PRIME MOTIONThe Design workspace
Prime Motion carries a parametric modeller, a CAM system and the machine controls in one app, so a part goes from idea to cut in one place. The Design workspace is the modeller: sketches, solid and surface bodies, construction geometry, assemblies, joints and analysis.
Three workspaces, one design
With a design open, three tabs run across the top of Design:
| Workspace | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Design | Sketch and model the part |
| Manufacturing | Plan tool runs and toolpaths, simulate, and post the program |
| Parameters | Name the values the model is built from |
They are three views of one document. A dimension can use a named parameter; when you change the parameter, the model rebuilds and can regenerate affected toolpaths automatically. Check Manufacturing for any red ⚠ operations that still need regeneration, and export again before cutting. With no design open the tabs are not shown; open or create a design in the Designs panel.
Design never needs a machine. You can model and plan toolpaths with nothing connected.
Solid Modeling and Surface Modeling
Long-press the Design tab, or tap the small triangle in its corner, for DESIGN MODE:
- Solid Modeling (the default) — the rail offers the solid tools: create, primitives, holes, fillets, shells, combine and joinery.
- Surface Modeling — the rail offers the surface tools: thicken, patch, ruled, stitch, trim and extend. See Surface modelling.
The choice lasts while the app is open.
The tool rail
The rail down the left holds every modelling tool, grouped. A button with a small triangle is a family of related tools:
- Tap a family to arm its first tool, or the one you last chose there.
- Long-press it to open the family and pick a member. The button then reads, for example, Create: Revolve.
- Tap an armed tool again to put it down.
From the top, in Solid Modeling:
| Button | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Select | Pick what is already there; no tool armed |
| Move | Move or copy bodies with the gizmo |
| Design Visuals | Colours and wood textures for bodies |
| New Sketch | Start a 2D sketch on a plane or a flat face; see Sketching |
| 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 | Join, cut or intersect 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, Axis, Point | Construction geometry; see Planes, axes and points |
| Analyze | Measure, Interference, Section Analysis, Curvature Comb Analysis, Zebra Analysis, Minimum Radius, Center of Mass |
| Insert | STEP, STL, Canvas, DXF, SVG, PDF |
Every tool is described in The Design tools.
Undo, Redo, Delete and Close Design
At the lower left of the view:
- Undo and Redo step through your changes.
- Delete deletes what is selected: bodies, sketch text, constraints, or sketch geometry while you are sketching. It is unavailable when nothing deletable is selected. Deleting a body is undoable.
- Close Design saves and closes the design, back to the Designs panel. It does not ask.
While sketching, Undo and Redo step through that sketch's edits. After Finish Sketch, the new sketch becomes one change: Undo removes it with its contents, and Redo brings the whole sketch back. You can close and reopen the design between those steps.
The view chips
The chips under the model control what is drawn:
| Chip | What it does |
|---|---|
| Lock | One finger moves the view sideways instead of turning it, and the view cube cannot be dragged |
| Grid | Shows the ground grid |
| Sketch | Shows sketches in the 3D view |
| Body | Shows bodies |
| Plane | Shows construction planes |
| Time | Shows the timeline; see The timeline |
Long-press a lit Grid, Sketch, Body or Plane chip for an opacity slider, so the grid or the sketches can be dimmed rather than hidden. Tap the chip to close the slider.
While you sketch, these chips give way to Sketch Options; see Sketching.
How a tool's drawer works
Arming a tool opens its drawer under the workspace tabs. Every drawer works the same way:
- It names what it wants. An empty pick slot says what to tap, such as Tap a target face. Tap the geometry with the S Pen; each pick becomes a chip. Tap a chip's × to remove it.
- It previews on the model. As you pick and type, the model shows the result, often with a dimension label or a gizmo you can drag.
- It commits with its own button, named for the tool: Apply for Extrude, Revolve, Fillet, Create and so on. The button waits until the drawer has what it needs.
- Its ✕ cancels. Closing without committing changes nothing.
Only one tool drawer is open at a time. The keypad and some helpers dock beside it.
The expression keypad
Tap a value in a drawer, or a value label on the model, and the keypad opens:
- Arithmetic in place.
+,—(minus),×,÷and brackets: type100/3and let it work the number out. ± changes the sign; C clears; ⌫ deletes. - Units. mm, cm, m and deg (or in, ft and deg in imperial). A value in another unit is converted.
- ƒx inserts a parameter by name, so the value follows it. ⛓ replaces a parameter in the field with its current number, unlinking it.
- ⌨ switches to the tablet's keyboard.
- ✓ commits the value.
Over-constrained under the field means the value conflicts with the sketch's constraints. A value that cannot be committed says why in the same place, and the field keeps what you typed: Not a valid expression when it cannot be worked out, or Must be greater than zero (Must be zero or more where zero is allowed) when the tool cannot accept it.