FAQ

- If you have access to the Internet, you can register a new license, or upgrade your license choosing the menu Register Online :

Enter your email, as registered on our website, and the license reference you received in the confirmation email of your order. Click "Register" and Shape3d will get your license information from our website.

Note that several licenses can be registered, and the options will sum up during their validity period.

- If you don't have access to the Internet and you want to register a new license or upgrade your license, choose Register Offline :

A window will pop up with the "Fingerprint" of your computer. Send this fingerprint together with your license reference to contact@shape3d.com, and we'll return you the "User name" and the "Registration key" that will unlock the options you chose in your license.

You need to follow the following steps:

1. Open the System Preferences. There are two approaches:

- Click on the System Preferences icon in the Dock

- Selecting Apple Menu > System Preferences.

2. Next open the Security & Privacy pane by clicking Security & Privacy. (Make sure that the General tab is selected.)

3. Click the icon labeled "Click the lock to make changes" in the bottom-left corner.

4. Enter your username and password into the prompt that appears and click Unlock. (If you have no password, this can be left blank).

5. Under the section labeled "Allow applications downloaded from:", select the option "Anywhere". On the prompt that appears, click "Allow From Anywhere."

When opening Shape3d, you will get the message: 

"Shape3d is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it."

You can now run the application by selecting Open.

The option "Map on extended rail" allows mapping the layer's slices on a straight line extrapolated from the rail point. Note that since version 9.1.2.0 you can define a rail point on the bottom of the slices, but also on the deck.

Go to the menu "File", then "New", or press the button “New”  . The following window pops up.

- Choose the model to start from between the examples proposed in C:\Shape3dmodels.

- Enter the name of the model you are going to design, and your name as a shaper. Add any comments you want.

- Choose the dimensions’ unit: centimeters, millimeters, inches or fractional inches.

- Check the box “symmetric nose/tail” for a twin-tip board.

- Input length, width, thickness, and tail/nose rocker.

- Check the box “Stringer measurement” if these dimensions are measured along the stringer. Uncheck it if they are measured along a straight line.

- Press OK.

The starting model appears in the Design mode.

You can visualize three components of the board at the same time, choosing between Outline, Profile, Thickness, or Slices in the toolbar.

The dimensions of the board appear in the Master Scale box.

To modify the design of the curves, left click on the control points. The selected control point becomes red.

You can move the control points with the mouse, or with the arrows of the keyboard.

You can delete a control point pressing the button “Suppr” of the keyboard, or with a right click, selecting “Control point”, “Delete”.

You can also add a control point with a double left click at the position you want, or with a right click, selecting “Control point”, “Add new point”.

The properties of the selected control point are shown in the “Control point properties” box.

Five kind of tangents exist: continuous tangents , angular tangents , vertical tangents , horizontal tangents , and continuous tangents with fixed angle .

Continuous tangents are usually used. The angular tangents are more appropriate for the rail point of the slices, the vertical tangents for the apex of the slices, and the horizontal ones for the widest point of the outline, the zero point of the bottom, or the highest point of the thickness.

When designing the slices, it is recommended to set the point type of the rail point as  , and the apex point as . They will then appear in blue and green respectively.

All the slices must have the same number of control points.

The position of the slices can be modified with a right click, selecting “Slices”, “Move slice”. It can also be changed with the mouse in the outline view.

You can add or delete a slice, in the same way.

You can visualize the “flow” of the slices maintaining a left click in the outline, profile or thickness view. The width, rocker or thickness appear at the same time, as well as the distance from the tail and from the nose.

To understand the idea behind the design of a board with shape3d, just think about the rule of thumb: the less points the smoothest. Similarly, the less slices the smoothest.

Visualize the result of your art in the 3D View mode.

As if you would design a board from scratch, go to the menu « File », then « New », or press the button “New”  , and fill in the name and size areas.

Then press the button “Guidelines wizard”.  The measurement wizard window pops up. You can choose to measure the dimensions of the board along the stringer:

or along a straight line, checking the box “Straight line measurements”:

Click on the button more if you want to place the guidelines at other positions than the default ones:

The positions of the guidelines along the length direction depend on the chosen unit: in centimeters, the guidelines are located at 5, 10, 20, 30 cm… from the tail and the nose. In inches, the guidelines are located at 1”, 3”, 6”, 12”… from the tail and the nose.

You don’t need to fill in each position box.

The outline and the profile will be automatically adjusted on the guidelines if you check the box “Automatic fitting”. Note that the Automatic Fitting is not always good enough!

Press “OK” to see the board in the Design mode.

The guidelines appear as green crosses. Their list, with the positions, appears on the right hand side of the bottom of the screen.

You can change their position with the mouse, or the keyboard, or with a right click in the “Guidelines” box, which will make the following window appear.

After changing the position of the guidelines, you can automatically fit the curves on the guidelines doing a right click on the selected curve.

If you click on a curve section between two control points, you have the possibility to adjust only this selected part of the curve, choosing “Fit selected curve to the guidelines”.

Then you have to choose if you want to adjust the length or the direction of each tangent, or both. And press OK.

You can also choose to adjust the whole curve, clicking on “Fit the whole curve to the guidelines”.

In this case you can choose the number of arcs (i.e. number of control points minus one) that will compose the whole curve. “Auto” will set it automatically, depending on the shape of the curve.

Once the design of the outline and profile is done, design the slices as explained in the chapter “Design a board from scratch”.

Go to the menu "File", then "New", or press the button “New”, and choose the tab “Blank design”.

Set the rough measurements of the blank and press “OK”. The blank will be automatically designed with square rails.

The smoothness of the curves is not guaranteed. You can modify the shape of the blank as shown in the chapter “Design a board from scratch”.

In the “Master Scale” window, the “*” button opens the Volume Wizard window that allows adjusting a dimension to get the desired volume.

Input the volume you want, and choose if you want all dimensions to be changed proportionally (Length+Width+Thickness), or only the width and thickness (Width+Thickness), or only the width, the thickness, or the length.

Then press OK!

You can choose to edit the dimensions taken along a straight line or along the stringer line, pressing the button “A Straight Line” or “The Stringer”.

- Measurements along a straight line give width and height measurements that are taken at a defined distance straight from the tail.

- Measurements along the stringer give width and height measurements taken at a defined distance along the curve of the bottom stringer from the tail.

Note that 12” from the tail along a straight line is farther from the tail than 12” from the tail along the stringer, so it will give a larger width and smaller rocker. And 12” from the nose along a straight line is farther from the nose than 12” from the nose along the stringer.

One of the most important new feature of Shape3d X is that each curve (except the Developed Outline and the True Apex) can be Edited or not in the Top and/or the Side view. If a curve is Edited , it means that the user can modify the curves moving the control points and tangents. If a curve is Not Edited , it means that the curve is computed by Shape3d.

For example, in the Side view, one can choose to edit the Bottom and Deck Stringer curves, but also the Rail line at the same time (this is the case when you open a .srf file). It gives a complete control of both stringer and rail and let the other curves be computed by Shape3d. In this case the Rail points of the slices will be locked in the vertical Z direction.

When several curves are edited, if you click between two control points a window will pop-up to let you choose the curve.

Here are all the design possibilities you have for the Top View and the Side View curves:

-        In the Top View the most common design method is the work on the Apex curve (the curve corresponding to the control point defined as the Apex on the slices).

Then you can choose to also edit the Rail curve if you want more control on the Rail curve. You can also edit several of the bottom curves on the Top View to control the shape of the channels of a board for example:

-        If the slices don’t have an Apex point defined, you can choose to work on the Outline curve. But then you won’t be allowed to edit other curves like the Rail curve for example.

-        In the Side View the most common design method is the work on the Bottom and Deck Stringer curves, which correspond to the first and last control points of the slices.

Then you can choose to also edit the Rail curve if you want more control on the Rail curve. You can also edit the Apex curve in the Side View, which can be very useful on some shapes like paddle boards:

-        Another way of designing the side view is the work on the Bottom and Deck Profiles curves, which correspond to the shadow of the board. But then you won’t be allowed to edit other curves like the Rail curve for example.

The Edited curves can be set Fixed to another edited curve . This means that the relative distance between the two curves will stay constant when the second curve is modified. For example one can set the Deck Stringer line Fixed to the Bottom Stringer line, so that the stringer thickness doesn’t change when the Bottom Stringer line is modified. This thickness can be displayed in the Thickness View.

If rail and stringer are both edited, you can choose to lock the rail line to the stringer line so that the depth of the concave or V doesn’t change when you modify the stringer line. Then you can display the depth of the concave or V in the thickness panel and stretch it vertically to have a better view of the details…

In the Thickness View, if the curve displayed corresponds to the thickness between a curve that is fixed to another one and this other curve, the control points appear and the curve can be modified. In this view the curvatures can be displayed, and the colors changed. Also the curve can be stretched vertically if it’s too flat to be seen correctly.

The second most important new feature of Shape3d X is the possibility to add or subtract shapes to a board. These shapes are called 3D Layers. To add a 3D layer, simply click on the button New 3D Layer in the Master Scale window.

The 3D layers can be added to the deck or the bottom of the board. Its curves and curvatures can be displayed in any color. If the Active box is not checked, its shape won’t be added in the 3D view or in the CNC mode. Once created, the 3D layer appears at the end of the curves list. The name can be changed.

There are three kinds of 3D layer:

- The Center layers  are shapes which outline is designed in the Top View, and the depth is defined in the side view. It contains slices that are mapped on the board slices. The number of slices is not limited.

The Interpolation method can be set either Homogeneous (the thickness of the 3D layer increases proportionally to the width) or Horizontal (the thickness doesn’t depend on the width).

For Bottom 3D Layers, the option “Map on extended bottom” allows mapping the layer’s slices on the extended bottom if the layer is larger than the board’s outline.

The addition of new slices is done through the menu Slices -> Add new slice on selected 3D layer.

For smooth transition of the 3D layer’s slice with the board’s slice, the control point’s tangents can be aligned with the board’s slice curve with the menu Control Point -> Stick selected point to original shape.

The whole slice of the 3D layer can be stuck to  the board’s slice with the menu Slices -> Stick selected slice to original shape.

- The Twin layers  are shapes which outline is designed in the Top View (one inner curve and one outer curve). It contains slices that are mapped on the board slices. The number of slices is not limited.

If the Inner curve is not along the center axis, the 3D layer contains two symmetrical shapes. On the other hand, if the inner curve is along the center axis (Y = 0), the 3D layer contains only one shape.

The Interpolation method, the Map on extended bottom option, and the design of the slices, are the same as for Center layers.

- The Side Cut layers  are shapes that are defined by a curve that cuts the Side view.

- The Constant Depth layers  are shapes that are defined by their depth and their outline designed in the view.

- The Vertical Cut layers  are defined by their outline designed in the view, and removes the volume between the outline Int and outline Ext.

The 3D layers can be saved in a separated file, and then loaded in another board file using the menu “3D Layers” -> “Load 3D layer”. They can also be deleted from the board design.

Several 3D layers can be added one on the other.

 You can add as many "Measurement bars"  as you want:

This button allows displaying the measurement bars that gives the measurements of all the displayed curves of a panel at a defined distance from tail or nose.

The Ctrl + C keys
Ctrl + C copy the curve (outline, bottom, deck, thickness, or slice) in the clip-board. Then, you can past this curve on another board, or on another slice if the curve is a slice.

The Ctrl + V keys
Ctrl + V Past the copied curve on the selected curve.

The Ctrl + A keys
Ctrl + A selects all the points or all the guidelines.

The Ctrl + Z keys
Ctrl + Z call the Undo.

The Shift + Ctrl + Z keys
Shift + Ctrl + Z call the Redo.

The Ctrl + N keys
Ctrl + N open the New board window.

The Ctrl + O keys
Ctrl + O open the board files browser.

The Ctrl + S keys
Ctrl + S save the modifications.

The Ctrl + R keys
Ctrl + R save the modifications and load the actual shape as the reference shape.

The Ctrl + B keys
Ctrl + B switch from one board to another if several boards are open at the same time.

The H key
H hides all the points to let a clean curve.

The T key
T shows the tangents of all the control points of all the displayed curves.

The E key
E shows the design errors (superposed control points in green, kinks and loops in red) of all the displayed curves.

 Width and Thickness

A Shape3d model must always have a strictly positive width and thickness, in particular at the tail and nose!

-       It means that the tail and nose of the outline must be “squared” rather than “pined”.

-       In the same way, the stringer must begin and end with a positive thickness.

A tail and nose with a positive width and thickness will allow you to avoid mistakes due to the fact that you can’t see the slices defined at the very tail and nose.

 Exceeding the Board Length

All the design curves must lie between x = 0 and x = length. Any loop would be misinterpreted by the software.

 Smoothness and Continuity

Check the smoothness of the curves.

- A general rule would be: the less control points the smoother.

- Prefer continuous tangents  to angular tangents . The curves must not do any loop.

- Avoid zero length tangents because it could do a very small loop around the control point.

- Check that you didn’t insert two control points at the same place

You can use the E key shortcut that will show the superposed control points in green, kinks and loops in red.

 Slices

- Here again, the less slices the smoother. The right number obviously depends on the shape…

If you design a new model, a good way to get a smooth shape is to begin with the design of the center slice, and then make all the other slices from this one. For that you can use the copy-past facility: select a slice on the outline view, click on the copy button  in the toolbar, select another slice and press the past button . Modify these slices to make the shape smoothly evolve from the tail to the nose.

- The design of a slice usually needs 4 to 5 control points.

It is safe to define the apex point (green , with vertical tangents ), the rail point (blue , with angular tangents ), and possibly another point on the deck to have a better control of the rail shape. The deck center point generally has a horizontal tangent . Same for the bottom center point except in case of V or inverted-V.

- It is important to check that two slices are not placed at the same x position. For that you can use the list of slices that appears when you are designing a slice. This list shows each slice with its x position.

 Apex and Rail Definition

- Concerning the apex point definition, you have two choices: either you fix a point at the widest position that you set as the Apex point, or you don't define an apex point.

Note that defining the Apex point assures that the separation between the deck and the bottom cut in the CNC mode will be clean. In particular, if the edges of some slices are vertical, the detection of the widest point can either give the top or the bottom of the vertical section, and end up with a waterline that jumps from the top to the bottom of the vertical section.

If you define the Apex point, make sure it is the widest point on each slice, or it will give inconsistent toolpaths in the CNC mode.

- It is also important to define the Rail point, as it will assure a clean cut of the tuck of the rail. It will also allow you to define the number of paths you want between the stringer and the rail, and between the rail and the apex.

In the "Display" menu you can check the option "Curvature always". Then, the curvature will be displayed when you select a curve.

You can also choose to display the curvature just for one curve:

In the Top view, the list of curves contains all the curves corresponding to the points of the slices except the bottom stringer and deck stringer, plus the Outline curve (widest point of the slices, in case the Apex is not defined), and the Developed Outline (outline developed along the bottom stringer line).
In the Side view, the list of curves contains all the curves corresponding to the points of the slices, plus the Bottom and Deck Profiles (lowest and highest points of the slices), and the True Apex (height of the widest point of the slices, in case the Apex is not defined, or not correctly defined).

To display the properties of a curve, click on >> or double-click on its line.

Each curve can be displayed or not in a different color. The Curvature, Curvature Radius, and Directional Curvature Radius (same as SurfCAD) can also be displayed in other colors.

The control points appear in the thickness view only if the thickness show is computed between two curves fixed to each other:

The Edited curves can be set Fixed to another edited curve . This means that the relative distance between the two curves will stay constant when the second curve is modified. For example one can set the Deck Stringer line Fixed to the Bottom Stringer line, so that the stringer thickness doesn’t change when the Bottom Stringer line is modified. This thickness can be displayed in the Thickness View.

If rail and stringer are both edited, you can choose to lock the rail line to the stringer line so that the depth of the concave or V doesn’t change when you modify the stringer line. Then you can display the depth of the concave or V in the thickness panel and stretch it vertically to have a better view of the details…

In the Thickness View, if the curve displayed corresponds to the thickness between a curve that is fixed to another one and this other curve, the control points appear and the curve can be modified. In this view the curvatures can be displayed, and the colors changed. Also the curve can be stretched vertically if it’s too flat to be seen correctly.

A constant depth can be removed from the deck or the bottom of the board using a "Constant depth" 3D layer.

These 3D layers can be applied to the whole deck or bottom of the board if you set the external outline curve larger than the board's outline.

The layer can be extended until the Rail point (if defined) using the option "Extend rail".

The option "Smooth edges" option extends the layer to get a straight transition at the edges instead of a rectangular transition.

On the bottom, the "Extend rail" option is replaced by the "Limit rail" option, that just do the opposite.

If the option "Display curvature along the curve" is selected in the Preferences window (see menu Files), the curvature curves are displayed perpendicularly to the original curves.

In comparison, if this option is not selected, the curvatures are drawn along the X axis.

There are 3 interpolation modes: In the Homothetic Z/YZ mode, the height of the slices is rescaled homothetically with the width and with the ends Z variation. In the Angular Z mode the height of the slices doesn't depend on their width, it's adjusted with the angle of its ends. The Homothetic Z/Y Angular Z mode is a mix of the two other modes: the height of the slices is rescaled homothetically with the width, and then adjusted with the angle of its ends.

The option "Map on extended rail" allows mapping the layer's slices on a straight line extrapolated from the rail point. Note that since version 9.1.2.0 you can define a rail point on the bottom of the slices, but also on the deck.

The machine file is the file that contains the default settings used in the CNC mode of Shape3d.

If you open a new board file that hasn’t been used in the CNC mode, the CNC parameters will be loaded from the machine file, and the complete location of the machine file will appear in the title of the CNC properties window.

If the board file already contains some CNC parameters, the parameters will be loaded from the board file, and the CNC properties window will have the title “Parameters from board file”.

The machine file can be changed in the CNC properties window clicking on the button “Change machine file”. It can also be changed directly in the Preferences window.

The Preferences dialog box can be opened through the menu "File", "Preferences...":

This is where you can directly change the location of the Machine File. It is very important to keep this file in a safe folder (not in the default exe folder or it will be replaced next time you update Shape3d), and to do a backup, since it contains all the default settings corresponding to your machine. If ever these settings are modified by mistake, you can get you settings back reloading the backup machine file.

The "Format file" contains the header and the footer that will be inserted in the G-Code cutting files. It must contain instructions need by the post-processor and supported by your machine. 

Here is an example of G-Code format file:

[ $MODEL_NAME$ $SIDE$ $DATE$ ]
[ $MCU_CUTTER_TYPE$ ]
[ $DIMENSIONS$ ]
[ $H1_H2$ ]
[ $TAIL$ $NOSE$ ]
[ $DECK_TAIL_30.0$ ]
[ $DECK_NOSE_30.0$ ]
[ $BOT_TAIL_30.50$ ]
[ $BOT_NOSE_30.5$ ]
[ $STRUT_TAIL_30.50$ ]
[ $ STRUT _NOSE_30.5$ ]
[ $MACHINE_FILE$ ]
[ $BLANK_FILE$ ]
G28                              [G28  HOMES MACHINE]
G91                              [G91  RELATIVE MODE]
G92 X0 Y2. Z2.5                  [G92  RESETS POSITION CORD.]
G1 XYZ F555                      [SYC. MACHINE / F=FEEDRATE]
M61                              [M61  START DUST MOTOR]
M3                               [M3   START SPINDLE MOTOR]
S12500                               [S3   13,500 RPM SPINDLE]
G90                              [G90   ABSOLUTE MODE]

Z2.0000 F222   [RAISE CUT. OFF BOARD]
M5
M64
X-13.0000 F222

The tags between $$ will be replaced by the corresponding values:

[ New model Deck 04/26/15 15:58:31 ]
[ MCUTOOL T1 D40.00 R10.00 F50.00 L40.00 C1 ]
[  1867.70 x 460.00 x 60.58 ]
[ H1 : 100.10, 0.00 H2 : -100.10, 0.00 ]
[ TAIL : -1876.35, 19.58 NOSE : -26.52, 41.34 ]
[ DECK TAIL 30.00 : 29.51 ]
[ DECK NOSE 30.00 : 39.53 ]
[ BOT TAIL 30.50 : 14.30 ]
[ BOT NOSE 30.50 : 26.60 ]
[ STRUT TAIL 30.50 : 14.30 ]
[ STRUT NOSE 30.50 : 26.60 ]
[ Machine_BullNose_Supports.s3d.xml ]
[ 6.2-R.s3d ]
G28                              [G28  HOMES MACHINE]
G91                              [G91  RELATIVE MODE]
G92 X0 Y2. Z2.5                  [G92  RESETS POSITION CORD.]
G1 XYZ F555                      [SYC. MACHINE / F=FEEDRATE]
M61                              [M61  START DUST MOTOR]
M3                               [M3   START SPINDLE MOTOR]
S12500                               [S3   13,500 RPM SPINDLE]
G90                              [G90   ABSOLUTE MODE]

G1 X-24.3236 Y0.0000 Z82.5673 F200
X-24.3236 Y0.0000 Z60.2295 F10
X-24.3336 Y0.0000 Z60.2301
X-26.3336 Y0.0000 Z60.2701
…
X-29.4442 Y0.0000 Z97.0201 F222

Z2.0000 F222   [RAISE CUT. OFF BOARD]
M5
M64
X-13.0000 F222

You can use the tags $DECK_TAIL_0.0$ $DECK_NOSE_0.0$ $BOT_TAIL_0.0$ $BOT_NOSE_0.0$ with any distance from tail or nose to get the height of the deck or bottom stringer (along a straight line, in the unit used in the CNC mode of Shape3d). $STRUT_TAIL_0.0$ $STRUT_NOSE_0.0$ will give you the blank bottom height during deck cut, and the board deck height during bottom cut.

- For 4-5 axis machines, in addition to the cutter dimensions, you can specify the number of axis: 4 or 5.

- The Max cutter angle/Oz is the maximum angle of the tool axis with the vertical axis in ° that the machine can handle.

- The Switch cut angle/Oz is the angle of transition between the cut with the tip of the tool and the cut with the vertical part of the tool. Set this angle between 45° and 90° to cut the bottom rail of the board with the vertical part of the cutter.

- The Max var angle is maximum variation of the tool angle along one path from tail to nose. If this angle is set to 0, the tool will keep a constant tilt from tail to nose, the tilt changing between each line.

- The Arm length is the length of the arm between the center of rotation to the tip of the tool.

- The Ref. A angle is the angle A written in the exported cutting files when the tool is vertical. The sign of the angle can be inverted.

- The Ref. B angle (for 5 axis only) is the angle B written in the exported cutting files when the arm is in the Oyz plan (the slices plan). The sign of the angle can be inverted.

With the multi bull nose option, you can defined the dimensions of up to 6 cutters: one for the Stringer path, one for the Outline path, one for the 3D Layers, one for the Plugs, one for the rest of the Bottom cut, and one for the rest of the Deck cut.

If a cutter is not checked, the first bull nose (Lines) will be used instead.

The default command for tool changing are:

Start Lines cutter: < Changement cutter lignes >

End Lines cutter: < U5 >

Start Stringer cutter: < Changement cutter stringer >

End Stringer cutter: < U4 >

Start Outline cutter: < Changement cutter outline >

End Outline cutter: < U3 >

Start Bottom Lines cutter: < Changement cutter lignes bottom >

End Bottom Lines cutter: < U6 >

Start 3D layers cutter: < Changement cutter 3D layers >

End 3D layers cutter: < U7 >

Start Plugs cutter: < Changement cutter plug >

End Plugs cutter:: < U8 >

These commands can be changed adding the following tabs in the post processor format file:

Start Lines cutter:  < START_TOOL_1 > ... < /START_TOOL_1 >

End Lines cutter:  < END_TOOL_1 > ... < /END_TOOL_1 >

Start Stringer cutter:  < START_TOOL_2 > ... < /START_TOOL_2 >

End Stringer cutter:  < END_TOOL_2 > ... < /END_TOOL_2 >

Start Outline cutter:  < START_TOOL_3 > ... < /START_TOOL_3 >

End Outline cutter:  < END_TOOL_3 > ... < /END_TOOL_3 >

Start Bottom Lines cutter:  < START_TOOL_4 > ... < /START_TOOL_4 >

End Bottom Lines cutter:  < END_TOOL_4 > ... < /END_TOOL_4 >

Start 3D layers cutter:  < START_TOOL_5 > ... < /START_TOOL_5 >

End 3D layers cutter:  < END_TOOL_5 > ... < /END_TOOL_5 >

Start Plugs cutter:  < START_TOOL_6 > ... < /START_TOOL_6 >

End Plugs cutter:  < END_TOOL_6 > ... < /END_TOOL_6 >

 Cutting Speed

You can change the speed of the cutter at special points of the cutting path (the "cutting points"). Click on this button to display the Cutting Speed window and change the different speeds, or the speed unit.

- The Acceleration distance allows for smooth speed increases over this fixed distance. The Deceleration distance allows for smooth speed reductions over this fixed distance.

- You can set a Maximum curvature radius that will define the "kinks" of the toolpath. Then, you can set a special speed for the kink zones. This is especially useful for the wings...

- The relative length of the Begin and End areas of the paths can be defined separately for lines, outline, and stringer.

- Click on a line of the Cutting Speed window, to enlighten the corresponding sections of the cutting path. These sections appear in blue when the speed is minimum and red when the speed is maximum.

Double click on the cutting speed window lines to change the speeds.

If the speed is set to 0, it means that there won't be any speed change while entering in this speed area.

Each speed section can be de-activated for simplicity, so the Default speed will be applied and less speed will need to be defined.

You can also place the mouse pointer on the cutting path points to display the current speed and right-click on it to enlighten all the cutting path sections that have the same speed. You can also move the cutter along the cutting lines with the up and down arrow keys and press Enter to show the Cutting Point dialog box and change the value of the speed.

In the "Curvature Mode" the highly convex areas will be displayed in green and yellow, and the highly concave areas will be displayed in pink and red. The blue areas are almost flat. The relative curvature radius R can be adjusted to show the curvature (C = 1R) changes more effectively.

Radial

Longitudinal

The menu “Marks” gives access to the lists of measurements of the outline, profile and slices.

The coordinate axis is classically defined with the X-axis as the longitudinal axis, the Y-axis as the transversal axis, and the Z-axis as the vertical axis.

Outline and stringer: Provide the marks needed for creating the design. The meaning of the column is as follow:

X-Coordinate: Position on the longitudinal axis.

X-Developed>: Position of marks on the board, taking into account its curve (Essential to draw the marks on the foam loaf after cutting).

Hull-Z: Height of the bottom compared to 0.

+sdw: Z height minus the thickness of the sandwich (defined in Board/Properties).

Deck: Z height of the deck compared to the point z = 0.

-sdw>: Height of the deck minus the sandwich thickness.

Outline: Width Y at X.

-sdw: Width minus the sandwich thickness.

Carre: Width Y of the edge point.

>-sdw>: Edge width (taking into account the sandwich, see Plan/Slices full size to visualize this position).

Slices: The marks of a given slice.

Shape lines: Marks of the shape lines. See screen Plan/Shape plans 1 and 2 to understand the meaning of the columns.

Origin of the coordinate system (related to the foam loaf after hot wire cutting):
S1Y, A1Y, A1y, and A2y: represent the middle of the loaf.
S1Z, S2Z, A1z, and A2z: represent the lower edge.
S2Y: represent the exterior edge.

The point is to draw the S1 and S2 shape plans lines first, and cut the plans.

Then you can draw the A1 and A2 plans lines, and cut the secondary plans to get closer to the final shape.

The Righting arm corresponds to the lateral displacement of the buoyancy center that happens when a heel angle is applyed to the board.

The Metacenter is the intersection between the axis of the board and the line that goes vertically above the  buoyancy center. The Metacenter is computed with a very small heel angle.

What is he signification of the Metacenter height value? The higher the Metacenter the more stable is the board.

Basically, if the gravity center of the rider is higher than the Metacenter and he's a beginner, he will fall. 

If you set the "Number of slices" equal to the number of definition slices (including the tail and nose tips slices), the exported cross sections will be exactly at the same x positions as the definition slices.

- Choose the importation format "BOARD" and browse to open the file you want to import (DXF, G-Code, or text format). Click on the button "load".

- The scan points appear on the controller. The grey points are the file data, and the blue points are the one that will be imported into Shape3d.
Check that everything is alright (tail at x=0, deck upward ...).

 If everything looks alright:

Check the "automatic fitting" box and click on OK.
It will take a few seconds to adjust the curves on the scan points.

 If the scan data doesn't look good:

If the scan data doesn't look good on the controller after importation, click on “Advanced”:

- Check the box "One side" if the file contains only half of the board.

- If the digital probe is a ball, you can input the probe radius, which will be subtracted to the dimensions.

- If you want to import your data into a board that is in the "Stringer" design mode, check Profile detection: "Stringer". The software will then look for the stringer data around the X axis (with the tolerance fixed in the box Slices: "Tolerance"). On the other hand, if you want to import your data in a board that is in the design mode "Profile", check Profile, and the software will look for the lowest and highest points of each slice to create the profile.

- If you want to import your data into a board that is in the "Deck" design mode, check Top import: "Deck". If you want to import your data in a board that is in the design mode "Thickness", check Thickness, and the software will recreate the thickness from your data (in this case your data must be clean).

- You can also reduce the number of slices if too many of them have been scanned.

- You can tune the tolerance. It allows the importation of slices even if they are not right in the Oyz plan.

- You can switch the axis: the X must be the length direction (towards the nose), the Y must be the width direction, and the Z must be the vertical direction (towards the deck).

- You can change the direction of each axis.

- You can reduce the scan data to a window in each direction using the function “Filter”.

- You can apply an offset to the data in each direction using the function “Offset”.

- If the board is not well aligned with the axis, you can apply two rotations around the axis of your choice.

Then press “Apply”. Note that if you press the button “Load” again, your axis settings will be conserved, but the data will be repositioned so that the tail is at x = 0.

Launch the automatic fitting when it looks good.

 If the automatic fitting fails:

You can do the importation of the data without adjusting the curves automatically. Then the dimensions of the model will be adjusted with the data dimensions, but the curves of the model won’t be fitted on the guidelines. It can be a good way to see what’s wrong with them, and move, or remove, the bad ones.

Then, you can choose to adjust each curve automatically or by hand.

 When the automatic fitting is finished:

Check all the curves of the model:
- Check profile and outline. The automatic adjustment may not be perfect. You can do the automatic adjustment again choosing the number of control points you want (right click, automatic fitting, fit the whole curve, choose the number of arcs). You can do it by hand as well. Check in particular the points and tangents at each end, and then, the smoothness of the curves.
- Check the slices; the automatic fitting tries to place a control point right at the rail, but if the rail is not sharp enough, or if
the scan data is not very clean, the control point can very well be at a wrong position. If so, you can clean the guidelines and do an automatic fitting again. But the safest way is to place the control point right at the rail by hand and adjust the slice, arc by arc. Do it for each slice.
DO NOT HESITATE TO DELETE THE SLICES THAT DO NOT LOOK NECESSARY; the less slices the smoother (same with the control points).