Quick Start Guide

Designing your own home can seem intimidating – especially if you have no prior experience and it involves learning a new tool.

​This is why we created interactive guides, professional templates, and offer professional services right inside your workspace. So you can be free to create without friction and get help when you need it.

The Help Center and guides offer more details on Montage Studio’s features, but the best way to learn is to dive in and start designing.

Rather go through a step-by-step guide? Let’s begin…

Montage Studio was built to make designing your own home easy and intuitive. Becoming familiar with your workspace will allow you to focus on exploring all your creative ideas.

Your workspace has 4 main sections:

1. Design – Your hub for viewing, organizing, and adjusting the details of your design. Whether you started from scratch or chose one of our professionally designed templates, all the details of your current design can be found here.

2. Templates – Jumpstart your creative journey with professionally designed templates. Every template is customizable and allows you to control every aspect of your design. ​

3. Modules – The core building blocks for designing your floor plan. Modules, like Lego blocks, can be assembled in various ways to create your ideal floor plan. There are 3 main types – Annex, Dwelling, and Lifestyle.

4. Bookmarks – Quickly access your favorite modules, templates, and all your designs.

Use our interactive guide to explore how to design your home and turn your ideas into reality with professional documentation. 

The interactive guide is designed so you can explore at your own pace.

Start by quickly browsing through each stage of the guide to get a high-level overview of Montage Studio and understand what's possible in just 5 minutes.

You can dive deeper into each section as needed.

Before you know it, you'll be able to create anything you wish, while learning how to design your home, select various finishes, and effectively communicate with professionals.

By now you should be familiar with how Montage Studio works – simple right? Taking creative control over your new home is exciting, and I bet you’re eager to create your first design, so let's begin!

Choose your starting point

Click the ‘+ New Design’ button to open the New Design Dialog. We recommend starting with a Template. Or, if you're comfortable building from scratch, select ‘Design your own’ and begin by adding Modules.

You can find all of our templates within the Templates Sidesheet, accessible via the sidebar. Or browse them on our website. 

Scroll through the template previews to see the available options. All templates include complete plans and finish selections.

You can review the details of each template in the Sidesheet by selecting the Template Card and preview plans in your Workspace using the Fullscreen tool.

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Modifying your layout

Let’s modify that template to realize your ideas for the perfect plan.

1. Select the module that you’d like to edit. Navigate to a module that requires adjustment and select the respective module.
2. Adjust the module to meet your desired layout. Simply Flip the module using the Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical tools in the Modules Toolbar or rotate it by dragging one of the corners.
3. [Optional] Want to replace a module? With the module selected, navigate to the Modules Sidesheet by clicking the Modules icon from the sidebar, choose a replacement module, and then select the Switch tool from the Modules Toolbar.
4. Adjust the floor plan to meet your vision. Simply drag and drop new Modules, to align with your vision – or modify the existing ones using the Flip, Switch, Duplicate, and Delete tools in the Modules Toolbar

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Customize your design

Once you’ve selected a template or built a plan from scratch you’re ready to customize it. 

All Templates have preselected finishes.  You can keep these selections, apply them to any design, or change each finish by selecting from the available options in the Style Sideseet.

1. Select your finishes. Navigate to the Style Sidesheeet on the right side of the Workspace. For a quick win, simply select a new Exterior Finish. If you feel ambitious, you can browse and adjust the rest. Options are available for a variety of categories including Interior Wall Finish, Kitchen Countertops, Bathroom Tile, and more.
2. [Optional] Select module upgrades. Module-specific upgrades are available for certain designs. To view these options, select a Module then click on the ‘More’ tool inside the Modules Toolbar to display the More menu. Select ‘View Module details’ and scroll to the bottom of the Style Sheet on the right to see the upgrades available for the selected module. 
3. ‍[Optional] Order professional drawings. Click ‘Order now’ on the bottom right side of the page and select a Blueprint package to order professional drawings for your home.

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And just like that – you’ve designed your first home!‍

Your design is now ready to share! Send it to a spouse, family member, team member, or professional.

Share your design with a link or email

1. Open Share Dialog: Click the ‘Share’  button on the top right side of the top app bar
2. Select the ‘Share a link’ option: Select the ‘Share a link’ button to generate a live link.
3. Copy the Share Link: Click ‘Copy Link’ and paste it into an email or share it with colleagues and professionals.

Collaborate with others

1. Open Share Dialog: Click the ‘Share’  button on the top right side of the top app bar
2. Select the ‘Collaborate’ option: Select the ‘Collaborate’ button to enter the details about the recipient. 
3. Enter a valid email address: Enter the email address of the recipient. 
4. Select a role: Assign a permission role of either Viewer, Admin, or Designer to the recipient. 
5. Click the ‘Invite’ button: Click the invite button to send an email invitation to collaborate on your design.

‍Learn more about the permissions of Viewers and Collaborators.‍

Congratulations on designing and sharing your home! Now, it’s time to elevate your Design with our on-demand 14-day trial of the Premium plan. 

Here’s what you'll unlock:‍

1. Access to premium Modules & Templates: Personalize your home with modules and templates designed by some of the best architectural designers in the industry.

2. Access to Premium design tools: Gain access to our new studio design features, including our Node Editor and Levels tools, that enable you to customize your design even further by adding a second story, additional windows, and doors. Coming soon!‍

3. Manage more projects: View and share multiple portfolios to collaborate with other designers.

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Additional features include:

Additional seats, Viewers, and Portfolios

Priority Customer Support

1 GB of cloud storage

Congratulations on completing the Quick Start Guide! We’ve covered the basics of creating and sharing your first Design. 

Whether you’re designing your first home or planning your next development we have all the tools you need to complete your next project.

You’ve seen how Montage Studio transforms your ideas into beautiful, custom homes. Now, it’s time to get creative.

If you need any assistance or have questions, get in touch with our team at info@montage-studio.com. We’re happy to help. 

What will you design next?

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