Start a part from chat or from the toolbar
Describe the part in chat and let Oppermind model it, or block it out yourself with toolbar shapes and typed sizes.
✦ Course · Advanced
Model and draw a part in the CAD editor
Start a part from chat or toolbar shapes, change it by name from chat, constrain it, then make toleranced drawings and pick the right export.
Start courseYOUR OUTCOME
By the end you will have a constrained part with A3 drawing sheets and tolerance frames, and know which export to send the next person.
Cut and edit parts from the toolbar or chat Constrain parts and read conflict messages Make toleranced drawings and pick the right export
6 min
Cut toolbar shapes into an exact part
Subtract a cylinder from a toolbar box and the CAD engine turns the whole model into exact features you can export in every format.
Round, mirror, copy and lock exact features
Round and copy parts on the exact model, then lock the settled ones so they can't change by accident.
Change the bracket from chat
With the CAD editor open, describe a change in chat and name the part it applies to.
Constrain components and catch conflicts
Tie parts to a fixed reference with distances and relations, and read the message when a set of constraints can't all hold.
Set up drawing sheets and dimensions
Set up the title block in Drawing settings, then add model-linked dimensions and hole notes to the A3 sheets.
Add feature control frames and datums
Put geometric tolerances on parts with Geometric tolerance frame, then run Check drawings before anyone relies on the sheets.
Export for the next person and know the limits
Pick the right format in Export / Download and know what each one leaves out.
What each lesson covers
The course, lesson by lesson.
Start a part from chat or from the toolbar
Describe the part in chat and let Oppermind model it, or block it out yourself with toolbar shapes and typed sizes.
This course uses the CAD editor in the desktop workspace on a computer. There are two ways in. Ask chat for a 3D model or a CAD model with its main sizes and features, and Oppermind builds it on its CAD engine and opens it in the CAD editor. The result is an exact model, meaning solids with a feature history rather than a mesh. Give every size you know, because it picks any you leave out, and check the sizes it chose before you rely on them. Or choose New editor beside the tabs, pick CAD, and add Box, Cylinder, Sphere, Cone or Torus from the toolbar. Select a body and type its sizes and its Position in the properties panel on the right. The Model tree on the left lists every body, newest first, and the status bar counts bodies and gives the overall size. TOP, FRT, RGT and ISO at the top right of the viewport switch to the top, front, right and isometric views.
Practice. Ask chat for a simple part you know the sizes of, such as a plate with two holes. Read the Model tree and the status bar, then click TOP and ISO. Start an empty model from New editor, pick CAD, and block out the same plate with Box, typing Width, Height, Depth and Position yourself.
Design a 3D model of a wall bracket for an isolator switch box: a 120 x 60 x 10 mm base plate with two 6.6 mm holes 70 mm apart, an upright 80 mm high and 8 mm thick along the back edge, and a 40 mm gusset at the left end.
Cut toolbar shapes into an exact part
Subtract a cylinder from a toolbar box and the CAD engine turns the whole model into exact features you can export in every format.
Shapes from the toolbar start as meshes drawn in your browser, and the status bar shows a dash where the volume goes. The first Union, Subtract or Intersect on them sends the whole model to Oppermind's CAD engine, which turns every shape into an exact feature and keeps the cut in its history. The selected body is kept and the most recently added other body does the cutting. If the engine can't do it, the error shows and the model stays as it was. You need to be signed in. Check model, under Modeling tools at the foot of the More menu, makes the same conversion without changing the shape, giving a geometry check and the volume. Afterwards the size fields give way to Merged solid - edit via booleans, and Edit feature… takes over. Run Check model before you fillet anything but a box. A model holding an STL import can't convert, and Check model refuses it.
Practice. Start an empty model, add a Box and a Cylinder and read the dash in the status bar. Set the box to Width 40, Height 20 and Depth 40 and the cylinder's Radius to 4.5, then select the box and choose Subtract. Export the result as STEP · exact solids from Export / Download.
Tom blocks out a wall spacer in an empty model: Box 2 set to 40 x 20 x 40 and Cylinder 3 with Radius 4.5. He selects Box 2 and chooses Subtract under Operations.
Round, mirror, copy and lock exact features
Round and copy parts on the exact model, then lock the settled ones so they can't change by accident.
On an exact model the Operations in the properties panel become feature edits. Fillet 4, Fillet 8 and Chamfer 4 treat every edge of the selected part, and the engine refuses a size that won't fit and names the part, as it does for Fillet 8 on the 8 mm Upright. Mirror X adds a copy mirrored across the plane where X is 0, named with mirror on the end. Duplicate selected in the Model tree and Duplicate on the right-click menu both copy the selected part 40 mm along X, named with copy on the end. The Delete key, Delete selected and Delete on that menu remove the selected part, and Oppermind asks first if a copy or mirror depends on it and would go too. To resize, choose Edit feature…, which lists sizes by parameter name, such as w (mm). Tick Lock feature once a part is right, and edits and deletes on it are refused until you untick it. Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y redoes.
Practice. Mirror the Gusset with Mirror X and choose Fillet 4 on the Base plate, then try Fillet 8 on the Upright to see the refusal. Select the Gusset, right-click the viewport and choose Duplicate, then click the viewport and press Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y. Select the Gusset and press Delete to read which parts go with it, then click Cancel. Tick Lock feature on the Base plate, then choose Delete on the right-click menu.
Select Gusset and choose Mirror X. Then add a Cylinder, set Radius 4.5, Rotation X° 90 and Position X 0, Y 70, Z -26, select Upright and choose Subtract.
Change the bracket from chat
With the CAD editor open, describe a change in chat and name the part it applies to.
While the CAD editor is open, the composer carries an editing chip with the model's name, and your message changes this model. Oppermind turns the request into edits the pane applies, such as adding a shape, resizing or moving a named part, cutting, joining, filleting, patterning or mirroring. Name the part you mean. In this example, Make the base plate 140 mm wide becomes a change to w on the Base plate feature, and the engine rebuilds the model. Other parts keep their own sizes and positions until you ask. A hole arrives as a new cylinder and a Subtract. Unless the request names a part, the cut goes into the one you had selected, so select it first. When a change can't be made, such as editing a locked part, the reply adds This change could not be applied in the editor: with the reason, and the model stays as it was. If the engine answers after the reply has finished, the line shows as a warning.
Practice. With the bracket open, ask chat to make the base plate 140 mm wide and check the size in the status bar. Select the Base plate in the Model tree and ask for a 6 mm hole 40 mm from the centre. Then tick Lock feature on the Upright, ask for it to be 100 mm high and read the end of the reply.
Make the base plate 140 mm wide.
Constrain components and catch conflicts
Tie parts to a fixed reference with distances and relations, and read the message when a set of constraints can't all hold.
Component constraints tie parts together by their origins and frame angles, not by faces or edges. Both tools live in Modeling tools. Assembly distance asks for a Reference component, a Moving component, an Axis and a Distance (mm), and keeps the moving part that far from the reference along that axis. Component constraint opens the Component-frame constraint dialog with six types. Fixed holds a part where it is. Coincident puts two origins together, and concentric lines them up on the chosen Frame axis. Parallel, perpendicular and angular set the rotation about that axis, with angular using the Relative angle in degrees. The engine solves every constraint at once, so a later one can't quietly override an earlier one. When the set can't all be true, the dialog shows Conflicting component constraints or Constraints conflict with a fixed component, and the model stays as it was. Remove constraint lists the current ones so you can take one out.
Practice. Fix the Base plate. Add an Assembly distance from the Base plate to the Upright, then add a coincident constraint between the same two parts and read the message. Take out the one you don't want with Remove constraint.
In Component constraint, choose fixed with Reference component Base plate. Add an Assembly distance with Reference component Base plate, Moving component Upright, Axis Z and Distance (mm) -26. Then try coincident between Base plate and Upright.
Set up drawing sheets and dimensions
Set up the title block in Drawing settings, then add model-linked dimensions and hole notes to the A3 sheets.
Drawings come from the exact model, with one A3 sheet per part showing Front, Top, Right and Iso views, then a page of schedules and release checks. Above 24 parts you get one general arrangement sheet instead. Start with Drawing settings in Modeling tools. It holds the Drawing number, Revision, Author, the Scale denominator, the Projection convention, Material specification, Surface finish, General tolerance specification and drawing notes. Leave Automatic overall and hole dimensions On for overall sizes and hole positions. Add dimension opens Add model-linked dimension, where you pick a Drawing view, the features, their geometry references and a Measurement. Radius and diameter use the Circle index and need a view that looks straight at the circle. Each linked dimension follows the geometry when a size changes. Part / hole specifications gives a part its material in the schedule, and puts a thread designation and a Hole intent of Through or Blind in a hole's note. The thread is an annotation only and the geometry isn't threaded.
Practice. Fill in Drawing settings with a drawing number, your name and a material. Add a diameter dimension to one hole in the Base plate's top view, set that hole to Through in Part / hole specifications, then choose Preview sheets.
In Add dimension, choose Drawing view Base plate - top, First feature Hole 1, Measurement diameter and Circle index 0. In Part / hole specifications, choose Hole 1 and set Hole intent to Through.
Add feature control frames and datums
Put geometric tolerances on parts with Geometric tolerance frame, then run Check drawings before anyone relies on the sheets.
Geometric tolerance frame in Modeling tools adds a feature control frame to a sheet. Choose the Controlled feature, the Drawing view, a Characteristic, the Tolerance (mm) and a Linear or Diameter tolerance zone. Frames are drawn only on part sheets, which means the Controlled feature must be a part, though a hole can be the datum. Flatness, circularity and straightness are form controls and take no datum, so clear the A that fills Primary datum label first. Position, parallelism and perpendicularity need a datum, labelled with one to three capital letters, and the dialog takes one per frame. The sheets check only these rules, not a drafting standard or the made part, and a wrong combination shows up as a message at Preview sheets or export. Check drawings opens Drawing release checks, with what passed and what's missing, such as an author or a surface finish. Its status always reads review-required and every sheet says REVIEW REQUIRED. Neither the checks nor the sheets approve a part for manufacture.
Practice. Add a flatness frame of 0.1 to the Base plate with the datum label cleared. Add a perpendicularity frame of 0.2 to the Upright with datum A on the Base plate. Preview the sheets, then run Check drawings and fill in whatever it lists.
In Geometric tolerance frame, choose Controlled feature Upright, Drawing view front, Characteristic perpendicularity, Tolerance (mm) 0.2, Tolerance zone Linear, Primary datum label A and Primary datum feature Base plate.
Export for the next person and know the limits
Pick the right format in Export / Download and know what each one leaves out.
Export / Download lists eleven formats. STL · 3D print, OBJ · mesh, PNG · render and JSON · project are made in your browser. The other seven go through the CAD engine, which converts toolbar shapes on the way out. JSON · project keeps the feature history, locks, constraints and drawing settings, and the ZIP package holds a copy of it. STEP carries exact solids, and STL, OBJ, GLB and 3MF carry triangle meshes, none of them with that history. The engine formats refuse a model holding an STL import, with a message naming that body. Hidden bodies are left out of STL, OBJ, STEP, GLB and 3MF files and the drawing sheets. Each exported file can be up to 16 MB, and an engine job stops after two minutes. Importing a STEP, DXF, IFC or JSON file replaces the model in the open tab, so export JSON first. An imported STEP has no feature history, and an STL is added as a mesh.
Practice. Export the bracket as JSON · project and as STEP · exact solids. Hide Gusset mirror with its eye in the Model tree, export STL and check it is missing from the file, then show it again. On a phone, the CAD Editor's Export button lists the same formats.
Open Export / Download and choose Drawing and model package · ZIP.
Keep going
Make the learning stick
Start with one real piece of work.
Open Oppermind beside the lesson, apply each step, and leave with something you can use.