“DesignWorkshop gives us the most direct 3D interface short of a dataglove.”
--MacWEEK, 4/25/94
DesignWorkshop™ 1.1 Demo
Artifice, Inc.
(800) 203-TECH
The DesignWorkshop™ 1.1 Mini-Demo is a limited version of DesignWorkshop™, the award-winning three-dimensional modeling software, with some simple example models. This demo version restricts you to saving models of 20 objects or less.
Basic how-to reminders can also be found under the Apple menu by selecting the "DesignWorkshop™ Help…" menu item. A more complete DesignWorkshop™ demo package including a Demo User's Guide with a step by step tutorial is available from Artifice for $25.
DesignWorkshop™ 1.1 requires System 7 and a color-capable Macintosh. To record sun studies and walkthroughs, the QuickTime™ system extension (included with a full purchase of DW) is required. The default memory partition for DesignWorkshop™ is 5.0MB, with a minimum usable setting of 3.0MB. More memory may be needed for large or complex models, high-resolution printing, and working with color background images.
Part One--Getting Started:
• If you are reading this, you have probably already installed the DesignWorkshop Mini-Demo by double-clicking on the triangular icon, and then indicating a destination folder for the application.
• DesignWorkshop is very natural and friendly to use, but there are a few conceptual issues to understand as you jump in.
• Start by opening one of the smaller sample models provided. Just double-click on the icon for the model file to open it, or drag the model icon onto the application icon.
• When the application has started up and the model is visible on screen in wireframe perspective, click on the Eye tool icon in the tool palette, on the left near the bottom. To move around the model, just drag with the eye tool in the model window. Drag to the right to go around the model to the right, to the left to go around to the left, and up and down to go higher and lower around the model.
• Practice moving around the model with the eye tool for a couple of minutes until it feels comfortable.
• When you are comfortable with the Eye tool, use the View menu Hidden Line, Shading, and Shadow Casting commands, to see the sample model with different rendering methods. Once shadows have been generated for the scene, notice how quickly the scene redraws at a new view (after moving the Eye, for intance).
• Now try out the different preset views using the View menu: Plan, Section, the four Elevations, and back to Perspective. Check and uncheck the Section menu item to turn the sectioning planes on and off. (To adjust the location of the planes, go to wireframe and use the Layout menu Adjust Section Planes command). Note that with Shadow casting on, all these views can be seen without having to regenerate the shadows.
• Try some of the saved views listed at the bottom of View menu.
• When you're looking at one of the saved views that puts you "inside" the model, try out the Look tool. This is the target icon, in the tool palette right next to the Eye tool. Dragging the Look tool in the model window is like turning your head to look around in different directions.
• To move your viewing location forward and backward in 3D, go back to the eye tool. In DesignWorkshop the third dimension is accessed with the Option key. So to move forward, in toward the center of the model, hold down the Option key, then drag the Eye tool upward on the screen. To move backward, hold down the Option key, then drag the Eye tool downward on the screen.
• Using first the Eye tool and then the Look tool, you can move around the space dynamically, looking from anywhere, to anywhere.
• If you ever get a bit lost in space with the Eye or Look tools, just use the View menu Initial View command to get back to a standard perspective overview.
Part Two--Basic Building:
• When you're ready to start building, take a look at the 3D crosshair. First use the View menu Initial View command to get back to a standard perspective overview. Then click on the default Arrow tool at the top of the tool palette, and look in the model space. You should see two horizontal colored lines and one vertical colored line that come together at a point in space. This point of intersection is the 3D working-point of the 3D crosshair. As you move the mouse around, you can see the crosshair move around horizontally in the model space. If you push the corsshair out near the distant horizon line, you can see two of the crosshair axes get small. The crosshair is really in the 3D perspective space of the DesignWorkshop model, not just floating aross the surface of the computer window like a regular 2D cursor. Move the crosshair around the model space a bit until you get comfortable with it.
• The first, most important thing to know about the DesignWorkshop™ interface is that the horizontal dimensions of the 3D crosshair (x and y) are controlled by simple dragging with the mouse, (as you just experienced) and the third dimension ("z") is controlled by option-dragging.
• A handy shortcut to get the crosshair back to zero elevation, right on the ground plane, is to simply type the “0” (zero) key on your keyboard. This is useful if you ever lose track of the crosshair location in space.
• In DesignWorkshop, the option key always accesses the third dimension. For instance, the third dimension of the eye tool, which moves your eye point inward or outward from the center of the scene, is similarly accessed by holding down the option key as you move the mouse forward and backward.
• Blocks are created by dragging with the 3D crosshair, in a direct 3D analog to drawing a MacDraw-style rectangle. To make a simple block, click on the Block tool, then move the 3D crosshair to where you want to start drawing the block. Then press the mouse button, and first drag horizontally to draw the plan size of the block, and then, still holding down the mouse button, press the option key and drag up the height of the block. When you see the size you want on screen, release the mouse button.
• Objects can be moved around just by dragging them, using the 3D crosshair to shift freely both horizontally and vertically. The object handles must be grabbed three-dimensionally, and the Space Jump™ function makes accurate 3D grabbing quick and easy. To Space Jump, first align the 3D crosshair so the crosshair working-point is visually superimposed on the handle you want to grab. Then, just tap on the space bar of your keyboard to turn the rough 2D visual alignment of the crosshair to an exact lock on the handle in 3D.
• Dragging on a corner handle will resize an object, and dragging on any of the white mid-edge handles will move just that edge around, reshaping the object. The object handles must be grabbed three-dimensionally, by eye or by using the Space Jump function.
• The primary spatial location tools in DesignWorkshop are the Space Jump™, and Projection Lines. With Space Jump, a simple tap on the space bar of your keyboard let’s you ‘pick up’ the 3D location of any slected object handle, so you can quickly and accurately draw in relation to existing objects.
• Projection lines are drawn on the ground plane for selected objects, like straight-down line shadows. Projection lines let your eye understand how high objects are when they're not sitting right on the ground. They let you see the plan configuration of forms you're moving or creating, right in the perspective view. And by watching the little "foot" on the 3D crosshair in relation to object projection lines, you can tell just where the 3D crosshair is in space, relative to the objects of your model. Projection lines show automatically for any selected object, plus they can be turned on for particular objects using commands in the Arrange menu.
Part Three--Detailed Building
• For advanced users, the Faces mode and the Abitrary Working Orientations let you tilt, rotate, and place the 3D crosshair alignment to match any specific object in your model. For precise 3D positioning, 3D handle-snapping is provided for most creation and editing operations. Handle snapping is turned on and off with the top right icon in the tool palette. These advanced functions, plus specific techniques for site models, domes, various stairs and roof forms, etc., are detailed in the DesignWorkshop User Guide.
• The tools of DesignWorkshop are clear and simple. They are also relatively deep, and with a little effort over several days of practice you will find a fluency developing, leading to a direct, easy modeling style that really supports the three-dimensional design process.
Limited Technical Support is available for free demo users. Unlimited support is free to all registered owners of DesignWorkshop. Call us at 503-345-7421 if you have questions. If you would like to purchase a demo or full package including libraries, documentation, and support, please use our 800 number, (800) 203-TECH.
You can contact us by phone (503-345-7421), by fax (503-346-3626), by America Online (screen name Artifice), by AppleLink (D3624), or by Internet (artifice@aaa.uoregon.edu). Ask for the "Demo Support" department. Otherwise you can reach us by mail at Artifice, Inc., PO Box 1588, Eugene OR 97440. Thanks for your interest!
