In order to create a 3D chart, you must first draw it in 2D. If you already have many venues mapped out in Seats.io, then you're 90% there.
Enable 3D tools
If you haven't enabled 3D for your company, first follow the article: Enabling 3D on your account.
Locate the chart you'd like to convert to 3D, and edit it to open the Designer. Then, on the right-side inspector, locate the "3D View" inspector sheet, and click the button to set up 3D for this chart.
A confirmation dialog will appear. It's useful to read its contents, as it explains the overall flow.
Once you confirm it, 3D tools will be enabled.
Foundations
Foundations are what lift and morph your 2D chart into a three-dimensional one, with verticality.
You should draw one foundation per ring of sections in the venue for more granular control. However, in some cases you may use a single foundation for multiple rings, if they're identical and don't require a height gap between them.
In this venue, for instance, we may want to split this venue into two or three rings, based on whether the actual venue has a clear break between those rings or not:
Most importantly: the top-most portion of the venue is clearly different from the rest, so it must have its own foundation no matter what.
Drawing a Foundation
The Assisted Foundation tool will guide you on how to use it. In essence, you must:
Draw the "front" of the foundation first, which is the lowest side, facing the field or stage.
For closed rings, you may close the shape
For partial rings, you may press the "Return" key to commit the shape
Extend with your cursor the back of the shape until it meets the desired length
Click one more time to finish drawing the shape.
Here's a time lapse of two foundations being drawn to fully enclose all sections.
Matching the back side of a Foundation to sections
While the front of the foundation must be predictable and parallel to rows, the back side may be adjusted to follow the shape of the back. For example, in a scenario like this:
We can click on the back side to add several nodes, and pull them closer or farther away from the front line as needed:
To avoid malformed foundations, it helps if the connecting lines between the front and the back remain as perpendicular as possible to the front.
Adjusting foundations in 3D
Once drawn, foundations may need to have their slope, thickness, or other properties adjusted.
Click "Preview in 3D" to be taken to the selected Foundation in 3D, so you can preview your changes in real time.
Slope allows you to change the surface slope for steeper or flatter foundations.
Thickness pushes the surface of a foundation upwards, without making it float.
Some useful values such as "Back height" are provided which are useful to align two rings of foundations more easily.
You may, at any time, adjust the camera position using the Left and Right mouse buttons to reposition it at an angle that helps you see changes best.
Best practices for drawing foundations
Don't draw dents
Some of your sections may have concave shapes to convey entrances or other features. Foundations should ignore these, and remain as a straight line or curve following the overall front of the group of sections.
Don't draw curves if rows don't have them
Impossible shapes don't work in 3D.
Foundations may only be curved when rows are as well. This is because rows need to make contact with the foundation while preserving the height across all rows. If the curvature of the foundation and rows misalign, then the generation will be uneven.
Placing a Spectator Target
Conceptually, this is where event goers will be looking at. Technically, this is useful as the location View From Seat will point at, where the camera orbits around, and where seats will face towards.
Sometimes, your Spectator Target will be automatically set in a potentially good location, shown by a translucent marker on the map:
When it isn't, or is simply not set, you may place it yourself manually, such as in the middle of a field:
A well-placed Spectator Target will ensure the camera can get close to any object without obstructions or limitations.
Unsupported features
Some features are not supported today, and it's important to bear this in mind when converting a chart to 3D, as ticket buyers might not be able to select certain places:
Tables: support coming soon.
Booths: will not be supported. Use Areas instead.
Overlapping floors: structures such as balconies are not supported, but will be in the near future. You may still convert multi-story venues to 3D where each floor does not overlap each other.