Privacy notice

Controller and contact

The controller for PuzzleForm 3D is Hellinckx Process Simulation e.U., owner Merlin Harvey Hellinckx, Jacob-Rauschenfelsgasse 40, 7000 Eisenstadt, Austria. Privacy enquiries and data-subject requests: office@hellinckx.at.

Account and sign-in data

Email/password and Google Sign-In are provided through Supabase Auth. When a sign-in provider is used, PuzzleForm receives the email address and the display name held in the provider profile and uses them to create the account and prefill the private account details. PuzzleForm does not request access to Google Drive and does not obtain 3D models from a sign-in provider.

Creating an account requires acceptance of the current Terms of Service and acknowledgement of the current Privacy Notice. PuzzleForm records the applicable versions and acceptance time in the protected audit history.

The website and the puzzle editor are served on two hostnames of the same service. Sign-in works on both and creates the same account; the split does not cause any additional personal data to be processed.

Puzzle processing and private storage

Imported models, puzzle settings and computed part bodies are calculated in the browser. Browser-only drafts that are never sliced to completion or exported remain unknown to PuzzleForm, apart from the optional analytics events described below.

For a signed-in account, every slicing attempt sends a bounded operational record to PuzzleForm: project and source filename, start and completion time, duration, outcome, part and triangle counts, puzzle settings, affected part identifiers and a bounded error message. Server-derived flags mark unusually slow, very large, empty or high-frequency activity. Failed and cancelled operational records are kept for no more than 90 days. This processing supports service reliability, troubleshooting, fraud and abuse prevention. Legal basis: performance of the service contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and the controller's legitimate interest in operating and protecting a reliable service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

When slicing succeeds, PuzzleForm also stores a rendered thumbnail and the compiled puzzle result in the account's private slice history. This lets the account holder see the result before purchase, unlock it once with a credit and later create either supported download layout without another credit. These account files remain until the account holder deletes that history item or the account. They are available only through the authenticated service and are not made public. Legal basis: performance of the service contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

The original source geometry is not uploaded for ordinary slice history or operational logging. An account holder may separately opt in under Account, Settings to share source files for quality improvement. This voluntary permission lets allowlisted staff access the source, thumbnail and compiled result solely to investigate slice quality. Refusal has no effect on slicing, credits, purchase or download. The permission can be withdrawn at any time; withdrawal deletes stored quality source files and blocks staff artifact access. Quality source files also expire automatically after no more than 30 days. Access by staff is recorded in the protected audit history. Legal basis for the additional artifact access: consent (Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 7 GDPR).

Curated model library

The public model library is maintained by PuzzleForm. It contains only models selected by the operator, with the source name, source URL and applicable licence shown with the model. Opening a library model creates a private editor project for the account holder. Users cannot publish models, create creator profiles, upload public listings, onboard sellers or receive payouts through this service. Legal basis for delivering the library and editor: performance of the service contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Reports about website content

If you send a notice about illegal or infringing content on the website or in the curated library, the information in that notice, including your contact details, is processed to assess it. The information is used to investigate the report and respond to you. Legal basis: legal obligation where applicable and legitimate interest in protecting the service and third-party rights.

Protecting free credits and billing integrity

A new account is given free export credits. Billing events, including refunds and chargebacks, are also recorded so that the account balance and access can be reconciled and repeated abusive activity can be reviewed. These are separate controls and neither one limits a mandatory consumer right.

When an account is created we derive two one-way values from information your browser sends with the request anyway: one from the connecting IP address and one from the browser's user-agent and language headers. Each is a SHA-256 hash of that information together with a secret held only on our servers. The IP address itself is never stored, the hashes cannot be turned back into it, and nothing is read from or written to your device, so no consent is required for this. Alongside them we keep a coarse description an administrator can read, such as "Firefox on Windows, de". If several accounts created within 30 days share these values, the free credits on the newest one are held back; the account itself keeps working and you are told by email, with the reason and how to have it looked at. These records are deleted after 90 days.

If a paid order is refunded, the event is recorded against the account so that the account ledger and subscription access can be corrected and repeated refund abuse can be reviewed. A repeated-refund notice does not deny a future purchase and does not affect any statutory right of withdrawal or refund.

The results of both checks, and the reason for each, are kept while the account exists so a decision made about you can be explained and reversed. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in preventing repeated collection of free credits, preventing payment abuse and maintaining the integrity of the service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You may object to this processing at any time and ask for a decision to be reviewed by a person. No decision here produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR.

Support and feedback

If you send feedback or a support request through the website, we store the category, message, any reply address you provide, the time, and, when you are signed in, your account reference. A daily-changing pseudonymous request fingerprint is used only to limit abusive submission rates. We use the information to answer your request, investigate product errors and document the resolution. Legal basis: taking steps at your request or performing the service contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and our legitimate interest in reliable support and abuse prevention (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

New feedback is sent to our support recipient and support replies are delivered through Brevo. The message, reply address and delivery metadata are therefore processed by Brevo as our email processor. Resolved and closed support records are deleted no later than 24 months after their last update unless they are still required for a legal claim or statutory duty. Open requests remain available until they are resolved. Delivery logs and message previews in Brevo follow the retention setting of our Brevo account.

Website analytics

The optional first-party analytics described in the Cookie Notice excludes model files, geometry, form values, email addresses, IP addresses, fingerprints and account identifiers. It records only bounded product events after consent.

Marketing and campaign display

Optional on-site campaigns are activated only after marketing consent. The campaign layer uses first-party browser storage to remember whether a configured message was seen or dismissed; it does not currently use advertising pixels, retargeting networks or personalised profiling. Newsletter and other marketing emails are separate processing: an account marketing choice or a confirmed double opt-in is recorded, each message includes an unsubscribe path, and withdrawal is processed without affecting the account or service.

Providers

Supabase provides account authentication, the application database and private object storage. Render provides application hosting. Brevo provides transactional and campaign email delivery. Cloudflare provides DNS/TLS services and, when enabled on an authentication form, Turnstile abuse protection. IONOS hosts the support mailbox and domain services where that account is used; Microsoft 365 hosts the office mailbox where that tenant is used. Paddle processes checkout, payment, tax, invoice and subscription data as merchant of record. Google is involved only when Google Sign-In is selected and remains responsible for its own identity-provider processing. No separate analytics provider is involved because first-party analytics remains within PuzzleForm's own application infrastructure.

Online withdrawal declarations

The public online-withdrawal form stores the name, purchase email address, contract or order reference, chosen scope, optional message, receipt time, confirmation state and processing status. A daily-changing one-way request fingerprint limits abuse; a readable IP address is not stored. Brevo sends the immediate receipt confirmation and the internal notification. The data is used only to process and document the declaration and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Legal basis: performance of the contract, compliance with applicable consumer-law duties and legitimate interests in reliable proof of receipt (Art. 6(1)(b), (c) and (f) GDPR, as applicable).

Deleting your account

An account can be deleted at any time under Account, Settings. Deletion removes the profile, avatar, private slice thumbnails, compiled results and quality source files. Unused credits are forfeited and are not refunded.

Invoices, payment events and the billing audit trail are retained afterwards for as long as Austrian accounting and tax law requires. They are no longer linked to a profile, a name or an email address.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction or portability, object to processing, and withdraw consent for the future. A machine-readable export of profile, slice-history and credit-ledger data is available under Account, Settings. You may also lodge a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority.