The start screen

When Forge opens, it reopens the project you were last working on and shows the start screen over it. The start screen is a shortcut to whatever you do next: a new project from a template, or a recent one. Close it with ×, Esc or a click outside it, and you are back in your last project exactly as you left it.

You can bring it back any time with File ▸ Start Screen….

Create from Template

Create from Template lists an Empty project card, then one card per template: a picture of what it makes, its name, and what it turns your model into.

• Click a template card and Forge makes a new project from the template, named after it (Character, then Character 2, and so on), and opens it on a sample model that comes with Forge, so you see what the template does straight away. The template’s Import node is selected: choose your own model under File there whenever you’re ready, and the whole chain cooks again on it. Rename the project any time by clicking its name in the menu bar.
• Drop a .glb on a template card to make the project with your model loading into its Import node instead of the sample.
• Empty project makes a new project on the starter graph, to build from scratch.

A project you opened and never changed, such as the empty one Forge makes on a first visit, is removed when you start another, so your project list doesn’t fill up with blank projects.

The start screen opens on Create from Template while you have just one project, and on Open Recent once you have more.

Open Recent

Open Recent shows your 12 most recently opened projects as cards, newest first. Each card shows a picture of the project’s viewport as you last saw it (your camera, without gizmos or other tool handles), the project’s name and when it was last edited. Pictures are kept in this browser only: a project you synced from another computer shows a plain tile until you open it here once. The project you already have open is marked Current; clicking it just closes the start screen.

• Click a card to open that project. If the project you are leaving has changes you haven’t exported to a file, Forge first asks whether to export it, as it does for every project switch.
• Search finds a project by name among all your projects, not only the 12 shown.
• Import .ta… opens a project file you exported earlier, as a new project.
• All projects… opens Profile ▸ Projects, where you rename, duplicate, export and delete projects.

Turning it off

Untick Show on startup at the bottom left, and Forge opens straight into your last project from then on. The setting follows your account to other computers when you are signed in. File ▸ Start Screen… still opens the start screen whenever you want it.