Shapr3D's user interface 101 for Mac – Shapr3D Help Desk

This is your guide to Shapr3D’s design user interface on Mac.

When you open a design, you’ll see three different areas:

You can find more details about each area:

Title bar

Icon	Name	Description
	Sidebar	Opens the Items manager in the Sidebar. You can see all items—including sketches, 3D bodies, images, reference geometries, and meshes—in the design space, and organize them. If you’ve created 2D drawings, then they are stored in the Items manager, too.
	Home	Brings you to the Discover screen, where all your designs are stored and Shapr3D news and videos are linked.
	Section view	Hides everything in front of the current grid so you can view a section of your design. This article details this view.
	Snaps / Guides	Opens a popover where you can turn on or off snapping to the grid, sketch guide lines and points, and 3D guide points. You can also show guide points and snapping hints. For more details, read this article.
	Units	The place to set your desired unit, and customize specific format settings with inches and degrees. Find out more in this article.

Items manager

Icon	Name	Description
	Items	Bodies, sketches, planes, axes, and images in your design space are considered items. You can rename, search, zoom, and delete your items.
	Folder	A folder that groups together items.
	New folder	Creates a new folder.
	Bodies	Shows that the item is a body.
	Planes and Axes	Shows that the item is either a plane or an axis.
	Images	Shows that the item is an image.
	Visibility	You can select this to display or hide the selected items in your design.
	Mesh	Shows that the item is a mesh body.
	More	Opens a popover with an additional function for selected items: Zoom to Selection.
	Create drawing	Opens the 2D drawing module. You can select bodies in the workspace to include in your technical drawing. You can read about this feature here.

Orientation cube

Icon

Name

Description

Orientation Cube

Changes the view orientation of your design.

Select one side of the cube to switch views. Select Top for example, to switch to a top view.

To revert to a default orientation, select the orientation cube twice or press the Command key and 1.

Icon	Name	Description
	Sketch	Opens a menu with all 2D tools and constraints.
	Add	Opens a menu where you can add construction geometry (axis or plane), images, or files to your design. You can also create 2D drawings from this menu.
	Transform	Opens a menu with the following tools: Move/Rotate, Scale, Translate, Rotate Around Axis, Mirror, and Align.
	Tools	Opens a menu with powerful modeling tools you can use to create and modify bodies: Boolean commands (Union, Intersect, Subtract), Loft, Shell, etc.

Tools

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Closes the Tools menu.
	Extrude	Creates extruded bodies from planar faces or closed sketches. You can read about the tool here.
	Shell	Hollows out or creates bodies with a specified wall thickness. You can read about the tool here.
	Loft	Connects the profiles of two or more faces or closed sketches on different planes. You can read about the tool here.
	Union	Fuses two intersecting bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Subtract	Subtracts the common parts of one or more bodies from another (intersecting) body. You can read about the tool here.
	Intersect	Keeps only the common parts of two or more bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Revolve	Creates bodies from closed sketches by revolving them around an axis. You can also set a height to create helical bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Sweep	Creates a body by dragging the profile of a face or closed sketch along spines. You can read about the tool here.
	Replace Face	Replaces a face of a body with another face. You can read about the tool here.
	Project	Translates your sketches, edges, faces, and bodies to another face, either as sketches or edges. You can read about the tool here.
	Offset Edge	Creates a parallel sketch line, curve, or loop of an existing sketch or edge. You can read about the tool here.
	Color	Adds color to faces and bodies. You can read about the tool here.

Add

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Closes the Add menu.
	Construction Axis	Adds construction axes to your workspace to help your modeling process. You can read about this option here.
	Construction Plane	Adds construction planes that will help you position your sketches and bodies. You can read about this option here.
	Image	Adds a photo so you can use it as a reference for sketching.
	File	Offers you a list of file formats you can import: STEP, X_T, IGES, STL, SHAPR, 2D DWG, 2D DXF, SLDPRT, and SLDASM. You can also import images from your computer into Shapr3D. For more details, refer to our articles about imports.
	Drawing	Opens the 2D drawing module. You can select bodies in the workspace to include in your technical drawing. You can read about this feature here.

Transform

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Closes the Transform menu.
	Move/Rotate	Moves or rotates your sketches and bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Scale	Scales your geometry. You can read about the tool here.
	Translate	Moves your shapes precisely from one specific point to another. You can read about the tool here.
	Rotate Around Axis	Rotates your shapes around an axis. You can read about the tool here.
	Align	Aligns 3D bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Mirror	Mirrors your sketches and bodies. You can read about the tool here.

Sketch

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Closes the Sketch menu.
	Line	Creates a line.
	Arc	Creates a three-point arc.
	Spline	Creates a spline. You can click to add spline points. For more details, read this article.
	Rectangle	Creates a rectangle. You can create the shape using one of three methods: “Center,” “Diagonal,” and “Three Points.” For more details, read this article.
	Circle	Creates a circle. You can adjust the size of the circle by specifying the radius. For more details, read this article.
	Ellipse	Creates an ellipse. You can adjust the size of the ellipse by specifying the vertical and horizontal radii. For more details, read this article.
	Polygon	Creates polygons: triangle, pentagon, hexagon, or octagon. You can change the number of sides and adjust the polygon’s size. For more details, read this article.
	Offset Edge	Creates a parallel sketch line, curve, or loop of an existing sketch or edge. You can read about the tool here.
	Trim	Trims your sketches at intersections. For more details, read this article.
	Delete	Deletes the selected sketches or entire bodies.

Constraints

Icon	Name	Description
	Auto-Constraint	If you turn on this switch, that means your sketches will automatically be defined as much as possible. For example, if you draw a line and then connect it to an arc, the Tangent constraint is automatically applied.
	Show Constraints	If you turn on this switch, you can see the badges for each applied constraint directly on your sketch.
	Parallel	Makes two or more lines parallel to each other.
	Perpendicular	Makes two lines perpendicular.
	Tangent	Adjusts sketches so they are tangent to each other.
	Concentric	Adjusts multiple circles, arcs, or circular edges so they share the same center point.
	Horizontal/Vertical	Fixes your lines so they are parallel to the axes of the sketch plane.
	Equal	Makes your lines the same length, and your circles and arc share the same radius.
	Symmetry	Makes your sketches symmetric to a line or linear edge.
	Disconnect	Disconnects one or more sketch points.
	Lock	Fixes the position of your sketch points.