Access templates from the New Scene tab of the Open/Create dialog box (see Use the Open/Create Scene dialog box). Templates consist of ready-made scenes containing preset elements such as environments, shots, slides, behaviors, and visual styles. Templates do not contain models; they make it easy to put together a scene quickly and easily using the models you have.

To browse through templates:

1. Select File > New; the Open/Create Scene dialog box opens.
   

   The New Scene tab contains a preview image of the current template, along with text describing its type, name, short description, and some of its contents; for example, from the preceding illustration:

   • Type: Architectural
   • Name: Outdoor Context
   • Short Description: Present Your Project in a Realistic Environment
   • Contents: Camera Shots

   There are four icons in the preview image. These icons represent Autodesk-recommended templates, or, if applicable, recently-used templates:

   

   The preview image in the dialog box corresponds to the currently highlighted icon. Showcase automatically scrolls through the four icons and updates the preview image accordingly.

2. To see details about a template, hover the mouse pointer over its icon.
3. To select a template, click its icon. Once you do this, the preview image is updated to match the icon and Showcase stops scrolling through the four templates.
4. To see more templates, click More at the bottom of the Open/Create Scene dialog box. The template library opens.
   

   The library displays templates in their individual categories, such as Industrial, Architectural, and so on. The four templates that were displayed in the Open/Create Scene dialog box are annotated with an icon: .

5. To see all templates from a category, click Show More in the upper right corner of the category.
   
6. To return to the view of all categories, click Show Less.
   TipTo create a blank scene, expand the General Purpose category and select Blank Scene.
7. To select a template from the library, click its icon. The library is closed and the template preview image is displayed in the Open/Create Scene dialog box.

Once you have your template selected, choose a model file to import using the controls on the right side of the Open/Create Scene dialog box under With this file.

Each button opens a standard file browser for selecting the appropriate file type, with the following exceptions:

• Inventor: Opens the Inventor Import Settings dialog box. See Import Inventor files.
• FBX (or any button used to open an FBX file): After you select the FBX file, the Import FBX File dialog box opens. See Import FBX files.

The model you import is loaded into Showcase with the previously selected template.