Manual de Iron Cad

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Copyright 2005 IronCAD All rights reserved.
SmartSnap, SmartRender, SmartDimension, IntelliShape, TriBall, SmartMotion, IronCAD, and IronTool are registered trademarks of IronCAD or its Licensor. Design Flow, Direct Face Modeling, Hyper-operability, SmartPaint, SmartUpdate, SmartBehavior, IntelliFace, IntelliSurface, e-Engineering, and IronCAD the Next Industrial Revolution are trademarks of IronCAD or its Licensor. Inovate, TeamVault, and InnovationSuite are trademarks of IronCAD. Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat, and Postscript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT, Visual Basic, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98, Visual Basic for Applications and Excel are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. TIFF is a trademark of Aldus Corporation, an Adobe Company. ACIS is a registered trademark of Spatial Technology, Inc. Parasolid is a registered trademark of Unigraphics Solutions Inc. Granite is a registered trademark of PTC, Inc. AutoCAD and 3D Studio are registered trademarks and DXF is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. TARGA is a registered trademark of Truevision, Inc. StepTools is a trademark of STEP Tools, Inc. DCM is a trademark of D-Cubed Ltd. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Corporation. The Graphic Interchange Format is the copyrighted property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF is a service mark of CompuServe Incorporated. The Kodak Photo Access CD is the copyrighted property of, and Kodak is a registered trademark of Eastman Kodak Company. Libtiff is the copyrighted property of Sam Leffler and SGI: 1988-1995 Sam Leffler; 1991-1995 SGI. Netpbm is the copyrighted property of its individual authors. SentinelLM is a trademark of Rainbow Technology, Inc. This software is based, in part, on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. IronCAD acknowledges the School of Architecture Property and Planning, University of Auckland, as the source of many of the image scans contained in the IronCAD image library. IronCAD also acknowledges the following sources for software included with IronCAD: qvlib VRML reader - SGI. NETPBM Library - Jef Poskanzer, et al. Zlib - the general purpose compression library is courtesy of Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. libpng - the PNG image file format library is courtesy of its contributing authors and Group 42, Inc. OpenHSF HOOPS is a trademark of Tech Soft America. Model Press is a trademark of Informative Graphics Corporation. Additional designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products and all other products or name brands are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders. Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government Departments and Agencies are as set forth in DFARS252.227-7013.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 About IRONCAD
IRONCAD - The Fastest and Easiest way to 3D .................................................................................................. 1-3 IRONCAD Productive Solid Modeling for Creative Design ............................................................................ 1-3 Parts ................................................................................................................................................................ 1-4 Assemblies and Products ................................................................................................................................ 1-5 Working with IRONCAD ..................................................................................................................................... 1-5 Setting the Scene ............................................................................................................................................ 1-6 The Stages of an IRONCAD Project .............................................................................................................. 1-6 Visual and Precision Part Design ................................................................................................................... 1-6 IRONCAD Features .............................................................................................................................................. 1-7
Chapter 2
Starting IRONCAD
System Requirements ........................................................................................................................................... 2-3 What You Need to Know to Work with IRONCAD ............................................................................................ 2-3 Installation ............................................................................................................................................................ 2-3 Installing IRONCAD under Windows XP Professional and 2000 ................................................................. 2-3 Starting IRONCAD .............................................................................................................................................. 2-4 Navigating the System .......................................................................................................................................... 2-5 The IRONCAD Window ................................................................................................................................ 2-5 Menus ............................................................................................................................................................. 2-6 Toolbars .......................................................................................................................................................... 2-6 Catalogs .......................................................................................................................................................... 2-7 Saving Your Work .......................................................................................................................................... 2-8 Exiting IRONCAD ............................................................................................................................................... 2-8 Getting Help and Other Information ..................................................................................................................... 2-8 Tooltips ........................................................................................................................................................... 2-8 The Help Tool ................................................................................................................................................. 2-9 IRONCAD Technical Support ........................................................................................................................ 2-9 IRONCAD Web Site ...................................................................................................................................... 2-9
Chapter 3
IRONCAD Quick Start
Setting Up the Working Environment .................................................................................................................. 3-3 Using IntelliShapes, SmartDimensions and SmartSnap ....................................................................................... 3-3 Creating a New IntelliShape Feature by Sketching a Profile ............................................................................... 3-5 Using Direct Face Modeling ............................................................................................................................. 3-7 Shelling a Part ....................................................................................................................................................... 3-8 Blending Edges ..................................................................................................................................................... 3-9 Using a Custom Hole .......................................................................................................................................... 3-10 Creating and Using Custom Catalogs ................................................................................................................. 3-11 Importing a Part .................................................................................................................................................. 3-11 Using the Mate and Align Positioning Tool ....................................................................................................... 3-11 Creating an Assembly ......................................................................................................................................... 3-12 Creating a 2D Drawing from a Part .................................................................................................................... 3-13 Creating a Section View ..................................................................................................................................... 3-14 Creating a Detail View ....................................................................................................................................... 3-15 Adding a Dimension ........................................................................................................................................... 3-15
i Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Chapter 4
3D Design Overview
Knowing the Process .............................................................................................................................................4-3 Starting the Project ................................................................................................................................................4-3 Building a Part .......................................................................................................................................................4-3 Assembling Parts ...................................................................................................................................................4-6 Creating a 2D Drawing ..........................................................................................................................................4-7 Rendering a Part ....................................................................................................................................................4-7 Animating a Part ....................................................................................................................................................4-7 Communicating a Part ...........................................................................................................................................4-8
Chapter 5
Creating and Editing Shapes Using 2D Cross-sections
Using 2D Cross-sections in Shape Creation and Modification .............................................................................5-3 Creating the Flywheel with a Spin IntelliShape ..............................................................................................5-3 Setting the Drawing Options ...........................................................................................................................5-4 Drawing the Spin Profile .................................................................................................................................5-5 Positioning Lines Using Endpoint Position Dimensions .................................................................................5-5 Accurately Positioning Lines Using Curve Dimensions .................................................................................5-7 Relocating the Coordinate Axes of Endpoint Dimensions ..............................................................................5-8 Positioning Multiple Lines Simultaneously ....................................................................................................5-9 Using Shape Handles .....................................................................................................................................5-10 Editing the Cross-section of an Existing IntelliShape ...................................................................................5-11 Using the Offset Command ...........................................................................................................................5-12 Using 2D Constraints ....................................................................................................................................5-13 How Constraints Affect the Behavior of Shape Handles ..............................................................................5-17 Drag-and-Drop Modeling vs. 2D Cross-section Modeling ...........................................................................5-18 Setting Part and IntelliShape Names and Color ............................................................................................5-20 Creating a Bolt Hole Pattern ..........................................................................................................................5-20 Creating the Crankshaft .................................................................................................................................5-21 Adding More Shapes to the Crank Shaft .......................................................................................................5-23 Creating the Crank Arm ................................................................................................................................5-24 Creating Tangent Lines .................................................................................................................................5-25 Creating Tangency and Concentric Constraints ............................................................................................5-26 Parametric Constraints with Expressions ......................................................................................................5-28 Creating an Assembly ....................................................................................................................................5-29 Adding Gear Teeth to the Flywheel ..............................................................................................................5-30 Creating Linked Instances of a Cross-section ...............................................................................................5-32 2D Fillets vs. 3D Blends ................................................................................................................................5-33
Chapter 6
Inside the TriBall
The TriBall ............................................................................................................................................................6-3 Anatomy of the TriBall ...................................................................................................................................6-3
Chapter 7
Advanced Drawing Creation
Advanced Drawing Creation .................................................................................................................................7-3 Creating the Standard Views ...........................................................................................................................7-3 Changing the View Scale and Rendering options ...........................................................................................7-4 Moving Views .................................................................................................................................................7-4 Creating a Datum Reference Frame ................................................................................................................7-5 Adding SmartDimensions ...............................................................................................................................7-5 Modifying Individual Dimensions ................................................................................................................7-10 Adding a Feature Control Frame ...................................................................................................................7-12 Creating Centerlines ......................................................................................................................................7-12 Creating Reference Curves ............................................................................................................................7-13 Multi-Sheet Drawings and Supplementary Views ........................................................................................7-15
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Table of Contents ii
Using the Sheet Drawing Tools .................................................................................................................... 7-19 Named Styles ................................................................................................................................................ 7-19 Adding a Layer ............................................................................................................................................. 7-20 Part/Drawing Associativity ........................................................................................................................... 7-21
Chapter 8
IRONCAD Surface Modeling
Creating 3D Curves .............................................................................................................................................. 8-3 Create Surfaces from Solids ................................................................................................................................. 8-6 Creating Surfaces .................................................................................................................................................. 8-7
Chapter 9
Rendering With IRONCAD
Rendering Levels .................................................................................................................................................. 9-3 Lighting ................................................................................................................................................................. 9-7 Perspective ............................................................................................................................................................ 9-9 Surface Smoothness ............................................................................................................................................ 9-10 Printing Images ................................................................................................................................................... 9-11 Rendering Time .................................................................................................................................................. 9-11 Exporting Images ................................................................................................................................................ 9-13 Reflectivity: Ray Tracing and Reflection Mapping ........................................................................................... 9-13 Transparency Effects .......................................................................................................................................... 9-15 Draw Edges, Emission, and Technical Publications .......................................................................................... 9-18 Advanced Shadow Settings ................................................................................................................................ 9-19 Templates ............................................................................................................................................................ 9-21 The Projection Tools ........................................................................................................................................... 9-23 Slide Projector .............................................................................................................................................. 9-23 Cylindrical ................................................................................................................................................... 9-23 Spherical ....................................................................................................................................................... 9-24 Bump Maps ......................................................................................................................................................... 9-24 Adding a Custom SmartPaint Surface to a Catalog ............................................................................................ 9-27
Chapter 10
Animating with IRONCAD
Anchor-Animation Relationships ....................................................................................................................... 10-3 Creating an Exploded Parts Animation .............................................................................................................. 10-5 Adjusting Timing with the SmartMotion Editor ................................................................................................ 10-6 Modifying a SmartMotion .................................................................................................................................. 10-7 Creating Animations for General Viewing ......................................................................................................... 10-9 Creating a Dynamic Cutaway Animation ......................................................................................................... 10-10 Exporting Animations ....................................................................................................................................... 10-13 Animation Compression and Color Depth ....................................................................................................... 10-13 AVI ............................................................................................................................................................. 10-13 Animated GIF ............................................................................................................................................. 10-13
Chapter 11
Special Function Key Assignment
File/Edit Function Keys ................................................................................................................................ 11-3 Camera Function Keys/Buttons .................................................................................................................... 11-3 TriBall Function Keys .................................................................................................................................. 11-3 Positioning Function Keys ............................................................................................................................ 11-4 Rendering Function Keys ............................................................................................................................. 11-4 3D SmartDimensions Function Keys ........................................................................................................... 11-4 Cross-section Creation Function Keys ......................................................................................................... 11-4 2D Drawing Creation Function Keys ........................................................................................................... 11-4 Handle (sizebox, face, profile, sheet metal, etc.) Function Keys ................................................................. 11-5 Miscellaneous Function Keys ....................................................................................................................... 11-5
iii Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
iv Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Chapter 1
About IRONCAD
IRONCAD is the productivity leader when it comes to moving creative ideas into full 3D reality. It utilizes a breakthrough Creative Design approach that delivers a level of design freedom unmatched in the industry today. IRONCAD is the tool of choice for design engineers when deadlines are tight and a high degree of unanticipated change is to be expected. It provides a fresh alternative to todays history based parametric systems utilizing a radical new drag and drop 3D environment that delivers unmatched ease-of-use, and superior productivity. This Getting Started Guide will help you to quickly begin using IRONCAD to build 3D parts and assemblies; create 2D drawings; apply colors, textures, add a variety of rendering techniques; add animation effects; and communicate the results to the outside world. This chapter will give you a quick overview of IRONCAD and its basic concepts. The next chapter, Starting IRONCAD, provides instructions on installing, starting and navigating IRONCAD. Chapters 3 through 8 offer sample exercises: Chapter 3 walks through a quick start guide to working with IRONCAD; Chapter 4 introduces the 3D design process using abstract parts; Chapter 5 focuses on IRONCADs advanced capabilities for creating and editing IntelliShapes using 2D geometry; Chapter 6 demonstrates some of the more advanced capabilities of the TriBall; Chapter 7 demonstrates some of the more advanced features of IRONCADs 2D drawing creation capabilities; Chapter 8 introduces Surface modeling capabilities. Chapter 9 outlines the Rendering options. Chapter 10 demonstrates IRONCADs Animation capabilities. Chapter 11 serves as a centralized reference for IRONCADs default shortcut and function key assignments introduced throught the various chapters of the Getting Started Guide. More experienced users may want to begin with the installation instructions in Chapter 2 and then move to Chapters 3 through 8.
In this chapter: IRONCAD - The Fastest and Easiest way to 3D IRONCAD Productive Solid Modeling for Creative Design Working with IRONCAD IRONCAD Features
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About IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
IRONCAD - The Fastest and Easiest way to 3D

With all the features expected of a production product development tool, and more importantly with those features unique to IRONCAD, mechanical design engineers are innovating faster. Using IRONCAD, users can create 3D parts with a variety of surfaces, colors, and textures, such as those shown below, and then create 2D drawings required to manufacture them. Rendering, animation, and powerful exporting capabilities make IRONCAD a complete 3D design package that allows everyone to innovate faster.
IRONCAD Productive Solid Modeling for Creative Design

IRONCAD is a cost-effective, full-featured detail design production tool for engineering design users. It utilizes a new Creative Design approach, which allows greater design flexibility and capability, resulting in better products in a shorter time. IRONCAD provides an alternative to the current history based parametric systems utilizing a radical new drag-anddrop 3D environment with Direct Face Modeling that delivers unmatched ease-of-use, productivity, and design flexibility with the ability to generate fully associative manufacturing drawings. IRONCAD brings powerful 3D design capabilities to the desktops of professionals in the following areas and more: Industrial design. Use IRONCAD in the conceptual part of the design process for exploring design alternatives. Engineering and manufacturing. Use IRONCAD in industrial, mechanical, structural, civil, and many other engineering disciplines for numerous applications in electromechanical design, metal fabrication, and tooling. Product design and packaging. Use IRONCAD for the design of consumer and industrial products and packaging. Wherever you turn in todays world, you are confronted with 3D computer images. When you check out an advertisement for a new automobile, its hard to discern if the image displayed is a photograph of an actual car or a computer-generated model. IRONCAD offers a unique combination of simplicity and precision. Its easy to begin a 3D part with shapes, colors, textures, and other items from the IRONCAD catalogs. Simply drag them from the catalogs and drop them in the 3D scene, IRONCADs working environment for 3D part design.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - About IRONCAD 1-3
Once the basic elements are in place, you can use IRONCADs wide range of precision tools to size and position your part, and then create the necessary standards-compliant 2D drawings required to manufacture the part.
Parts
You use IRONCAD to build parts. A part is more than a collection of 3D geometry: it is a combination of components that intelligently interact with each other. In IRONCAD, these components can be generated by the ACIS or Parasolid kernel. IntelliShapes. These geometric forms are the building blocks of a part. You can start with the basic IntelliShapes in the IRONCAD catalogs or design custom IntelliShapes for special needs. IntelliShapes instinctively interact when theyre joined or repositioned on the surface of another. SmartPaints. Use these colors, finishes and surface textures to add a realistic appearance to parts. SmartMotions. Not all parts are stationary. For example, if you build a robot arm, you can simulate its motion. IRONCAD includes a catalog of SmartMotions which are basic motion sequences, such as spinning, bouncing and moving along an axis. You can combine and edit SmartMotions to create complex animations. For even more sophisticated animations, you can create and save SmartMotions on custom-designed paths, offering complete control of the parts animation. Here are some sample IntelliShapes:
You can combine these IntelliShapes to form a part similar to the one below.
Note
Throughout the documentation, the term shape generally refers to an IntelliShape.
The shapes that compose a part interact with one another in an intelligent fashion. They know how to land on one another and position themselves when moved. At any point in the part design process, you can select and work with the individual component shapes. For instance, the next illustration displays a part with a component shape highlighted.
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After selecting one shape in a part, you can move it, resize it, delete it, or perform other operations. Once all the shapes are in place, SmartPaints can be added to your part.
Every part has at least one IntelliShape and at least one SmartPaint component; SmartMotions are optional. If you want animation effects, you can add SmartMotions to the part from the Animation catalog or create a custom animation path. These intelligent components of a part are unique in the world of 3D software. They assist you in creating parts with more flexibility, extra speed and increased efficiency.
Assemblies and Products

When using IRONCAD to design products, your design may require only a single part composed of several IntelliShapes. For example, a machine stand could be a single part that consists of five shapes: one for the top and four for the legs. Other products are more complex and may require that individual components be created as parts that are then joined into assemblies. Suppose you want to design a new coffee maker. You might want to start by combining a number of IntelliShapes to build the heating element section. You could go on to build parts for the carafe, the reservoir and other components. Finally, you could join these individual parts to create the finished assembly. And, of course, very complex products may contain multiple assemblies, each containing several parts. IRONCAD facilitates creation of product designs at all levels of complexity. The project can be contained in a single file or in multiple files linked to a single master assembly file.
Note
Assemblies are made from multiple parts.
Working with IRONCAD

IRONCAD users work in many design fields. Whether you need to build a machine part or a coffee maker, you can achieve the desired results using the tools in IRONCAD to work through the various stages of an IRONCAD project.
Setting the Scene

To begin a design project in IRONCAD, you must first set up an appropriate scene for your 3D part design. IRONCAD provides a variety of standard scene templates that are predefined with appropriate dimensions, lighting and other parameters. As you become comfortable working in IRONCAD, you may want to create and save custom scene templates, much as you would create a template for a word processing document. For more information on setting up the scene, refer to Starting IRONCAD in the next chapter.
The Stages of an IRONCAD Project

An IRONCAD project has six potential stages:
1.
Build a part. Begin by using predefined individual shapes/parts that suit your needs. If none exist, then join existing IntelliShapes to achieve the basic form of your part or create custom shapes. Then you can edit or reposition components or a part to refine its design.
2.
Build an assembly of parts. It may sometimes be necessary or desirable to treat multiple parts as assemblies. IRONCAD offers the capability to create such assemblies, and then add, delete or edit any of its components while maintaining the individuality of each.
3.
Create a drawing of a part. Once a part or assembly has been created, IRONCAD offers a straightforward method of creating a 2D drawing based on the 3D object. This drawing can be composed of one or multiple views on single or multiple sheets containing all desired 2D information.
4.
Render a part. Once you create a 3D part, you can apply colors and surface textures to achieve convincing realism. IRONCAD includes catalogs of SmartPaint elements for this purpose. For example, you could add a brass finish to a fitting. You also can add naturalistic details, such as bumps and reflections. In addition, you can apply a variety of scene rendering techniques to affect the realism of the part, including facet, smooth and realistic shading. Advanced rendering techniques offer even more control over the parts appearance.
5.
Animate a part. To animate a part, use SmartMotions included in the Animation catalog, or create a custom animation path. For complex animation, use the SmartMotion Editor. This tool is similar to a multi-track tape recorder that offers control of the position and movement of every animated part in a scene. For instance, you could rotate gears on a gear reduction assembly.
6.
Communicate a part. IRONCAD parts seldom exist in a vacuum. You can share your parts with others through 2D drawings, high-resolution printing, electronic mail, OLE integration, and many other techniques. Export your parts to a wide variety of other applications or import parts into IRONCAD.
Visual and Precision Part Design

At each stage of the design process, IRONCAD provides two general methods for accomplishing your goals. They are: The visual method. You can accomplish many tasks in IRONCAD using the mouse and visual feedback. For instance, you can edit the size of an IntelliShape by pulling shape or
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sizebox handles. There are additional visual techniques for positioning, assembling, coloring, and performing most features of IRONCAD. The precision method. IRONCAD also offers many precision tools for accurate part design. For example, you could position one component of a part exactly 15.75 cm from another. Naturally, the method you choose depends on your preferences and the task at hand. You might use visual methods for quick results in the conceptual phase of a project and precision methods during the detailing phase prior to production.
IRONCAD Features
IRONCAD includes many other powerful features that will help in designing parts more quickly and efficiently. Dual kernels. Based on your specific design needs, IRONCAD offers the flexibility of dual kernels -- ACIS or Parasolid. Drag-and-drop. For quick placement of IntelliShapes, SmartPaints and SmartMotions, simply drag them from catalogs and drop them in the desired location. Face modeling. IRONCAD provides tools to directly edit a selected face, irrespective of its creation history. Boolean. Add, delete and move shapes with intelligent Booleans. SmartSnap functionality. IRONCADs SmartSnap features aid in visually positioning the components of a part. When positioning an IntelliShape, valuable SmartSnap feedback is displayed. Precision tools. The TriBall, Mate and Align Positioning and Constraint tools, SmartDimensions, attachment points, scene grid, and many other features are available in IRONCAD for precision part design. Extensive 2D drawing and editing tools. Create intricate 2D cross-sections for creating custom IntelliShapes. 2D drawing layout. Create fully annotated 2D drawings that are fully associative to 3D parts/assemblies. SmartRender. SmartRender keeps projects on schedule by switching to less complex rendering methods while dynamically manipulating parts. Extensive right mouse button support. The right mouse button accesses powerful IRONCAD functions. Most onscreen objects react to a click of the right mouse button, often displaying a pop-up menu, a dialog box or other items. Catalogs. IRONCADs catalogs contain hundreds of shapes and pre-designed parts, textures and other resources. You can organize your project by creating new catalogs to contain your own shapes and parts. Customizable menus/toolbars/hot keys. IRONCADs default menus, toolbars, and hot keys are fully customizable to meet specific user needs. Complete compatibility. IRONCAD is compatible with Windows XP Professional, 2000, as well as Windows NT. Custom macros generated using Microsofts Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
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Chapter 2
Starting IRONCAD
To begin working with IRONCAD as quickly as possible, follow the instructions in this chapter.
In this chapter: System requirements What you need to know to work with IRONCAD Installation Starting IRONCAD Navigating the system Exiting IRONCAD Getting help and other information
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Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
System Requirements
To run IRONCAD, you need the following: A Pentium II 450MHz or faster CPU. 2.0 GHz processor recommended. Windows XP Professional or 2000. 256 MB of RAM or higher minimum. 512 MB of RAM recommended. 255 MB of hard disk space. (Typical installation will require 202 MB.) IRONCAD works with display adapters that produce 16-bit or 24-bit color. OpenGL graphics accelerator with minimum of 64MB memory recommended. 128MB graphics memory or more recommended for best performance. A CD-ROM drive.
What You Need to Know to Work with IRONCAD

In the world of 3D design software, IRONCAD is unusually clear and simple to operate. It isnt necessary to learn numerous abstract concepts or acquire diverse technical skills to work with IRONCAD. Of course, you need to be familiar with the graphic user interface for your version of Microsoft Windows. If you work with a word processor, spreadsheet or other mainstream application program, your knowledge of the user interface is probably sufficient to begin using IRONCAD. However, if youre not accustomed to working with a mouse, windows, icons, and the other elements of a graphic environment, refer to the tutorial or reference manual for your operating system.
Installation
Installing IRONCAD under Windows XP Professional and 2000
Make sure no programs are running on your system. If you use an anti-virus program, disable (turn off or exit) it before beginning the IRONCAD install process. You can re-enable the antivirus and other programs after the IRONCAD installation is finished.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have a previous version of IRONCAD already installed, it is recommended that you uninstall it and restart your computer before installing the latest version. If you have customized any files in the IRONCAD folder (such as catalogs, templates, and/or any other file or sub-folder), make a backup copy of those files to an alternate folder or disk. After the installation process is finished, you can copy those files or folders into the IronCAD folder in their respective locations.
If you have created a custom toolbar (.tbc) file, create a copy and then move it back after installation. However, the old .tbc files will not have any of the new toolbars that are included in the newer version of IRONCAD. We recommend using the new .tbc file and adding the old custom information to the new file.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Starting IRONCAD 2-3
To uninstall IRONCAD under Windows XP Professional and 2000:

1. 2. 3. 4.
Click the Start button on the Windows task bar. On the task menu, select the Programs option. On the Programs menu, select IRONCAD x.x to display a cascading menu. From the cascading menu, select Uninstall IRONCAD. IRONCAD is now uninstalled from your hard drive. It will preserve any file you created or modified, as well as the directories that contain those files.
To install IRONCAD under Microsoft Windows XP and 2000:

1. 2.
Read the information under IMPORTANT NOTE above before beginning installation of IRONCAD. Insert the IRONCAD CD into your CD-ROM drive. The IronCAD Setup dialog box is displayed automatically if your CD-ROM drive is set to auto-run. Select the icon for IRONCAD to begin the installation process. If the Setup dialog box is not displayed, select the Start button on the Windows task bar and then select Run. In the Open field, enter the following command using the letter of your CD-ROM drive. For example: d:\Setup.exe.
Note
To conserve disk space, you can omit some image catalogs from the installation process. Once you install IRONCAD, you can access these catalogs directly from the CD-ROM.
3.
Follow the installation instructions.
Starting IRONCAD
As with installation, the procedure that you use for starting IRONCAD is the same for Windows XP and 2000. To start IRONCAD under Windows XP and 2000:
1. 2. 3. 4.
On the Windows task bar, click the Start button. On the task menu, select the Programs option. On the Programs menu, select IRONCAD to display a cascading menu. From the cascading menu, select IRONCAD x.x. The IRONCAD opening screen appears.
After the IRONCAD opening screen, a dialog box is displayed asking if the user would like to register the product now. If the user decides not to register at this time, the product will run for 60 days. After the 60-day period, the product must be registered to continue using it. If the user decides to register the product, an activation wizard will open to guide the user through the process of registering the product for the current machine. The serial number and codeword shipped with the product, along with the users information, are used to create an activation code that will be emailed back to the user. The registration process can be completed by sending this information to IronCAD via the web or by fax. The Welcome dialog box appears. Before you can begin working in IRONCAD, its necessary to create a new scene. To create a new scene:
1.
Choose Create a new Scene to begin a new project.
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2. 3. 4.
Deselect Always show this dialog on startup if you dont want this dialog box to appear when you start IRONCAD. Choose OK. The New dialog box appears. On the New dialog box, choose the scene tab that best fits the type of work you do, then select one of the scene templates. If youre not sure which template type or scene template to choose, select the Blank Scene template from the English tab.
IRONCAD displays a blank 3D scene. Now youre ready to begin working in IRONCAD.
Navigating the System

Since youre familiar with Microsoft Windows, you already know how to use most elements of the IRONCAD interface. Much of your work in IRONCAD involves standard Windows techniques in two environments: the scene environment for part design and the drawing environment for 2D drawing creation. Drag-and-drop object placement. Use this technique in the scene environment to build a part by choosing items from catalogs. You also can edit the components of a part or drawing view using the drag-and-drop method. Pop-up menus. Most elements of the IRONCAD working environments include pop-up menus of unique options. To display the pop-up menu for an item, right-click the item -that is, click it once with the right mouse button. Properties sheets. Like pop-up menus, nearly all items in IRONCAD have properties sheets. These dialog boxes facilitate such operations as customizing the features of a part or drawing element in IRONCAD. The properties sheet for an item is accessed through its pop-up menu. The remainder of this section introduces the unique features of the IRONCAD interface. Once youre familiar with the basic concepts and techniques in this section, you can move on to the next chapter and learn how to build a part.
The IRONCAD Window

When you open an IRONCAD scene or drawing, you see its associated main window and those components listed below that are associated with the current working environment: 3D Scene. This is the workspace for 3D part design in the scene environment. 2D Drawing. This is the workspace for 2D drawing creation in the drawing environment. Menus. IRONCADs default main menu bars provide access to most of the scene and drawing commands in IRONCAD. IRONCADs menus are, however, fully customizable. Toolbars. IRONCADs default scene and drawing toolbars provide options for working with files, 2D and 3D graphics, drawing tools, and other important features of IRONCAD. Like menus, IRONCADs toolbars can be customized, as desired. Catalog. Catalogs are available in the scene environment and are groups of related resources such as parts and surface finishes. To use catalog items in your part design projects, simply drag and drop their icons into the scene. Scroll bar and navigation buttons. Use the scroll bar to move through catalogs, to browse their contents, or to view sections of a drawing too large to be displayed entirely on the screen. Tabs. To display a particular catalog or drawing sheet, select its tab.
Status bar. Use this space at the bottom of the window to view informative messages and tips about IRONCAD. The right side of the status bar shows the current unit of measurement and the time.
Menus
Most of the default main menus follow conventions widely used in desktop software. For example, if you have more than one scene/drawing open, you can switch between them using the Window menu. You can access detailed descriptions of all menu options in the IRONCAD On-line Help system.
Note
The convention of right-clicking is used throughout IRONCAD. In addition to revealing pop-up menus, you can use right-clicks to position or copy a part.
In addition to the main menu bar, many elements of IRONCAD have pop-up menus. Right-click on the element to display a pop-up menu with commands related to the selected element.
Toolbars
The toolbars available in the IRONCAD scene environment are: Standard Selection Text Format Camera IntelliShape Creation SmartPaint SmartMotions SmartMotions Camera Picker Standard Viewing Annotation Styles and Layers View 3D Dimensions 2D Technical Drawing 2D Constraints 2D Editing 2D Construction Face/Edge Edit 3D Curves Surface
The toolbars available in the IRONCAD drawing environment are: Text Format Sheet Drawing Sheet Editing Selection Dimensions
You can choose the toolbars that appear in the IRONCAD display. To display a toolbar:
1. 2.
Choose Toolbars from the View menu or right-click on any currently displayed toolbar. On the Toolbars dialog box or the drop-down menu, check the box beside the name of the toolbar you want to display. To hide a toolbar, clear its checked box. Choose Close in the dialog box.
3.
Here are three of the toolbars in IRONCAD: IntelliShape Creation, Camera, and View.
IntelliShape Creation toolbar (Scene)
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Camera toolbar (Scene)
View toolbar (Drawing)
IRONCADs toolbars will help you implement many scene and drawing functions easily and quickly.
Moving and Resizing a Toolbar

When you first start IRONCAD, the toolbars may appear across the top, down the left side, and across the bottom of the workspace. They dont have to remain in these default locations, however. You can position them anywhere in the IRONCAD window. To move a toolbar, use the mouse to drag it to a new location. Drag a toolbar by left-clicking its background between the available options and moving it to a new location. If you drop it near an edge of the IRONCAD window, it appears as a horizontal or vertical strip. If you drop it over a sheet or scene, it appears as a palette that floats over the workspace. To resize a floating toolbar, drag one of its corners. Click and drag the corner to display an outline of the toolbars new shape. Drop the toolbar when the desired shape is displayed.
Note
Move a toolbar anywhere in the IRONCAD window.
Catalogs
The IRONCAD scene environment includes the following default catalogs installed on your hard drive: Shapes. This catalog contains a basic set of IntelliShape primitives such as blocks and spheres. You combine these IntelliShapes to build parts. Advanced Shapes. This catalog contains IntelliShape primitives that allow the user to customize a shapes appearance by editing a set of variables. Sheet Metal. This catalog includes IntelliShapes for items used in sheet metal design, such as stock, bends, stamps, and punches. Tools. This catalog contains a set of parameterized IntelliShapes created using the OLE automation capabilities within IRONCAD. They present the user with an input dialog for customization. Animation. This catalog contains motion effects to use to animate your parts. Surfaces. Obsidian, Rubber, and Shiny Blue are a few of the items in this catalog that can be dragged and dropped onto parts and shapes in the scene. Textures. Use a variety of textures, such as Marble, Chrome, or Wood to add realism to your parts. Bumps. This catalog contains a variety of different images that use bump mapping to add realistic textures to parts. Color. Use a variety of standard windows colors to quickly add color to parts in the scene. Many other catalogs, including specialty catalogs, are available on the IRONCAD CD-ROM. You can work with the default catalogs installed on your hard drive or any supplementary catalogs available on the CD-ROM. The advantage of working with catalogs on the CD is that it saves hard disk space. Of course, when you want to access a catalog on the CD, the CD must be in your drive. If you work with a particular catalog frequently, you may want to copy its
contents to your hard disk. You can reserve the CD for rarely-used items and experimentation.
Saving Your Work

When youre finished working in IRONCAD, or ready to move on to another project, save your work. IRONCAD stores all the scene or drawing components and all their associated properties in a single file. To save new work in a file:
1. 2. 3.
From the File menu, choose Save As. IRONCAD prompts you for the name of a file.
Select the directory where you want to save the file if different from the directory
that is displayed.
Enter a descriptive title for the file name and choose Save. IRONCAD saves your work in a file with this title. Unless you specify a different extension, IRONCAD appends the extension .ics to a scene file and .icd to a drawing file.
The next time you save your work, choose Save from the File menu instead of Save As. IRONCAD uses the existing name for the file. The only time you would use the Save As option with an existing file is to make a copy with a different name.
Exiting IRONCAD
When youre finished working with IRONCAD and have saved your work in a file, close the program and return to Windows. To exit IRONCAD, choose Exit from the File menu. You will return to Microsoft Windows.
Getting Help and Other Information

When you have a question regarding IRONCAD, there are a number of resources available for answers. Read the remainder of the Getting Started Guide for examples that introduce some of the most important features of IRONCAD. In addition, the IRONCAD On-line Help system contains thorough, task-oriented descriptions of nearly every IRONCAD feature.
Note
Use Tooltips to view the label for a button on a toolbar.
Tooltips
In addition to the manuals, IRONCAD itself offers on-line help in several forms. For instance, if you arent sure about the functionality of a toolbar option, you can find out very quickly. To display the name of a particular tool, point to it. IRONCAD displays a Tooltip, a small box with the name of the tool. If youd rather not display Tooltips, its easy to disable them. To disable Tooltips display:
1. 2.
From the View Menu, select Toolbars. On the Toolbars dialog box, clear the Show Tooltips box, then choose OK.
The Help Tool

Its easy to get information about other elements of the IRONCAD environment, as well.
2-8
To display information about a feature in the IRONCAD window, click the Help tool, then click the feature. IRONCAD opens its on-line help system and displays the requested information.
Browsing the Help System

For information on IRONCAD concepts and tasks, refer to the On-line Help system. To view a list of Help topics, select IRONCAD Help from the Help menu. IRONCAD displays a tri-pane window with Contents, Index, and Search tabs for its Help system displayed on the left and the IRONCAD Welcome screen on the right. Click on the icon to the left of a topic on the Welcome screen or on a topic in the Contents for information on it. If you dont see the topic you want in the Contents or on the Welcome screen, look for it by name by clicking the Index tab to display a complete listing of topics and subtopics. Or click the Search tab to define search criteria for locating a topic.
IRONCAD Technical Support

For questions about technical support options, please contact your authorized Channel Partner or IronCAD.
IRONCAD Web Site

Visit IRONCADs web site at www.ironcad.com for up-to-the-minute information about IRONCAD. Our web site is frequently updated with the latest product and support information.
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Chapter 3
IRONCAD Quick Start
This chapter is a straightforward, step-by-step introduction to some of IRONCADs main functionality.
In this chapter: Setting Up the Working Environment Using IntelliShapes, SmartDimensions and SmartSnap Creating a New IntelliShape Feature by Sketching a Profile Shelling a Part Blending Edges Using a Custom Hole Creating and Using Custom Catalogs Importing a Part Using Direct Face Modeling Using the Mate and Align Positioning Tool Creating an Assembly Creating a 2D Drawing from a Part Creating a Section View Creating a Detail View Adding a Dimension
3-2
IRONCAD Quick Start - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Setting Up the Working Environment

1. 2.
Create a new scene. From the File menu, choose New, and then Scene. Select the template labeled Gray.ics from the Metric folder and then choose OK.
Using IntelliShapes, SmartDimensions and SmartSnap

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Drag the Block from the Shapes catalog and drop it into the scene. Use the Fit Scene tool from the Camera toolbar for a close-up view of the block. Select the block at the IntelliShape editing level. This level is indicated by a yellow sizebox with red handles displayed over the block. Drag the red handles to resize the block, as desired. Right-click on one of the sizebox handles and choose Edit Sizebox from the resulting pop-up menu. Enter the following values then click OK: L: 120 W: 100 H: 75
7. 8.
If necessary, select the Fit Scene tool again. Drag an H Cylinder from the Shapes catalog and drop it on the center of the side face of the block, as shown. A green dot will indicate the center of the face.
9.
Click and drag one of the H Cylinders side sizebox handles until the holes diameter is approximately the size shown in the following illustration.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - IRONCAD Quick Start 3-3
Sizebox Handles
Note
Placing a Smart-Dimension between components of the same part at the IntelliShape editing level (with the exception of an edge on first selection), or between separate parts at the part editing level, adds a fully functional SmartDimension which can be edited and/or locked, as necessary. SmartDimensions applied to components of the same part at the part editing level function only as annotation dimensions. and cannot be edited/locked.
10. Select the H Cylinder at the IntelliShape editing level and then, from the Create menu, select SmartDimension, and then Linear.
Alternately, you can select the Linear SmartDimension tool on the Dimensions toolbar.
11. To place the SmartDimension, click the center of the H Cylinder, then click the top face of the block (not the edge), and release.
To place the SmartDimension, click here...
...then click here. Dimension Value
12. With the H Cylinder still selected at the IntelliShape editing level, right-click on the dimension value and choose Edit this SmartDimension from the resulting pop-up
menu.
13. Enter a value of 45, select the Lock option, and then choose OK. 14. Select the H Cylinder Intellishape by clicking anywhere on its inner surface (except the
center) and drag it to the end face of the block. Notice the "constrained" movement of the H Cylinder as it is dragged around the blocks corner.
15. Drag the H Cylinder back to its approximate original location. 16. With the H Cylinder selected at the IntelliShape editing level, right-click on the SmartDimension value and choose Delete from the resulting pop-up menu.
17. Still at the IntelliShape editing level, select the H Cylinder and, depressing the Shift
key (to activate SmartSnap), drag the center of the H Cylinder so that it snaps to the center of the end face of the block, as shown.
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Creating a New IntelliShape Feature by Sketching a Profile

1. 2.
From the Create menu, choose IntelliShape, and then Extrude. Alternately, you can select the Extrude tool on the IntelliShape Creation toolbar. Move the cursor over the upper right corner of the blocks top face until a green dot indicating its vertex is displayed, as shown. Click on the vertex.
The Extrude Shape Wizard appears.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
On Page 1 of the Wizard, choose Remove Material, and then Next. On Page 2, choose Next again. On Page 3, enter a distance value of 50, and then choose Next. On Page 4, Choose No for display of drawing grid, and then choose Finish. The 2D drawing surface will appear. From the 2D Editing Toolbar, select the Project 3D Edges tool. If the toolbar is not displayed, select the View menu, choose Toolbars, and then select 2D Editing.
8.
Click on the two edges shown below to select them. Be careful to click only the two edges, and not on the side face of the block, since selecting the face would project all four edges of that face.
Click these edges to project them onto the 2D grid.
9.
Select the Two Point Line tool from the 2D Technical Drawing toolbar. from the midpoint of one projected edge to the midpoint of the other, as shown.
10. Using SmartSnap feedback to locate the midpoints, click and drag to draw a line
Tip
A small green dot indicates snapping to the line, and a large green dot indicates a midpoint or endpoint. The small red dots indicate unconnected endpoints, which must be connected before completing the profile sketch (except for surface creation).
11. From the 2D Editing toolbar, select the Trim Curve tool. 12. Trim the lines, as shown below.
Pick 1
Pick 2
3-6
Tip
When using the 2D editing tools, note the instructions indicated in the lower left section of the status bar of the IRONCAD window.
Tip
13. Choose Finish Shape. 14. Use the Orbit Camera tool (F3) from the Camera toolbar to move your viewpoint
On a three-button mouse, the middle button can be used to Orbit the camera at anytime.
around the block to view the IntelliShape which has been created.
We will now use the Extrude to Add Material to the part in a new feature.
15. From the Create menu, choose IntelliShape, and then Extrude. 16. Click the top face of the part. 17. On Page 1 of the Wizard, choose Add Material, and then Next. 18. On Page 2, choose Next again. 19. On Page 3, enter a distance value of 8, and then choose Next. 20. On Page 4, Choose No for display of drawing grid, and then choose Finish.
The 2D drawing surface will appear.

21. From the 2D Editing Toolbar, select the Project 3D Edges tool. 22. Select the top face to project to 2D geometry. 23. Choose Finish Shape.
Shelling a Part
1. 2.
Select the block at the part editing level, displaying its cyan blue outline. From the Modify menu, select Shell Part. Alternately, you can select the desired face and select the Shell Part option on the Face/Edge Edit toolbar or you can right-click the part, and select Shell from the resulting pop-up menu. The Shell Part session bar appears to the right of the Selection toolbar.
3. 4.
Click the top face of the block to specify that it should remain open after shelling. Enter 4 in the Thickness field on the Shell Part session bar and select the Apply and Exit Command option.
5.
Use the Orbit Camera tool (F3) to move your viewpoint around the block to observe the results of the shelling operation.
Blending Edges
1. 2.
Select the inner cylindrical surface of the H Cylinder at the surfaces editing level. It will become highlighted with green edges. From the Modify menu, select Blend Edges.
Blend this
Alternately, you can right-click the surface and choose Blend Edges from the resulting pop-up menu, or select the Blend Edges option on the Face/Edge Edit toolbar. The Blend Edges session bar appears to the right of the Selection toolbar.
3. 4. 5.
On the Blend Edges session bar, select Constant as the type of blend and, in the constant blend radius field, enter 8. Select the Apply and Exit Command option to apply the blend and exit the blend operation. Use the Orbit Camera tool (F3) to observe the results of the blending operation.
3-8
Using a Custom Hole

1.
From the Tools catalog, drag and drop a Custom Hole shape on the side of the part, as shown.
A Custom Hole dialog box will appear.
2.
Click the Metric toggle. Under Hole Dimensions, enter a Hole Diameter (d) of 6 Hole Depth (h) of 12, CBore Depth (bh) of 3 and a CBore Diameter (bd) of 24, and then choose OK.
Scene tool on the Camera toolbar (F8).
3.
Click once anywhere in the scene background to deselect the hole, then select the Fit
Creating and Using Custom Catalogs

1. 2. 3.
From the Catalogs menu, deselect Autohide so the Catalog Browser will remain open to the right of the scene. From the Catalogs menu, select New to create a blank catalog. A new catalog labeled Catalog1 will appear in the Browser. Click the part at the part editing level (all edges will highlight in cyan blue) and then drag the part into the catalog and drop it. A custom icon is automatically created for the part once it has been successfully added to the catalog. Select the parts catalog icon to highlight its label and then click on Unnamed in its text box. Enter Sample and press the Enter key.
4.
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5. 6. 7. 8.
Create a new scene. From the File menu, choose New, and then Scene. Select the template labeled Blue.ics from the Metric folder and then choose OK. From the new catalog, drag and drop the Sample part near the center of the new scene.
Importing a Part
1. 2.
From the File menu, choose Import. From your hard disk, locate Program
Files\IronCAD\IRONCADx\Documentation\Tutorials and open the Tutorials folder.
3.
Choose the part labeled SampleTop.sat and select Open. The new part will appear in the scene. Select the Fit Scene tool, if necessary, to view both parts. Note that even if Parasolid is set as the default kernel, the imported part remains a .sat file, indicated by its gray surface color.
Using Direct Face Modeling

Direct Face Modeling can be used to edit models that have no feature history, such as imported models.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Set the Selection Filter to Faces by auto-feature.

Intellishape. The fillets are now recognized as an IronCAD Blend.
Select the filleted face on the top of the imported part, right click and select Faces to Set the Selection Filter back to Any. Select the Blend, right click and select Edit Shape. Set the Blend Radius to 8. Select the Apply and Exit Command option on the session bar, which will complete the Blend operation. Select the top face of the imported part at the Face editing level. If necessary, choose the Select Tool on the Selection toolbar. Click on the top face until a green outline appears around it. From the Modify menu, select Move Face.
8.
Alternately, you can select the desired face and select the Move Face option from the Face/Edge Edit toolbar or right-click on the face and select Move from the resulting pop-up menu. The Move Face session bar appears to the right of the Selection toolbar.
9.
Select the TriBall tool (F10).
10. Drag the top handle of the TriBall upward a distance of approximately 10, as shown.
11. Right-click on the TriBalls distance value and choose Edit Value from the resulting
pop-up menu.
12. Enter a value of 10. 13. Select the Apply and Exit Command option on the session bar, which will
complete the Move Face operation.
Note
The Face Editing Notification dialog is displayed after completion of all face editing operations, informing you that the highlighted IntelliShapes will be combined and that any future modifications must be made using the face editing tools. It offers the option of proceeding with the operation or canceling it.
14. From the Edit menu, choose Deselect All.
Alternately, you can click anywhere in the scene background to deselect current selections.
Using the Mate and Align Positioning Tool

1. 2.
Select the imported part at the part editing level. Select the Mate and Align Positioning tool from the Standard toolbar.
Tool.
Alternately, from the Tools menu, you can choose Mate and Align Positioning Move the cursor over various areas of the selected part and note the arrow feedback. Click on the midpoint of the lower edge of the closest face, as shown. (A green SmartSnap dot indicates the edges midpoint.)
3. 4.
3-12
5.
Move the cursor over the midpoint of the upper outer edge of the Sample part until the green SmartSnap dot appears. If needed, press the Tab key to reverse the direction of the arrow, aligning it with the orientation of the arrow on the imported part. Click to complete the mate and align positioning operation. Deselect the Mate and Align Positioning tool.
6. 7.
Creating an Assembly
1.
Select the Scene Browser option on the Standard toolbar (or select Scene Browser from the View menu.) The Scene Browser is displayed to the left of the scene. The two parts in the current scene are represented by red block icons.
2. 3.
Right-click on the imported part in the Browser and choose Part Properties from the resulting pop-up menu. Enter Top in the User Name field and choose OK.
4. 5. 6.
Right-click on the Sample part in the Browser and choose Part Properties from the pop-up menu. Enter Base in the User Name field and choose OK. From the Assembly menu, choose Assemble (or click the Assemble option on the Assembly toolbar). An assembly composed only of the Base is created. To expand the assembly to display its components in the Scene Browser, click the + symbol to the left of its icon. This will display the Base part within the assembly.
7.
Add the Top part to the new assembly by dragging its icon and dropping it on the Assembly icon, as shown.
8.
Select the Assembly in the scene and note that both parts within the assembly are highlighted in yellow.
Creating a 2D Drawing from a Part

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Select the Base part then go to File, Save As Part/Assembly. Choose a filename and save. This part is now externally linked to the assembly allowing you to create from it a part drawing. From the File menu, choose New, and then Drawing. From ISO, select the template labeled A1.icd, then choose OK. Select the Fit Sheet tool from the Viewing toolbar. From the Create menu, choose View, and then Standard. The Standard Views Creation dialog box appears. Alternately, you can select the Standard View option from the View toolbar.
7.
Select Browse and, from your hard disk, locate the file you saved in step 2.
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8.
Highlight the following four view ports: Top, Front, Right, and T.F.R. (Isometric) views, then choose OK. The 4 views are created and placed on the drawing sheet.
Creating a Section View

1. 2.
Use the Window Zoom tool to zoom in on the Top view (upper left) on the sheet. From the Create menu, choose View, and then Section. The Section View session bar appears.
Alternately, you can select the Section View option on the View toolbar.
3. 4.
Select the Vertical Section tool. Click to position the vertical cut line on the drawing, approximately as shown.
Note
If hidden edges arent displayed, right-click on the view, select Properties from the resulting pop-up menu, select Hidden edges under Display options, and select OK.
5. 6.
Select the Flip Direction tool so that the section arrows point to the right. Select the Fit Sheet tool.
7.
Select the Place the Section View tool and position the new section view to the right of its parent view, as shown above.
Creating a Detail View

1. 2.
From the Create menu, select View, and then Detail. Alternately, you can select the Detail View option on the View toolbar. Click to specify the center of the detailed view and move the cursor, as shown, to define the source area and click again to set.
3.
Move the cursor near the center of the sheet and click to specify the location of the new detail view.
Adding a Dimension
1. 2.
Use the Window Zoom tool to zoom in on the Front view (lower left). From the View menu, choose Toolbars, and then Dimensions. The Dimensions toolbar is displayed.
3.
Select the SmartDimension tool, and then click on the rightmost vertical edge of the part, as shown. Drag the dimension to the right and click again to position it.
Click here to add
3-16
4. 5. 6.
Deselect the SmartDimension tool. Right-click on the dimension value and choose Properties from the resulting pop-up menu. Select the Tolerancing tab and select Show Tolerance with Plus and Minus style. Enter the following values and then choose OK: Above Value: .05 Below Value: .03
7.
Use the Fit Sheet viewing tool to zoom out for a view of the entire sheet.
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Chapter 4
3D Design Overview
This chapter illustrates the six potential stages of an IRONCAD project. Like most of the examples youve seen so far, the sample project uses simple geometric shapes to illustrate the features of IRONCAD.
In this chapter: Knowing the Process Starting the Project Building a Part Assembling Parts Creating a 2D Drawing Rendering a Part Animating a Part Communicating a Part
4-2
3D Design Overview - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Knowing the Process

As you read in Chapter 1 of this Getting Started Guide, an IRONCAD project has the following potential stages: Building a part Assembling parts Creating a 2D drawing Rendering a part Animating a part Communicating a part At times you may alternate between these stages or eliminate some of them, but the concepts and techniques at each stage remain the same. Throughout the 3D design process, IRONCAD has two general methods for performing many functions: The visual method. Use the mouse and instant visual feedback to size, position, and assemble parts; apply colors and textures to parts; and animate parts. The precision method. You can use a number of measuring tools and properties sheets to achieve extreme precision in your 3D designs. You may want to use visual methods for quick results at the beginning of a project in the conceptual phase and precision methods later in the detail design phase when precision is required. Or, you may choose to use precision methods throughout the project.
Starting the Project

To create a new scene:
1. 2. 3.
If necessary, start IRONCAD. The IRONCAD opening screen appears, followed by the Welcome dialog box. Choose Create a new Scene to begin a new project. On the New Scene dialog box, choose the scene tab that best fits the type of work you do, then select one of the scene templates and click OK. If youre not sure which template type or scene template to choose, select the Blue.ics template from the Metric tab.
Note
If IRONCAD is already running, choose the New option from the File menu and then select Scene and click OK..
IRONCAD displays a blank 3D scene. Now youre ready to work in IRONCAD.
Building a Part
You can begin a part with a single IntelliShape. This shape could be one of IRONCADs standard IntelliShapes or a custom shape of your own design. Shapes and parts are initially generated by the specified default modeling kernel -- either ACIS or Parasolid. However, IRONCAD offers the option of switching between the two kernels, on a part-by-part basis, by selecting the part in the scene and then pressing Ctrl+K. ACIS kernel support is indicated by a gray surface color on the selected part, Parasolid by beige. To change the default kernel, select Options from the Tools menu, select the Parts tab, and at the bottom left of the dialog box, select the desired option under Default kernel type for new parts.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - 3D Design Overview 4-3
Note
Use the visual drag-and-drop method to work with IntelliShapes from IRONCAD catalogs.
The IRONCAD catalogs contain many generic and special-purpose IntelliShapes. When you work with predefined shapes, you drag them from the catalog and drop them in the 3D scene. For example, to use a block as the foundation for a new part, you would drag it out of the Shapes catalog and drop it in the scene.
Initial shape for new part
The following are a few other IntelliShapes that are included in the Shapes and Advanced Shapes catalogs:
Sample shapes
When you drag a shape from a catalog and drop it in the scene, youre practicing the visual method of part design. Much of your part design can be accomplished using the drag-and-drop technique with shapes, colors, textures, lights, and other items. At other times, however, you may require precise results that are beyond the capability of visual, drag-and-drop part design methods. For example, if none of the predefined IntelliShapes meet your requirements, you can create a custom shape using one of the available IntelliShape Creation tools. To create a custom shape, use the 2D Technical Drawing tools to create the desired crosssection, as shown on the left below:
2D cross-section . .
Note
For precise part design, you can use the 2D Technical Drawing tools to create a cross-section and then extend it into 3D.
. . . extruded into a 3D shape
4-4
Once youve created the cross-section, IRONCAD can extend it into 3D using a variety of techniques that includes extrusion, spinning, sweeping and lofting. For example, the shape on the right above displays the result of extruding a 2D cross-section. Regardless of how you create the initial shape of a part, you may need to resize it. IRONCAD offers visual and precision methods for resizing shapes and parts. For instance, you can display either IntelliShape sizebox or shape handles with the Handle Toggle to resize a shape using the drag-and-drop technique.
Note
You can use visual or precision methods to resize a shape.
IntelliShape with sizebox/shape handles and Handle Toggle displayed
Using the mouse, you can drag a handle to edit the shapes size. Heres the result of dragging one of the sizebox handles on the block shape:
Resized IntelliShape
Naturally, this method assumes that you can visually judge the correct size. However, you may require a precisely sized block. IRONCAD offers a number of tools for precision sizing. Once the initial shape has been created, you can add additional shapes to build your 3D part. You might drag a second shape from a catalog and drop it on the first one.
Note
Add new shapes to build your part.
Part with two shapes
One of the intelligent properties of IntelliShapes is that they instinctively interact with one another. When you drop a new shape on an existing one, the new shape lands in the same way as a physical object would land.
As with sizing, there are visual and precision methods for positioning the shape components of a part. You can drag one shape over another and use SmartSnap feedback to help locate centers, edges, and other key points.
Visual positioning using SmartSnap feedback
In more complex situations, you can use measuring and positioning tools, such as the TriBall and SmartDimensions, for accurate results.
Precise positioning using SmartDimensions
As you build your part, you continue to add, size, and position IntelliShapes. At any stage of the process, you can select and work with the part as a whole or any of the shapes within the part. To activate SmartSnap for an existing shape hold down the Shift key. In the event that desired resizing cannot be accomplished with size handles or you want to effect a change on a face that spans across two or more shapes, IRONCAD offers Direct Face Modeling, a totally new editing technology. Direct face modeling allows the user to modify the faces of a part irrespective of the underlying shape structure. Several face/edge editing tools are available, providing powerful, easy-to-use technology not found in todays traditional CAD systems. Once the features of a part are in place, you can go on to the second phase: assembly.
Assembling Parts
Some projects require multiple parts to complete the design. This is no problem for IRONCAD. New parts can be created in the same scene as existing parts or, if desired, previously created parts can be linked into the current scene from the outside. Assemblies are formed by simply selecting the desired parts and then choosing the Assemble option on the Assembly toolbar. Assembly structure can be maintained by repositioning parts and assemblies within the hierarchical display found in the Scene Browser. Parts linked into an assembly from the outside are fully associative: any changes made to the linked file will automatically update in the current scene.
4-6
Creating a 2D Drawing
Once a part or assembly has been created, IRONCAD allows you to create a 2D drawing of its 3D structure. Drawings can be created in standard or custom sizes, displaying single or multiple views, and can be drawn on a single sheet or multiple sheets, as desired. A drawing is created by first specifying a view type and then selecting a 3D file to be associated with the 2D drawing. Each view type includes options for selecting configurations (if applicable); controlling rendering properties such as displaying hidden lines, defining styles/layers; and setting scaling/framing properties. Additionally, IRONCAD includes the capability of creating 2D support geometry to facilitate adding annotation, such as dimensions and text, to the views contained within a drawing. Also offered are the options of creating a Bill of Materials table and placing selected elements into separate layers.
Rendering a Part
IRONCAD has many features for adding realistic surfaces to your part in the next phase of design and offers OpenGL features, as supported by your graphics card. The easiest way to add a color or texture is to drag one of the SmartPaints from an IRONCAD catalog and drop it on a shape or part. For example, if you drag the Silver Gradient texture from the Texture catalog and drop it on a part, the results are similar to that shown below:
Part with Silver Grdient surface texture
In addition to colors and textures, IRONCAD allows you to create bumpy and transparent surfaces with realistic reflections. Experiment with different surfaces and textures. Try the default catalog set or use other catalogs available on the IRONCAD CD. Some IRONCAD projects end after one or more of the first four phases. Other projects include animating parts and/or sharing them with the outside world.
Animating a Part
IRONCAD includes a catalog of animation effects called SmartMotions. For example, if you want to make a gear spin around a shaft, drag the Height Spin SmartMotion from the Animation catalog and drop it on the gear. As with all other aspects of the program, IRONCAD has precision tools to complement simple drag-and-drop animation effects. You can use the SmartMotion Editor to create complex, multi-track animation for presentations, multimedia development, and other demanding applications. The SmartMotions tools offer even more flexibility and control in creating custom animation sequences.
Note
Use SmartMotions for dragand-drop animation.
Communicating a Part
The last phase of the part design process is sharing your creation with the outside world. This can take the form of a 2D drawing layout, a translated part file using one of the supplied translators, or an OLE document container. For instance, you might use Microsoft Word to write a report and illustrate it with a 3D part. Just drag a scene from IRONCAD and drop it into a Word document. In addition to drag-and-drop OLE support, IRONCAD offers a suite of tools for communicating your parts with other applications and users. IRONCAD supports highresolution printing for top-quality output. This concludes your introduction to 3D design with IRONCAD. Continue on to the next chapter to create an actual part. Be sure to access On-line Help as a ready reference for details on IRONCAD functions and tasks, as well as for detailed reference information and how to and Show-Me topics to quickly learn the application.
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Chapter 5
Creating and Editing Shapes Using 2D Cross-sections
This chapter focuses on IRONCAD's advanced capabilities for creating and editing IntelliShapes using 2D geometry. It assumes you are already familiar with the basics of IRONCAD part design. You will create the simple assembly of parts shown below. However, rather than creating the parts in the least number of steps possible, you will explore numerous alternatives for construction and modification.
Topics covered in this chapter include: Using the Basic 2D Editing tools Positioning Lines using Endpoint Dimensions, Curve Dimensions, and Curve Handles Using Shape Handles 2D Constraints Drag-and-Drop IntelliShape Modeling vs. 2D Cross-section Modeling Creating a Hole Pattern Referencing Other 3D Entities while in 2D Drawing Mode Using Project Edges Creating and Maintaining Tangency Conditions Creating an Assembly Construction Lines Linked Instances of a Cross-section 2D Fillets vs. 3D Blends
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Creating and Editing Shapes Using 2D Cross-sections - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Using 2D Cross-sections in Shape Creation and Modification

Creating the Flywheel with a Spin IntelliShape
A spin IntelliShape is a 3D shape created by revolving (spinning) a 2D profile (cross-section) about an axis. The profile must consist of one or more closed loops of connected 2D lines with no overlaps and no lines that cross over the spin axis (the Width axis).
1. 2.
From the File menu, select New, Scene, and click OK. From the Metric tab, select the template Gray.ics and click OK. To create a spin IntelliShape, click the Spin tool from the IntelliShape Creation toolbar, or click Create, IntelliShape, Spin from the menu bar, and then click anywhere near the center of the screen to specify the location of the shape. The Spin Shape Wizard appears. Click Next and Next again to accept default values for the first two steps, and then specify the settings for the third step, as shown, and click Finish.
Note
To Control which toolbars are displayed, click View, Toolbars from the main menu bar. Alternately, rightclick on any blank space next to a toolbar and select from the list displayed.
3.
4.
To position your view normal to the drawing surface, click the Look At tool and then click on the drawing surface. Use the other camera positioning tools as needed to orient your view so it looks approximately like this:
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Creating and Editing Shapes Using 2D Cross-sections 5-3
Setting the Drawing Options

Before you begin, make sure your 2D drawing options match those used in this chapter.
1.
Right-click (click the right mouse button) anywhere in the view and select Snap... from the menu, as shown. Alternately, click Format, Grid... from the menu bar and select the Snap tab.
2.
Set the Snap options exactly, as shown.
3.
Click the Constraints tab, set the options, as shown, and click OK.
5-4
4.
Click the Show Endpoint Positions tool from the 2D Editing toolbar so that it's depressed "in," as shown. Notice that this tool does not invoke a command. It just toggles on (in) and off (out) each time you click it.
Drawing the Spin Profile

1.
Click the Polyline tool from the 2D Technical Drawing toolbar. Using the oneinch grid lines as a reference, draw the profile approximately, as shown. As you move the cursor between clicks, notice the snapping behavior and feedback lines that indicate geometric relationships such as horizontal, vertical, perpendicular, parallel, or tangent line conditions. Take advantage of this behavior to create the horizontal and vertical lines, as shown. To end the Polyline command, press the Esc key or click the Polyline tool again.
2. 3.
If you made a mistake and any line is not aligned, as shown, just drag its endpoint until it snaps into the desired alignment. Experiment with modifying the profile by dragging lines and vertices. Notice that a vertex moves freely when you drag it, but a line only moves perpendicular to its length.
Positioning Lines Using Endpoint Position Dimensions

Endpoint dimensions allow you to quickly and accurately position lines relative to datum lines. These dimensions are not locked down or constrained, so you can move them freely at any
time.
1.
Select the leftmost vertical line below its midpoint, as shown. Now move your mouse cursor over the horizontal endpoint dimension text until it changes to a "hand" icon, and then right-click and select Edit Value....
1. Click
15.9
2. Right-Click and select Edit Value
2.
Change the Horizontal distance to 12.7, as shown, and then click OK.
3.
Repeat this same technique to position the adjacent horizontal line to 25.4 mm above the horizontal axis: select the line, right-click on its vertical endpoint dimension, select Edit Value..., change the Vertical distance to 25.4 mm, and click OK.
107.7 25.4
4.
Select the next horizontal line, as shown, and change its Vertical position to 63.5 mm.
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63.5
5.
Select the vertical lines shown and change their Horizontal distances to 139.7 and
127
139.7
127
Accurately Positioning Lines Using Curve Dimensions

1.
Click the Show Endpoint Positions tool to turn it OFF, and click the Show Curve Dimensions tool to turn it ON.
2.
TIP
If you press and hold the Shift key while dragging the curve handle, youll notice that it temporarily disables the Smart Cursor (which activates green lines that indicate relationships between the cursor location and other lines). This is useful for cases when the cursor is too snap happy (snapping when you dont want it to). You can also disable the smart cursor by right-clicking on the drawing grid, selecting Snap and deselecting the Smart Cursor option.
Select the angled line shown at a point above its midpoint (notice the difference if you select it below its midpoint). Place your cursor over the blue dot connected to the angular dimension and notice how your cursor changes to a hand. These blue dots are called curve handles. Drag the angular curve handle clockwise by a few degrees to change the angle of the line.
36.4
3.
Now set the angle by typing in a value. Right-click the angular dimension text and select Edit Value.... Change the value to 45-degrees and then click OK.
4.
Select the adjacent vertical line, as shown. Grab the linear curve handle (not the angular curve handle) and drag it over to the vertex shown, and release.
Linear curve handle
38.1
Drag handle and snap to vertex
5-8
5.
Adjust the uppermost angular line to also lie at 45 degrees, as shown.
TIP
If an item you wish to select is obstructed by an endpoint dimension or curve dimension, just zoom in slightly. The geometry, of course, will appear larger as you zoom in, but items such as curve handles and dimension text will remain the same size.
Relocating the Coordinate Axes of Endpoint Dimensions

By default, endpoint dimension are attached to the horizontal and vertical datum lines. You can change the reference axis of an endpoint dimension in one of two ways: Move the location of the datum line to which the dimension is attached. Attach the dimension to a different reference line. In this section, you will use the second technique.
1.
Click the Show Curve Dimensions tool to turn it OFF, and click Show Endpoint Positions to turn it ON.
2.
Select the uppermost angular line, as shown. Drag its lower arrowhead over to the other angular line until it snaps onto the line. Change its Vertical value to 19.
Click
25.4 Drag
3.
19
Select a different line and notice that the vertical dimension still references the angled line. Drag the dimension arrowhead back to the horizontal axis.
Positioning Multiple Lines Simultaneously

Endpoint dimensions and curve handles also may be used to position multiple lines simultaneously.
1.
Click the Box Select tool on the Selection toolbar and draw a box around the lines, as shown. Alternately, you can select the lines by clicking one of them and then Shift-clicking the rest (hold the Shift key while clicking).
2.
While all five lines are still selected, click the line shown and change its Horizontal distance to 152.4.
152.4
39.6
3.
Now suppose you've changed your mind and want to position this group of lines relative to the "outer" line instead of the "inner" line. To do this, first make sure all five lines are still selected (or box select them again if they are not), and then click on the outer line, as shown, and change its Horizontal distance to 152.4.
152.4 25.4
5-10
4.
To spin the cross-section into a solid 3D shape, click Finish Shape from the Edit Cross-section menu. Alternately, right-click anywhere on the drawing surface and select Finish Drawing. The cross-section is revolved (spun) 360-degrees about its vertical axis and a new 3D part is created.
Note
Whenever you see a red dot in your cross-section, it indicates a vertex that belongs only to a single line, as opposed to connecting two lines. You should eliminate all red dots before you finish a shape. IRONCAD can only create a shape if the cross-section contains closed loops of lines without any overlaps or disconnection. If you reposition a disconnected endpoint onto another endpoint and the red dot still remains, right-click on the dot and select Connect. If that doesnt work, then the endpoints are slightly misaligned.
Using Shape Handles

IRONCAD provides two different types of IntelliShape handles: Sizebox handles - Allow you to vary the overall length, width, and height of an IntelliShape feature. When you drag a Block or Cylinder out of the Shapes catalog, it defaults to using sizebox handles. These handles are ideal for simple shapes, but for more complex shapes they often do not provide the type of control desired. Shape handles - Allow you to vary the individual line segments of the 2D profile that defines the shape. When you create a custom shape using a 2D profile, it defaults to using shape handles. Shape handles provide an easy and powerful method for rapidly exploring design concepts in 3D space. They also enable you to precisely control the dimensions of a shape relative to any other 3D geometry in the scene.
1.
Select the flywheel at the IntelliShape level. (Click on it until it highlights in yellow, as shown.)
2.
Move your mouse cursor over the cyan colored outline of the 2D profile. Notice that each line segment of the profile displays a red handle as the cursor touches it.
3.
Experiment with pulling on the handles to modify the shape.
Editing the Cross-section of an Existing IntelliShape

1. 2.
Select the flywheel part at the IntelliShape level. (Click it until it highlights in yellow.) Right-click on the IntelliShape and select Edit Cross-Section. Be careful to click on a surface of the shape, and NOT on any other icons, such as handles or the anchor. The 2D drawing surface appears again and you are now back in 2D editing mode.
Notice that the 2D lines are displayed in the context of the 3D part. Normally, they should be easy to view, but the visibility can be affected by your various rendering and color settings, and by the complexity of the shape. To improve the visibility of the 2D lines, experiment with one or both of these techniques: Turn part edges off. From the main menu bar, select Format, Rendering... and deselect the Draw part edges option. Turn perspective off. Use the Perspective Camera tool on the Camera toolbar. This is particularly useful if your view is exactly normal to the drawing surface and you wish to see the exact relationship between 3D edges and 2D lines.
Using the Offset Command

Now suppose you want to use a constant wall thickness for the flywheel.
1.
Delete the three (3) inner lines, as shown, by right-clicking each line and choosing Delete, or by selecting each line (or all the lines at once using Shift-click) and pressing the Delete key. Note: The red dots indicate endpoints that are not connected to another line.
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2.
Select the three (3) lines shown (click the first line, and then Shift-click the remaining two lines).
3. Shift-Click
2. Shift-Click 1. Click
3. 4.
Click the Offset 2D Curves tool from the 2D Editing toolbar. The Offset dialog appears. Set the Distance to 19, leave the Number of copies at 1, and click Apply. If the lines are offset to the wrong side (below instead of above), click Flip Direction. Click OK. To reconnect the lines, drag the two red dots to their closest respective endpoints. Click Finish Shape.
5. 6.
Using 2D Constraints
Youve seen how IRONCAD enables you to easily create and modify shapes without forcing you to worry about exact dimensions or constraints if you dont want to. This freedom is especially useful when youre in the conceptual design phase. However, when you want to enforce exact dimensions and constraints, including parametric relationships, IRONCAD allows you to do that too. You can enforce as much or as little design intent information, as desired.
1. 2.
Select the flywheel shape at the IntelliShape level. Grab the Spin Angle handle, as shown, and drag it approximately 100 degrees. Alternately, you can right-click on the handle, select Edit Value... and enter an exact value.
Drag ~100-degrees
3.
Right-click on the IntelliShape and select Edit Cross-Section.
4.
Click the Dimension Constraint tool on the 2D Constraints toolbar and apply the three dimensions shown by clicking in the order shown. For the third dimension (referenced by the number 7), notice that you can orient the dimension either as horizontal, vertical, or shortest distance between two points simply by moving your cursor until it snaps into the desired orientation.
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19
4. 2.
3.
5.
68.2
19
1.
6.
7.
5.
Click the Angle Constraint tool and apply the angular dimension shown by clicking the two lines that define the angle. Notice that you can reposition a dimension at any time after placing it. Just end any currently active command, and then drag the dimension text to a new location.
68.2
1. 2.
6.
Click the Parallel Constraint tool and click the two angled lines.
68.2
7.
Right-click on each blue icon that indicates a horizontal or vertical line and select Lock.
TIP
You can also lock horizontal and vertical lines automatically as you draw them. Just rightclick on the drawing grid, select Constraint... and then select the Horizontal/Vertical option.
Right-Click on ALL Horizontal and Vertical icons and select Lock.
19
68.2
19
8.
Dimension the vertical distance of the two angled lines, as shown. Modify the location of any previously placed dimensions, as desired, by simply dragging the dimension text.
19
22.7
68.2
33.9
9.
To modify the value of an existing dimension, simply right-click on the dimension text and select Edit.... Use this technique to change the dimensions to the values shown.
12.7
12.7
63.5
25.4
25.4
5-16
10. Experiment with dragging lines and vertices, as shown. Notice that you can move and
stretch the profile to some extent, but only in a manner that does not violate any of the constraints. This is possible because the profile is not yet fully constrained.
Drag Drag
12.7
63.5
25.4
If you wish to fully constrain the profile, you must somehow dimension or constrain it relative to a fixed point. One way to do this is to right-click on a vertex and select Lock Position. Another way is to dimension a vertex relative to some other fixed point, such as the origin. For this profile, we dont want to lock down any particular vertex, so it makes sense to dimension relative to the origin.
11. Use the Two Point Line tool to draw a horizontal line with one endpoint at the origin
and the other endpoint to the left of the origin.
12. Right-click the endpoint at the origin and select Lock Position. 13. Right-click the blue horizontal icon and select Lock.
Construction Line 25.4
Lock
Lock
14. Right-click the line and select Use Outline for Construction Only. 15. Apply a horizontal dimension between the top right corner of the profile and the origin.
148.2 12.7
12.7 25.4
63.5 25.4
16. Click the Colinear Constraint tool and then click the bottom horizontal line of the
profile and the horizontal construction line. This constrains the profile relative to the horizontal axis. Alternately, you can apply a vertical dimension between endpoints of these two lines and set the value to zero.
1. Click 25.4
2. Click
17. Apply a horizontal dimension between the origin and the vertex at the bottom left corner of the profile. Edit the value and change it to 1.0. The profile is now fully
constrained.
25.4
25.4
18. Click Finish Shape.
How Constraints Affect the Behavior of Shape Handles

1.
Select the flywheel at the IntelliShape level and try pulling the shape handle corresponding to each line segment. The handles cannot move because the profile is fully constrained. Edit the profile. Now right-click the horizontal dimension that controls the radius of the hole and select Lock to unlock it (right-click again and youll see that the lock has toggled off). 25.4
2.
25.4
5-18
3.
Drag the line (or one of its vertices) and notice that the line moves freely and the value of the unlocked dimension updates accordingly.
TIP
When a dimension is unlocked, if you right-click on it and select Lock, it will lock to the currently displayed value. However, if you right-click, select Edit, and then select Lock from the Edit dialog, you can lock the dimension to its previously locked value.
25.4
Drag
32.1
4. 5.
Click Finish Shape. While the IntelliShape is selected, try pulling on each shape handle again. Notice that the handle corresponding to the unlocked dimension is now free to move but the remaining handles are still constrained.
Pull
6.
Grab the Spin Angle handle and swing it back around to a full 360-degree spin. Alternately, right-click on the handle, select Edit Value... and enter a value of 360 degrees.
Drag-and-Drop Modeling vs. 2D Cross-section Modeling

In this section, you will first modify the 2D cross-section to effectively delete the hole in the center of the flywheel. Then you'll recreate the hole as a separate IntelliShape feature using the drag-and-drop method from the standard Shapes catalog.
1.
Edit the cross-section of the flywheel.
2.
Right-click on the horizontal dimension that determines the radius of the hole and select Delete.
Right-click and delete 25.4 38.7
3. 4. 5. 6.
Drag the leftmost vertical line until it snaps to the vertical axis. Right-click on the bottom left vertex and select Lock Position. Click Finish Shape from the Edit Cross-section dialog. The hole in the center of the flywheel should now be gone. Open the Shapes catalog on the right side of your screen and drag the H Cylinder shape to the center of the flywheel, as shown. As you're dragging the H Shape, notice that when your cursor touches the top surface of the flywheel, the center point is highlighted with a dark green dot, which turns to bright green when your cursor touches it. This behavior is an example of SmartSnap feedback. Use it to ensure that you snap to the exact center of the flywheel.
7.
To adjust the diameter of the hole to 2 inches, right-click the handle shown, select Edit Sizebox..., change the Length or Width value to 50.8, and click OK. Note that, for this particular IntelliShape, the Length and Width values are constrained to be equal.
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Setting Part and IntelliShape Names and Color

As your design starts to become more complex, you may want to start naming individual parts and their various IntelliShapes. It's also useful to add some color.
1. 2.
Open the Scene Browser using the Scene Browser tool on the Standard menu. Click the "+" symbol next to the flywheel part to display its component IntelliShapes.
3.
To change the name of the part, click the part name once, wait a moment, and then click it again and the name will become editable. Change the name to Flywheel and press Enter. Alternately, you can right-click on the part name, select Part Properties..., select the General tab and edit the User name.
4.
Repeat this same procedure to change the name of Shape 1 to Spin Profile.
5.
To change the color of the flywheel part, open the Surfaces catalog on the right side of the screen and drag a new SmartPaint item anywhere onto the part. For example, try using the Gold surface. Alternately, you can select the part, then right-click on it, select Smart Paint... and edit the SmartPaint properties.
Note
If you dont see a tab for the Surfaces catalog, select the Catalogs, Open... menu and search for the catalog under the IRONCAD installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\ InnovationSuite\Catalogs).
Creating a Bolt Hole Pattern

1.
Open the Advshapes catalog, drag out the H Bolt Circle shape and use SmartSnap feedback to center it on the flywheel, as shown. If you have difficulty snapping to the center, make sure your view is oriented exactly, as shown. This is important because SmartSnap feedback only works when your cursor is over a face - it cannot snap to "air." In other words, the flywheel must be oriented such that your cursor can touch both the center point and the cylinder face at the same time.
2.
While the H Bolt Circle IntelliShape is selected, right-click on one of its Width or Length handles, select Edit Sizebox... and change the value to 101.6. This gives the bolt pattern a radius of 50.8 mm. Now zoom in on one of the bolt holes so that you can easily select it, then right-click on the face of the hole, as shown, and select IntelliShape Properties...
3.
4.
Select the Variables tab and change the Number of Circles value to 6 and the Radius of Circles value to 6.35 * .001 (the .001 multiplier is necessary because the variable units are meters). Click OK. A message will appear asking you if you want to replace the formula for the Radius of Circles parameter. Click Yes.
Creating the Crankshaft

In this section, you will create a crankshaft part that mates with the flywheel.
1.
Position your view of the flywheel, as shown, and click the Extrude Shape tool on the IntelliShapes toolbar, and then use SmartSnap feedback to center the origin of the extrude shape on the flywheel, as shown. The Extrude Shape Wizard appears.
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2. 3.
Select Stand alone so this shape will create a new part. Click Next three times to review and accept the remaining default values, and then click Finish. A 2D drawing surface appears.
4.
Click the Project Edge/Face tool from the 2D Editing toolbar, and then click the top face of the flywheel, as shown.
Click
5. 6. 7.
Press the Esc key or click the Project Edge/Face tool again to turn it OFF. Click any blank area on the drawing surface to deselect the lines. Right-click on the outer (largest) circle, select Curve Properties... and change the Major Radius to 76.2. Alternately, turn on Show Curve Dimensions, select the circle, right-click on the radius dimension text, select Edit Value..., change the value to 76.2, and click OK.
Note
Notice that, unlike most 3D CAD systems, IRONCAD does not require you to create each part in a separate environment (and a separate file) and then switch to an assembly mode to put them together. Its very simple to create the parts in the context of their mating parts, enabling what we call fit by design. By default, the parts are all created in one file. However, individual parts and/ or subassemblies may be split out into separate linked files to enable multiple team members to work concurrently on an assembly. Conversely, you can build parts in separate files first and then link them together in other files.
8. 9.
Delete the innermost circle. Click Finish Shape. The 2D profile is extruded and a new part is created.
10. To adjust the height of the new shape, right-click the shape, select Edit Forward Condition, Extrude to Distance, change the Distance value to 25.4, and click OK.
Extrude Shape Wizard dialog.
Note that this value also could have been specified at the time of initial creation in the
Adding More Shapes to the Crank Shaft

1.
Drag a Cylinder IntelliShape from the Shapes catalog and snap it to the center of the crankshaft, as shown. Adjust the Length and Width to 50.8 and the Height to 152.4.
2.
Now drag and drop a cylinder onto the other side of the crankshaft, as shown. Adjust the Length and Width to 48.3 and the Height to 31.8.
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3.
To bevel the front edge of the crankshaft, click the Chamfer Edges tool from the Face/Edge Edit toolbar, and then click the front/top edge of the crankshaft. Type in a distance of 6.35 for both sides of the chamfer and then click the Apply and Exit Command button.
4.
Repeat this same process using the Blend Edges tool to blend the crankshaft edge to a radius of 6.35, as shown. Blends are also sometimes referred to as "rounds" or "fillets."
Creating the Crank Arm

1.
In this section, you will begin creating a crank arm that mounts on the end of the crankshaft, as shown.
2.
Click Extrude Shape on the IntelliShapes toolbar and then use SmartSnap feedback to center the origin of the extrude shape on the crankshaft end, as shown.
3. 4.
Click Stand alone in the Extrude Shape Wizard and then click Next and Next again. Set the Distance to 50.8, and then click Finish.
5.
Use the Look At tool and other camera tools as needed to position your view of the drawing grid, approximately as shown.
6.
Use the Project Edge/Face tool to project the circular edge from the end face of the crankshaft and then turn the tool OFF by pressing the Esc key or clicking the tool button again. Now use the Circle: Center Radius tool to create three more circles, as shown, for a total of two pairs of concentric circles.
7.
TIP
Notice that when you activate a command by pressing a tool button, a context sensitive prompt is displayed in the lower left corner of the IRONCAD window. You should get in the habit of reading these prompts. They often reveal secrets that you might not otherwise notice. For example, most of the 2D editing commands assign special behavior to a right-mouseclick. These right-mouse-click behaviors often add substantial power to the command.
Creating Tangent Lines

Now you will connect the two outer circles with tangent lines and then trim away portions of the circles to form a single closed profile with two holes.
1.
Click the Tangent Line tool and select the left outer circle anywhere along the top half of the circle. Now move your cursor around and notice that the line stays tangent to the circle regardless of your cursor location. Notice also the prompt in the bottom left
5-26
corner of the IRONCAD window. The system is prompting you to either pick another point, or to right-click to specify a distance and angle.
2.
Move your cursor along the top edge of the right outer circle until the line snaps to the tangent point of the circle, as shown, and then click that point. If you have difficulty snapping to the desired point, try holding down the Shift key to disable SmartCursor snapping.
3.
While the Tangent Line tool is still active, repeat to create a tangent line along the bottom sides of the outer circles, as shown, and then press the Esc key to end the command.
4.
Use Trim Curve Between Curves to trim the interior portion of each outer circle.
Creating Tangency and Concentric Constraints

In this section, youll fully constrain the cross-section.
1.
Right-click on each tangency icon and select Lock. Alternately, use the Tangent Constraint tool and click pairs of adjacent lines to make them tangent.
Right-click to lock
2.
Position.
Select the left inner circle and then right-click its center point and select Lock
3.
Click Concentric circle or arc and apply the two concentric relationships, as shown.
1. 2. 3.
4.
4.
Using the Dimension Constraint tool, dimension the radius of each circle and arc. Click once to select the circle or arc and once again to specify the dimension location. 52.1 40.2 25.4
15.4
5.
Using the Dimension Constraint tool again, dimension the horizontal distance between the two inner circles. Click one circle, then click the other circle and then click to locate the dimension.
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52.1
115.5
3.
40.2
25.4
1.
2.
15.4
6. 7.
Place another dimension between the circle centers, but this time align it vertically and make sure its set to 0.0. Now edit each dimension to achieve the values shown. 76.2 50.8 38.1 19.1
27.9
Parametric Constraints with Expressions

In this section you will learn how to define mathematical relationships between dimensions.
1. 2.
Right-click on the drawing grid and select Parameters. Move the Parameter Table dialog off to the side and notice that the dimensions are now displayed as symbolic parameters rather than numeric values. The parameter names on the drawing grid correspond to those in the parameter table.
27.9 50.8 19.1 38.1 76.2

3.
mm mm mm mm mm mm
Enter the expressions shown below for the R1 and R2 parameters. (In this example, R1 is the radius of the right arc and R2 is the radius of the right circle. Your parameter names may be arranged differently. If so, you need to compensate accordingly). Click OK to apply the changes.
27.9 50.8 27.9 36.8 76.2

4.
mm mm mm mm mm mm
Notice that the dependent dimension values are now calculated correctly. They are also highlighted in a different color than the red (independent) dimensions. 76.2 50.8
36.8
27.9
27.9
5. 6.
Click Finish Shape to extrude the crank arm. Right-click on the shape and select Flip Extrude Direction.
Creating an Assembly
In this section you'll organize the parts you've designed by combining them into a new assembly and editing their names and colors.
1. 2.
Make sure everything in the scene is deselected, either by clicking on the scene background or by choosing Deselect All from the Edit menu. Select all three parts simultaneously by clicking one part then shift-clicking the other two. All three parts should be highlighted with cyan colored edges. Alternately, you can select the parts from the Scene Browser. Select Assembly, Assemble from the main menu bar. Open the Scene Browser to view the newly created assembly.
3. 4.
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5.
Rename the assembly and its component parts, as shown.
6.
Open the Surfaces catalog and drag your favorite color onto the crank arm. If you have the assembly selected, or nothing selected, you will be prompted to choose whether to apply the new SmartPaint object to the entire assembly or only to the part. Choose Replace SmartPaint for this part only. If the part is selected when you drop the SmartPaint onto it, you will not be prompted and only the selected part will be affected.
7.
To blend the outer edges, click Blend Edges, set the radius to 6.35, select Extend to smoothly connected edges and then pick the two outer edges, as shown, and apply the command. 6.35 6.35
Adding Gear Teeth to the Flywheel

In this section, you'll go back to the flywheel shape and add gear teeth.
1.
Click Extrude Shape and then click anywhere on the back face of the flywheel, as shown.
Click
2.
Select Remove Material in the Extrude Shape Wizard and then click Finish.
Now use the TriBall to position the origin of the drawing surface at the center of the back face of the flywheel.
3.
Click the TriBall tool and then right-click on the center of the TriBall, as shown, and select To Center Point. Click the circular edge of the back face of the flywheel, as shown. The origin of the drawing surface should now be located at the center of the back face of the flywheel.
1. Right-click 2. Click
4. 5. 6.
Turn off the TriBall. Click the Project Edge/Face tool and right-click an edge of the outermost cylindrical face of the flywheel, as shown. Deselect the Project Edge/Face tool, right-click the projected circle from the previous step, and select Use Outline for Construction Only from the resulting pop-up menu.
Click
7. 8.
Click any blank spot on the drawing surface to deselect the projected circle. Notice that the circle has been projected as construction geometry instead of regular geometry. Select the horizontal datum line and then drag it by its vertex (at the origin) and snap it to the intersection of the vertical datum and the projected circle, as shown.
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Drag
9.
Using the Vertical Construction Line tool on the 2D Construction toolbar, create a vertical construction line to the right of the vertical datum line. Use endpoint dimensions to set the horizontal distance to 3.8 mm.
10. Use the Horizontal Construction Line tool to create a horizontal construction line below the horizontal datum line. Use endpoint dimensions to set the Vertical distance to 3.2. 11. Click the Two Point Line tool and create a line segment of arbitrary length
originating at the intersection of the original horizontal datum line and the newly created vertical construction line. Then use the angular curve handle to adjust the angle to -60 degrees, as shown. Finally, use the linear curve handle to snap the line to the horizontal construction line.
-60.00 3.7 3.2
2.0
12. With the line just created still selected, click the Mirror tool and then click the vertical
datum line. A mirror copy of the line segment is created. segments, as shown.
13. Use the Two Point Line tool to create two horizontal lines connecting the angled line
You've just created a profile for cutting out material between two teeth, but now you must make radial copies of this pattern all the way around the perimeter of the Flywheel.
14. Right-click any one of the four line segments comprising the trapezoid and choose Select Outline. All four lines should now be selected.
15. Click the Rotate 2D Curves tool and use the right mouse button to drag the outline a few degrees clockwise. When you release the mouse button, select the Copy Here
option.
16. Enter 5 for Rotation Angle and 360/5 - 1 for Number of copies. 17. Click Finish Shape. 18. Now specify the depth of the cut to ensure that it goes all the way through the edge of
the flywheel.
19. With the newly created shape selected at the IntelliShape editing level, right-click on one of its faces, select Edit Forward End Condition and then Extrude thru Part. This ensures that the extrusion always goes through the entire part, regardless of
any dimensional changes made to other features of the part.
Creating Linked Instances of a Cross-section

The technique you just used to cut the teeth in the Flywheel may not always be the best approach. In this section, you will explore an alternative technique that provides superior power and flexibility for future modifications.
1. 2.
Edit the cross-section of the negative extrude shape created in the previous section. To delete all the trapezoidal shapes except for the original created prior to copying the others, select Edit, Select All Curves from the main menu, and then Shift-click the four line segments of the original trapezoid to deselect them. All curves, except those you want to keep, are now selected. Now just press the Delete key.
3.
Click Finish Shape. You should now have only a single cutout, as shown.
4.
With the shape still selected, click the TriBall and then click the handle on the axis of the TriBall running parallel to the axis of the crankshaft, as shown. The axis is highlighted in yellow to indicate that it is "locked." It is temporarily constrained to only allow motion about or along this axis. Now use the right mouse button to rotate the TriBall about the locked axis using an upward dragging motion, as shown. Upon releasing the mouse, select the Link Here option. Enter 360/5 -1 for Number and 5 for Angle and then click OK.
5-34
1. Click
3. Choose Link Here
2. Right-Drag
5.
Turn OFF the TriBall, open the Scene Browser, and notice the shapes listed under the flywheel shape. Now instead of just one extrude IntelliShape, thee are 72 linked instances of a single extrude shape! If you make a geometric change to any one of these shapes it will apply to all of them, as you will see in the following section.
2D Fillets vs. 3D Blends

You have already seen how Blend IntelliShapes can be used to round or fillet the edges of your parts. In this section, you will use 2D fillets instead of 3D blends to round the edges of the teeth on the flywheel.
1.
Select any one of the linked "tooth" IntelliShapes and edit its cross-section.
2.
Click the Fillet tool and then click the bottom right vertex. Now the system is prompting you to left-click and drag if you want to visually specify the radius, or to right-click and drag to precisely specify the fillet radius. Right-click and drag, enter a value or 1.3, and click OK. Repeat for the bottom left vertex.
1. Click
2. Right-Click anywhere and enter radius
3. 4.
Delete one of the rounded corners (right-click the arc line segment and select Delete or select it then press the Delete key). Notice that the sharp corner reappears. Press Undo to undo the delete, or create the fillet again.
5.
Click Finish Shape. Notice that this change is reflected in all 72 linked instances of the shape.
This concludes the chapter, demonstrating some of the more advanced capabilities of the of creating and editing shapes using 2D cross-sections.
5-36
Chapter 6
Inside the TriBall
Hailed by some as the most useful tool in the history of CAD, the TriBall is a powerful and flexible tool for performing 3D spatial transformations in IRONCAD. Most of the examples here show how to position individual parts; however, it is important to know that the TriBall can be used in many other applications within IRONCAD, including: Assembly Positioning Part Positioning Feature Positioning Direct Face Modeling Profile Plane Positioning Key Frame Animation Path Manipulation Loft and Sweep Path Manipulation Texture Mapping Placement Camera Positioning Point and Spot Light Positioning Anchor Positioning Attachment Point Positioning The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate, via examples, some of the more advanced capabilities of the TriBall. It assumes that the reader is somewhat familiar with the basic capabilities of the TriBall. Two files, triball1.ics and triball2.ics (located under the Program Files\InnovationSuite\Documentation\Tutorials folder), are required for these examples. Topics covered here include: Using the center handle of the TriBall Using the inner orientation handles of the TriBall Using the space bar to detach and reposition the TriBall Temporarily constraining an axis of the TriBall Increment snapping with the TriBall Using the TriBall to copy radial / linear array patterns To Point command Point to Point command Parallel to Edge command Perpendicular to Face command To Center Point command Parallel to Axis command Reverse command Creating Patterns
6-2
Inside the TriBall - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
The TriBall
Anatomy of the TriBall
2D plane. Drag this to move freely within the selected virtual plane. The orientation handles. These are used for orienting objects with the TriBall center as a fixed pivot point. There are two main ways to use them: (1) Drag the handle to point the axis at another location; (2) Right-click and choose an item from the pop-up menu. Interior. Drag inside this blank area to rotate. Also, right-click here and set various TriBall options, such as snap settings. The center handle. This handle is used primarily to perform a point-to-point translation. It is used by dragging it directly to another target location or by rightclicking and picking an option from the pop-up menu. It also works well in combination with a constrained axis.
The circumferen ce. Drag this to rotate about a virtual axis extending from your viewpoint to the TriBall center.
The outer handles. These are used mainly for simple linear translations along an axis or for specifying an axis of rotation. They can also be used to apply a temporary axis constraint before using one of the other TriBall features.
Keyboard commands for the TriBall:

F10 SPACE CTRL
Turn the TriBall on/off Detach / attach the TriBall with selected object Activate incremental snapping for translation / rotation
Toolbar button for the TriBall:
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Inside the TriBall 6-3
Opening the sample file

1.
Open the file, triball1.ics, from the directory: C:\Program Files\Innovation\Documentation\Tutorials.
2. 1.
Select the shaft shown, then turn on the TriBall. Right-click on the orientation handle shown below and choose Parallel to Axis from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click on the cylindrical surface, as shown. This will cause the shafts selected axis to be aligned with the axis of the hole. Note that, in this case, the inner surface of the hole could have been chosen instead of the outer surface and the result would have been identical.
1. Right-click and choose Parallel to Axis.
Using the TriBalls Orientation Handles to Position Parts

Note
When using the Parallel to Axis function, the target must be either a true cylindrical or elliptical surface.
2.
2. Click on cylindrical surface.
6-4
Using the TriBalls Center Point to Position Parts

1. 2.
To move the shaft over to the holes center, right-click the center of the TriBall and choose To Center-point from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click on the circular edge shown. This will move the Triball center (and the shaft) to the virtual center point of the target selection.
1. Right-click and choose To Center Point.
Note
When using To Center Point, any of the following can be used for the target selection: circular edge, elliptical edge, cylindrical surface, elliptical surface, or spherical surface. In the case of a cylindrical or elliptical surface, the TriBall center will move to the nearest point on the target surfaces axis.
2. Click on this circular edge.
Temporarily Constraining an Axis of the TriBall

1.
Now slide the shaft down to the base of the hole by first clicking on the top outer TriBall handle shown. This action will cause the vertical axis of the TriBall to become highlighted in yellow, which means the TriBall is now temporarily constrained to move/ rotate only along/about that axis. Now drag the center of the TriBall to the lower circular edge shown. The shaft should slide down the constrained vertical axis and snap perfectly into alignment with the bottom of the hole.
1. Click this handle.
2.
2. Drag the center of the TriBall to this circular edge.
Parallel to Edge Command

1.
Next, align the keyways by right-clicking on the orientation handle shown and choosing Parallel to Edge from the resulting pop-up menu.
2.
Then click the edge shown on the holes keyway. This will cause the selected axis of the TriBall to become aligned with the target edge by rotating about the TriBall center point.
1. Right-click and choose Parallel to Edge.
2. Click this edge.
3. 1. 2. 3.
Turn off the TriBall. Select the key and turn on the TriBall. Align the key with the keyway by right-clicking on the orientation handle shown and choosing Perpendicular to Face from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click the top surface of base, as shown. This will cause the selected axis of the TriBall to become aligned perpendicular with the target face.
1. Right-click and choose Perpendicular to Face.
Perpendicular to Face Command
2. Click this face.
4. 1.
Click in a blank area of the scene to deselect the selected axis. Relocate the TriBall on the part by pressing the Space bar. The TriBall color will now change to white, indicating that it is detached and can be moved independently of the part. Now drag the center of the TriBall to the corner of the key, as shown (zoom in, if necessary).
Drag-and-Drop Method of Repositioning the TriBall
2.
6-6
3.
Then press the Space bar again to reattach the TriBall to the part (color returns to blue).
1. Press the Space bar (TriBall color changes to white).
2. Drag the center of the TriBall to the corner of the key.
3. Press the Space bar (TriBall color returns to blue).
To Point Command
1.
Position the key into the keyway by dragging the center of the TriBall to the corner point of the shaft, as shown. Alternately, right-click the center of the TriBall and choose To Point from the resulting pop-up menu and then select the corner point of the shaft. Both approaches have the same result.
2.
Deselect the TriBall. The shaft and key should now appear as shown below.
Perpendicular to Face Command

Select the part shown and turn on the TriBall. Now, right-click on the orientation handle shown and choose Perpendicular to Face from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click the face shown.
1. Right-click and choose Perpendicular to Face.
2. Click this top face.
Parallel to Edge Command

1. 2.
Next, right-click on the orientation handle shown and choose Parallel to Edge from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click the edge shown.
1. Right-click and choose Parallel to Edge.
2. Click this edge.
Repositioning the TriBall Using the To Point Command

1. 2.
Click in a blank area of the scene to deselect the selected axis. Relocate the TriBall on the part by pressing the Space bar. The TriBall color will now change to white, indicating that it is detached and can be moved independently of the part.
6-8
3.
Now, drag the center of the TriBall to the corner shown. Then press the Space bar again to reattach the TriBall to the part (color returns to blue).
1. Press the Space bar (TriBall color changes to white).
2. Drag the center of the TriBall to the corner. 3. Press the Space bar (TriBall color returns to blue).
4.
Position the key into the keyway by dragging the center of the TriBall to the corner point of the shaft, as shown. Alternately, right-click the center of the TriBall and choose To Point from the resulting pop-up menu and then select the corner point of the shaft. Both approaches have the same result.
1. Right-click and choose To Point.
2. Click this point.
The part should now appear as shown:
Reverse Command
1. 2.
Turn off the TriBall, select the part shown, and then turn on the TriBall. Right-click on the top orientation handle shown and choose Reverse from the resulting pop-up menu. This will flip the part 180 degrees in the direction of the selected axis.
Right-click and choose Reverse.
Point to Point Command

1. 2.
To align the pegs with the holes, first right-click on the orientation handle shown and choose Point to Point from the resulting pop-up menu. Then, in the order indicated, click the two center points of the holes shown. This will cause the selected axis of the TriBall to become aligned parallel to a virtual line between the two target points.
1. Right-click and choose Point to Point.
2. Pick this center point.
3. Pick this center point.
Repositioning/Constraining the TriBall

1.
Relocate the TriBall on the part by pressing the Space bar. The TriBall color will now change to white, indicating that it is detached from the part and can be moved independently of the part.
6-10
2.
Next, click on the top outer TriBall handle shown. This action will cause the vertical axis of the TriBall to become highlighted in yellow, which indicates that the TriBall is now temporarily constrained to move/rotate only on that axis. Now, drag the center of the TriBall to the lower circular edge shown. The TriBall should slide up the constrained vertical axis and snap perfectly into alignment with the base of the peg. Now, press the Space bar again to reattach the TriBall to the part (color should change back to blue).
1. Press the Space bar (Triball color changes to white).
3.
4.
2. Click this handle. 3. Drag center to this circular edge
4. Press the Space bar (TriBall color returns to blue).
5. 6.
Click in a blank area of the scene to deselect the selected axis. To place the pegs in the holes, simply drag the center of the TriBall to the center of the hole. Again, an alternate method is to right-click the center of the TriBall and choose To Point from the resulting pop-up menu and then click the center of the hole.
Drag center of TriBall to center of hole.
The parts should now appear as shown.
To Center Point Command

1.
Open the file, triball2.ics (shown below), from the directory: Program Files\InnovationSuite\Documentation\Tutorials.
2.
Select the shaft and turn on the TriBall. Move the shaft to the center of the socket by first right-clicking on the center of the TriBall and selecting To Center Point from the resulting pop-up menu. Then click the inner spherical surface, as shown. In this case, the outer spherical surface could be chosen as the target, as well, which would have the same result since the inner and outer spherical surfaces are concentric.
1. Right-click and choose To Center Point.
2. Click this spherical surface.
6-12
3.
To align the shaft, right-click on the top orientation handle shown and choose Parallel to Axis from the resulting pop-up menu. Then, click on the cylindrical surface shown.
This will cause the shafts selected axis to be aligned with the axis of the hole. Note that there are several other co-axial cylindrical surfaces that could be used for the target selection which would have the same result.
1. Right-click and choose Parallel to Axis. 2. Click on this cylindrical surface.
Alternative Drag-and-Drop Method: Simply drag the orientation handle to the center of this hole.
4.
Deselect the TriBall tool.
Using the TriBalls Copy in Plane option

1.
Set the Selection Filter to Face by auto-feature and select the counter-bored hole as shown.
2.
Click the Move Face tool from the Face-Edge Edit toolbar.
3.
Activate the TriBall and right-click and drag the top plane handle on the TriBall.
Drag this plane l
4. 5.
Enter 3.5 for Distance 1 and 2 for Distance 2 and click OK. Click the Copy Feature icon on the Move Face toolbar then click Apply and Exit Command.
Using the TriBall to Create Linked Copies

1. 2.
Now, use the TriBall to make a linked copy of an Intellishape. First, select the IntelliShape hole shown and turn on the TriBall. Then, click the outer TriBall handle, as shown. As in the previous examples, this action will cause that axis of the TriBall to become highlighted in yellow, which means that it is now temporarily constrained to move/rotate only on that axis. Now, holding the right mouse button, drag the center of the TriBall to the midpoint of the edge shown. The TriBall should slide along the constrained axis and snap into alignment with the midpoint of the target edge.
3.
2. RIGHT-MOUSEdrag the TriBall center to the midpoint of this line and . . .
6-14
4.
When you release the mouse button, choose Link Here from the pop-up menu and then OK.
3. Choose Link Here.
5. 6.
Deselect the TriBall tool. Select the disk shown and turn on the TriBall. Drag the center of the TriBall to the centerpoint on the base, as shown.
Drag to this center snap point.
7.
Click the outer TriBall handle, as shown, to constrain the axis. Now, drag the indicated orientation handle to the base surface shown. This is an example of using the drag-anddrop capabilities of the orientation handles (as opposed to the right-click/select methods). Turn off the TriBall.
8.
2. Drag orientation handle to base surface.
9.
Add a threaded counterbored hole by dragging the Custom Hole from the Tools catalog and dropping it onto the center of the disk, as shown.
10. In the resulting Custom Hole dialog box, edit the values, as shown and then click OK.
Hole Depth (h): 0.375 Cbore Diameter (bd): 0.375
Threads On
6-16
The hole should appear as shown.
Note
Right-mouse-clicking inside the TriBall (not on a handle) activates a pop-up menu with a variety of settings. For instance, the Orient to Global setting is useful for resetting the orientation of a skewed object with respect to the global scene coordinates.
Using Increment Snapping with the TriBall

1. 2.
Select the Custom Hole and turn on the TriBall. Then, right-click in an empty area inside the TriBall (i.e., not on a handle) and choose Change Snap Increments... from the resulting pop-up menu.
Right-click and choose Change Snap Increments.
3.
Enter Distance value of 0.125 in the TriBall Snap Increments dialog then click OK.
4.
Hold down the CTRL key to activate the TriBall increment snapping, and drag the outside TriBall handle to the right until the distance value is 0.75, as shown.
CTRL - Drag
Creating a Radial Array Pattern with the TriBall

1.
To make a radial array of holes around the center of the disk, the TriBall must first be relocated to the center of the disk. To do this, first depress the Space bar (the TriBall color will now change to white, indicating that it can be moved independently). Now, right-click the center of the TriBall and choose To Center Point and then click the circular edge shown. The TriBall will move to the center of the disk. Press the Space bar again to reattach the TriBall to the part (color should change back to blue).
1. Press the Space bar.
2. 3.
2. Right-click and choose To Center Point. 3. Click this circular edge. 4. Press the Space bar.
4. 5.
Now, create a radial array of holes about the center. To accomplish this, click the outer TriBall handle shown to specify the axis of rotation. Next, right-mouse-drag in an empty area within the TriBall (not on a handle). Release the right mouse button and choose Create Radial Pattern from the resulting popup menu.
2. RIGHT-MOUSE-drag to about 45 degrees and choose Link Here.
6-18
6.
Enter the following values in the Create Pattern dialog then click OK.
The part should appear as shown. (If the threads arent displayed on all of the holes, just access Add-On Properties by right-clicking on the IntelliShape.)
This concludes this chapter, demonstrating some of the more advanced capabilities of the TriBall.
6-20
Chapter 7
This chapter demonstrates some of the more advanced features of IRONCAD's drawing creation capabilities. Although it is a stand-alone example, it assumes the reader is familiar with the basic IRONCAD drawing creation concepts. The file drawingpart.ics (located in the directory: Program Files\Innovation\Documentation\Tutorials) is required.
Topics covered in this chapter: Creating Standard Views Changing the View Scale and Rendering Options Moving Views Datums and Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing Centerlines Reference Curves Section, Detail, Auxiliary, and General Views Multi-Sheet Drawings Hole Table Sheet Drawing Tools Styles and Layers Part/Drawing Associativity
7-2
Advanced Drawing Creation - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Creating the Standard Views
1. 2. 3.
From the File menu, select New, Drawing, and then OK. From the ISO tab, select the template A2.icd and then choose OK. Click the Standard Views tool. The Standard view dialog box appears. Choose the Browse button and select the file drawingpart.ics (from the directory: Program Files\IronCAD\IRONCAD6\Documentation\Tutorials). Choose the desired views Top, Front, and TFR, as shown and then choose OK. Note the preview window controls which can be used to define a customized front-view orientation.
4.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Advanced Drawing Creation 7-3
The views should appear as shown:
Changing the View Scale and Rendering options

1.
Right-click on the T.F.R view, choose Properties, and then change the Scale to 1:2. Also change the view name to ISOMETRIC and activate the check boxes Name and Scale. Choose OK. The name and scale should now appear below the view. Right-click on the isometric view and choose Shaded Rendering.
2.
3.
Using the same method, change the scale of the front and top views to 1:2. The drawing should look like this:
7-4
Moving Views
1. 2.
Select the Top view. When selected the red Frame Border will be displayed. Move the cursor over to the Frame Border. When placed over the border, the cursor will change to a four way arrow. Click with the left mouse and drag the view, noting the automatic constrained alignment with the front (or parent) view.
Creating a Datum Reference Frame

1.
Zoom in on the Front view. Click the Datum Feature tool, select the bottom edge of the part, and drag the label to locate it, as shown. After clicking to place the label, choose OK to accept the default "A" value (the primary datum).
2.
Zoom in on the Top view. Using the same technique, add the secondary (B) and tertiary (C) datums, as shown.
Adding SmartDimensions
1.
Select the SmartDimension tool and add the point-to-point SmartDimension shown, by clicking the two points indicated, in the order shown.
30
2.
Now add the point-to-line SmartDimension shown by clicking the two locations indicated, in the order shown. Note that the dimension measures the perpendicular distance from the point to the line.
30 102
7-6
3.
Use the SmartDimension tool to add the two radial dimensions shown. When clicking on any circular arc (except for its midpoint) with the SmartDimension tool, a radial dimension is automatically inferred.
15 15
4.
Using the SmartDimension tool, add the point-to-point SmartDimension shown, by clicking the two points indicated, in the order shown.
127.9
5.
Select the SmartDimension tool and add the point-to-point SmartDimension shown by clicking the two points indicated, in the order shown, and then pressing the TAB key to toggle to a horizontal measurement.
Note
After clicking the second point of a point-to-point SmartDimension, use the TAB key to toggle between a Horizontal, Vertical, and Point-to-Point measurement.
37.3
6.
Using the SmartDimension tool, add the point-to-line SmartDimension shown, by clicking the two locations indicated, in the order shown.
R 30
37.3 269.8
7.
Note
When clicking on a circular arc (except for its midpoint) with the SmartDimension tool, a radial dimension is automatically inferred. When clicking on a circle with the SmartDimension tool, a diameter dimension is automatically inferred. If this is not desired, use the Radial or Diameter Dimension tool instead of a SmartDimension.
Use the SmartDimension tool to add the radial dimension shown. Again, note that when clicking on any circular arc (except for its midpoint) with the SmartDimension tool, a radius dimension is automatically inferred.
R 23.9
102
7-8
8.
Use the SmartDimension tool to add the diameter dimension shown. When clicking on a circle with the SmartDimension tool, a diameter dimension is automatically inferred.
f 100.6
R 23.9
102
9.
Use the SmartDimension tool to add the line-to-line dimension shown. Hold the Shift key for the first click. The Shift key will override the single-click behavior (measuring the length of the selected line with one click) of the SmartDimension tool.
Note
The SmartDimension tool has a default "single click" behavior. This behavior allows dimensions to be applied with a single mouse click when the first selection is a Line, Arc, or Circle. To override this behavior, hold down the Shift key when making the first pick.
10
Note
To move the dimension display to the side, as shown, deselect the SmartDimension tool and then click and drag the dimension to the desired location.
10. Use the SmartDimension tool to add the point-to-line dimension shown. Hold the Shift key for the first click. The Shift key will override the single-click behavior of the SmartDimension tool and use the center point of the circle as the point from
which to measure.
R 23.9
30 102 R 30 10
210.1
11. Use the SmartDimension tool to add the point-to-line dimension shown.
202.5
Modifying Individual Dimensions

1.
Change the point-to-line dimension (210.1) to a Basic dimension by right-clicking on it, choosing Properties, picking the Tolerancing tab, selecting Basic dimension, and then clicking OK.
7-10
2.
Add the postfix TYP to the line-to-line dimension (10) by right-clicking on it and choosing Properties. Then pick the Text tab and enter TYP in the Text Postfix field.
10
Results of Steps 1 and 2 edits:
10 TYP
210.1
3.
Change the two dimensions (shown below) to Reference dimensions by rightclicking on them and choosing Properties, picking the Tolerancing tab, and then selecting Reference dimension.
202.5
269.8
Adding a Feature Control Frame

1.
Add a Feature Control Frame, as shown, by clicking the Feature Control Frame tool, clicking on the inner circle, and then clicking to place the frame. Enter the tolerance values and symbols, as shown in the Feature Control Frame dialog below.
2.5
2.
To hide the leader line for the Control Frame, click the More button, deselect Show Leader Line, and click OK and then OK again. The Feature Control Frame should now resemble that below:
7-12
f 100.5 R 23.9 2.5
101.2
Creating Centerlines
1.
Zoom in on the Front View and add a centerline to the hole shown below by clicking the Linear Centerline tool and then clicking on the circle, as shown. There are four extension lines which can be sized by selecting the centerline and dragging the red handles. Dimensions can be applied to these lines.
Note
The angular orientation of a centerline can be changed by right-clicking on it and choosing Properties.
2.
Size the centerlines and add the dimensions, as shown.
Note
Centerlines can also be added by clicking on a cylindrical surface in a side view.
35.1
15 160.5
Creating Reference Curves
1. 2.
A reference curve is a line or circle which can be placed arbitrarily on the model. Reference geometry is associative to the part and can also be dimensioned. Add a reference line to the model by selecting the Reference Line button, clicking the line, as shown, dragging the line to the left, and then clicking again to place it.
3.
Set the exact position of the Reference Line by right-clicking on it, choosing Properties, and entering an offset value of 38.1. Also change the style to Dot.
4.
Repeat the steps above to add another Reference Line, but with an offset of 12.7.
7-14
12.7
5.
Add SmartDimensions to the Reference Lines, as shown below: 25.4 105
160.5
6.
Add a textbox, as shown, by clicking the Text With Leader tool, clicking on the part, dragging to the location shown, and then entering PAINT ZONE as the text. 25.4 105
160.5
Multi-Sheet Drawings and Supplementary Views

1. 2. 3.
Create a new sheet by selecting Sheet from the Create menu. From the Workspace(Metric) tab, select the template A2.icd, and then choose OK. Click the Standard View tool. Choose the Top and Front view and then choose OK. The Top and Front views appear on the new sheet. Right-click on the top view and choose Break Alignment. Manually rearrange the views, as shown. (To move a view, select it and then drag its border.) If necessary, scale the views so they appear as shown below.
Note Note sheets by clicking the tabs in

the lower left corner of the window. Navigate between multiple
4.
Zoom in on the Top view. Select the Section View tool and then click the location shown to place the section line.
7-16
5.
Zoom out, click the green button on the Section View session bar, and then position the new view, as shown. Note that the view is automatically aligned with the section line direction.
6. 7.
Right-click on the section view, choose Properties, and check the Name option. Click OK. Select the Detail View tool and then click the location shown to place the center point of the detail area. Drag the mouse to the approximate diameter shown and then click to complete the detail area.
8.
Zoom out and then click to position the new view, as shown.
9.
Right-click on the detail view and choose Properties. Turn ON the Name and Scale check boxes. If necessary, change the View Label to B. Click OK.
10. Zoom in on the Front view, then select the Auxiliary View tool and then click the two locations shown, in the order indicated, to place an auxiliary line. Click the Flip Direction tool on the Auxiliary Line session bar to direct the auxiliary line arrows
towards the part. Click the green button to create the auxiliary view.
11. Zoom out and click to place the view, as shown. Note that the view is automatically
aligned with the auxiliary view direction.
12. Select the auxiliary line and size it, as shown, with the red endpoint handles. 13. Right-click on the auxiliary view and choose Properties. Change the View label to C and turn ON the Name check box. Click OK. (Notice that the labels on the auxiliary
line updated to reflect the new view name.)
The sheet should now resemble that shown here:
7-18
14. Zoom in on the Auxilary view, create Linear Centerlines on the small holes and
rotate them 30 degrees (in the Properties page).
15. Go to Create and select Hole Table. 16. Place the Hole Table on the sheet. 17. Click the centerlines of the first hole as the X and Y axis for the Hole Table. 18. Click the remaning holes to be included in the Hole Table. 19. Reverse the axis, remove markers and move labels as need to clean up as shown:
Note
The default orientation for a General View is linked directly to the 3D scene's camera view.
20. Make a new sheet by selecting Sheet from the Create menu. From the Workspace (English) tab, select the template C Size Continuation.icd, and then choose OK. 21. Click the General View tool. Use the preview orientation controls to orient your view, as shown, and then click OK to create the view.
22. Right-click on the view and choose Properties, change the scale factor to 1:1, and
then choose OK. The sheet should resemble the following:
7-20
Using the Sheet Drawing Tools

The Sheet Drawing tools can be used to create 2D support geometry for annotations. Use the Polyline, Bezier, and Text tool (all located on the Sheet Drawing toolbar) to create the annotation shown here. When adding text with the Text tool, click and drag to create a text box in the desired location and then insert the text.
Note
The Sheet Drawing tools are not associative to the 3D geometry.
Named Styles
There are a variety of options available for changing the appearance of a drawing, such as dimension styles and layers. For example, a dimension's style can be changed individually by right-clicking it and choosing Properties. On the other hand, changing the styles for the entire drawing at once can be achieved using Named Styles.
1.
To change the dimension style for the entire drawing, first click on the Named Styles tool on the Styles and Layers toolbar. In the Type of named Style drop down list, choose Dimension Styles, then choose ISO as the named style and click the Modify button. Select the Font tab and choose: Name: Arial Narrow Style: Regular Size: 12
2.
Then choose OK and Close. All dimensions on the drawing should now update to reflect the changes.
Adding a Layer
Layers are useful for organizing drawing elements. For example, a new layer can be added specifically for datums, and it can be assigned a particular color so all datums can be clearly distinguished on the drawing.
1. 2.
Layer.
Click the Layers tool on the Styles and Layers toolbar and then select New Enter the DATUMS for Name, change the Color to Blue, and select the checkbox Use Layer color on draw. Click OK twice.
3.
Move the B datum from Sheet 1 of the drawing to the DATUMS layer by right-clicking on it, selecting Properties, selecting More, and then selecting the layer, DATUMS. Click OK twice. Now the B datum will be displayed in blue on the drawing.
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4.
Repeat this process to move the A and C datums to the DATUMS layer. Now the color for all the datums can easily be modified by simply changing the color of the DATUMS layer.
Part/Drawing Associativity
When a change is made to the geometry of a 3D part, the changes can be updated in the associated drawing(s). In many cases the dimensions will also automatically update.
1.
Right-click on the ISOMETRIC view and choose Edit Scene. The 3D part file will open. Select the inner cylindrical face of the hole shown, right-click, choose Edit Face Radius, and enter a value of 27.9. Click OK.
27.9
2.
Select the outer circular edge of the feature shown, right-click, choose Blend Edges, enter a constant radius of 12.7, and click the green button to apply the blend.
12.7
The model should now resemble that shown here:
3. 4. 5.
Switch back to the drawing by using the Window pull-down menu. Zoom in on the top view as shown and then click the Update All Views tool. The drawing updates to reflect the changes in the part file. Note that the radial dimension has automatically updated to reflect the model change. However the diameter dimension is now a magenta color, indicating that it is not valid and should be deleted then re-applied. This happened because the edge to which the dimension was originally applied was destroyed by the creation of the new blend.
f 100.5 R 27.9 2.5
102
This concludes this chapter, demonstrating some of the more advanced features of IRONCAD's drawing creation capabilities.
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Chapter 8
IRONCAD Surface Modeling
This chapter is a step-by-step introduction to some of IRONCADs Surface Modeling functionality. In this chapter: Create 3D Curves from points and from 2D profiles Create Surfaces from Solids Create Sweep, UV Mesh, Edge and Ruled Surfaces Complete a Closed Volume Surface Model to a create Solid Model of a Faucet
This guide will walk you through using IronCADs surfacing modeling tools to create this faucet base part:
8-2
IRONCAD Surface Modeling - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
Setting Up the Working Environment

1. 2.
Create a new scene. From the File menu, choose New, and then Scene. Select the template labeled Gray.ics from the Metric folder and then choose OK.
Creating 3D Curves
1. 2. 3.
Drag the Slot from the Shapes catalog and drop it into the scene. Select the slot at the IntelliShape editing level and resize using the Edit Sizebox dialog. Enter the following values then click OK: L: 130 W: 40 H: 15
4.
Click the Insert 2D Shape tool then click on the center of the front face of the Slot shape.
5.
Activate the TriBall and move the grid out from the face 100mm and up 65mm.
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - IRONCAD Surface Modeling 8-3
Note
To easily create and position the rectangle: Use the Rectangle Tool, right click and drag 2 points and enter Length 30 and Width 17. Then use the 2D Move command to drag the rectangle from its center to the drawing grid center.
6. 7. 8.
Draw a 30mm x 17mm rectangle centered on the grid and click Finish Shape. Right click the 2D Shape and select Create 3D Curve, then delete the 2D Shape. Click the 3D Curve Shape tool and pick the 3 points shown below (the points will highlight green when you have them selected).
8-4
9.
Press Esc to stop creating 3D points for the curve and click the second point. Activate the TriBall and move the point back about 10mm as shown.
10. Then move it to the right about 19mm.
11. Finally move it up about 44mm and it will be in place. The exact location isnt critical
and you can adjust it to vary the shape of the faucet. Click Apply to finish the 3D
Curve.
12. Repeat the 3D Curve to connect the other 3 points on the Slot to the other corners of the
rectangle. Its a good idea to use the TriBall to mirror the curves from one side to the other to insure symmetry. Also, create a curve down the middle of the faucet, using the same TriBall technique, to give it a more raised surface in the middle. The Curves should look similar to this when you are finished:
Create Surfaces from Solids

1.
On the original slot solid part, Shift+Select all the faces except the top face.
8-6
2.
Right click anywhere on the selected faces and choose the Create Surface Shape. This will give us a surface model starting point to complete the rest of the model.
3.
You can now delete the original solid slot part.
Creating Surfaces
1. 2.
The Sweep Surface gives you many options for driving cross sections along rails to create unique shapes. Click the Sweep Surface icon from the Surface toolbar. Click a vertex on the Slot surface. Then choose the follow options from the Sweep Surface ribbon bar:
NOTE: Make sure you click the Add as Intellishape icon. This is an important option to add the new surface to the existing surface so that it remains one part.
3.
Select the two Guide Curves first (longer 3D Curves) then the arc edge of the Slot and the side of the rectangle as the cross sections then click the Apply button. Make sure the two match points (red dots) line up on corresponding ends of the cross section otherwise the surface will twist. Also, the two red arrows should face the same direction.
3
The result should look like this:
4. 5. 6.
Repeat the Sweep process for the other side of the part. Click the Mesh Surface icon and select a vertex on the model, then click the Add as Intellishape icon from the Mesh Surface ribbon bar. The Mesh Surface requires curves running in two directions to create a mesh network that defines the surface shape. Select the top two shorter curves for the U curves then
8-8
click the Pick V Direction Curves icon from the Mesh Surface ribbon bar and select the longer curves defining the top of the faucet. Click Apply to finish.
U1
V1 V2 V3
U2
7.
The Edge Surface is used to create a patch connection 3 or 4 edges. Click the Edge Surface icon and select a vertex on the model, then click the Add as Intellishape icon from the Edge Surface ribbon bar.
8.
Select the four edges that define the bottom of the faucet. Click Apply to finish.
9.
The Ruled Surface is used to create a straight transition between two edges. Click the Ruled Surface icon and select a vertex on the model, then click the Add as Intellishape icon from the Ruled Surface ribbon bar.
8-10
10. Select the two long edges on the front rectangle of the part. Click Apply to finish.
The model is now completely closed and automatically converts to a solid model. You can now experiment by adding more features to finish the design.
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Chapter 9
Rendering With IronCAD
Creating effective, realistic images from 3D models sometimes requires a combination of both artistic and technical skill. This chapter describes how to use some of the best known practices (and some little known tricks) to create quality renderings using IronCAD. This chapter assumes some experience with basic operations such as using the selection and camera tools.
Included in this chapter: Rendering Levels Lighting Perspective Surface Smoothness Printing Rendering Time Exporting Images Reflectivity: Ray tracing & Reflection Mapping Transparency Effects Draw Edges, Emission, and Technical Publications Advanced Shadow Settings Templates Projection Types Decals Bumps Adding a custom SmartPaint surface to a catalog
9-2
Rendering With IronCAD - IronCAD Getting Started Guide
Rendering Levels
The variety of rendering styles available in IronCAD are shown in the dialog below. This dialog can be accessed from the Format menu, or by right clicking on the background of the scene and choosing 'Rendering' from the pop up menu.
It is important to keep in mind that the best rendering style for many applications is not necessarily the 'highest' settings. The following is a series of images of the same scene, with different rendering styles and a description of when the style is most useful.
Wireframe - this style is rarely used for final renderings, unless there is a particular need to see the actual polygons on the models.
IronCAD Getting Started Guide - Rendering With IronCAD 9-3
Facet Shading - as with wireframe, this style is rarely used for final renderings, unless there is a particular need to see the actual polygons on the models.
Smooth shading - this style displays models with continuously shaded smooth surfaces, which eliminates the 'faceted' look which is apparent with the wireframe and facet shading styles.
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Smooth shading / show textures - this style displays models with continuously shaded smooth surfaces as well as any textures or decals that have been applied to model surfaces. Obviously if there are no textures or decals, this style will be identical to regular Smooth shading.
Realistic shading - this style displays more realistic highlights and textures than smooth shading. This style will also display the effects of spotlights and bump maps.
Realistic shading / antialiasing - this is the realistic rendering style with the addition of antialiasing, a rendering technique that eliminates the jagged edges to provide a much smoother, cleaner final result. This style of rendering is used frequently for final renderings and is the best choice for most purposes.
Realistic shading / shadows / antialiasing - same as above with the addition of shadows, which can add a nice touch of realism in some cases, however many times it can be distracting for visualization purposes, especially when there are multiple light sources which are casting shadows. Use with discretion.
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Realistic shading / ray tracing / shadows / antialiasing - same as above with the addition of ray tracing. Ray tracing is rendering technique which is used to accurately depict reflective (e.g. chrome) and refractive (e.g. glass) surface properties. This requires much more time to render than other styles, therefore it should only be used when accurate reflective and refractive properties are absolutely necessary. In many cases, reflective surfaces can be simulated with 'reflection mapping' which does not require ray tracing.
Lighting
Proper lighting is essential for good rendering. The default lighting scheme in IronCAD consists of four directional lights, equally positioned around the center of the scene (see figure). This lighting scheme is intended to provide equal lighting from all viewing angles. While this is very desirable for modeling tasks, it is not usually the best lighting arrangement for good renderings. To quickly change the lighting for better renderings, follow these simple steps: On the camera toolbar, choose Save Camera. (This saves the current view so it can be recalled later.) From the View menu, choose Lights. (This shows all lights in the scene.) On the camera toolbar, choose Fit Scene Click and drag the directional lights to get better highlights and contrast in the scene. From the View menu, choose Lights. (Which hides the lights again.) On the camera toolbar, choose Restore Camera. (This restores the previously saved view.) The figures below show an example of how dramatically simple lighting changes can improve an image. Note that both images are rendered with the same rendering style, only the default lighting has been changed slightly. Even more dramatic effects can be achieved by adding other types of lights (i.e. point lights and spotlights) and adjusting advanced light settings such as intensity, shadow softness, attenuation, etc.
Default lighting.
Scene after quickly repositioning the default lights.
9-8
Perspective
Adjusting the camera's perspective is an easy way to add a touch of realism to your rendering. To do this, use the zoom camera tool to zoom out, then use the dolly camera tool to move the camera forward. This will increase the 'field of view' of the camera, which will amplify the perspective. You can also edit the field of view angle directly by choosing Format / Camera.
Simply zooming in on a model or performing a fit scene does not produce an accurate perspective of a model.
This image was created using a field of view angle of 45 degrees.
Surface Smoothness
If you have a solid or surface model, IronCAD allows you to increase the surface smoothness, a feature that is useful when rendering photo-realistic images within IronCAD. To do this, right click on a model and choose Part Properties. Choose the Rendering tab and increase the Surface Smoothness slider bar. The image below shows the effect of changing the surface smoothness. The slider stops at 72, for higher values type directly into the box.
9-10
Printing Images
When printing directly to a printer, IronCAD can sometimes create extremely large print spool files. As shown in the examples below, lowering the DPI settings in your printer setup can greatly reduce the size of the spool file. The following formula can be used to determine the size of your print spool file when printing from IronCAD. Width (in.) x Height (in.) x printer DPI x Printer DPI x 3 (3 bytes per pixel) Example: A user prints an 8.5 x 11 image at 600 DPI to an HP Inkjet 8.5 x 11 x 600 x 600 x 3 = 96.3 MB print spool file Example: A user prints an 8.5 x 11 image at 300 DPI to an HP Inkjet 8.5 x 11 x 300 x 300 x 3 = 24.1 MB print spool file Another way to get good printed output is to export an image file, then print from another image application (e.g. Adobe Photoshop, JASC Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft ImageComposer, Microsoft Paint, Corel Photopaint). This has proven to be a very effective way of getting high quality output. Example:
1. 2. 3.
Export an image as a .bmp image (1024 x 768 pixels). Open the image in Microsoft Paint (automatically installed with Windows95 and NT). Print the image to printer.
Rendering Time
There are many factors which can affect the amount of time required to render an image. The major factors are: Rendering Style Resolution (# of pixels) Number of models Complexity of models Surface properties (reflection and/or transparency) Texture image file size The following is a table of rendering times for a sample scene. System Configuration - 200 Mhz Pentium Pro with 64M RAM Image resolution - 800x600 pixel, TIFF format
Rendering Style
Rendering Time
Smooth
< 1 sec.
Realistic
7 sec.
Realistic w/ Antialiasing, Shadows, and Ray Tracing
66 sec.
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Exporting Images
In order to determine the best possible image export settings, it is helpful to know how the image will be used. The following table gives a few general guidelines on what settings to use for some different applications.
Intended Use of Image Suggested Resolution File Format and Advanced Options Settings Comments
Web Publishing
200x150 pixels (DPI unimportant)
Small file size is extremely important. - Medium quality JPEG is best for - Progressive loading photo-realistic rendering GIF (.gif) JPEG (.jpg) - Min. storage depth - Interlaced TIFF (.tif) - 24 bit color BMP (.bmp) - Min. storage depth JPEG (.jpg) - Highest quality
High Quality Printing ??? x ??? inches 300 DPI minimum General VIewing on desktop PC (e.g., embedding into MS Word/PowerPoint) 640x480 pixels (DPI unimportant)
Specify the final print size in inches. Obtain the DPI from the printer. Use JPEG, if possible, to save on disk space. BMP is most universal.
Reflectivity: Ray Tracing and Reflection Mapping

As described previously, ray tracing is a rendering technique which is used to accurately depict reflective (e.g. chrome) and refractive (e.g. glass) surface properties. This requires much more time to render than other styles, therefore it should only be used when accurate reflective and refractive properties are absolutely necessary. In many cases, reflective surfaces can be simulated with 'reflection mapping' which does not require ray tracing. Reflection mapping is a rendering technique used to simulate reflections without using raytracing. This method requires an image 'map' of the environment to be reflected. Let's say for example you wanted a 'chrome' sphere to reflect a window pane. An image file of the window (e.g. 'winpane.bmp') would be specified as the reflection map for the sphere. Now the 'reflection' can be simulated without having to use the slower raytracing rendering style. This technique is also useful for simulating reflections of environments/objects that don't actually exist in the 3D scene. To add a reflection map to an object, right click on it an choose SmartPaint then choose the Reflection tab. Specify the appropriate reflection settings. Note: if None is selected, The Reflection intensity and Reflection Blur settings will only be visible when using the 'ray tracing' rendering style. Warning: The default red and white surfaces in IronCAD have a reflection intensity of 25. This value should be adjusted to an appropriate value (set to zero in most cases) before using the ray tracing rendering style, otherwise the rendering time may be greatly increased.
The following images are examples of the difference between the two techniques and it shows how they can even be used simultaneously.
Reflection: 100 Reflection Map: NONE Rendering Style: Ray tracing w/ antialiasing
Reflection: 100 Reflection Map: 'chrome.tif'
Rendering Style: Realistic w/ antialiasing
9-14
Reflection: 100 Reflection Map: 'chrome.tif' Rendering Style: Raytracing w/ antialiasing Note: here Reflection mapping and raytracing are used together to create a realistic surface.
Transparency Effects
A variety of transparency effects can be achieved in IronCAD, depending on the surface and rendering style settings. To change the transparency of an object, right click on it and choose SmartPaint, then choose the Transparency tab.
The transparency setting controls how transparent the object is, with 0 being opaque and 100 being completely transparent. The Transparency at edges setting can be used to give a realistic 'glassy' effect to the edges. Ray tracing is not required for this effect. The Index of refraction setting controls how transparent objects distort the light rays passing through them. This property can be thought of as a 'magnifying' property, and it can be varied to simulate real world materials such as: Flint Glass: 1.71 Crown Glass: 1.51 Diamond: 2.47
Water: 1.33 Air: 1.00
The most import point to understand about transparency is that for most situations, ray tracing is not needed to produce acceptable transparency effects. In fact, the refractive effects caused by ray tracing can be very distracting in situations where the transparency is being used for visualization purposes.
Transparency: 80 Rendering Style: Realistic
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Transparency: 80 Rendering Style: Realistic w/ antialiasing
Transparency: 100 Rendering Style: Ray tracing w/ antialiasing
Transparency: 100 w/ modification at edges Rendering Style: Ray tracing w/ antialiasing
Draw Edges, Emission, and Technical Publications

Emission is a surface property that controls the 'brightness' of a surface. This property is intended to give surfaces a glowing effect, but it can also be used in conjunction with the 'draw edges' feature in situations such as technical publications to produce hidden line 'style' images. The following technique can be very effective in environments such as technical publications. To achieve this effect, follow these steps:
1. 2.
Change the background to white: choose Format / Background then choose white as the color. Change all surface colors to emissive white: right click on the model(s), choose Smartpaint, then choose white as the color, then under the emission tab change the value to 100 (for subtle shading effects, enter a lower value such as 20). Turn on edges: choose Format / Rendering then check the box labeled 'draw edges.'
3.
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Advanced Shadow Settings

The default shadow settings for lights are adequate for most cases, but sometimes shadow effects don't always turn out as expected. Here are a few common problems, with tips on how to eliminate them using the advanced shadow settings. These settings can be accessed by right clicking on a light and choosing Light Properties, then under the Light tab, choose shadow advanced settings.
Edge softness: 1 Shadow resolution: 256 Sampling rate 16 Bias percentage: 5
In the image above, although the cylinders are actually touching the flat surface, the shadows are 'floating' away from the base of the object. Also notice the poor quality of the shadow edges.
In the previous image, the 'floating' problem is eliminated by decreasing the shadow 'bias' setting. However the quality of the shadow edges is still poor.
In the above image, the quality of the shadow edges has been greatly improved by increasing the shadow 'sampling rate' and 'resolution' settings.
In the image above, the shadow 'edge softness' setting has been increased to produce a blurry shadow effect.
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Ray traced shadows
This image shows the effect of 'ray traced' shadows. Ray traced shadows will eliminate the 'floating' effect and solve shadow edge quality problems, however this method can only produce sharp shadows.
Templates
One of the quickest and easiest ways to create quality renderings is by using templates. IronCAD templates are simply blank scenes which have been 'preset' with various types of props, lights and rendering settings. To open a template, simply choose File / New, then choose the appropriate tab / file. Custom templates can be created be simply adding IronCAD files to the 'Templates' directory where IronCAD is installed. Custom template 'tabs' can also be created by simply creating subdirectories under the 'Templates' directory.
For example, the image below was created in just a few seconds by opening the GRANITE.ICS template from the STAGE tab and dropping a part from a catalog directly onto the slab of 'granite'. The template already has the appropriate textures, lighting, and rendering settings to produce a high quality image.
Projection Types When applying any texture, decal, or bump map in IronCAD, a projection method is used to determine how the image is 'wrapped' onto the surface(s). There are a variety of interactive projection tools in IronCAD which allow the user to manipulate, position, and orient images directly on the object itself. When an object is selected, the appropriate projection type(s) will be highlighted on the editing toolbar (move texture, move bumps, or move decal). These buttons can be selected to activate the interactive projection tool. As shown below, each projection type has an on-screen representation which can be manipulated with 'handles' (except for 'Automatic' and 'Natural' - see the IronCAD documentation). Tip: In addition to using the handles, the TriBall can also be used to manipulate the projection tools. To do this, just turn on the TriBall when a projection tool is active.
Tip: The projection type can be changed 'on the fly' by right clicking when a projection tool is active.
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The Projection Tools

Slide Projector
Cylindrical
Spherical
Bump Maps
Bump mapping is a rendering technique that uses an image file to give the illusion of a 3D 'bump' appearance to a surface. The image file and placement of a bump map is the same as that of normal textures / decals, but the way it is rendered is quite different. The following two images show the difference between using an image as a texture and as a Bump Map. The third image illustrates how Image Maps and Bump Maps can be used together to create very realistic surfaces. Rendering must be set to Realistic to see bump effects.
'SPOTS1.tif' applied as a Image Texture
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'SPOTS1.tif' applied as a Bump Map
'RUST.gif' applied as an Image Texture AND Bump Map simultaneously Decals
IronCAD allows the application of 'decals' to surfaces. Decals can be useful in applying company logos, labels, etc. to surfaces and/or models. Decals are different from textures in two significant ways: 1) decals are not repeated, or 'tiled' on the model surface. 2) decals have advanced transparency effects such as 'cut away' and 'see through'. Decals can be positioned and oriented in the same way as image textures and bump maps. To access the decal properties of an object, right click on it and choose SmartPaint, then choose the Decals tab. Warning: Decals can also be applied by dragging from a catalog, however this will override the other properties of the object such as color, finish, transparency, etc.
The most common use for decal transparency effects is to 'cut away' the background color of a decal image as shown in the second image below. The transparency effects can be applied to black pixels, white pixels, custom user colors or alpha channels (alpha channel is a 'masking layer' feature supported by some image formats such as TIFF and Targa). The custom user color can be very useful if the user knows the exact RGB values for the color they want to become transparent. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop can be used to determine alpha channels, RGB color values etc.
Transparency type: None
Transparency type: See through What is transparent: Black pixels
Transparency type: Cut away What is transparent: Black pixels
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Adding a Custom SmartPaint Surface to a Catalog

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
To add a custom SmartPaint surface to a catalog do the following: Open the textures catalog (or any catalog which contains a surface element) Right click on any of the textures in the catalog an select Copy in the menu that appears Create a new catalog by going to the Catalogs menu and selecting New. Right click in the new catalog and in the menu that appears select Paste. This creates a new surface object in the catalog. The surface object will use the default IronCAD icon* in the catalog. Double click on the surface object in the catalog. A SmartPaint dialog box appears. You can now adjust any of the settings in the SmartPaint Properties tabs to get the desired surface finish. For example, if you want a different image texture simply browse to the texture's location using the browse button, then click OK on the dialog box. Note: To use your own custom icon, right click on the object in the catalog and choose 'change icon'. Then browse for the icon file (.ico) that you wish to use (there are a variety of shareware programs that will allow you to create your own custom icon files, e.g. Image Alchemy).
6. 7.
8.
Note: You can place any texture created in the scene or on a part into a catalog using the eyedropper tool. Simply select the object that contains the image, use the eyedropper tool to grab the texture. Go to a catalog and drop the texture into the catalog.
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Chapter 10
Animating with IronCAD
This chapter covers: Anchor-animation relationships Exploded part animations Adjusting the timing of an animation Modifying a SmartMotion Animations for general viewing Dynamic Cutaway animations Exporting animations Animation compression and color depth
10-2
Animating with IronCAD - IronCAD Getting Started Guide
Anchor-Animation Relationships
To quickly create animations in IronCAD, it is extremely important to understand the relationship between animations and an objects 'anchor.' The anchor has many functions in IronCAD, one of which is providing a reference point for animations. Every Group, Model, and Shape in IronCAD has an anchor, and is visible only when that object is selected. It looks like a green "L" shape, with a large green dot at the joint. The long part of the "L" is the object's Height axis. The short part of the "L" is the Length axis. The axis not indicated by the anchor is the Width axis (shown as a dotted line below).
For instance if a 'Height Move' from the Animation catalog was dropped onto this cylinder, it would move a certain distance upward, along the Height axis of the anchor. Similarly, if a "Width Spin" were dropped onto the cylinder instead, it would rotate about the Width axis of the anchor using the anchor as the center of rotation, or 'pivot' point. In many cases it is necessary or useful to reposition the anchor to control the animation behavior of an object. For example, consider the model shown in the image below. If point A is the initial position of the model's anchor and a "Height Spin" is applied, the model will rotate about axis A, using the default anchor location (point A) as a pivot point. If the desired effect is that the model rotate about a different point/axis on the model, let's say B, then the easiest way to achieve this is by moving the anchor location. If the anchor can be relocated to point B then the desired effect will be achieved and the animation itself does not have to be modified.
IronCAD Getting Started Guide - Animating with IronCAD 10-3
There are three ways to relocate the anchor relative to it's parent object:
1.
Use the Move Anchor tool. This method is most useful when moving the anchor to another location on the SURFACE of the model. To use the Move Anchor tool, first select the model and then choose Move Anchor from the Shape menu. The cursor changes to an anchor icon and SmartSnap feedback is activated as the cursor is moved over the model. Now click on a new location for the anchor. Use the TriBall. This method is useful when moving the anchor to a location which is not on the surface of the model and/or the precise location is not important. To use the TriBall, first select the object, then select the objects anchor by clicking directly on it (the center of the anchor turns yellow and the axes extend slightly). Turn on the TriBall and use it normally to relocate the anchor. Use the Anchor property sheet. This can be useful when exact distances or angles are known. Access this by right clicking the object and choosing Properties. Then choose the Anchor tab and enter the appropriate values.
2.
3.
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Creating an Exploded Parts Animation

Once the relationship between anchors and animations is understood, exploded part animations can easily be created in IronCAD by using simple drag and drop 'Move' animations from the Animations catalog. For example, consider the part shown below.
By noting the position of each part's anchor, it is easy to determine what type of animation should be used on each part (see image below): a Height Move for parts A and C, and Length Move for part B. Part D doesn't require an animation since all of the other parts are moving away from it.
Adjusting Timing with the SmartMotion Editor

These animations provide correct paths for the parts, however they do not account for any interference between parts during the 'disassembly' process. Upon examination is apparent that part C cannot move until part B is moved. Furthermore, part B cannot be moved until part A is moved. To change the 'timing' of these animations, the SmartMotion editor must be used. The SmartMotion editor is a feature of IronCAD that allows the detailed editing of animation keyframes and sequencing. To access it, choose SmartMotion editor from the View menu. Then the SmartMotions can be arranged with the correct timing as shown below.
10-6
Modifying a SmartMotion
Sometimes, depending on the model or group size and orientation, the default catalog 'Move' animations may be much too short, too long, or in the opposite direction. However it's easy to modify these animation paths after they have been applied. There are four primary ways to do this:
1.
The TriBall The easiest and most visually intuitive way to modify the animation path is by using the TriBall. To do this, select model whose path you want to modify. The path should appear as a white line or curve. Now select the white animation path. The animation path grid will appear, showing the key frame points in red. Select the red key frame point at the end of the path and turn on the TriBall. Use the TriBall normally to adjust the final position of the model. Then turn off the TriBall and select the background of the scene to deselect the animation & model.
2.
Dragging key frame points Another way to modify an animation is to simply click and drag the red key frame points on the animation path. This will slide the key frame points around on the 2D animation grid. To change the position in the height direction, use the red square handle that appears above the key frame point when it is selected.
3.
Key frame properties Yet another way to modify the animation path is by directly editing the key frames numerically via the Key Frame Property sheet. This can be accessed by right clicking on any red key frame on the animation path.
4.
SmartMotion Editor Still another way to modify the animation path is by directly editing the SmartMotion key frames numerically via the SmartMotion Editor. To do this, select SmartMotion editor from the View menu, double click on the bar with Model name of interest. This will expand the bar to show any SmartMotions that have been applied to the model. Right click on the SmartMotion of interest and select Properties, then choose the Path tab. Now change the Current Key to the desired number, then click Key Setup. Enter the new position/orientation values.
10-8
Creating Animations for General Viewing

Many times the only purpose of generating an animation is to simply show all viewpoints of a design clearly and quickly. IronCAD allows you to create these types of animations in just a few operations by utilizing pre-calculated SmartMotions from the Animations catalog. One technique for creating an animation for general visualization purposes is to use the 'Spin' animations as described below. One technique for creating an animation for general visualization purposes is to use the 'Spin' animations as described below.
1. 2.
Choose Fit Scene on the Camera toolbar. If there are multiple models in the scene which are not assembled, assemble them now by choosing Select All from the Edit menu, then click the Assemble button on the Editing toolbar. Drop the three 'Spin' animations onto the Model / Group
3.
4.
In the SmartMotion editor, adjust the animations so that they occur sequentially as shown below. The order is not important.
5. 6.
Play the animation. If the model / group spins out of the view port, the anchor may need to be repositioned nearer to the center of the model / group. Export the animation. Choose Export Animation from the File menu.
Creating a Dynamic Cutaway Animation

A Dynamic Cutaway is useful application which utilizes IronCAD 'negative' IntelliShape and Animation technology. A Dynamic Cutaway can be described as 'moving cross-section'. In order to create this type of animation, the design must be a solid model (i.e. native Intellishapes or imported SAT/Parasolid/IGES solid/STEP file. In order to create a Dynamic Cutaway animation use the following procedure:
1.
Drop the 'H Block'
onto a surface on the model which is perpendicular to the direction of the desired cutaway direction.
2. 3.
Resize the block so that it cuts away the appropriate size cross-section. In general, it should be larger than the entire model, especially in the direction of the cutaway. Drop a 'Height Move' animation
from the catalog onto a surface that the H Block is cutting. The animation path will appear.
10-10
4.
Modify the path so that the block will move through the entire part (as previously described, a number of techniques are available to modify the SmartMotion).
5.
Play back the animation using the SmartMotion toolbar. Preview the animation to insure that the model is able to 'regenerate' at each frame. In some cases the geometry may be too complex to perform the cutaway at all points. Export the animation.
6.
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Exporting Animations
There are two main categories of animation export types: Single file, or 'Encapsulated' (AVI and Animated GIF) Multiple frame files (BMP, TGA, TIF, JPG, etc...) As with rendering, the best settings for exporting animations depend greatly on the intended use. The table below gives some recommended export settings for different applications: Intended Use Web Publishing File Type Animated GIF Suggested Resolution 100x75 pixels (DPI unimportant) 320x200 pixels (DPI unimportant) Frame Rate* 5 fps 15 fps (default frame rate) Advanced Options - Minimum storage - Highest quality - 24 bit color
General Viewing AVI on PC (e.g., embedding into MS Word or PowerPoint) Video (e.g., VHS TGA videotape)
720x480 pixels (DPI unimportant)
24-30 fps
- 24 bit color
*To set the frame rate, right click on the background of the SmartMotion Editor and choose Properties, then type in the appropriate frame rate. The total number of frames will be increased/decreased appropriately.
Animation Compression and Color Depth

AVI
AVI is a compressed video format which allows real time playback of video/animation via a computer. IronCAD allows the AVI image 'quality' to be specified when the animation is exported. This 'quality' setting is inversely related to the level of compression. In other words, higher quality settings will result in a larger AVI file size than lower quality settings. However, because AVI is a compressed format by design, even the 'highest quality' setting will result in some loss of image quality. Because of the nature of the AVI compression scheme, this loss of quality will be most apparent in animations which contain very subtle color changes, such as 'gradient' backgrounds and textures. Similarly, the 24-bit color option will produce a larger file size but will also have much higher image quality when viewed on displays in 16 to 24 bit color. The 24-bit option is recommended for most cases, unless file size is an extremely critical issue.
Animated GIF
GIF is also a compressed animation format, and was developed for transferring graphics 'online.' Traditionally the GIF format is used to store single image files, but beginning with GIF version 89a the format is also used store animations, or 'flipbooks' of GIF images in sequence. This is currently the most popular format for animations on the Web and is supported by all newer browsers.
The GIF format has a maximum color depth of 256 colors (8 bit) and animations exported from IronCAD in this format have small file size, but can appear somewhat 'grainy' when played back. One reason for this is that IronCAD does not 'optimize the color palette' of the GIF file for each animation, but rather uses a standard 256 color palette. Although it involves the use of additional software, the following technique can be used to create a higher quality GIF animation: Export the animation as multiple 24-bit color image files (from the file menu, choose Export Animation and choose a format other than GIF or AVI, such as TIF, TGA, BMP). Use an image conversion / processing program (PaintShop Pro, Image Composer, PhotoShop) to convert the files to a series of GIF images, using any color palette optimization settings available. Use a program such as Microsoft GIF Animator or GIF Construction Set - http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gifcon.html to compile the individual GIF files into a single animated GIF file.
10-14
Chapter 11
Special Function Key Assignment
IRONCAD includes wide-ranging shortcut and function key assignments to aid in fast and efficient part design. Among these function key assignments are several familiar standards, but most are specific to IRONCAD in such areas as camera and part positioning, TriBall functionality, handle behavior, and 2D drawing creation. This chapter serves as a centralized reference for IRONCADs default shortcut and function key assignments introduced throughout the various chapters of the Getting Started Guide. However, these function key assignments are fully customizable.
11-2
Special Function Key Assignment - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide
File/Edit Function Keys

Ctrl + N...............................................New Ctrl + 0................................................Open Ctrl + S ...............................................Save Ctrl + P ...............................................Print Ctrl + Z ...............................................Undo Ctrl + X...............................................Cut Ctrl + C ...............................................Copy Ctrl + V...............................................Paste Ctrl + A...............................................Select All Del ......................................................Delete Shift + Select ......................................Multiple selection
Camera Function Keys/Buttons

Function Key Assignment
F2 ........................................................Pan Camera/Pan F3 ........................................................Orbit Camera F4 ........................................................Dolly Camera Forward or Backwards F5 ........................................................Zoom Camera F8 ........................................................Fit Scene/Fit Sheet F9 ........................................................Perspective Camera Ctrl + F2 .............................................Walk Camera Ctrl + F5 .............................................Window Zoom Ctrl + F7 .............................................Target Camera
Three-Button Mouse
Middle button .....................................Orbit Camera Middle button + Shift .........................Pan Camera/Pan Middle button + Ctrl ...........................Zoom Camera Middle button + Ctrl/Shift ..................Target Camera
Microsoft Intellimouse
Wheel button ......................................Orbit Rotate wheel .......................................Zoom
In Drawing Three-Button Mouse

Middle Button.....................................Pan
In Drawing Microsoft Intellimouse

Wheel button ......................................Pan Rotate wheel .......................................Zoom
With Orbit Camera toolbar button selected

Alt .......................................................Constrain rotation about vertical/horizontal part axis Shift ....................................................Constrain rotation about vertical/horizontal scene axis Ctrl + Alt.............................................Constrain rotation about vertical/horizontal part axis in 45-degree increments Ctrl + Shift ..........................................Constrain rotation about vertical/horizontal scene axis in 45-degree increments
With Walk Camera toolbar button selected

Shift ....................................................Tilt camera up/down
TriBall Function Keys

F10 ......................................................Toggles TriBall on/off for shape/part
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Special Function Key Assignment 11-3
Ctrl + drag .......................................... Incremental snap to linear and angular defaults
With TriBall selected

Spacebar ............................................. Toggle between TriBall Only and moving the
shape/part
Translation handle
Shift + drag ........................................ Activate SmartSnap feedback to TriBall center
TriBall Positioning with 3D Curve

P ......................................................... Place point for selected curve type when TriBall is active
Positioning Function Keys

Shift + drag face/anchor..................... Activate SmartSnap feedback
With Mate & Align Constraint tool selected

Space bar ............................................ Toggle through Constraint type options
With Mate & Align Positioning tool selected

Space bar ............................................ Toggle through positioning options Tab key ............................................... Toggle through orientation directions
Rendering Function Keys

Ctrl + R .............................................. Immediate activation of realistic rendering Ctrl + F8 ............................................. Activates IRONCADs internal software renderer Ctrl + F9 ............................................. Activates OpenGL rendering
3D SmartDimensions Function Keys

With SmartDimension toolbar button selected
Shift + select circular edge................. Attach to center of edge Ctrl + select face of shape .................. Attach to anchor of shape Esc...................................................... Cancel SmartDimension command
Cross-section Creation Function Keys

When drawing profile geometry
Right-click last point of curve............ Activate pop-up dialog for numerical input Shift + draw geometry ....................... Deactivate SmartCursor feedback
2D Drawing Creation Function Keys

Shift + select ...................................... Multiple selection Ctrl/Shift + B...................................... Use precision hidden line Ctrl/Shift + F ...................................... Accesses File Optimization dialog box Ctrl/Shift + L...................................... Accesses Links dialog box Ctrl + move selected text box(es) and/orsheet geometry ......................... Copy selected text box(es)/geometry
11-4
Alt + Drag Curves/text .......................Lock position movement in the Hortizontal/Vertical Orientation
For Text Associative to a Selected Drawing View

Select Text w/Leader tool & Shift + click on geometry ...................Places text associative to view
For SmartDimension Creation

Shift + select linear edge ....................Set first point of linear dimension Shift + select arc or circle ...................Set first point of linear dimension Tab key during placement...................Toggle between parallel/horizontal/vertical
Handle (sizebox, face, profile, sheet metal, etc.) Function Keys

Default behavior:
Shift + drag .........................................Direct SmartSnap to faces/edges/vertices Ctrl + drag...........................................Snap to increments specified in Handle Snapping Ctrl + Left-click ..................................Multi-select Sizebox handles for editing
Tools/Options/Interaction - Use Snap as default handle behavior:

Shift + drag .........................................Use no snapping
Right-mouse-click on handle - Use SmartSnap:

Shift + drag .........................................SmartSnap to lanes and axes
Miscellaneous Function Keys

Esc ......................................................Deselects most tools Ctrl + drop from catalog .....................Replace existing part with catalog part Ctrl + K...............................................Toggle between Parasolid and ACIS kernels Ctrl + Alt.............................................Toggle between scene and drawing Shift + place 3D curve start point on existing geometry ..........................Activates automatic perpendicular 3D curve placement Ctrl + E ...............................................Turns on/off Hidden Edges on a selected assembly/part Shift + Left-click ................................Selects 3D Curve in Surfacing Command Context Right-click drag from Catalog............Option to place as part or IntelliShape or create Assembly feature Shift drag and drop from Catalog .......Select circular edge to drop to center point Tab ......................................................Select Tab after selecting an edge to select smoothly connected edges Right-click and drag in Box Select.....Selects all elements that touch or are contained in the box
IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Special Function Key Assignment 11-5
11-6

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IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Copyright 2005 IronCAD All rights reserved.

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

IRONCAD Quick Start

i Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Creating and Editing Shapes Using 2D Cross-sections

Inside the TriBall

Advanced Drawing Creation

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Table of Contents ii

IRONCAD Surface Modeling

Rendering With IRONCAD

Animating with IRONCAD

Special Function Key Assignment

iii Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

iv Table of Contents - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

About IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

IRONCAD - The Fastest and Easiest way to 3D

IRONCAD Productive Solid Modeling for Creative Design

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - About IRONCAD 1-3

About IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Assemblies and Products

Working with IRONCAD

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - About IRONCAD 1-5

Setting the Scene

The Stages of an IRONCAD Project

Visual and Precision Part Design

About IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - About IRONCAD 1-7

About IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

What You Need to Know to Work with IRONCAD

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Starting IRONCAD 2-3

To uninstall IRONCAD under Windows XP Professional and 2000:

To install IRONCAD under Microsoft Windows XP and 2000:

Follow the installation instructions.

Choose Create a new Scene to begin a new project.

Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Navigating the System

The IRONCAD Window

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Starting IRONCAD 2-5

IntelliShape Creation toolbar (Scene)

Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Camera toolbar (Scene)

View toolbar (Drawing)

Moving and Resizing a Toolbar

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Starting IRONCAD 2-7

Saving Your Work

Getting Help and Other Information

The Help Tool

Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Browsing the Help System

IRONCAD Technical Support

IRONCAD Web Site

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - Starting IRONCAD 2-9

Starting IRONCAD - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

IRONCAD Quick Start

This chapter is a straightforward, step-by-step introduction to some of IRONCADs main functionality.

IRONCAD Quick Start - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Setting Up the Working Environment

Using IntelliShapes, SmartDimensions and SmartSnap

IRONCAD Getting Started Guide - IRONCAD Quick Start 3-3

...then click here. Dimension Value

IRONCAD Quick Start - IRONCAD Getting Started Guide

Creating a New IntelliShape Feature by Sketching a Profile