3D

Every page the atelier carries under 3D.

• SelectVSelect picks up what the next action will work on in the 3D view: a corner, an edge, a face, a whole body, a component or a building element such as a wall. Selecting on its own never changes the project; one click picks the finest thing under the pointer, a double click the whole face and a triple click the whole body.
• EraserEThe Eraser removes lines from the modelled geometry in the 3D view, one with a click or many by sweeping across them. With Shift pressed it hides a line instead, with Ctrl it softens it, and with both it brings a hidden or softened line back.
• LineLThe Line tool draws straight lines anywhere in the 3D view, point after point, on a face, along an edge, from a corner or on the ground. Every line is in place the moment you click its end, and lines that close flat become a face.
• ArcAThe Arc tool draws a true arc in the 3D view with three clicks: its start, the end of its chord, then a point through which the curve passes. It lies on the plane under the pointer, and it continues the same chain as the Line tool.
• RectangleRThe Rectangle tool draws a closed outline of four sides in the 3D view from two opposite corners, on the plane under the pointer. Its four lines close flat, so the rectangle is a face at once, ready to be pushed or pulled.
• CircleCThe Circle tool draws a full circle in the 3D view from its centre and its radius, on the plane under the pointer. The circle closes flat, so it is a round face at once, and it remains one true curve however it is used.
• SphereSPThe Sphere tool makes a solid sphere in the 3D view from two inputs: its centre, then its radius, clicked or typed. The sphere is placed as a new component, so a single click later picks it whole.
• CylinderCYThe Cylinder tool makes a solid cylinder in the 3D view from three inputs: the centre of its base, its radius, then its height, each clicked or typed. The cylinder is placed as a new component, with its two caps flat and its side smooth.
• ConeCNThe Cone tool makes a solid cone in the 3D view from three inputs: the centre of its base, its radius, then the height of its apex, each clicked or typed. The cone is placed as a new component, with its base flat and its side smooth.
• MoveMMove carries what you hold in the 3D view from one point to another: click a point on it, then click where that point should land, or type the distance. With Ctrl at the drop it leaves the original and places a copy, which you can then repeat into a row.
• RotateQRotate turns what you hold in the 3D view about a vertical axis through a point you choose: a pivot, a starting direction, then the angle, clicked or typed in degrees. With Ctrl it leaves the original and turns a copy, which you can repeat around the same pivot.
• TransformTTransform puts a box around what you hold in the 3D view, with a grip on every corner, edge and face of it: drag a grip and the selection scales about the opposite grip. One gesture scales, stretches, squashes or mirrors, and a value typed instead sets it exactly.
• ScaleSCScale resizes what you hold in the 3D view so that a length you know becomes the length you want: a fixed point, the two ends of the known length, then its new length, clicked or typed. Everything selected is enlarged or reduced by that same factor in every direction, about the fixed point.
• Push/PullPPush/Pull takes a face in the 3D view and moves it straight out of its plane: a drawn face becomes a volume, and the face of a body makes the body grow or shrink. Pushed into a body, a face drawn on it carves a hole, and pushed through to the far side it cuts right through.
• BooleanBThe Boolean tool cuts with a solid in the 3D view: click a solid body or component, and every other solid it touches loses the part it overlaps. By default the cutting solid goes once it has cut, leaving only the hollows; press Alt to keep it instead.
• Follow MeWFollow Me sweeps a face along a path of drawn lines in the 3D view: the face travels down every line of the path and is mitred at every turn, so a profile becomes a moulding, a gutter or a frame. You pick the face, then a line of the path, and stop wherever you click or let it run all the way.
• OffsetFOffset draws a copy of the outline of a face at an even distance inside or outside it, in the 3D view, holes and curves included. It works on a face of drawn lines, on a face of a body, or on lines you selected first.
• GuideGThe Guide tool lays a construction line in the 3D view through two points, in any direction, running on without end. Every 3D tool snaps to the guides and to the points where they cross, and the guides stay out of the drawings of the project.
• Section planeKThe Section plane tool cuts the model open in the 3D view: point at the face of a wall, click, and a new section of the project is placed just in front of it, with the model cut there at once. A click on one of the orange frames already standing switches the cut by that frame on or off.
• ComponentsA component is a piece of the model kept once, as a definition, and placed as many times as you like: change it inside one copy and every copy changes. In the 3D view you make one from a selection, open it to edit it, make one copy unique, or explode a copy back into loose geometry.