“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.
A more complete DesignWorkshop™ demo package including a Demo User's Guide with a step by step tutorial is available from Artifice for $25. Basic how-to reminders can also be found under the Apple menu by selecting the "DesignWorkshop™ Help…" menu item.
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.
• When 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 to the right, to the left to go left, and up and down to go up and down.
• Practice moving around 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, and get comfortable moving it around the model space.
• 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, and the third dimension ("z") is controlled by option-dragging. (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. Objects can be moved just by dragging them, using the 3D crosshair to shift freely both horizontally and vertically. 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 handles must be grabbed three-dimensionally--the Space Jump function (see below) makes this quick and easy.)
• The next things to get to know are the special DesignWorkshop™ functions for accurately orienting the 3D crosshair in 3D space as you work. This is especially an issue in wireframe views, which you'll use regularly for speed while building models.
• The primary spatial location tools are the Space Jump™, and Projection Lines. With Space Jump, a simple tap on the space bar of your keyboard turns a rough 2D visual alignment of the crosshair with an object handle to an exact lock on the handle in 3D. Try it!
• 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. Finally, 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.
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!
***Recent Enhancements
• Paste-into-Openings. If you first Copy a set of 3D objects to the clipboard in DesignWorkshop (like a model of a window frame), and then select a opening in a block (by clicking on it), and then finally, do Edit menu Paste, the Paste into Openings options dialog will appear, and when you say "OK", the clipboard objects will be automically moved, rotated, and scaled (depending on the options settings) to fit exactly into the opening. You can use this to fit a frame to the size of an opening, or by unchecking the scaling options for the pasted objects, you can place a frame at its actual size and then match the opening to it.
** Known Bugs:
• Feedback on low-memory conditions is improving gradually. Error messages sometimes fail to appear, because memory is exhausted first. To work around this, be sure DesignWorkshop is allocated planty of memory for the size model you're working on. By using the "About This Macintosh..." menu command (under the Apple menu when you're in the Finder) you see a bar chart showing how memory each program is allocated (overall memory bar) and how much each program is actually using (the dark area of the memory bar).
** Known Missing Functions:
• Tool Methods (tool palette icon). Not yet activated.
• Object Names (Object Info Box). Not yet activated.
