Templates
AdvancedTemplates let you stamp entire geometric shapes — circles, spheres, hearts, pyramids, and your own images — across your Placement Size in one tap. They're one of Buildopia's most powerful features for laying down complex shapes quickly, and they have a lot of options worth understanding in full.
Selecting a Template
The Template section of the sidebar has two rows: 2D templates above and 3D templates below. Tap any template to select it — a tap on the currently selected one deselects it. Only one template can be active at a time.
When you select any template, two things happen automatically:
- Placement Size is set to 10×10×10 — a useful starting size so you immediately see a recognisably shaped stamp.
- If you selected a 3D template, the aspect ratio padlock is engaged, keeping the shape as a true cube.
You can change Placement Size after selecting a template; the template scales to fill whatever size you set.
2D Templates
The 2D row contains flat, single-layer stamp shapes: Square, Circle, Heart, Triangle, Diamond, Pentagon, Star, Moon, and Custom.
A 2D template is always exactly one block deep — it stamps a flat outline or filled region onto a single plane. The plane it stamps onto is controlled by the Orientation setting (see below).
In the viewport, a 2D template's placement highlight is a thin flat layer — different from a 3D template's solid volume preview.
3D Templates
The 3D row contains volumetric stamp shapes: Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, Pyramid, Cone, Dome, Torus, and Helix. These stamp a full solid 3D form that fills the entire Placement Size in every direction.
In the viewport, a 3D template's placement highlight shows the actual solid volume — you can see the full shape preview before committing. This makes it easy to position a Sphere or Dome precisely before placing it.
Fill Styles
Three fill style buttons control how the template is stamped:
| Style | Result |
|---|---|
| Filled | Stamps a solid version of the template — every cell inside the shape boundary is placed. |
| Hollow | Stamps only the outline of the shape, one block thick. The interior is left empty. Good for creating shell structures like hollow spheres or empty rings. |
| Seamless Hollow | Stamps a two-block-thick outline. This closes the small diagonal gaps a single-block hollow leaves on curves and points — on shapes like Circle or Heart, a 1-block outline has places where light can pass through diagonally. Seamless Hollow fixes this by doubling the outline thickness. |
For simple round or pointed 2D shapes where you want a solid border, Seamless Hollow almost always looks better than regular Hollow.
Orientation Rotation
For a 2D template, Orientation determines which plane the shape is stamped onto:
| Setting | Result for 2D | Result for 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Height (Y) | Stamps the shape flat on the ground — a top-down shape like a floor mosaic. | |
| Stamps the shape facing up, laying the template on the XZ floor plane. | ||
| Width (X) | Stamps the shape standing upright along the X axis — a wall-facing shape. | |
| Rotates the template's primary axis to X — e.g. a Cylinder pointing sideways. | ||
| Length (Z) | Stamps the shape upright along the Z axis — a forward-facing shape. | |
| Rotates the primary axis to Z — e.g. a Cylinder pointing into the screen. | ||
| None | Deselects the current template and returns to normal building without any template active. | |
Custom Image Templates
The Custom option in the 2D row lets you use your own PNG or JPEG image as a stamp. Buildopia converts the image to a black-and-white template and uses it to determine which cells to fill.
Importing
Tap Custom to open the file picker. After selecting an image, a crop screen opens where you can pan and zoom to pick the exact square region you want. Confirm to proceed, or cancel to go back without changing the active template.
Fine-tuning
Once cropped, several controls let you adjust how the image is converted to a stamp:
- Sensitivity — adjusts the brightness threshold that separates "filled" pixels from "empty" ones. The live preview swatch updates as you drag, so you can see the resulting stamp before committing.
- Invert — flips filled and empty, turning a dark-on-light image into a light-on-dark stamp or vice versa.
- Pixel-art colour match (where available) — instead of placing all filled cells in one material, Buildopia analyses each pixel's colour and tints the placed block to the nearest matching material colour. This can produce a colourful pixel-art version of your image when stamped.
Clearing a Template
To stop using a template and return to normal building, either:
- Tap the active template again to deselect it, or
- Tap None in the Orientation Rotation row.
Both return you to normal placement with just the Shape panel controlling what you place.