diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d259468bf0..9a6e896c60 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Added KLayout plugin, with DRC functionality for running design rule checks in `plugins.klayout.drc`. Supports running DRC on GDS files as well as `Geometry`, `Structure`, and `Simulation` objects.
 - Added "mil" and "in" (inch) units to `plot_length_units`.
 - Objective functions that involve running `tidy3d.plugins.smatrix.ComponentModeler` can be differentiated with autograd.
+- `Scene.plot_3d()` method to make 3D rendering of scene.
 
 ### Changed
 - Validate mode solver object for large number of grid points on the modal plane.
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/scene.py b/tidy3d/components/scene.py
index 83abbcf330..23c536eb00 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/scene.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/scene.py
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
     equal_aspect,
     plot_params_fluid,
     plot_params_structure,
+    plot_scene_3d,
     polygon_path,
 )
 
@@ -1955,3 +1956,15 @@ def _pcolormesh_shape_doping_box(
             alpha=alpha,
             clip_box=ax.bbox,
         )
+
+    def plot_3d(self, width=800, height=800) -> None:
+        """Render 3D plot of ``Scene`` (in jupyter notebook only).
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        width : float = 800
+            width of the 3d view dom's size
+        height : float = 800
+            height of the 3d view dom's size
+
+        """
+        return plot_scene_3d(self, width=width, height=height)
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/viz/__init__.py b/tidy3d/components/viz/__init__.py
index 1f3b5fb2ca..8e0b57feba 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/viz/__init__.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/viz/__init__.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     plot_params_structure,
     plot_params_symmetry,
 )
-from .plot_sim_3d import plot_sim_3d
+from .plot_sim_3d import plot_scene_3d, plot_sim_3d
 from .styles import (
     ARROW_ALPHA,
     ARROW_COLOR_MONITOR,
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
     "plot_params_source",
     "plot_params_structure",
     "plot_params_symmetry",
+    "plot_scene_3d",
     "plot_sim_3d",
     "polygon_patch",
     "polygon_path",
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/viz/plot_sim_3d.py b/tidy3d/components/viz/plot_sim_3d.py
index 46cf50c256..75e51327af 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/viz/plot_sim_3d.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/viz/plot_sim_3d.py
@@ -5,8 +5,63 @@
 from tidy3d.exceptions import SetupError
 
 
-def plot_sim_3d(sim, width=800, height=800) -> None:
-    """Make 3D display of simulation in ipyython notebook."""
+def plot_scene_3d(scene, width=800, height=800) -> None:
+    import gzip
+    import json
+    from base64 import b64encode
+    from io import BytesIO
+
+    import h5py
+
+    # Serialize scene to HDF5 in-memory
+    buffer = BytesIO()
+    scene.to_hdf5(buffer)
+    buffer.seek(0)
+
+    # Open source HDF5 for reading and prepare modified copy
+    with h5py.File(buffer, "r") as src:
+        buffer2 = BytesIO()
+        with h5py.File(buffer2, "w") as dst:
+
+            def copy_item(name, obj):
+                if isinstance(obj, h5py.Group):
+                    dst.create_group(name)
+                    for k, v in obj.attrs.items():
+                        dst[name].attrs[k] = v
+                elif isinstance(obj, h5py.Dataset):
+                    data = obj[()]
+                    if name == "JSON_STRING":
+                        # Parse and update JSON string
+                        json_str = (
+                            data.decode("utf-8") if isinstance(data, (bytes, bytearray)) else data
+                        )
+                        json_data = json.loads(json_str)
+                        json_data["size"] = list(scene.size)
+                        json_data["center"] = list(scene.center)
+                        json_data["grid_spec"] = {}
+                        new_str = json.dumps(json_data)
+                        dst.create_dataset(name, data=new_str.encode("utf-8"))
+                    else:
+                        dst.create_dataset(name, data=data)
+                        for k, v in obj.attrs.items():
+                            dst[name].attrs[k] = v
+
+            src.visititems(copy_item)
+        buffer2.seek(0)
+
+    # Gzip the modified HDF5
+    gz_buffer = BytesIO()
+    with gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=gz_buffer, mode="wb") as gz:
+        gz.write(buffer2.read())
+    gz_buffer.seek(0)
+
+    # Base64 encode and display with gzipped flag
+    sim_base64 = b64encode(gz_buffer.read()).decode("utf-8")
+    plot_sim_3d(sim_base64, width=width, height=height, is_gz_base64=True)
+
+
+def plot_sim_3d(sim, width=800, height=800, is_gz_base64=False) -> None:
+    """Make 3D display of simulation in ipython notebook."""
 
     try:
         from IPython.display import HTML, display
@@ -19,10 +74,14 @@ def plot_sim_3d(sim, width=800, height=800) -> None:
     from base64 import b64encode
     from io import BytesIO
 
-    buffer = BytesIO()
-    sim.to_hdf5_gz(buffer)
-    buffer.seek(0)
-    base64 = b64encode(buffer.read()).decode("utf-8")
+    if not is_gz_base64:
+        buffer = BytesIO()
+        sim.to_hdf5_gz(buffer)
+        buffer.seek(0)
+        base64 = b64encode(buffer.read()).decode("utf-8")
+    else:
+        base64 = sim
+
     js_code = """
         /**
         * Simulation Viewer Injector