Position and Scale

Move

Parts in a project can easily be moved with the mouse by drag & drop, left-clicking on the green square of a selected part and moving the mouse. If more than one part is selected, they are all moved together.

For finer adjustment, selected parts can also be moved up, down, left and right with the arrow keys and backwards and forwards with the Page Up and Page Down keys. Normally, this movement is conducted in relation to the current perspective. If you hold Shift, the Left and Right keys move the part along the X-axis, Up and Down move it along Y-axis and Page Up and Page Down move it along the Z-axis.

A Cube at Coordinates X=0, Y=0, Z=0 in the Platform.

Alternatively, by clicking on the "Move" icon in the toolbar, choosing "Move" in the Part menu or context menu or by pressing Ctrl+V, the user is able to set specific coordinates in a dialog window, to which the selected parts are subsequently moved. The coordinates represent the lowest point of the part along the respective axis. The coordinates X=0, Y=0, Z=0 stand for the origin of the platform.

At the top of the dialog, the current position of the part is specified. Below, coordinates can be inserted either as absolute position or as relative position. The absolute position is the position in relation to the coordinates X=0, Y=0, Z=0, whereas the relative position refers to the current position.

If a part is moved to the origin, it is positioned at the coordinates X=0, Y=0, Z=0. Thus, it is NOT the center of the part which is moved to the origin.

Rotate

Similarly to moving parts, they can also be rotated easily with the mouse. This is performed by left-clicking on the green brackets of selected parts, holding the mouse button and moving the mouse in the direction in which you want to turn the part. Thereby, the axis of rotation is normally the direction from which the part is seen, but if you hold Ctrl, the part is rotated around the closest main axis.

Alternatively, parts can be rotated by a specific angle around one of the three axes. You can either click on a standard angle (45°, 90°, 180° or 270°) or insert an angle in the empty field. Below, select the X-, Y- or Z-axis as axis of rotation.

This function is available in the toolbar, in the Part menu or by pressing Ctrl+R. If more than one part is selected, all are rotated together as if they were one part.

Align

By clicking on the "Align" icon or pressing F7, the align-mode is activated. Then, with double-clicks on surfaces of parts, you can align them into a plane parallel to the X-Y-plane, the basis of the platform. Consequently, the respective part is rotated. You get back to normal selection mode by pressing F3 or clicking on the respective icon in the toolbar (depicting the mouse cursor).

Scale

By clicking on the "Scale" icon, choosing "Scale" in the Part menu or context menu or by pressing Ctrl+S, the dimensions of one or more selected parts can be changed. In the "Scale Parts" dialog window you can insert the factor, by which the length along the respective axis is multiplied.

With factor 1.00, the dimension remains the same. With a factor bigger than 1.00, the part is enlarged, while with a smaller factor than 1.00, the part is shrunk. If you insert a negative value, the part is inverted.

Equal scaling changes the dimensions of all three axes by an equal factor and consequently makes the whole part bigger or smaller. With unequal scaling however, different factors can be entered for the three axes. Consequently, the scaling process changes the proportions of the part's geometry and changes the part's shape.

The part on the left is scaled unequally only along one axis and becomes distorted in the process.

Arrange Parts

The feature is only available with netfabb Studio Professional. All parts in the project are arranged automatically in the platform, avoiding any collisions. The outbox is taken as reference. The function is available in the Edit or in the context menu after right-clicking on empty space in the screen.

In a dialog window, you can set the accuracy and the minimal distance between the parts. The accuracy determines the rastersize for the calculation, as the software calculates a three-dimensional raster across the platform. No two parts will touch the same raster cell. The distance determines the minimum distance between the outboxes off the parts. The outbox is visualized with green brackets if the part is selected.

With the option only 2D the parts will be arranged two-dimensionally on the botton plane of the platform. Parts which do not fit onto the bottom plane are moved out of the platform.

The dialog box for arranging parts.

A project with randomly scattered parts.

With "Arrange Parts", the parts are sorted in the platform.