The Design tools

The rail is short on purpose. Everything you reach for constantly is one tap away, with no scrolling and no hunting — the toolset is deep, but the surface stays calm. What is behind each button is not short at all.

Every rail button is a family

Each button shows the tool you used last from its family, and a small corner mark means there are more inside. Long-press any button and its family fans out:

Tapping runs the tool shown; long-pressing picks a different one, which then becomes the button's face. So the rail slowly arranges itself around how you work.

Solid modelling — the full list

Rail button	The family behind it
Select	—
Move	—
Design Visuals	Per-body colour and appearance
New Sketch	Start a sketch on a plane or face
Create	Extrude · Revolve · Sweep · Loft · Rib · Web · Emboss · Boundary Fill
Primitive	Box · Cylinder · Sphere · Torus · Coil · Pipe · Bounding Box
Hole	Hole · Thread
Pattern	Rectangular Pattern · Circular Pattern · Pattern on Path · Mirror
Fillet	Fillet · Chamfer
Shell	Shell · Draft
Combine	Boolean operations between bodies
Modify	Press Pull · Offset Face · Replace Face · Split Face · Split Body · Scale · Delete · Align · Remove Face
Assembly	Join · As-Built Join · Join Origin · Rigid Group · Motion Study
Joinery	Machinable Joint · Explode
Plane	Offset Plane · Plane at Angle · Midplane · Tangent Plane · Plane Through Three Points · Plane Along Path · Plane Through Two Edges
Axis	Axis Through Cylinder/Cone · Axis Perpendicular To Face · Axis Through Two Planes · Axis Through Edge · Axis Through Two Points
Point	At Vertex · At Center · Intersection · Along Path
Analyze	Measure · Interference · Section Analysis · Curvature Comb · Zebra · Minimum Radius · Centre of Mass

Note

At Center takes a face and works out its middle for you. Give it a round thing — a hole, a boss, a circular face, a sphere — and you get the centre of that circle or sphere. Give it a flat face and you get the centre of that face, which is where a dowel, a bore or a fixture hole usually wants to go. Holes in the face are taken into account: a plate with an off-centre bore reports the centre of the material left, not the centre of its outline. A circular edge works too — a bore mouth or a boss rim — as does an existing point.

The others take what they are named for: a corner, a path plus a distance along it, or — under Intersection — geometry that crosses. Each shows what it has selected before you press Create.

Intersection is three tools behind one chip. It works out which one you mean from what you actually pick, so there is nothing to choose up front: two edges gives you the point where they cross (extending them if they do not quite meet), three planes or faces gives you the corner where all three meet, and one edge plus one face or plane gives you the point where the edge runs into it. Pick two things and press Create, or pick a third when you mean three planes.

A finished point draws as a small amber dot, and it always reads on top of the solid it sits on — which is the whole job, since a construction point is almost always placed on a corner, a face centre or an edge that would otherwise hide it.

Surface modelling — a different rail

Long-press the Design workspace tab to switch between Solid Modeling and Surface Modeling:

The rail changes with the mode, and so do the families inside the buttons that remain.

Gone entirely in Surface mode: Primitive, Hole, Fillet, Shell, Combine, Joinery.

New in Surface mode:

Rail button	The family behind it
Stitch	Stitch · Unstitch · Trim · Reverse Normal · Offset Surface · Extend

Changed inside:

Rail button	In Solid mode	In Surface mode
Create	Extrude · Revolve · Sweep · Loft · Rib · Web · Emboss · Boundary Fill	Extrude · Revolve · Sweep · Loft · Thicken · Patch · Ruled · Boundary Fill
Modify	all nine	Offset Face · Scale · Delete · Align

Unchanged in both: Pattern, Assembly, Plane, Axis, Point, Analyze.

Surfaces are how you build shapes solids cannot state directly — a flowing guitar top, a swept transition, a blended corner. Stitch sews surfaces into a closed skin, and Thicken (in Create) turns that skin into a solid you can machine.

Sketching — the 2D toolset

Sketching has its own toolset, and it is the largest of the three. The same long-press-for-family rule applies throughout.

Tool	The family behind it
Line	Line · Midpoint Line · Line Between Points
Rectangle	2-Point · 3-Point · Center Rectangle
Circle	Center Diameter · 2-Point · 3-Point · 2-Tangent · 3-Tangent
Arc	3-Point · Center Point · Tangent Arc
Polygon	Circumscribed · Inscribed · Edge Polygon
Slot	Center-to-Center · Overall · Center Point · Slot Along Path
Spline	Fit Point Spline · Control Point Spline
Text	Text · Text on Path
Modify	Fillet · Chamfer · Trim · Extend · Break · Offset · Move/Copy · Mirror · Circular Pattern · Rectangular Pattern
Insert	Canvas · DXF · SVG · PDF · Scale
Constrain	Dimension · Distance · Coincident · Collinear · Concentric · Tangent · Smooth · Equal · Parallel · Perpendicular · Horizontal · Vertical · Symmetric · Midpoint · Fix/Lock
Projection	Project · Intersect
Measure	Measure

Bringing in artwork

Insert places existing artwork into a sketch as a canvas you can trace, dimension against, or project onto the model: DXF, SVG, PDF, or an image Canvas, plus Scale to size it against a known dimension.

The Design workspace — drawers, the expression keypad, gizmos and live preview
Parameters