressed model out of it and keep it for your own work — see Reuse poses, expressions and models and Save your own rigs to My Library.
- Downloading needs a project. With no project open nothing is added — create or open one first.
Troubleshooting
- The placeholder vanished and nothing arrived, without a message. The download outlived the project it was meant for — you closed it or opened another one meanwhile. A transfer that fails while you wait for it says so, with Download Failed.
- Part of the set is missing. The uploader used an imported 3D object or their own environment map, which a shared set file does not carry. An imported object leaves a warning marker where it belongs; an environment map is replaced by Overcast without a message, so a background that looks plainer than the preview picture is the sign. Ask the uploader for the file.
- I cannot find the download in my timeline. Look in the folder that was active when the import finished, and clear the search field — it hides shots whose names do not match.