Troubleshooting

The 3D view is blank

Symptom: the middle of the screen stays empty, or shows only the background color, and clicking tools does nothing.

Cause: ModelCraft draws with WebGL 2, the browser's 3D graphics. It is missing when the browser is old, when hardware acceleration is turned off, or when the graphics driver is blocked.

Fix:

On a work computer, remote desktop or virtual machine, 3D graphics may be blocked by policy. Try another computer. See Browsers and computers.

Keys do nothing, or type into a box

Cause: the keyboard focus is in a panel field: the Faces list in Style, a sun setting, the Name field in Entity info, or the units picker. Letters and arrow keys then go to that field.

Fix: click in the 3D view, then press the key again. Keys also do nothing while a dialog is open.

Typing a number does nothing

• No direction yet. A typed length goes the way the pointer points from the first click. Move the pointer a little in the direction you want, then type.
• Wrong moment. Most tools take a typed value only after the first click: click the first corner, the face or the point to move from first. Circle and Polygon take a number of sides before the first click.
• "Type a length such as 3m, 10'6" or 4m,3m." ModelCraft could not read it. Check for a decimal comma (2,5): use a period.

A shape starts in the wrong place on a touch screen

Symptom: with a finger, the first rectangle is fine, but the next rectangle, circle or line starts where your previous touch ended instead of where you touched.

Cause: a bug in this build: on a touch screen the tool remembers the last snap point from the previous gesture.

Fix: tap the tool's button in the toolbar again before each new shape. That starts the tool fresh, and the first point lands where you touch.

Editing one group changed another

Symptom: you copied a group with Move and ⌃Ctrl, opened one copy and edited it, and the other copy changed too. The Outliner shows both with the same name.

Cause: in this build, copying a group makes a second placement of the same group, as with a component. ModelCraft's Make unique button is only offered for components.

Fix: select the copy you want to change, click Make component in Entity info, then Make unique. That copy now has its own contents. Or Explode it.

Push/pull does not do what I expected

• "Push/pull works on a face. Click a face." You clicked an edge or empty space. Hover until the face highlights, then click.
• The face is inside a group. Double-click the group to open it first.
• A window did not cut through the wall. The rectangle must be drawn on the wall's face, not in front of it, and the wall must have a back face. See Cut an opening through a wall.
• Two boxes overlap without merging. Solids pushed into each other do not cut or join each other in this build.

A line or shape did not make a face

A face fills in only when the edges close a flat loop. Check that the last point snapped to the first ("Endpoint"), and that all the edges lie in one plane. A loop that is slightly out of plane stays as lines. Draw one of its edges again, snapping to the corners.

I can't select or erase a face

• With Select, a click near an edge takes the edge. Click nearer the middle of the face.
• The Eraser does not pick faces. Select the face and press fn DeleteDelete, or erase one of its edges.
• If it belongs to a group or component, the click selects the whole thing. Double-click to open it.

"Select something to move first, or click on it."

Move, Rotate and Scale need something to work on: select it first, or start the tool by clicking on the thing itself (not on empty space or a guide).

"Select some geometry first (drag a window, or triple-click to select everything connected)."

GG and ⇧GShift+G need a selection. Guides cannot be grouped.

The arrow keys orbit instead of locking

Locks work only after the first click of a drawing or editing tool. Push/pull has no locks, and in Rotate they do not change the turn. At other times the arrow keys orbit the view.

Esc in full screen

In full screen, the browser may use the first EscEsc to leave full screen. Press EscEsc again to cancel the tool.

No middle button

Press OO for Orbit and drag, or use the arrow keys. See Orbit, pan and zoom.

Imports

The import is the wrong size or lying on its side

• OBJ: OBJ has no unit; ModelCraft reads meters. A millimeter model comes in 1000 times too big: scale it by 0.001; an inch model by 0.0254.
• OBJ on its side: ModelCraft expects OBJ files with Y up. A file written with Z up comes in lying down. Rotate it 90° about the red axis: click the Rotate center on a face that faces along red, or open the file in its program and export with Y up.
• DWG or DXF: you picked the wrong unit in the "Drawing units" dialog. Undo and import again.

Opening files

I lost work

ModelCraft does not save by itself. When you close or reload a tab with unsaved changes, the browser asks first ("Leave site?" or "Reload site?"); choose to stay and save. New and Open ask too ("Unsaved changes"). If the browser or computer crashed, the work since your last save is gone. Save often with ⌘SCtrl+S.

My downloads folder fills up with copies

Each save is a new download, named Untitled (1).modelcraft, Untitled (2).modelcraft and so on. Delete the old ones, or set the browser to ask where to save each file and overwrite the old file yourself. See Open, save, import and export.

It gets slow

• Every step of undo keeps a full copy of the model, so on a very large import each edit takes longer. Explode or erase what you don't need, save, and reopen: reopening also clears the undo history.
• Sun shadows cost the most. Untick Sun shadows while you model.

No shadows

Sun shadows is off, the sun is down at the time you chose ("The sun is down at this time."), or the style is Wireframe, which draws no shadows.

"This browser did not allow full screen."

Some browsers and some embedded views refuse full screen. Use the browser's own full screen instead (Control-Command-F / F11).

ModelCraft does not open without a connection

ModelCraft opens offline only after it was saved for offline use in that browser: the app bar's button must read Offline ready. Open it while online and click Save for offline. If the button reads Could not save, click it again on a better connection; Offline not available means this window (a private window, or a managed computer) cannot keep a copy. See Working offline.