PRIME MOTION3D features
A feature turns sketches into bodies, or changes a body. Each tool opens a drawer that names what it needs, previews the result on the model, and commits with its own button. How drawers and the keypad work is in The Design workspace. Every feature joins the timeline, where you can edit it later.
Body operations
Most Create tools end with Op, which decides how the new shape meets bodies already there:
| Op | Result |
|---|---|
| New Body | A separate body |
| Join | Added to the body it touches |
| Cut | Removed from the body it touches |
| Intersect | Only the overlap is kept |
Extrude
Pushes a closed profile, a flat face or text straight out.
- Arm Create (it starts on Extrude).
- Tap the profile, face or text with the pen. The drawer shows its values once something is picked.
- Set the distance: drag the arrow on the model, or tap the value and type it.
- Choose Extent and Op, and a taper if you need one.
- Tap Apply.
| Field | Options |
|---|---|
| Extent | Dist (one way), Sym (both ways, equally), 2-Side (a distance each way), To-Obj (up to a face or body), Thru-All |
| To-Obj | Target (tap the face or body), an Offset from it, and Near or Far side |
| Taper | An angle in degrees that tilts the sides in or out |
| Op | New Body, Join, Cut, Intersect (a face target leaves out New Body) |
Apply waits until the extrusion has a length. A tapered Cut is how inlays are made by hand; see Inlays with existing tools.
Revolve
Spins a profile around an axis: a bowl, a knob, a turned tray. Pick Profile (a closed sketch) and Axis (a sketch line), then Dir: One, Sym, 2-Side or To-Obj, and the Angle (360° by default). Commit with Revolve.
Sweep
Moves a profile along a path. Pick Profile and Path (a sketch curve), and optionally a Guide rail. Twist / Taper twist and taper it along the way; Orient keeps the profile Perpendicular to the path or Parallel to itself; Extent sweeps 25% to 100% of the path. Commit with Sweep.
Loft
Blends between two or more profiles: the transition from a round grip to a square tang. Tap the Profiles in order (Add profile for each), add Rails to guide the sides, or a Centerline. Output is a Solid or a Surface (open sections make a surface); Closed joins the last profile back to the first; Start and End choose how the ends meet: Connected, Tangent or Curvature. Commit with Loft.
Rib, Web and Emboss
- Rib and Web thicken an open sketch curve into a thin wall: set Thickness · Depth (3 mm and 20 mm by default). Commit with Rib or Web.
- Emboss raises (Raise) or recesses (Recess) a profile drawn on a face by a Depth.
Boundary Fill
Makes a body from the closed spaces that other bodies and surfaces enclose. Pick the Tool bodies / surfaces, tap Compute Cells, then tap the cells to keep. Remove tools deletes the tools afterwards. Commit with Create.
Primitives
Box, Cylinder, Sphere, Torus, Coil and Pipe make a body from its sizes, with no sketch. Set the Dimensions in the drawer and tap Create:
| Primitive | Sizes |
|---|---|
| Box | W, D, H |
| Cylinder | R, H |
| Sphere | R |
| Torus | Outer Radius, Tube Radius |
| Coil | Diameter, Pitch, Revolutions, Section Size |
| Pipe | A Path, a Section (Circular, Square, Triangular), Diameter, and Hollow with a Wall |
Bounding Box has no drawer: tap a body and a box is made around it.
Hole and Thread
Hole cuts one hole or a set of holes into a body face.
- Pick the Face. With no point selected, the hole uses the face’s centre.
- For a pattern, show the placement sketch with the viewport’s Sketch chip, then pick its points or circle centres. Each placement appears as a separate Point chip; × removes it.
- Choose Simple, Counterbore or Countersink, then set Diameter / Depth and Extent (Distance or Thru-All).
- For Counterbore, enter Counterbore Ø and Counterbore depth independently. For Countersink, enter Countersink Ø and Countersink angle (90° by default).
- Commit with Hole. All selected placements form one feature; one Undo removes the set.
For an M6 clearance pattern, use Diameter 6.6 mm, Counterbore Ø 11 mm, Counterbore depth 6.5 mm, and Thru-All. The recess diameter must exceed the hole diameter; a distance-limited recess cannot be deeper than its hole. Each placement must lie on the selected face’s material.
Thread marks a cylindrical face as threaded over a Thread length.
Pattern and Mirror
Repeat or mirror a body:
| Tool | Picks | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangular Pattern | The body | Count and spacing |
| Circular Pattern | The body, and the centre | Count |
| Pattern on Path | The body and a Path | Count and spacing |
| Mirror | The body and a Mirror plane | — |
Fillet and Chamfer
Fillet rounds edges; Chamfer bevels them. Tap the Edges; each becomes a chip.
- Fillet: Radius, and End R for a fillet whose radius changes along the edge.
- Chamfer: Type — Equal, Two-Distance or Distance-Angle — with Distance, Distance 2 or Angle, and Flip to swap the sides.
- Tangent chain extends the pick along every edge that continues smoothly from the one you tapped.
Picked edges highlight green on the model straight away, including at 0 mm. Remove a chip with its × to clear that edge’s selection and highlight. Check the four intended top edges before entering a value.
The value starts at zero; the commit button waits until it is above zero.
Shell and Draft
- Shell hollows a body to a wall Thickness, leaving the Faces to open you pick open.
- Draft tilts Faces to draft by a Draft angle relative to a Pull direction, on One, Two or Symmetric sides, so a part releases from a mould or a cutter.
Combine
Joins, cuts or intersects bodies: pick the Target body and the Tool bodies, choose Op (Join, Cut, Intersect), and Keep tools to keep the tool bodies afterwards. Commit with Combine.
Modify
| Tool | Picks | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Press Pull, Offset Face | A face; a distance (+ out, − in) | Moves the face |
| Replace Face | A face and a target plane | Moves the face onto the plane |
| Split Face | A face and an imprint line | Divides the face |
| Split Body | A body and a cutting plane or flat face | Cuts the body in two |
| Scale | A body; Uniform or Per-Axis factors | Scales it |
| Delete | A body | Deletes it |
| Align | Move this face, To this face | Moves the body so the faces meet |
| Remove Face | Faces, such as a fillet | Removes them and heals the body |
Moving and copying bodies
Move at the top of the rail moves or rotates bodies. Select the body, tap Move, then drag the gizmo's arrows and arcs, or type Move (mm) and Rotate (°) values. Pivot chooses the Centroid or a vertex you pick; Copy keeps the original. Apply commits; Reset puts everything back.