Parts and the scene

Bodies

Every part is a body: an imported STL, a shape (box, cylinder, sphere, 3D text), a sketch, or a part from the library. Each body keeps its own list of edits (holes, cuts, rounds, stretches) in the order they were made.

  • Select: click it in the view or in the Scene list. Selected parts turn copper.
  • Move / rotate: drag the arrows (G = move, R = rotate), or type Placement values in the inspector. Or type rotate 180 or rotate x 90 in the command bar.
  • Stays on the bed, as in a slicer: a part standing on the bed stays on it when you turn it, and nothing turns down through the bed. A part lifted on purpose keeps its height. A turn with the arrows that ends within 10° of a flat face settles onto that face.
  • Turn 90° X / Y / Z, Lay flat, On bed (under Placement): quarter turns; Lay flat puts the part on its biggest flat face, and each click after that tries the next face; On bed moves it straight down onto the bed.
  • Duplicate: Ctrl+D, or the copy icon in the Scene list. Click where the copy goes.
  • Colour: the swatches in the part's panel: plain colours and a few materials (glass, rubber, metal, wood, carbon), or any colour. Only for telling parts apart in the app: STLs carry no colour.
  • Hide: the eye icon. Hidden parts are left out of exports.
  • Delete: Del, or the bin icon.

History: changing earlier edits

Click an edit in the Scene list to open it in the inspector. Change any value and the part rebuilds with everything after it applied again. Edits can also be switched off (eye icon) or deleted without losing the rest.

Undo / Redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y. Typing a value counts as one step.

Groups (assemblies)

Drives from the library (planetary, cycloidal) arrive as a group of separate printable parts.

  • The first click on a group part selects the whole group; a second click selects that one part.
  • Change the group's parameters (pins, teeth, sizes) in the inspector and every part rebuilds.
  • Each part can still have its own edits, e.g. mounting holes in the housing.
  • The group inspector shows the bill of materials.

Adding shapes to a part

Box, Cylinder and Sphere on the ribbon add material: click a face and the shape stands on it, merged into that part. Switch it to Negative in the inspector to cut instead; the shape then sinks into the face. With nothing in the scene they become new parts on the bed.