PRIME MOTIONSketching
Most parts begin as a sketch: 2D geometry on a plane, dimensioned and constrained, that a feature then turns into a body. In a sketch the S Pen draws and picks, and your fingers move the view.
Start a sketch
Tap New Sketch in the rail. The New sketch drawer offers:
- Origin Planes — XY Top, XZ Front and YZ Right.
- Construction Planes — any planes you have made.
- Sketch Faces — flat faces of earlier sketches you can sketch on.
- Or Tap a Body Face or Sketch Face in the Viewport — tap any flat face with the pen.
- Project Edges — on, the edges of the face you sketch on are copied into the sketch as reference geometry.
Choosing a plane starts the sketch at once.
What changes in a sketch
- The view turns to look straight at the sketch plane, in true orthographic view, and Lock turns on so one finger slides the view instead of turning it.
- The rail becomes the sketch tools.
- The bodies of the component you are in are hidden, so the sketch is not competing with the solid it sits on. Finishing the sketch puts them back exactly as they were.
- The view chips give way to Sketch Options.
Sketch Options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| View Options: Ortho | True orthographic view, no perspective, so lengths are not foreshortened |
| Lock | One finger slides the view; the cube cannot be dragged |
| Grid | Shows the sketch grid |
| Snap | Snaps to the grid |
| Geometry Filters: All, Points, Edges, Profiles, Projected, Construct, Constraint | Which kinds of sketch geometry are shown. They do not limit what you can pick |
| Grid Opacity | Dims the grid |
| Finish Sketch | Ends the sketch and returns to modelling |
3D and Slice are shown but unavailable.
Drawing
Arm a tool and draw with the pen: press where the shape starts and drag to where it ends. The banner at the top of the view says what the tool wants next, for example Fillet: tap the corner (two edges) to round, then enter the radius.
| Family | How to draw |
|---|---|
| Line | Drag from the start to the end. Midpoint Line starts from the middle; Line Between Points joins two existing points |
| Rectangle | 2-Point: drag from one corner to the opposite corner. 3-Point: one edge, then the width, at any angle. Center: the centre, then a corner |
| Circle | Center Diameter: drag from the centre outward to the size. 2-Point / 3-Point: points on the circle. 2-Tangent / 3-Tangent: tap the lines it must touch |
| Arc | 3-Point: start, end, then a point on the arc. Center Point: centre, start, end. Tangent: continues smoothly from the end of a line or arc |
| Polygon | Centre, then size. Sides (3–64) in its panel, with OK. Edge Polygon starts from one edge |
| Star | Centre, then size. Style (Classic or Star of David), Tips and Tip length |
| Slot | Centres, overall ends, or centre and end; Slot Along Path follows a curve |
| Spline | Fit Point: tap the points it passes through. Control Point: tap control points; Degree 3 or Degree 5 |
| Ellipse, Conic Curve | Follow the banner's prompts |
| Point | Point anywhere; Intersection Point where two curves cross |
Lines snap to existing endpoints; hover the pen to see the snap before you press. New geometry picks up constraints such as Coincident where it snaps; see Constraints.
Construction at the foot of the sketch rail draws new geometry as construction: dashed reference lines that guide the sketch but never become part of a profile.
Rectangles that keep their shape
New 2-Point and Center Rectangles carry Horizontal and Vertical constraints, so they stay aligned with the sketch axes when you dimension a corner to a hole centre. Set the width and height, then locate the rectangle. A 3-Point Rectangle keeps its right angles at the angle you draw.
A Center Rectangle also owns its centre point and a construction diagonal. Dimensioning an edge moves opposite sides symmetrically around that centre. Its centre can still move: use Coincident between the centre marker and the sketch origin to put the part at zero. Undo removes the whole rectangle, including its centre and diagonal, as one drawing action.
Text
Text places text in a font from Settings → Resources. Tap where it goes; the Text panel has Text, Style (bold, italic), Align, Height mm, Spacing %, Line % and Font, with a Preview. Place adds it.
Text on Path lays text along a curve: tap the curve first. Mode (Along or Fit) and Side (Above or Below) choose how it sits.
Double-tap text to edit it later (Edit Text, Update). Text in an Outline font is a closed profile and can be extruded, pocketed or V-carved; see Inlays with existing tools.
Changing geometry
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fillet, Chamfer | Rounds or bevels the corner where two lines meet |
| Trim | Cuts a segment away at its intersections; the pen shows the part that will go in red |
| Extend | Lengthens a line to meet the next curve |
| Break | Splits a curve at a point |
| Offset | Draws a parallel copy at a distance |
| Mirror | Mirrors geometry across a line |
| Circular Pattern, Rectangular Pattern | Repeats geometry around a centre (Count, Angle) or in rows and columns (Columns, Col spacing, Rows, Row spacing), with Apply |
| Move/Copy | Moves or rotates picked geometry by the gizmo, or by X, Y and R values, with Copy to keep the original; Apply |
| Project, Intersect | Copies a body's edges or another sketch's geometry onto this sketch, or marks where geometry pierces the plane |
| Measure | Measures sketch geometry without changing it |
Project a bore or an outside edge
Start a sketch on the body’s face. Show the body in the tree if it is hidden, choose Project, and tap the actual body edge. A circular edge projects as a circle and accepts Concentric; a straight edge projects as a line and accepts a point-to-line Distance. Keep the new geometry in this sketch, then use Finish Sketch to return to the model.
Inserting artwork
Insert brings existing artwork into the sketch instead of redrawing it:
- Insert: DXF and Insert: SVG bring in real sketch curves: selectable, dimensionable, editable. Imported file — N curves landed in this sketch.
- Insert: Canvas (an image) and Insert: PDF (its first page) place a canvas: a picture on the plane to trace over. A canvas is reference only; nothing on it is cut.
- Arm the Insert tool, such as Insert: SVG.
- Choose the plane in its drawer.
- Tap File Asset and pick the file on the tablet, an SD card or a USB drive. One file at a time.
A canvas you used before is in the drawer's Imported row; tap it to place it again.
Sizing a canvas
Tap a canvas to open its properties: Opacity, Position U, Position V, Width, Height and Visibility. To scale it from a dimension you know, use Synchronize: tap two points on the canvas whose real distance you know, then enter that distance.
Scale in the Insert family scales picked sketch geometry by a factor.
Finish the sketch
Finish Sketch in Sketch Options returns to modelling. The bodies come back, and the sketch's closed shapes become profiles a feature can use. When a feature uses a sketch, the sketch hides itself; its eye in the tree shows it again.
To change a sketch later, double-tap it in the tree, or use its menu's Edit. Its menu also offers Redefine Sketch Plane to move it to another plane. See The design tree.
Several holes in one extrusion
A closed rectangle and several circles produce several selectable regions. Size one small circle and use Equal for the others; use centre-to-edge Distance constraints to position them. Changing a centre distance moves the circle while preserving its diameter.
Finish the sketch and select the region between the outline and the circles for Extrude. Check the preview and the resulting body: selecting a circle’s own filled region makes material there. The surrounding region creates the plate with five through-holes. For stepped holes, use Hole.
