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Tutorials PartCraft help Getting started

Get started with PartCraft

What PartCraft does today, what your browser needs, and a first part in ten minutes, from sketch to saved file.

Written for PartCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.

PartCraft is the parametric part and assembly app of the CadCraft family. You draw a 2D sketch, tie it down with relations and dimensions, turn it into a solid with features such as extrude, revolve and hole, and change any number later: the part rebuilds from its history. Parts then go into assemblies, where joints place them and let you check the motion.

What this build does:

JobWhat you get
SketchesLines, rectangles, circles, arcs, points and centerlines, with relations and dimensions, and a live state: under, fully or over defined
Solid featuresExtrude, cut, revolve, revolved cut, simple and counterbored holes, linear and circular patterns, mirror, fillets, chamfers and shell
HistoryEdit any feature's numbers, suppress, roll back, reorder and delete, with undo
AssembliesParts joined by rigid, revolute and slider joints, a clash check and a motion check
DrawingsAn A3 sheet with three views, an isometric, a section, a detail view, overall sizes, datums, feature control frames and surface finish symbols, exported as PDF
FilesIts own part and assembly files; STEP opened as a solid to build on; STL, 3MF, exact STEP, DXF and PDF out

Everything runs in your browser, on your computer. Nothing is uploaded. See Files: open, save and export for where files go.

What you need

  • A current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari with WebGL (3D graphics) and WebAssembly turned on. Both are on by default. The solid geometry is built by WebAssembly kernels that load with the app: see The exact kernel and the mesh kernel.
  • Memory for the exact kernel, which needs much more than the rest of the app. On a phone or a small tablet it may not load; PartCraft then carries on with the mesh kernel.
  • A mouse is easiest. A trackpad works, and touch screens work for viewing and simple sketching: see Trackpad, touch and small screens.
  • A screen at least 1280 pixels wide shows the whole toolbar in one row. Narrower windows stack the panels.

More about browsers: Browsers and computers.

Open PartCraft

  1. Open PartCraft.
  2. Wait while the screen says "Loading the solid kernel…". This takes a moment the first time.
  3. You see an empty 3D view with three base planes, the history on the left ("Part1", then Front plane, Top plane, Right plane) and a box in the view headed "Start a part".
  4. Watch the chip near the right end of the status bar: it says "Exact kernel loading…" and then "Exact kernel". You can start modeling straight away; fillets, chamfers, shells and STEP wait for "Exact kernel".

If the view says the browser cannot show 3D, or the kernel did not load, see Troubleshooting.

Your first part: a plate with a hole

You will make a 60 × 40 mm plate, 10 mm thick, with a 6 mm hole through it. Units are millimeters.

Sketch the outline

  1. Click Front plane in the history on the left. The plane highlights in the view.
  2. Choose Sketch in the toolbar, or press SS. The view turns to look straight at the plane, and the Line tool is active.
  3. Press RR for the Rectangle tool.
  4. Move the pointer onto the origin (the small red circle with a cross). A small square shows that it snaps. Click.
  5. Move up and to the right and click again. You have a rectangle. Its lines are blue: blue means they can still move.

Give it sizes

  1. Press DD for the Dimension tool.
  2. Click the top line, then click a little above it. A number box opens with the current length.
  3. Type 60 and press ReturnEnter. The rectangle changes to 60 mm wide.
  4. Click the left line, then click a little to the left of it. Type 40 and press ReturnEnter.

The chip at the top left of the view now says Fully defined and the lines turn to ink (black on the Paper theme, light on the Model theme). Every point and size is fixed.

Extrude it

  1. Choose Exit in the toolbar, or press EscEsc until the sketch closes (usually twice).
  2. Choose Extrude. A 10 mm solid appears. "Extrude1" is added to the history, with "Sketch1" indented under it.
  3. The right panel shows the extrude's settings. To change the thickness, type a new number in Depth (mm) and press ReturnEnter or TabTab. The part rebuilds at once.

Add the hole

  1. Click the large flat face at the front of the plate (the end of the extrusion). The whole face highlights and the right panel says Face.
  2. Choose Sketch on this face in the right panel.
  3. Press PP for the Point tool and click near the middle of the face.
  4. Choose Exit.
  5. Choose Hole. A 6 mm hole goes through the plate. Change Diameter (mm) in the right panel if you like.

The Part box at the bottom left now reads a volume, a surface area, the size (60 × 40 × 10 mm) and "Through holes: 1".

Save it

  1. Press ⌘SCtrl+S or choose Save.
  2. Your browser downloads Part1.partcraft.json to its downloads folder. The file holds the whole history: open it again with Open to keep editing.

To rename the part first, click empty space in the view so nothing is selected and type a new Name in the right panel.

Where to go next