Canvases
Mental Canvas scenes are built from infinite, transparent 2D canvases that you can position anywhere in space to create compelling 3D spatial drawings. These canvases serve as a foundation for your creations, holding both strokes drawn directly in the app and images imported from external sources.
In the scene below, each character and object is positioned on a different 3D plane, which is why they are placed on separate canvases.
See the blue bounding box around the dragon above? In View Mode, you can tap the thumbnail of your active canvas to help you see the exact borders of its contents.
A View-Centric Approach
Unlike traditional 3D modeling software, Mental Canvas is view-centric, not object-centric. This means you focus on creating the views you want to use or share rather than constructing every object in your scene as a full 3D volume.
For example, if you’re drawing a tower, there’s often no need to design all four sides. By using two canvases placed at an angle and carefully positioning bookmarks, you can create a spatial drawing that feels immersive from the desired perspectives.
Creating New Canvases
Mental Canvas offers two methods for adding canvases to your scene:
Adding a New Blank Canvas
These tools let you create and position a new canvas in your scene and start drawing on it.
Projection Tools
These tools let you move content you’ve already drawn to a different position in space (see Projection).
Canvases and Layers
Each canvas has its own Layer List, allowing you to organize your work efficiently. While canvases can be positioned in different 3D planes, all of their layers exist within the same 2D plane. This distinction helps keep your scene structured and manageable.
In the scene below, the boat is a single canvas with two layers – a foreground and a background.
For more info, see Layers.