AURA news
Short notes on what is new and what has changed in AURA.
AURA instructions by direct link in three languages
Public AURA instructions and news can now be read before the application loads. Help is prepared for search in Russian, English and Spanish. A new guide takes you from the brief and visualization to the floor plan, estimate and client presentation. Open Help and the guide to preparing an event decor concept.
«Sketches» and «Floristry» in «All tools»
«All tools» (the «More» menu in the app) now has «Sketches» in «Lists across all projects», and after «Production» the «Floristry» group: «Florist studio», «Collage», «Cut out onto a transparent background», «Florist's prices and norms», «Materials in stock», «Florist's calculator».
The «My suppliers» book
«My suppliers» became the studio's book: a card with the directions, contacts, website, what the supplier supplies and notes. AURA offers the suppliers from estimates, prices and requests with «Add to my suppliers», and the «Supplier» field of an estimate suggests the names of the book. Open it in «My studio», in the Production column («Suppliers») and on «Florist studio».
Sketch: a photo of the hall underneath, drafting and sketches without a project
You can lay the venue photo, a picture of the board or your own photo under the sketch sheet, and a slider changes its opacity. The «Line» and «Rectangle» tools draw straight on a grid and write their sizes in metres. «My sketches» on the «Boards» page now has a «New sketch» button: you can draw without a project too.
A sketch starts with a photo, and it is on the home page
A new sketch starts with a choice: «Upload photo», «Photo of the venue» or «Blank sheet», and you can simply drag a photo onto the sheet. The Design and Floristry home pages have a «Hand sketch» block: «New sketch» opens a sheet without a project at once, «My sketches» leads to the saved ones.
Layers and stamps in a sketch
A sketch is drawn in layers, as in Procreate: the «Layers» button above the sheet adds a layer, hides and shows it, changes its opacity and order, and the pencil and the eraser act only on the selected layer. The photo of the hall is the bottom layer. The «Stamps» button puts cut-outs of flowers, greenery and vases from the floristry collage on the sheet: you can move, enlarge and turn them. Only visible layers go into the picture and the frame.
3D names are more compact and leave the hall clear
The names over the hall in 3D stand on small see-through plaques, never overlap, and long ones are cut short. By default only the tables and the stage are named; the switch «Furniture names: Tables / All / No» is in the «Hall view» window. In the app too.
Retouching an area leaves the rest alone
«Retouch an area» without new products redraws only the selected place: AURA adds no tableware, candles or lamps there and does not move the neighbouring chairs. If the edit still touched an item beyond the edge of the selection and it cannot be carried over whole, the variant is not delivered and the generation is returned. «Close-up: guest table» no longer lays cutlery on a bare table. If the AI check gave no answer on the edit or found serious flaws, «Check the details» appears over the frame. The product check mark counts each of your own products once.
The real hall in 3D is controlled like the drawn one
In the «Real hall» from a 3D scan the mouse wheel and two fingers bring you nearer to the point of the scan under the cursor, and a double click or a double tap turns the camera to the scan's floor, a table or a wall, as in the drawn hall. On a walk the floor badge no longer covers the floor switch. In the app too.
Pushes about generations, tasks, clients and requests
The AURA app on your phone now sends pushes beyond the chats: a visualization is ready, AURA is waiting for an answer, a task deadline is near, a client approved a variant or left feedback, a rental request came in, the wallet was topped up. A push comes even if Telegram is not connected and opens the right screen. Choose which pushes you need in «Profile» → «My preferences» → «Push notifications». Tasks, the wallet and news wait until 9:00 your time at night.
The app asks about notifications right after you sign in
Before, the AURA app on your phone asked for permission to send notifications only when you first opened «Chats», so not everyone got pushes about tasks, generations and requests. Now the «AURA notifications» window comes right after you sign in to your account: press «Allow notifications» and confirm the phone's request. If you allowed notifications before, pushes are connected by themselves when you sign in. «Not now» puts the question off for 3 days, and you can allow notifications at any time in the app's profile, in the «Notifications» section.
«All steps» on every page of a project
The project's things to do are now always at hand: every page of the project but «Overview» has a strip with the step of this page and «All steps». It opens the same chain as on «Overview», with a check on what is already done. On the board, the floor plan, the 3D scene, the estimate and the presentation it is in the header, next to «Back to project».
«Price list and norms» and «Reference projects» everywhere
The new names of the Production sections are now in the previous look of the interface too: in the menu on the left, in the page titles, in the calculators' hints and in the access description. «Norms and materials» and «References» used to remain there.
«Line drawing» style, brighter watercolour and illustration
«Presentation style» on the page of a finished visualization now has «Line drawing»: only black outlines on white, with no fill or shadows, like a colouring page. It is easy to take into Procreate and colour in. «Watercolor» and «Illustration» are more colourful, and «Chalk» is gone from the list. A presentation style is now always drawn from the original shot, even when opened on a variant that is a drawing.
Walls in the floor plan by clicks
Walls in the floor plan are now drawn as a polyline: «Add» → «Wall», click the corners, type a length and press Enter, Shift keeps a right angle. Enter, Esc or a double click finish, a click on the first corner closes them. Each wall between corners is separate, the corners are solid. In the app the same works by taps and the «Ready» button.
Top view as a plan and the guest table facing the camera
«Change the angle» now has «Top view as a plan»: the same arrangement strictly from above, as a neat illustrated plan in soft blue tones. «Close-up: guest table» now turns the table to face the camera and shows it a little from above, and its covers are laid as on your table setting photo.
Plan: «Mirror», arcs, circles and rectangles with the pencil
The selection bar at the bottom now has «Mirror left to right» and «Mirror top to bottom»: a complex figure of tables is mirrored whole in one step. The pencil draws an «Arc» through a third point (with Shift a half circle), and a «Circle» or a «Rectangle» becomes a round or straight table, decor or stage at once. In the app too.
The name of a hall plan is shown in full
In the hall plan editor on a screen narrower than 1600 pixels the «Realistic photo» button is now called «Photo», and «Download» became an icon with a down arrow. This way the name of the plan fits in the top bar. What «Photo» does is shown in its tooltip on hover.
The phone keyboard no longer shifts the page
When you tap a field on a phone and the keyboard opens, the page stays in place. The bottom bar, the buttons at the bottom of the screen and the cookie banner hide while the keyboard is open. The chat input sits right above the keyboard. Windows and sheets with fields, such as «New project», shrink to the visible part of the screen, and you can reach their buttons by scrolling the window. The screen no longer zooms in by itself when you tap a field.
A role in the project when inviting to an order from a project
If an order was made from a project with visualizations, the «Invite a participant» window now has «Role in the project «…»». «Commenter» by default: the person sees the visualizations and writes comments but does not change the project. You can choose «Editor», «View» or «No access to the project». In the order itself they are an editor, as before, with or without prices.
The idea board of an order and «Show the client» from «Create»
A Production order now has the «Idea board» on its «Overview»: an order from a project opens the project's board, an order without a project has its own. In the «Create» window, behind the «More» row, there is now «Show the client»: AURA asks which project to show.
My studio: everything in one place
«My studio» is now the first word of the header, a shared section above the directions. It holds the studio card with the logo, contacts, «About the studio» and the team with roles, «Create a new project» with the choice of direction, all Design, Production and Floristry projects in one list and sections across all projects: tasks, documents, boards, chats, plans, photos, estimates, suppliers, sketches and 3D models. There are also «Document templates»: upload your briefs, specs, checklists, timings and sample estimates and add a copy to any project. On a phone «My studio» is in the «More» menu.
My board for your own ideas
The «Boards» page now has the «My board» button: a personal board for notes, references and ideas outside projects. There is one, it is created on the first open and is not among «My projects». You can also find it in «My studio» → «My boards».
Clear chairs and wine glasses in 3D
Acrylic chairs, wine glasses and glassware came out solid when built from a photo. Now the model window in «Items in 3D» has the «Transparent material» tick: the model becomes see-through in the viewer and in the 3D scene, while metal legs stay metal. AURA ticks it by itself from the name, and for new models also from the photo; you can tick or untick it by hand. The model is not built again.
Help for the AURA phone app
The AURA app for iPhone now has help for its screens: the «?» button opens the right article, and the site articles have new sections about the phone. Start with the article «AURA mobile app»: it covers the bottom bar, signing in, creating a frame, tasks and the profile.
The parts of the library stay in view
The row «Catalog · Frame styles · AURA Gallery · Items in 3D · My templates» now also stands on «Items in 3D» and on the cards of an item, a style and an author. The part of the page is highlighted, and the link above the row returns to its list.
Library and estimates by direction
«My templates» now has the «Direction» choice: in Floristry the list shows its collages at once, not chairs and constructions, and calculator products are in Production. In «My studio» → «My estimates» the estimates are split by direction: «By project» shows the totals of Design, Production and Floristry for each project with a link to each estimate, «All estimates» lists them one by one.
Layout in words and a table setting from a photo
AURA now puts your words about the layout above its own seating rules. «Narrow tabletop, chairs only on the outer side» gives chairs along one side of the table. A photo with the «Table setting / napkins» role in «Arrangement, light and table setting» is counted: how many glasses, plates and cutlery one cover has, and the same is laid at every guest, the glasses above the plate on the right. Table legs are drawn straight.
Suggest an improvement to AURA
There is a new «Suggest an improvement» form: describe what to make easier in AURA and attach a screenshot. It is in «Profile», at the bottom of help articles and in the Aura Guide. The AURA team reviews every idea and may credit pendants for an accepted one, and a push tells you the decision. Your ideas and their status are shown in «My ideas».
«Build a board» and «Visualize in 3D» on Home
«What do you want to do?» on the Design Home now has the «Build a board» tile: it opens the idea board of the project. The «Open the hall in 3D» tile is now called «Visualize in 3D» and opens the project's hall in 3D from the plan with tables. Both are always in view, even when the step is done; with several projects AURA asks which one.
Photos in Aura Guide
You can attach up to three photos in Aura Guide: with the «Attach a photo» button (in the chat it is the paperclip to the left of the field), by dragging or by pasting from the clipboard. The photo shows above the field, the cross removes it before sending. The guide looks at the photo and answers, for example, what chair it is or how to make such decor in AURA; you can also send a photo without words. In the task «make an image and a floor plan» the first photo becomes the venue photo. Questions are still free, and the guide's greeting no longer appears twice.
The «Guests» panel on a buffet
When the tables on a hall plan have no chairs, for example a buffet from a ready hall, the «Guests» panel no longer says «No tables yet». It says «Buffet: no seating needed» and shows how to seat the guests anyway: add chairs with «Add» → «Chair».
Sample pictures for the frame styles
Every frame style in the «Library» and in the «Frame style» line when you create a visualization now has a sample picture: the same venue in this preset, so they are easy to compare. «Dopamine decor» and «One-colour monochrome» are more precise: bright colours only in the decor, while the walls and floor of the venue stay as they are.
The «Features» page is updated
The «Features» page of the site now shows what AURA can do today. The first block has the «Empty hall / Aura» slider on a photo of a hall: drag the divider or press a button, and an empty venue turns into a decorated one. Below is the pair «collage and finished composition» with the flowers in close-up (the same pair as on the home page), then the hall in 3D, the floor plan, production and estimates, the idea board, the team and chats, the Aura Guide, pendants and selling your work. At the end come separate cards about the phone app, inviting friends, the library of inspiration and the rental company's cabinet.
Expand the shot
The page of a finished visualization now has an «Expand the shot» button. AURA draws the venue beyond the edges: wider, taller, all around or as a 21:9 panorama, as if the camera moved back. The original part of the shot does not change, the result appears as a new variant, the price is that of an edit.
The exact number of chairs at every table
If a table came out a chair short or over (for example 9 instead of 10), AURA itself redraws only that table with the exact number of chairs and checks the shot again. The rest of the shot does not change, and there is nothing extra to pay.
An edit changes only what you named
Adding or replacing a product in «Retouch an area» now means only that: AURA does not add flowers, lamps, podiums or other decor you did not ask for. A new product is drawn as an exact copy of its photo: the same shape, colour and material.
A zigzag across the venue and a strong haze
The direction in your words is now kept in an edit: garlands «in a zigzag» run across the venue, «along» along it, «diagonally» diagonally. AURA draws haze with the strength you name: «strong haze» fills the whole venue with visible light beams.
A new look for «My documents» and a visualization in a document
«My documents» now has the new look of the other pages: the search, the project filter and the direction above the list, and a new document is created in its own window. In a project's document type «/» and choose «Insert a block» → «Project visualization»: a finished frame of the project goes where the cursor is.