Real size view | Sign Customiser Docs

The Real size view shows the customer’s sign next to a person who is 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall. The sign and the person have the same scale. The customer sees how big the sign is before they order it.

The customer sees the switch only when you select Show Real size view for the customiser.

The Real size view on desktop. The Real size option of the switch is selected. A person 170 cm tall stands beside the Bar Open neon sign.

What the customer sees

The preview has a Design | Real size switch at the top left. The customer selects Real size to open the Real size view. The customer selects Design to return to the Design view. The preview always opens in the Design view.

The Design view of the customiser. The Design | Real size switch is at the top left with Design selected. The neon sign Bar Open is centred from left to right and the price is at the top right.

In the Real size view:

A person silhouette stands on a floor line at the left. A height rail shows when the preview has room for it.
The sign is to the right of the person, with a soft glow behind it. For signs up to 260 cm tall, the centre is 150 cm above the floor.
If the sign is taller than 260 cm, the sign moves up. The bottom of the sign stays 20 cm above the floor.
A size label shows the size of the sign when the preview has room for it. Your measurement settings control this label.
On desktop, a caption at the bottom left gives the height of the person. The caption also tells the customer to change the sign size in the sidebar, unless the customiser has its own published caption text (see Change or translate the Real size text). On a phone, the caption does not show.
The view uses the plain background colour of the preview. It does not show background images.
The tool buttons, Share my design, Upload Background, the background images, the hint text and the colour note do not show.
The customer cannot select or move the words. The price stays at the top right.

The sidebar stays available. When the customer changes the size, text, font or design, the view shows the change.

When the customer selects Design, the preview shows the design and the background image again. The preview also puts the sign back in its Design view position. This is the sign area when you have set one for the background and the customiser does not use Drag, Scale, Rotate. In all other cases, the sign is centred from left to right. For the steps to set a sign area, see Set the Sign area for each background image.

The Design view in a narrow preview. The Design | Real size switch is at the top left with Design selected, the neon sign Bar Open is in the centre, and the price is at the top right.

Signs and screens

Note: The Real size view is not available for lightbox signs.

The view works for text signs and for designs from the AI sign designer.
While the AI sign designer works, the customer can select Real size. The view shows no sign and the message “Processing your image”. The switch stays visible. When the design is ready, the sign appears.
Before the customer types, the initial sign text appears in the Real size view.
Very large, wide or tall signs may not fit in a small preview.
For a sign, the view can remove the height rail and size label to make more room in a small preview.
The view uses the final width and height of the sign. This is the same size that the measurements on the preview show.

Show the Real size view in a customiser

Follow these steps to show the Real size view:

In the admin, click Customisers.
Click the customiser that you want to edit.
In the left-hand menu, click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.
Go to the Visualiser Scaling section.
Select Show Real size view.
Click Save.

The Visualiser Scaling section in the admin. Show Real size view is selected.

To hide the switch, clear Show Real size view. Then click Save.

You can use this option together with Drag, Scale, Rotate.
This option does not need Scale visualisation with size.
For lightbox customisers, the check box does not show.

Default settings

If you created a customiser before the Real size view was added, Show Real size view is not selected.
If you create a new customiser, Show Real size view is selected. This does not apply to lightbox customisers.
If you duplicate a customiser, the copy keeps the setting of the original customiser.

Measurements and units

The Measurement Unit setting in General Settings controls the height of the person in the caption and in the screen reader text:

Centimeters shows “170 cm”.
Inches shows “5 ft 7 in”.
Both Centimeters and Inches shows “170 cm (5 ft 7 in)”.

The height rail shows “170cm”. If Measurement Unit is Inches, the rail shows the height in inches, for example “66.93in”.

The Show/hide Measurements setting controls the size label of the sign. The options depend on the customiser:

Standard customisers have four options: Show both width and height, Show Only Width, Show Only Height and Do not show measurements.
Frame Fit customisers have two options: Show width and height and Do not show measurements.
Lightbox customisers have two options: Show width, height and depth and Do not show measurements.

Do not show measurements shows no size label. Screen readers also do not read the size of the sign.

The size label uses the Measurement Unit and Decimal Format of Measurements settings. For example, a 200 × 21 cm sign with Both Centimeters and Inches and two decimals shows “200cm × 21cm / 78.74in × 8.27in”.

The person always shows. The height rail shows when the preview has room for it. On desktop, the caption also shows. These items give the height of the person, not the size of the sign.

When there is no sign

The customer can open the Real size view when there is no sign. The exception is the Custom tab of an AI sign designer customiser when no design is ready and the AI sign designer is not working. This is the case before the customer uploads an image and after a run fails. There the switch does not show. The view stays open if the customer deletes all the text. It also stays open if the design has no size.

The view shows the person and floor line. A dashed outline marks the last size of the sign. If the sign never had a size, the outline does not show. A message shows in place of the size label. If the message cannot fit, the Real size view is not available.

The default message is “Make your design first to see its real size.”

While the AI sign designer works, the customer can select Real size. The message is “Processing your image”. The message can show when measurement settings hide the size label. Screen readers read the message.

The Real size view with no sign. A dashed outline and message appear beside the person.

When the customer adds text or the design gets a size, the view shows the sign again.

When the Real size view is not available

If the preview is too small for the person and sign, the customer cannot open the Real size view. When the customer selects Real size, a message below the switch says “Make the preview larger to see the real size.”

For a sign, the view tries a smaller scene without the height rail or size label. If the scene still cannot fit, an open Real size view returns to Design. For an empty scene, the message must also fit.

The view also returns to Design when the switch disappears. For example, the switch disappears if the AI sign designer ends without a design. The uploader then replaces the preview.

Change or translate the Real size text

Follow these steps to change the text of the Real size view:

In the admin, click Customisers.
Click the customiser that you want to edit.
In the left-hand menu, click Settings → Languages.
Click Edit next to the language.
Go to the Visualiser section.
Change the text in the fields.
Click Save draft.
After the draft is saved and required labels are complete, click Publish. Customers see only published text.

The Visualiser section has these fields for the Real size view:

Design view button. This is the Design option of the switch. The default text is “Design”.
Real size view button. This is the Real size option of the switch. The default text is “Real size”.
Real size view caption. This is the caption on desktop. The default text is “The person is {height} tall. Change the sign size in the sidebar to see it here.”
Real size view description. Screen readers read this text. The default text is “The sign is shown next to a person who is {height} tall.”
Real size view sign size. Screen readers read this text. The default text is “The sign is {size}.”
Real size view unavailable message. This message shows inside the Real size view when there is no sign, except while the AI sign designer works. The default text is “Make your design first to see its real size.”
Real size view no room message. This message shows when the preview is too small. The default text is “Make the preview larger to see the real size.”

To change “Processing your image”, go to AI sign designer uploads and change Processing title.

To show the height of the person, keep {height} in the caption and description fields. To include the size of the sign in the screen reader text, keep {size} in the sign-size field. The visible size label does not use this field. It follows Show/hide Measurements and Measurement Unit. The customiser replaces these tokens with the measurements.

If a label is too long for the space next to the price, the switch shows only its icons. The label then shows in a tooltip.

Product images, cart and shared links

The person, the height rail and the size label show only in the live preview. Product images do not include them. This also applies to product images in the cart and order. A shared design link opens in the Design view. The Real size view does not change the product image.

To show a background in the product image, select Use the selected background in the product image under Visualiser Scaling. This option needs Scale visualisation with size. It does not work with Drag, Scale, Rotate. It does not apply to backgrounds that the customer uploads. The Scene Editor article has more detail.

Visually scale signs for size dimensions. This article is about Scale visualisation with size. This setting changes the size of the sign in the Design view when the customer selects a different size. The Real size view does not use this setting. You can use the two settings together.
Scene Editor. This article tells you how to add background images and set their real size.
Upload background images. This article tells you how customers upload their own background.
Set the product title and main product image. This article tells you how to set the Main Product Image. Product images do not include the Real size view.
Set the Sign area for each background image. This article tells you how to set the sign area for a background image.