Proper Design Techniques

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1

Ok, I used the free version for a few days and I like it so far, and it will definitely suffice for what I need. I just purchased the Pro license, and I have a couple weeks to make sure I’m thinking the same way as the developers did.

So, I know(?) there isn’t really a library where I can store individual widgets that can be used in various projects. That’s ok, but how should I approach this? Let’s say I modeled 30 different bolts that I know I’ll be using over and over. Should they all be in a single project that I can import? Or should they be stored as individual projects and retrieved as needed? Should I make a ‘new project’ template that contains all of these widgets in folder and then import it when I create a new project?

I don’t care how I need to do it, but I don’t want to get deep in design and then wish I can done it differently. Thanks!

2

Since there’s currently no way to insert objects from one project to another within the app, your only option at present is to save them as files, preferably .x_t files. You can organize the files however you want within your computer’s or iPad’s filesystem and then import them into your projects as needed.

3

Alan, you prefer X_T over Shapr3D format?

4

I wasn’t sure there was a way to import a .shapr file into an existing design. I just tried it and it does work.

5

There are pros/cons how ever you do it.

  • .shapr has advantage of bringing step history if that is needed (HBPM beta)
  • .shapr will have everything in the design, hidden items, sketches, visualization, etc.
  • .x_t has advantage of respecting isolation so you can get just one (or a few parts) from an existing design easily (without duplicating the design so you can delete everything you don’t want to export.
  • .x_t is best way to exchange between HBPM beta and stable Shapr3d

And for “standard” items, there is a great resource with McMaster-Carr, where hundreds of thousands of design files can be downloaded in .step format.

In the past, I would use .shapr format, where I had only 1-2 bodies in the export. Today, I generally use .x_t. After HBPM is released, I’ll may go back to .shapr files. For me, I want to organize my pseudo library in my file system as individual items (or pseudo assemblies) and not as a big template file with lots of various things. (I did that for a very short time ; -) And, it is OK to have a mix of various file types in the pseudo library that you import.

6

Using Shapr3D format is how I’ve saved all my components into iCloud folders. I was wondering if I was missing something…! :rofl: