DesignWorkshop(R) Lite is a fast, fun and creative tool for creating spatial models, images, and walkthroughs, from initial sketches to polished presentations.
With DesignWorkshop, 3D designers can quickly and easily sketch out spatial ideas in three dimensions, then develop them quickly and easily using flexible CAD-accurate editing, alignment, and snapping functions. Then automatic texture-mapping and real-time QuickDraw 3D rendering with lights and textures bring your design visions quickly to life. This process is so fast and easy, you really do have to see it to believe it.
The unique DesignWorkshop modeling environment is based on a live 3D crosshair, so you can model in real perspective space, using natural click-and-drag style editing to create, resize, and reshape walls, roofs, openings, etc.
MacWorld calls DesignWorkshop "an excellent, lower-priced alternative to high-end architectural design packages." MacWEEK calls it "the most direct 3D interface short of a dataglove". David Stovall, the Mac Graphics Forum Leader for America Online, says DesignWorkshop "is the closest thing to intuitive design out there."
The user-friendly immersion-3D solid modeling tools of DesignWorkshop are great for anyone who makes built-environment models, including architects, interior designers, landscape architects, builders, set and exhibit designers, and creators of virtual environments for the World-Wide Web, game design, marketing, and entertainment.
DesignWorkshop is the first real 3D design tool for creative spatial designers. Drafting software works in two dimensions, like pencil and paper, and most so-called "3D applications" are really just souped-up drafting software. With DesignWorkshop, you design and build in three dimensions.
Open a sample model now in DesignWorkshop, and let your imagination soar!
1) Please read through these notes. DesignWorkshop is very natural and friendly to use, but there are a few conceptual issues to understand as you jump in.
2) Install DesignWorkshop and QuickDraw 3D.
To install DesignWorkshop on Windows 95 or NT, double-click the file "Setup.exe" on the DesignWorkshop CD-ROM. The installer will create a complete set of files and directories on your hard disk for using DesignWorkshop, including QuickDraw 3D and accessories.
If you have any difficulty using DesignWorkshop, troubleshooting and technical support information is available online in the Artifice web area, at URL:
http://www.artifice.com/support.html
Quick Start -- Part One -- Moving Around a Building
1) Start by viewing one of the sample models provided. To quickly see DesignWorkshop Lite in action with QuickDraw 3D, drag and drop the model file "Maybeck Studio.dw" onto the DesignWorkshop Lite application. This will start up DesignWorkshop and open the building model in a DesignWorkshop "standard" document window.
2) When the application has started up and the model is visible on screen in wireframe perspective in the standard document window, give the View menu Lights & Textures command to open a "Lights & Textures" document rendering window with QuickDraw 3D.
(Note: If you open up a 3DMF format model file, like "Maybeck Studio.3dmf", it is automatically opened directly into the Lights & Textures window.)
3) When the Lights & Textures window has opened, click on the Walk tool icon in the tool palette (the little feet, near the bottom of the tool palette). Move around the model, by just dragging with the Walk 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 move forward and backward in space. To aim higher and lower around the model as you navigate with the Walk tool, hold down the "alt" key while dragging the mouse.
4) Use the View menu Lighting > Sunlight command to toggle the sun off and on, to see night time and day time views.
5) Switch the Lights & Textures window to Wireframe to see the degree of detail in the models, and for quicker navigation on slower Power Macintoshes (especially without a QuickDraw 3D accelerator board), then switch back to Shading for the fully rendered view.
6) Practice moving around the model with the eye tool for a couple of minutes, until it feels comfortable.
7) Click on its title bar to bring the standard window to the front, and try out the different preset views in the standard window using the View menu. With Hidden Line or Shaded rendering, go to the Plan view, 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, you can switch to wireframe and use the Layout menu Adjust Section Planes command). Note that with Shadow Casting on (in the standard window), all these views can be seen without having to regenerate the shadows.
8) Try some of the saved views listed at the bottom of View menu.
9) 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, found near the bottom of the tool palette, right next to the Eye tool. Dragging the Look tool around in the model window is like turning your head around to look around in different directions.
10) In the Lights & Textures window, dragging the Look tool around in the model window while holding down the "alt" key lets you walk around in the model. Similarly, with the Look tool selected and the "alt" key held down, clicking with the arrow keys will step you around the model. The up and down arrow keys move you forward and backward, and the right and left arrow keys let you turn from side-to-side.
11) To move your viewing location forward and backward in 3D, go back to the eye tool. In DesignWorkshop the third dimension is always accessed with the "alt" key. So to move forward, in toward the center of the model, hold down the "alt" key, then drag the Eye tool upward on the screen. To move backward, hold down the "alt" key, then drag the Eye tool downward on the screen.
12) Using first the Eye tool and then the Look tool, you can move around the space dynamically, looking from anywhere, to anywhere.
13) If you ever get "lost in space" when using the Eye or Look tools, just use the View menu Overview command to get back to a standard perspective overview.
Quick Start -- Part Two -- Basic Creation Tools
A fully illustrated step-by-step DesignWorkshop modeling tutorial can be found online in the Artifice web area, at URL:
http://www.artifice.com/tutorial.html
Here's an outline introduction to the same topics.
1) When you're ready to start building, use the File menu New command to open a new model file.
2) Take a look at the 3D crosshair. If you've moved around the model, first use the View menu Overview 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 crosshair out near the distant horizon line, you can see two of the crosshair axes get small. The crosshair is really "inside" the 3D perspective space of the DesignWorkshop model, not just floating across 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.
3) 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 "alt"-dragging.
4) 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.
5) In DesignWorkshop, the "alt" 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 "alt" key as you move the mouse forward and backward.
6) 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 "alt" key and drag up the height of the block. When you see the size you want on screen, release the mouse button.
7) 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(TM) 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 an object selection 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.
8) 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.
9) Another important spatial location aid in DesignWorkshop is the Projection Lines. Projection lines are drawn on the ground plane for selected objects, like straight-down shadow-outlines. Projection lines let your eye understand how high objects are even 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 and off for particular objects manually using the Arrange menu.
11) Be sure to check out the Opening tool. Create a wall-shaped solid block, using the Block tool, and leave it selected. Then choose the Opening tool from the tool palette, on the left in the middle, just above the Eye-Dropper tool. Position the cursor over the front side of the selected block, then press down the mouse button and drag a rectangle on the block. This creates a rectangular opening in the block.
12) To move an opening around the face of a block, choose the Arrow tool in the tool palette, then click in the opening to select it, and just drag it to move it around. The opening behaves just like a MacDraw-style rectangle, so to resize, it, just click select it, and then drag on a corner handle. This works in shaded views, too!
Quick Start -- Part Three -- Detailed Building Tools
1) For advanced users, the Faces mode and the Arbitrary 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 special functions, like Paste into Openings, and specific techniques for creating site models, domes, stairways, various roof forms, etc., are detailed in the DesignWorkshop User Guide.
2) The DesignWorkshop User Guide also includes an illustrated step-by-step tutorial, providing an in-depth introduction to DesignWorkshop as you build a complete model of a small house. The User Guide is available for separate purchase from Artifice for $25 US plus shipping.
3) 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 uniquely supports the three-dimensional design and model-making process. Like a good set of traditional hand tools, the philosophy of DesignWorkshop is to provide a small number of functions which give you unlimited possiblities.
For More Detailed Information...
The Techniques sections of both the printed and CD-ROM versions of the DesignWorkshop User Guide provide detailed notes on a variety of more specialized modeling tasks. We post the latest tips and techniques information regularly in the Artifice World-Wide Web area, URL <http://www.artifice.com>, where you'll also find a gallery of DesignWorkshop projects and lots of other useful information.
Please feel free to call us at 541-345-7421 for help answering any technical questions, or send us email at "support@artifice.com". Unlimited technical support is free to registered owners of DesignWorkshop.
III) User License Terms and Agreement -- DesignWorkshop Lite
DesignWorkshop Lite is a freely distributable, copyrighted program. DesignWorkshop Lite is freeware. There is no registration process, no fee requested or required, no obligation on your part, and no guilt. If you like DesignWorkshop Lite and you'd like to let us know, drop us a postcard.
DesignWorkshop Lite is based on DesignWorkshop, a professional design-oriented modeling application. The only restriction in DesignWorkshop Lite is that the Save and Save As... functions are restricted for models with over 100 solid objects, or typically around 1000 surfaces. If you're doing professional design, modeling, or rendering work, or for any other reason find the limitation of DesignWorkshop Lite to be in your way, just purchase DesignWorkshop!
Although DesignWorkshop Lite is free, it is not "public domain". It is copyrighted, and Artifice, Inc. reserves all rights; therefore DesignWorkshop Lite cannot be sold, either by itself or in combination with any other product, without the express written permission of Artifice, Inc.
If you are a user group which is publishing a CD-ROM or floppy collection, you may include DesignWorkshop Lite and its supporting files without restriction, so long as the entire original DesignWorkshop Lite folder is included. Contact Artifice, Inc. for up-to-date versions and information.
If you are a hard disk vendor which distributes public domain, shareware, and freeware on your disk drives, you are welcome to distribute DesignWorkshop Lite. Contact Artifice, Inc. for up-to-date versions and information.
Commercial publishers and distributors of CD-ROM software collections, including any and all software compilations provided as an adjunct to printed or online publications, may not distribute DesignWorkshop Lite on CD-ROM without the express written permission of Artifice, Inc.
DesignWorkshop Lite may be posted on an information service which charges its users for general connection time and downloading, but it may NOT be posted to an information service which will charge for the specific right to download DesignWorkshop Lite, without the express written permission of Artifice, Inc.
DesignWorkshop Lite may be given away as a support utility for a package which is itself to be given away. People who wish to distribute DesignWorkshop Lite as a support utility should contact Artifice, Inc. for up-to-date versions and information.
THE PROGRAM AND ANY SUPPORT FROM ARTIFICE, INC., ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. In no event will Artifice, Inc., be liable for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages, even if Artifice, Inc. is advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by you or any third party.
DesignWorkshop Lite is (c)1992-1998 by Artifice, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
You can call Artifice in Oregon at 800-203-8324 for any sales-related inquiry. Talk to us live during normal business hours, or leave a message anytime. Internationally, call US 541-345-7421, contact us by fax at 541-345-7438, or by e-mail at <sales@artifice.com>.
The full professional version of DesignWorkshop is available in the U.S. directly from Artifice, and also through several national channels. Direct online ordering is available at the Artifice web site 24 hours a day, as well as world-wide through the International Software Network (see URL <http://www.isnnet.com/artifice.html>).
In Japan, DesignWorkshop is available through the AppleCenters around the country as well as through Canon and other software retailers.
Please contact Artifice or visit our web site for other current sales information. Academic discounts are available for single copy and lab-pack purchases in the U.S. and internationally.
Technical support is available for Lite version users, and we will be pleased to help you successfully evaluate DesignWorkshop. Call us at 541-345-7421 for help answering any technical questions. Unlimited technical support is free to registered owners of DesignWorkshop.
You can also contact us by phone (541-345-7421), by fax (541-345-7438), by America Online (screen name Artifice), or by Internet (e-mail: artifice@artifice.com; http://www.artifice.com). Otherwise you can reach us by mail at Artifice, Inc., PO Box 1588, Eugene OR 97440, or drop by our headquarters in the 1342 High Street Building in Eugene, Oregon.
Thank you for your interest in DesignWorkshop. We look forward to hearing from you!
