Tutorials ModelCraft help Coming from other software
Coming from other modelers
How push/pull modeling habits map to ModelCraft, key by key, and the differences that catch people out.
Written for ModelCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
If you have modeled in SketchUp, ModelCraft will feel familiar: the same idea of faces and push/pull, the same tool letters, a value box you type into without clicking, inference with red, green and blue axes, groups, components, an Outliner, Entity Info and scenes. This page lists what maps across directly and, more importantly, what does not.
Habits that carry over
| You are used to | In ModelCraft |
|---|---|
| Press Space for Select, L Line, R Rectangle, C Circle | The same: SpaceSpace, LL, RR, CC |
| Press P Push/Pull, M Move, Q Rotate, S Scale, E Eraser, T Tape Measure | The same: PP, MM, QQ, SS, EE, TT |
| Press O Orbit, H Pan, Z Zoom, Shift+Z Zoom Extents | The same: OO, HH, ZZ, ⇧ZShift+Z |
| Press G to make a component | The same: GG. ⇧GShift+G makes a group |
| Type into the Measurements box without clicking it | The same, in the value box at the bottom. Press ReturnEnter |
Type 4m,3m for a rectangle, 12s for sides | The same |
Type 3x or /3 after a Move copy | The same; *3 also works |
Type [x,y,z] or <dx,dy,dz> for a point or offset | The same |
| Type a bare number in an architectural-inch model and get inches | The same |
| Middle-drag to orbit, Shift+middle-drag to pan, wheel to zoom at the cursor | The same |
| Double-click with Push/Pull to repeat the distance | The same |
| Arrow keys to lock red, green, blue, and parallel | The same: →→ red, ←← green, ↑↑ blue, ↓↓ parallel |
| Hold Shift to lock an inference | The same |
| Ctrl (Option on a Mac) to copy while moving | ⌃Ctrl, ⌘Ctrl or ⌥Alt, on any computer |
| Shift to toggle, Ctrl to add, Shift+Ctrl to remove from the selection | The same keys; on a Mac use ⌘Ctrl where it says Ctrl |
| Left-to-right window, right-to-left crossing | The same |
| A Dimension tool to label lengths | DD, and more: type a new length into a dimension and the model resizes to it. See Dimension and resize |
| Double-click a face for face plus edges; triple-click for all connected | The same |
| Double-click a group to edit it; Esc to close | The same |
| Draw a line across a face to split it; erase an edge between coplanar faces to heal them | The same |
| Push a window rectangle through a wall to cut it | The same |
| Back faces in blue-grey; Reverse Faces | The same color; Reverse face in Entity info |
| Scenes as tabs over the view, Page Up and Page Down | The same, with Play in the Scenes panel |
| Shadows from date, time, latitude and longitude, with north on green | The same, in the Style panel |
Differences that catch people out
Saving is a download
There is no Save that overwrites the file you opened, no Save As dialog with a name, no autosave and no backup file. Save (⌘SCtrl+S) downloads a fresh .modelcraft file every time, usually to your downloads folder. Save often, and rename or move the files yourself. See Open, save, import and export.
It cannot open .skp files
ModelCraft does not read or write SketchUp files. Export from SketchUp as Collada (.dae), which keeps groups, components and colors, or as OBJ, and import that. To go back, export Collada from ModelCraft and import it in SketchUp.
No right-click menu
Right-drag pans; a right-click does nothing. Commands you would find in the context menu are in Entity info (Reverse face, Edit, Explode, Make unique, Make component) and in the toolbar's Organize group.
Units live in the status bar
There is no Model Info or template choice. The unit picker is at the bottom right. A new model starts in feet and inches in the US and in millimeters elsewhere, from your browser's language setting. Decimals always take a period: 2.5m, never 2,5m, because the comma always separates values.
No paint bucket, no materials
There is no Paint Bucket (B) and no materials or textures in this build. Faces are one neutral color. Colors from imported Collada and glTF files are kept and exported again, but you cannot change them.
Scale is uniform, without grips
Scale does not show a box with grips. Click the point that stays put, a reference point, then the new size or a typed factor. It always scales evenly in all directions. To stretch in one direction, push/pull or move a face, retype a group's width, depth or height in Entity info, or resize with a dimension.
Rotate picks its plane from where you click
There is no protractor that sticks to faces as you hover with arrow keys to pick the plane. Click the center on a face to turn in that face's plane, or on the ground to turn about the vertical. The arrow keys orbit the view before the first click.
Inference from points you pass over
ModelCraft snaps to axis directions from your start point, and to points, edges and faces under the pointer. It does not track a direction from a point you merely hovered (the dotted "from point" inference). To line up with a far corner, lock the axis with an arrow key and hover that corner: the locked point slides to line up with it. Or place a guide.
Parallel uses the edge you passed over before starting
The parallel and perpendicular inference uses the last edge the pointer crossed before the first click, not edges you hover while drawing. See Inference and snapping.
Copies of a group are linked
Copying a group with Move makes a second placement of the same group, so editing one changes both, as with components. SketchUp makes groups independent. See Troubleshooting.
Space does not pan
SpaceSpace picks Select, as in SketchUp. In some other web apps holding Space pans; here it doesn't. Right-drag pans instead.
Two-finger scroll zooms
On a trackpad, set Settings › ModelCraft › Scrolling to Trackpad: two fingers orbit, ⇧Shift and two fingers pan, a pinch zooms. See Orbit, pan and zoom.
If your hands know Blender's keys rather than SketchUp's, set Controls to Blender style: GG, RR and SS act on the selection at once, EE extrudes (push/pull), ⇧DShift+D duplicates. See ModelCraft settings.
Solids pushed into each other do not cut
Push/pull cuts through the face behind it in the same object, but two separate solids pushed into each other don't intersect. There is no Intersect Faces and no Solid Tools.
What is missing
Follow Me, Offset, Arc, Freehand, Text, angle and radius dimensions, Protractor guides, Tags (layers), Hide, Section Planes, Soften/Smooth, Intersect, Solid Tools, Paint, a component library, extensions, and printing or a layout tool for sheets are not in this build. Not built yet lists what to do instead.
Shortcuts the browser keeps
ModelCraft runs in a browser, so a few shortcuts belong to the browser, not the app. ⌘NCtrl+N opens a browser window (use New), and ⌘WCtrl+W closes the tab. If you have unsaved changes, the browser asks before closing. See Keys, mice and trackpads.