The PartCraft screen

The screen has five parts: the toolbar across the top, the history on the left, the 3D view in the middle, the properties panel on the right and the status bar along the bottom. Above them all sits the CadCraft app bar.

The app bar

The thin bar at the very top belongs to the CadCraft site, not to PartCraft itself. It shows the app name and where it runs, a version menu, About PartCraft, the screen-mode button and the Paper / Model theme switch.

• Paper is dark lines on a light sheet. Model is light lines on a dark background. Sketch colors follow the theme.
• Settings (the gear, or ⌘,Ctrl+,) has a PartCraft tab: which mouse button turns the view, mouse wheel or trackpad, and relations while sketching. See PartCraft settings.
• The screen-mode button, or ⌃⇧FCtrl+Shift+F, cycles through normal, full screen, and full screen with the bars hidden. With the bars hidden, move the pointer to the top edge (or tap there) to bring them back. EscEsc returns to normal. This key is ⌃⇧FCtrl+Shift+F on a Mac too, not ⌘.

The toolbar

The toolbar is grouped. It changes with what you are doing, so it fits one row:

Hover over a button to see what it does and its key. A grayed-out button cannot be used right now: for example the feature buttons while a sketch is open, or Joint before the assembly has two parts.

The More menu in the Edit group lists each editing action with its key. What copy and paste act on follows where you are; see Copy, paste and duplicate. A grayed-out item's tooltip says why it cannot act now.

The Export menu holds STL, for 3D printing, 3MF, for 3D printing, STEP AP242 (exact solid), STEP AP214 (exact solid), STEP (faceted, mesh kernel), DXF of the sketch or flat face and Drawing (PDF): views, section, detail, GD&T.

The history (left)

The panel on the left is the part's feature history, the list PartCraft rebuilds from top to bottom.

• The heading is the part's name ("Part1" until you rename it).
• Front plane, Top plane and Right plane come first. Click one to select it; it highlights in the view.
• Below them are your features in the order they were made. A sketch that a feature uses is indented under that feature.
• A flag at the right end of a row tells you its state:

• Click a feature to edit it on the right. Double-click a sketch to open it.
• When you roll back, a Rollback bar · roll forward row sits in the list. Features below it are grayed and not built.
• With a row focused, ↑↑ and ↓↓ move between rows, and ⌥↑Alt+↑ / ⌥↓Alt+↓ move the feature itself, where the history allows.

In an assembly the same panel lists Parts (the first is marked "grounded") and Joints instead.

Part facts

Under the history, the Part box lists the solid's Volume, Surface area, Size (X × Y × Z), Through holes, Bodies, Triangles, the number of Features and how many are Failing. With the exact kernel, volumes and areas are exact; with the mesh kernel only, they are of the faceted solid, a little under the true value for round shapes (see Features and their options).

In an assembly the box is headed Assembly: Parts, Instances, Joints, Not joined and Interference.

The 3D view (middle)

The view shows the solid, the base planes (when the part is empty or you are choosing where to sketch) and any sketch not yet used by a feature.

• Drag to turn the part, right-drag or middle-drag to pan, roll the wheel to zoom at the pointer. Details in Keys and mouse.
• Hover a face, edge or plane to see it light up. Click to pick it. A flat face highlights whole.
• The view cube at the top right turns with the part: click a face, edge or corner to look from there, drag it to turn, the house button goes back to the start. See The view cube.
• When a part is empty, a box headed Start a part lists the first steps.
• With the exact kernel, ⇧Shift+click collects several edges (for a fillet or chamfer) or faces (for a shell). They stay marked.
• Drop a .partcraft.json, .partcraft-asm.json, .step or .stp file anywhere on the view to open it.

While you pick edges or faces

After Fillet, Chamfer or Shell with nothing picked (or Pick edges on such a feature), the part shows as it was before that feature. Click edges or faces to add or drop them; their marks show what is in. Done or EscEsc finishes.

On the drawing sheet

Drawing replaces the 3D view with the A3 drawing sheet. Wheel zooms, right or middle drag pans, FF fits. See Make a drawing.

While a sketch is open

The view turns to look straight at the sketch plane and a 2D sketch layer appears on top. The part shows only the features made before this sketch. A strip at the top left shows the sketch's state chip ("Fully defined", "Under defined · 3 degrees of freedom" and so on) and its name, such as "Sketch2 on a face of Extrude1".

The properties panel (right)

The panel on the right shows whatever is selected, and its heading names it:

• Part (nothing selected): the part's Name and the Curves setting.
• A plane: a Sketch on it button.
• A Face: what kind it is (with the exact kernel: Flat face, Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Torus or Freeform, with its radius, area and axis), which feature made it, and Sketch on this face, Normal to, Export face as DXF and, with the exact kernel, Shell, opening this face.
• An Edge: its kind, length, the two faces it lies between (such as "Extrude1 end face and Extrude1 side") and its end points, with Fillet and Chamfer buttons (exact kernel).
• Several edges or faces picked with ⇧Shift: how many, with Fillet and Chamfer (edges) or Shell (faces), and Clear.
• A feature: its numbers and options, the dimensions of its sketch, then Suppress, Roll back to here, Move up, Move down, Delete and its Name.
• An open sketch: its state, the relations you can add to the selection, the list of relations and dimensions, Add by coordinates, and Exit sketch, Fit and Export as DXF.
• On the drawing sheet: the section and detail settings, or the selected GD&T symbol.
• In an assembly: the assembly, the selected part, or the selected joint.

Every number box takes effect when you press ReturnEnter or TabTab, or click away. The part rebuilds at once; there is no OK button. Use ⌘ZCtrl+Z to go back.

The status bar (bottom)

• On the left, the pointer's coordinates in the sketch (only while a sketch is open).
• In the middle, messages: what to do next, and why something was refused. Read it when nothing seems to happen.
• Near the right, the kernel chip: "Mesh kernel", "Exact kernel loading…", "Exact kernel" or "Mesh kernel only". See The exact kernel and the mesh kernel.
• On the right, a chip: "Rebuilding…" while the exact kernel works, then "Rebuilt in 120 ms" when all is well, or "1 feature failing". In an assembly it says "Placed in … ms" or counts joint problems.

On a narrow screen

Below about 760 pixels wide the panels stack: the toolbar (it scrolls sideways), the view, the status bar, then the properties panel and the history below. Scroll the page to reach them. See Trackpad, touch and small screens.