AURA

Where to start in AURA

AURA brings event projects together in one application: the concept, visualizations, the floor plan, documents, tasks and decor production. A project gathers the event brief and everything needed for the preparation; you can also start with a single visualization.

Learn more: Help · Features.

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What AURA is

AURA is an application for event designers, decorators, art directors and creative directors. One event project holds everything from the first idea to installation: the event brief and the team, the idea board, visualizations of the hall, the floor plan and 3D, documents (client brief, estimate, timing), tasks, presentations and client approval. The library keeps the catalog of rental companies, your templates, items in 3D and the AURA gallery.

Besides decor, AURA has two more directions: «Aura Production» (orders for making decor, the calculator, the estimate and the quote, drawings, workshop tasks) and «Aura Floristry» (visualizations with floristry, the collage, the palette, the catalog for the florist). Projects, the team and the balance are shared between the directions.

  • The «Features» page of the site shows what AURA can do today: the «Empty hall / Aura» slider on a photo of a hall, the pair «collage and finished composition», the hall in 3D and the floor plan, production and estimates, the idea board, the team and chats, the Aura Guide, pendants and selling your work. Below come the phone app, inviting friends, the library of inspiration and the rental company's cabinet. Presentations are shown to those who have them switched on, and the button of every block takes a guest to sign-up. The home page tells the same more briefly. The full list of sections inside the application opens from the «More» menu → «All tools».

How to use it

  1. Open «Home». If you have no projects yet, click «Upload a hall photo»: the project «My first project» and the first visualization are created together. If you already have a project, the «What's next» card suggests the next step.
  2. Click «Create» → «New project» (or open «My projects» → «Create project») and give the event a clear name.
  3. In the project, open the «Idea» step (the board) to collect ideas, or the «Look» step and «New visualization» if the venue photo is ready. The «Next step» card on the project overview suggests what to do next.
  4. On the board, group the venue, the items and the wishes with a frame. In a visualization, build the shot on the left: venue, items, wishes in words, then «Create».
  5. Check the finished shots. Invite the client through «Team and access», or put together a presentation and create a client link.
  6. All sections of a project are grouped into five steps under its name. To carry out the plan, open the «Preparation» step → «Tasks»; for instructions, the concept, the estimate, the schedule and questionnaires, open «Preparation» → «Documents»: on the left, choose «Project documents», «Client brief», «Estimate», «Schedule», «Preparation assistant» or «General documents».

Where to find the section you need

The header has seven familiar things: «My projects», «Home», «Library», search, «Tasks», «Create» and the avatar; next to the logo stands the direction switcher «Design», «Production», «Floristry», and your pendant balance is shown before «Create». Everything else is gathered in three places: the «Create» window (frequent actions), the «More» menu under the avatar (the balance page, news, help, language) and the «All tools» page (lists across all projects, the library, production). This makes it easier to create the first visualization and the first project without sorting through every section at once.

  1. Click «Create» and choose what you want to do: «New project», «Visualize the hall», «Build a plan and seating», «Open the hall in 3D» or «Add a task».
  2. If what you need is not among the goals, open «More» → «All tools» and find the section in the list: «Visualizations», «Floor plans», «Idea boards», «Documents», «Presentations», «Catalog», «My templates» and others.
  3. If you do not know how to do something, press the Aura Guide icon in the header (a circle with a speech bubble and a spark) and ask. The «?» by a page title opens the help article about it.
  • A new studio sees the same header and bar as everyone else: the short menu and the «Show all tools» button are gone. Direct links to any page work as before.
  • On a phone it is the same in the bottom bar of five cells: three sections, «Create» in the middle and «More».
  • To see what has appeared in AURA recently, open «AURA news» (the «More» menu). A dot on the avatar, and on «More» on a phone, shows that something is unread.

Good to know

  • «My templates» (formerly «Saved work», and before that «Studio materials») is the studio's personal library: venues, plans and drafts you can take into a new project. It is on the «Library» page in the «My templates» tab. «AURA Gallery» (formerly «AURA library») shows the published concepts of the community. These are different sections.
  • «Items in 3D» (formerly «3D models») help you work with the shape of an item. The floor plan is for dimensions and layout. You do not need these tools for your first visualization.
  • The Aura Guide icon in the header opens the guide for the current page; the «Aura Guide» row in the «More» menu and «Ask Aura Guide» at the bottom of the «Create» window open it too. The «?» in the top right corner of a page opens the help article about it. The small «?» next to a heading or a button explains what it does. The hint opens only when you press «?» and closes with its cross, the Esc key or a click away from it. The window or panel where the «?» stands stays open.
  • «Home» in the header opens the home page: what to do next, the «What do you want to do?» goals, «Continue working» and «Today and soon». The left «Studio» menu is gone: «My projects» and «Library» are in the header, «Tasks» is an icon with a counter, and the rest is in «Create», in the «More» menu and on the «All tools» page. Inside a project, «Tasks» and «Documents» (the «Preparation» step) show only the materials of that project; the estimate, the brief and the schedule of an event exist only in a project. The board is for visual ideas, sticky notes and images, and task lists live in «Tasks».
  • The header has only the essentials: «My projects», «Home» and «Library». The prices of operations are in «More» → «Prices». The balance is shown in the header: a pendant icon and a number that open the «Balance» page; the same page is in «More» → «Balance». «Visualizations» open from the «Library», from the switch above the list of projects and from «All tools». The search in the header (the «Find a project, plan or task» field in a wide window, a magnifier icon in an ordinary one) and the «Create» button open the same «Create» window: you choose what to do in it and search for projects, floor plans, tasks, documents and visualizations. The same window opens with Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac) from any page and with «Create» in the bottom bar of a phone. A guest sees «Create an aura» instead. A rental company has «Rental company dashboard» in the «More» menu, and an administrator has «Administration».
  • On nested pages there is a button with a left arrow above the title, and it says where it leads: «← All projects» on the project overview, «← To the project» inside an open document, task list or project visualization, «← Profile» on profile pages, «← My visualizations», «← All tasks», «← My documents». Inside a project step, the project name above the row of steps takes you back to its overview. The button also works when the page was opened from a link.
  • If directions are on for you (the «Design», «Production», «Floristry» switcher next to the logo), the header depends on the direction: in Design «My projects», «Home» and «Library», in Production «My orders», «Products» and «Calculator», in Floristry «My projects», «Home» and «Catalog». «Tasks» opens from the icon in the header, the pendant balance is shown in the header in every direction, and «Prices», «Rental company dashboard» and the language are in the «More» menu. More in the article «AURA directions».

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