I just joined the Shapr3D Pro community out of a desire to do one very simple thing, hopefully building from there into much more complex things, but I have to admit that the UI is defeating me a bit. Here’s the basic scenario:
Import an STL model (to be 3D printed)
Create a text object with the appropriate font and text contents (e.g. “Hi Mom!” or whatever)
Start flailing on the following should-be-simple-but-aren’t tasks:
Group all of the letters together so that they can be moved and selected as a single string.
Use that string to emboss or cut into a face on the existing STL model
It literally took me about an hour to figure out how to align the text in the same plane as the face I wanted to modify, and then I could only merge the two so that it’s “raised text” but now, of course, I can’t really print the raised text without supports since it pushes the face off the plate, and what I’d really like to do is use the text string as a cutter to do the opposite - carve the letters out of the face.
It seems like this should be such a basic Shapr3D 101 task that I’m really missing something fundamental here and trying to do a simple thing the hard way. Help? Thanks!!
Welcome to the forum jkh. You can extrude the text into the main object so it cuts into it, as opposed to raised text. Also, you can move all text together by selecting its sketch.
Thank you so much for making the video! You lost me, unfortunately, when you turned the text into a set of arcs. I have a lot more letters in my image, for one thing, so it was hard to follow the process of turning the text into something that can be sliced into another object (I tried, but it said that text could not be used this way, so there’s a transform step I’m missing?)
I’m also using the desktop app rather than an iPad, so it looks like the UI is a little different. I can switch to an iPad if this will be simpler?
I think you missed one step in the video. From the point in your screenshot, click on Close on the left side. That will bring you into edit mode and you can extrude your text.
Hmm. OK, still totally missing something. Let me copy a link to a video showing me try to do what you’re describing: The relevant portion of the UI never shows up (for that matter, I cannot figure out how to move the text on the Z axis!). I thought Fusion360 was hard…
I watched your video. It looks like you’re text is hidden behind your main object, possibly because you didn’t draw it in a plane. To bring the text forward, click Close as you did previously and then rotate the scene a little and then use the Move tool to move the text forward in front of your object.
Yes, I did manage to do that, and I also managed to make the text have some 3D z depth by rotating the scene on its face and then use the arrows to make the text thicker, but when I did that it also created a whole bunch of individual bodies and now I’m even more stuck than I was before.
I’m afraid this UI is just too weird for me. The navigation controls completely baffle me and the deeper I get the more lost I am (I think Fusion 360 is actually simpler and more logical, and that is a complex UI!). I would use the iPad but it’s thrown me back into learning mode on that UI so I need to get through all of the tutorials first before it will let me use it to compare and contrast, but the Mac Desktop app is just defeating me. I really do appreciate your help so far, I just can’t seem to replicate your results.
Let me copy a link to a video showing me try to do what you’re describing: The relevant portion of the UI never shows up (for that matter, I cannot figure out how to move the text on the Z axis!). I thought Fusion360 was hard… 
I really do appreciate your help so far, I just can’t seem to replicate your results.
