How to Design a Stone in 3D with MonuStudio

MonuStudio is the 3D monument designer inside MonuDesk. You build the stone with the family, and they see it as it will look. Then MonuStudio fills in a new quote, and you can export full-size cut files for the shop.

Anyone whose role can create orders can use MonuStudio, and it comes with every plan. For MonuStudio on your own website, see Website Leads: Get Quotes from Your Website.

Ways to open MonuStudio

• Click New Quote at the top right and choose Create Quote with MonuStudio. A guide takes you to a new quote.

• In New Quote, on the Sketch & Inscription step, click Design in 3D in the header of the Sketch Builder card. MonuStudio opens over the wizard with the stone you are working on. When you are done, click Apply to Quote. On a quote that already has a design, the button reads Edit in MonuStudio.

The guided path to a quote

The first time, click Get started on Welcome to MonuStudio. The guide beside the 3D view has five pages:

1. Start from a stone

2. Stone details: shape, sizes, finishes and granite

3. Inscription

4. Emblems and artwork

5. Lettering panel (optional)

Use Back and Next to move between pages. On the last page the button reads Create quote. If your shop chose Simple (recommended) in Settings, the guide is shorter: Shape and colour, Inscription and Emblems.

The tool rail on the left of the 3D view has Templates, Stone, Inscription, Library, Panel, AI Art and 2D to 3D. The first four turn to their page of the guide.

Start from a stone

Stones your team set up in Settings sit at the top, as Your shop's stones. Stones you have sold follow. Sort the sold stones by Most used or Latest, or search by granite, shape or size, for example 24x12. A stone marked 3D was designed in MonuStudio and loads with its whole design. Click a stone to load it, then change anything you like.

Stone details

• Type: for example Upright, Slant Marker, Flat Marker or Bronze Marker.

• Top Shape, on an upright: Flat Top, Serp Top, Triangle Top, Oval Top, Wave Top, Double Heart or Apex.

• Sizes: the stone, and the Base with its own switch. Drop wash slopes the top of the base so water runs off.

• Granite: Your Colors (the granites in Settings → Order Creation → Colors) come first, then the Catalog of 40 built-in granites.

• A Bronze Marker shows as cast bronze, with its lettering always raised. Its granite card becomes Base granite, for the base under the plaque.

Show advanced options adds Taper, a Subbase, Upload a granite photo (this design only) and Finish & Polish. There you set the Front Finish, Back Finish, Top Finish and Edges Finish, or pick a preset such as P3 or S3. The base has its own finishes and a Polished margin (P.M.).

Drag in the 3D view to turn the stone. Below it, pick a Cemetery or White background. Scene sets the Season, the Time of day, a Person for scale, Flowers and vase, and the View: Front, Angle or Side.

Inscription and lettering

MonuStudio asks for the lines in this order: Given names, Surname (the big line), Dates and Epitaph. Dates written with a dash, like 1938 - 2026, fill the quote's date of birth and date of death. Add a line adds more text.

The Lettering card applies to every line. Click a line on the stone to set that line on its own, and click All lines to go back. The card holds:

• Font: see Fonts below.

• Lettering Style: Sunk Lettering (Standard, V-Sunk, U-Sunk or Outline) or Raised Lettering, with Skin Frost or Frosted Inlaid.

• Litho Color: Natural, Black, White, Gold or Silver.

• Carving Type: Sandblasted, Shaped Carving, Laser Etched or Hand Etched.

• Letter Height (in), with buttons for 3", 1.5" and 1.25". Under Advanced options: Letter Spacing, Curve (arc), Shadow depth and Shadow direction.

Drag a line on the stone to move it. Reset line puts it back where it started. On a bronze marker the lettering is always raised.

Fonts

The font list shows Your fonts, then Monument faces, then All fonts. Search by the trade name you know. The trade's own fonts are sold per family, so MonuStudio shows a close stand-in: Marcellus SC for Vermarco, Tinos for Modified Roman, Libre Franklin for Common Gothic and Government, and UnifrakturMaguntia for Old English.

If your shop owns the real fonts, upload the files with Upload a font file at the bottom of the list, or in Settings → Order Creation → MonuStudio → Your fonts. Every seat and MonuStudio on your website then use them.

Lettering panels

Click Panel on the tool rail, or Add a lettering panel on the guide's last page. The panel frames the biggest line without a panel, usually the surname. Pick the Style: Single line or Double line (0.09" / 0.25" bar). Set the Width, the Height and the Panel Fill (Frosted or Polished). Advanced options add Corners, and the Bar Fill of a double line. Drag the panel on the stone to move it, or click Remove panel.

Library: emblems and your own designs

• Emblems: 433 built-in emblems in the MonuDesk Emblems folder, in 10 categories: Roses; Flowers & Botanicals; Crosses & Religion; Birds & Butterflies; Wildlife & Pets; Scenes & Places; Corners & Ornaments; Hobbies & Trades; Military & Service; Children & Family. Upload your own emblem adds one of yours.

• My Artwork: your uploads and imports, and what you make with AI Art or 2D to 3D, kept for every future design. Sort them with New folder and Move to folder.

Click an emblem to put it on the stone. Drag it into place and resize it from the corner handle.

Import your shop's designs

Click Import at the top right of the 3D view, then Choose files, or Choose folder for a whole folder. MonuStudio reads Illustrator (.ai), EPS, SVG, standard HPGL plotter files (.plt) and images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, BMP). You can also drop files onto the stone. A CorelDRAW or Gerber Omega file needs a re-export as EPS or SVG first, and MonuStudio says how.

AI Art

AI Art opens AI Art Studio. Upload a photo (PNG, JPEG or WebP) and pick the Production method:

• Sandblast line art: bold black and white strokes, 0.09" minimum line. Detail (line cut-off) sets how many strokes stay.

• Laser etching (300 DPI): photorealistic shading.

• Impact etching (120 DPI): coarser dot shading for impact etchers.

Set the Width on stone (in) and click Place on stone, or Download a PNG, JPEG or BMP for your etcher.

2D to 3D

2D to 3D opens 3D from Photo. Upload a photo of a vase or urn, best on a plain background, and MonuStudio turns its outline into a 3D piece. Raise Background cut-off until only the vase stays in the Silhouette. Set the Height on stone (in) and the Material (granite, bronze or jet black), then click Place on stone. The piece stands on the base.

Create the quote

Click Create quote on the last page. New Quote opens with the design filled in:

• Items & Configuration: the stone's type, sizes, granite and finishes, and an upright's top shape.

• Sketch & Inscription: the given names, surname, dates and epitaph (as Additional Text), each with its lettering. A summary of the fonts, emblems, panels and artwork goes into Design Notes. The front and back pictures of the design become the sketch.

The first time, the wizard greets you with Your design is already in this quote and Start with the client. Fill in who the quote is for. Cemetery & Logistics and Billing & Payment are optional. Save as usual, and MonuDesk opens the order board with the new quote.

From Design in 3D, click Apply to Quote instead: the design goes into the quote you are working on. See How to Use Sketch and Inscription.

Save as draft

If you leave MonuStudio after changing the design, Leave MonuStudio? offers Save as draft. The draft waits under New Quote at the top right, in Order Drafts, with the MonuStudio icon. It opens in MonuStudio again, with its design. Leave without saving leaves the design behind.

Open in 3D on the order

The design stays with the quote. On the order, Open in 3D shows it in 3D, to turn and export (on a phone, in the ⋯ menu). The order's Document Generation menu also offers DXF cut file, PLT plotter file and AI file (Illustrator / CorelDRAW), each the front elevation from the design.

Export

In MonuStudio and in Open in 3D, the Export menu offers:

• PNG image: a picture of the stone.

• PDF proof: the picture with the stone's details, each line's letter height and font included.

• DXF (full-size cut file) and DWG (AutoCAD, suppliers): for AutoCAD, and for suppliers who ask for DWG.

• PLT (full-size cut file): for cutting plotters and stencil cutters.

• USDZ (AR for iPhone/iPad): shows the monument at real size where you stand.

• AI (Illustrator / MonuCad): Illustrator and CorelDRAW open it too.

Cut files are full size, in inches: choose inches if your program asks. They carry the lettering, panels, emblems and sandblast artwork, on the layers STONE, LETTERING, PANELS and ARTWORK in the DXF and DWG. An upright's back is drawn beside its front.

After a cut file is written, MonuStudio tells you what to check. Not in the cut file names an item on a side or the top of the stone: move it onto the lettered face or the back. Below sandblast tolerance names lines finer than your shop's minimum.

Settings → Order Creation → MonuStudio

Changing these settings needs a role that can edit settings. Changes apply the next time someone opens MonuStudio.

• What MonuStudio lets your team change: Full studio with every tool, or Simple (recommended): a shape and a granite, the words, emblems and a vase. The first page starts from sets where your team starts. With Simple, switches turn granite colours, the font, emblems and the vase on or off.

• The stones your team sees first: your team's own row of stones. Use Add from past orders or Design a new one, then Move up, Move down or Remove. They show in MonuStudio as Your shop's stones, never on your website.

• Limits for your team: Text only on small flat markers (flat, bevel and grass markers up to a width you set get names and dates only), Most lettering lines and Most characters per line.

• Sandblast tolerances: Minimum line on most granite and Minimum line on black granite, the thinnest line your stencil cutter holds (0.03 to 0.5 inches). Letters, emblems, panels and imported artwork stay above it, on screen and in the cut files: going smaller shows Smallest size for this granite. Your website has its own values in Settings → Website Leads.

• Your fonts: upload up to 40 .ttf, .otf or .woff files your shop licenses. Under Fonts your team can pick, tick the fonts you carve. None ticked means any font; one ticked means that font and no choice.

Out of the box: full studio, text only on small flat markers off (16 inches once switched on), 20 lines, 200 characters per line, any font, 0.09" on most granite and 0.06" on black granite.

Related articles:

• How to Start a New Quote

• How to Use Sketch and Inscription

• Website Leads: Get Quotes from Your Website

• A Tour of the Settings Menu