+ Documentation

Modeling

Graphite4D's modeling tools work like SketchUp's. Closed loops of edges become faces, and faces push and pull into forms. Lines that cross split each other, and a line across a face splits it. Geometry inside a group never sticks to geometry outside it.

These tools work in the 3D view: Perspective, Top and Front.

Type exact values

While a tool is active, just start typing. The first digit goes to the Typed dimensions field in the toolbar instead of running a shortcut. Press Enter to apply it.

• Feet and inches: 12', 10'6", 10' 6 1/2" or 6". A number without a unit is feet.
• Rectangles take width and depth: 40', 30'. One value makes a square.
• Rotate takes degrees: 90.

Right after an action, type a new value and press Enter to correct it, as in SketchUp's Measurements box. This works for lengths, sizes, radii, distances, offsets, angles and guides, and stays in the same undo step. Correct a line segment before you move on to the next one.

Snap to points and lock axes

Every tool that asks for a point snaps the same way, including Move and Rotate. A label names the snap, such as Endpoint, Midpoint, Intersection, Perpendicular, On edge, On face or On guide.

• Lines turn red, green or blue along an axis. After you rest the pointer on an edge, they turn magenta parallel or perpendicular to it.
• Press → to lock to the red axis, ← for green, or ↑ or ↓ for blue. Press the same arrow again to release.
• Hold Shift to keep the current direction.

With Rectangle, Circle and Arc, the arrow keys lock the drawing plane instead. With Rotate, they lock the rotation axis.

A shape lies on the face you start it on. Started on a corner, edge or guide with no face under the pointer, it lies flat on a level plane, or in a front or side view, upright facing you. The hint names the plane before you click.

Select geometry

Press Space or V for the Select tool.

• Click a face or an edge. Double-click a face to add its edges, or an edge to add its faces. Triple-click to select everything connected.
• Hold Shift and click to add to the selection. Hold Option (Alt on Windows) and click to remove from it.
• Drag left to right to select what is fully inside the box. Drag right to left to select anything it touches.
• Press Delete to remove the selection. Deleted faces leave their edges.

Properties shows what you selected, such as 3 faces, 12 edges. It also says whether the faces form a solid, with its volume, or lists what to fix, with Show, Orient faces and Erase stray edges.

Choose what to act on

Move, Rotate, Push / pull and Offset share one rule:

• If you select something first, your first click is the base point (for Rotate, the center).
• If nothing is selected, your first click picks the face or edge under the pointer and is also the base point.

With nothing selected, Move can also grab a single vertex.

Draw lines and shapes

Shapes live in a 3D Sketch. Outside one, Line, Rectangle, Circle and Arc start a new 3D Sketch, which appears in your project when its first shape is complete; Model → New 3D Sketch does the same with no tool chosen. Cancelling before then leaves nothing behind, and a 3D Sketch you empty before choosing Done is removed. Double-click a 3D Sketch, or choose Edit 3D Sketch in Properties, to keep editing it.

Shapes started on a face lie on that face. You can also press, drag and release, including with touch and a pen.

Circles have 24 segments and arcs 12. Type a count such as 48s and press Enter to change it. Circles and arcs stay exact; segments only add snap points and facets.

Push/pull a face

1. Press P for Push / pull.
2. Click a face and move the pointer to choose the direction.
3. Click, or type a distance and press Enter.

A typed distance follows the direction the pointer shows. Looking straight at the face, as in a front view, the pointer can't show one: a positive distance pulls out and a negative one pushes in. The hint says which before you press Enter.

Pull out to add a form, push in to make a recess, or push through to the opposite face to cut a hole. Where a new side lines up with an existing wall, the wall stretches without a seam. With one face selected, you can type a distance and press Enter without clicking. Curved surfaces can't be pushed; push the flat face at their end.

Offset a face

Press O, click a face, then move in or out. Click, or type a distance.

Move and copy

1. Select what to move, then press M. To move a group, always select it first.
2. Click a base point, then click the destination or type a distance.

Moving a vertex or edge stretches the faces attached to it. If a face would bend, Graphite folds it along a hidden edge where it can, as SketchUp does.

To copy, press Option on a Mac or Ctrl on Windows once during Move. After placing the copy, type 3x and press Enter for three copies at that spacing, or /3 to divide the distance into three.

Rotate

1. Select what to rotate, then press Q.
2. Click the center of rotation. The axis follows the face under the pointer; press an arrow key first to lock it to red, green or blue.
3. Click where the angle starts, then click the end or type an angle.

Free angles snap to 15° steps. Option or Ctrl copies here too, and 4x makes a radial array.

Measure and place guides

Press T for the Tape measure.

• Click a point, then another. The distance shows in the toolbar, and the second click leaves a guide point.
• Click an edge away from its endpoints and midpoint, then move off it and click to place a parallel guide line. Type a distance to place it exactly.

Every tool snaps to guides and to where they cross edges. Click a guide with the Eraser to remove it.

Paint faces

Press B for the Paint bucket. The display switches to materials.

1. Choose a material from the Material list in Properties.
2. Click a face, or click a group to paint all of its faces.

Option-click (Alt-click on Windows) samples a face's material. ⌘-click on a Mac or Ctrl-click on Windows paints every connected face. Shift-click paints every face with the same material. See Materials.

The same tool can tag faces and edges with an attribute, such as facade, for recipes to use. See Recipes and the graph.

Erase and soften edges

Press E for the Eraser. Click an edge, or drag across several and release. The faces on both sides merge. Erasing one segment of a circle or arc erases the whole curve. ⌘-click on a Mac or Ctrl-click on Windows softens the edge instead.

Make a group

1. Select faces and edges. Triple-click is the quickest way.
2. Press G, or choose Make group in the toolbar.

Select several groups and press G to nest them in a new group.

• Double-click a group to open it and edit inside with any tool. Press Esc to leave.
• Copies of a group share its contents: edit inside one and every copy changes. To edit one on its own, select it and choose Make unique under Node actions in Properties.
• To explode a group, press ⌘ Shift G on a Mac or Ctrl Shift G on Windows, or choose Explode under Node actions.

Convert a step's result to editable geometry

Some objects are parametric steps, such as a Box (X), a Cylinder (Shift C) or a Subtract. You change them with their dimensions in Properties.

To edit a step's faces directly, select it and choose Convert to 3D Sketch in Properties, or in the Model rail's group menu. Graphite captures the result as a new 3D Sketch and keeps the original steps. The sketch does not follow later changes to those steps on its own: when they change, its toolbar says Source changed; choose Regenerate from source for their current result, which by default keeps your edits as a separate copy.

Spheres, cones and freeform surfaces can't be converted.

Known limits

• Scale, Follow Me and Intersect Faces are not available.
• Floor plan drawings use their own Line and Rectangle tools. Circle, Arc, Push / pull, Tape measure, Paint bucket and Eraser work in the 3D view only.
• Axis locks need a keyboard.
• Painted materials don't yet appear in drawings or in GLB and USD exports.
• Guides can't be moved or selected, and exploding a group removes its guides.