Tutorials ModelCraft help Getting started
The ModelCraft screen
A tour of the toolbar, the panels on each side, the 3D view and the status bar, by their on-screen names.
Written for ModelCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
From top to bottom: the app bar, the toolbar, the three columns (left panels, 3D view, right panels) and the status bar.
The app bar
The slim bar at the very top belongs to every CadCraft app. It has the app name and version, About ModelCraft, the screen-mode button and the Paper / Model switch.
- Paper is the light theme and Model the dark one. The 3D view changes its colors to match; your model does not change.
- The screen-mode button (it reads Full screen at first) and ⌃⇧FCtrl+Shift+F cycle through three modes: normal, full screen, and full screen with the bars hidden. With the bars hidden, point at the top edge of the screen (or tap it) to bring them back. EscEsc leaves full screen.
The toolbar
The toolbar is split into labeled groups. Hover a button to see its name and key.
| Group | Buttons |
|---|---|
| File | New, Open, Save, Import, Export (a menu of formats) |
| Draw | Line (LL), Rectangle (RR), Circle (CC), Polygon (NN) |
| Modify | Select (SpaceSpace), Push/pull (PP), Move (MM), Rotate (QQ), Scale (SS), Eraser (EE), Tape (TT) |
| Organize | Component (GG), Group (⇧GShift+G), Explode |
| Edit | Undo (⌘ZCtrl+Z), Redo (⌘YCtrl+Y), Copy (⌘CCtrl+C), Paste (⌘VCtrl+V), More (a menu: cut, copy, paste, paste in place ⇧⌘VCtrl+Shift+V, duplicate ⌘DCtrl+D, delete, select all, select none, and the key style) |
| Camera | Orbit (OO), Pan (HH), Zoom (ZZ), Extents (⇧ZShift+Z), Views (a menu) |
The keys shown are the SketchUp-style ones; with Blender style picked in ModelCraft settings, the tooltips show those keys instead. The tool you are using is shown pressed. On a narrow screen the toolbar scrolls sideways.
The Views menu has Iso, Top, Front, Right, Back, Left and Bottom, each fitted to the model, and Perspective, which switches between perspective and parallel projection.
The 3D view
The middle of the screen. The red, green and blue lines are the axes: red and green lie on the ground, blue points up, and north is the green axis. Where they meet is the origin.
- When you start, a card titled "Start modeling" lists the first few keys. It goes away when you pick a drawing tool or click in the view.
- While a tool is working, the view shows inference markers: small colored shapes where the pointer snaps (a green circle at an endpoint, a cyan one at a midpoint, a red square on an edge, a blue diamond on a face). See Inference and snapping.
- Selected things turn blue. A face seen from behind is blue-grey.
- When you open a group to edit it, everything outside it fades, and the axes move to the group's own axes.
- When a model has scenes, a row of scene tabs appears across the top of the view.
- Drop a file anywhere on the view to open or import it.
The left panels
Outliner lists the groups and components in the model, nested the way they are nested in the model. A component used more than once shows how many times, such as "Window (4)".
- Click a name to select it. Double-click to open it for editing.
- While you edit inside a group, a line reads "Editing: Model › …", and a Close group button appears. It closes every open level at once.
Components lists every component definition with how many copies are placed ("3×") and a Place button that adds another copy where you click.
The right panels
Entity info describes what is selected. Its heading changes to say what that is:
| Heading | Shows | Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Model (nothing selected) | Faces, edges, groups, components and how many are placed, guides, overall size | Delete all guides (when there are guides) |
| Face | Area, number of holes | Reverse face |
| Edge | Length | none |
| Group or Component | Name (type to rename), how many times it is placed, whether it is a closed solid, its volume, its size | Edit, Explode, Make unique (a component placed more than once), Make component (a group) |
| Guide point or guide line | nothing | Delete |
| Several things | How many faces, edges, groups and guides, the total area of the faces | Make component (G), Make group (Shift+G) |
Style sets how the model is drawn: Faces (Shaded, Hidden line, Wireframe, X-ray), Show edges, and Sun shadows with the date, time and place of the sun. See Styles and sun shadows.
Scenes saves views: Add scene, the list of scenes, and Previous, Play and Next. See Save views as scenes.
The status bar
Along the bottom, from left to right:
- The tip: what the tool wants next, or what the pointer is snapping to ("Endpoint", "On red axis").
- Messages: what just happened ("Undid push/pull.", "Imported site.dxf: 1697 edges on the ground, in a group.") or why something did not work.
- The value box: its label changes with the tool (Length, Dimensions, Radius, Sides, Distance, Angle, Scale, Offset). It shows the live size while you work, and takes what you type. See Type exact sizes in the value box.
- The key style: Keys: SketchUp or Keys: Blender switches the keyboard shortcuts and mouse buttons at once (the same as in ModelCraft settings).
- Snap and Collide: snapping to points, edges and axes, and solids stopping where they touch. Crossed out = off. Click to switch. See ModelCraft settings.
- The units picker: the unit lengths are shown in. See Get started.
On a narrow screen
Below about 760 pixels wide (a phone, or a narrow window), the columns stack: the toolbar, then the 3D view, the status bar, the right panels and the left panels. Scroll the page to reach the panels.