SpaceClaim 2011 Release Notes

SpaceClaim 2011 

Release Notes

Table of Contents 

www.spaceclaim.com 

SpaceClaim 2011 Release Notes 

SpaceClaim 2011 Enhancements Overview ............................................................................................ 4 

Sheet Metal .............................................................................................................................................. 4 

Concept Modeling .................................................................................................................................... 4 

Simulation preparation ............................................................................................................................ 4 

Detailing ................................................................................................................................................... 4 

Interoperability and API ........................................................................................................................... 4 

General ................................................................................................................................................. 5 

Lightweight assembly components .......................................................................................................... 5 

Visibility control in custom views ............................................................................................................. 5 

SpaceClaim options .................................................................................................................................. 6 

Flex license borrowing .............................................................................................................................. 6 

Selection ............................................................................................................................................... 7 

Power selecting face areas ....................................................................................................................... 7 

Selecting objects using a boundary .......................................................................................................... 7 

Selecting edge loops ................................................................................................................................. 8 

Designing .............................................................................................................................................. 8 

Sketch tools .............................................................................................................................................. 8 

Mesh objects ..................................................................................................................................... 9 

Move tool ............................................................................................................................................... 10 

Symmetric move ............................................................................................................................. 10 

Pattern along a trajectory ............................................................................................................... 12 

Pull tool .................................................................................................................................................. 12 

Pull direction for curves .................................................................................................................. 14 

Blending .......................................................................................................................................... 15 

Other editing tools ................................................................................................................................. 17 

TraceParts Web ...................................................................................................................................... 18 

Assembly conditions ............................................................................................................................... 19 

Origins .................................................................................................................................................... 20 

Sheet metal ......................................................................................................................................... 21 

Sketching ................................................................................................................................................ 22 

Selecting ................................................................................................................................................. 22 

Edge reliefs and corner reliefs ................................................................................................................ 22 

Junctions, notches, hems, beads, and forms ......................................................................................... 24 

Pull tool .................................................................................................................................................. 26 

Move tool ............................................................................................................................................... 27 

Bend tool ................................................................................................................................................ 28 

Convert and Identify tools ...................................................................................................................... 30 

Unfold tool ............................................................................................................................................. 31 

Detailing ............................................................................................................................................. 32 

Visibility control in drawing sheets ........................................................................................................ 32 

Multiple component and assembly views .............................................................................................. 33 

Drawing sheets ....................................................................................................................................... 33 

Cross-section views ................................................................................................................................ 34 

Modular grid ........................................................................................................................................... 34 

Symbols .................................................................................................................................................. 35 

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Graphics Styles .................................................................................................................................... 36 

Measuring ........................................................................................................................................... 36 

Repairing ............................................................................................................................................. 36 

Preparing ............................................................................................................................................ 36 

Importing and exporting ...................................................................................................................... 37 

Multitouch .......................................................................................................................................... 38 

API enhancements .............................................................................................................................. 39 


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SpaceClaim 2011 Enhancements Overview 



SpaceClaim 2011 provides product enhancements designed for large manufacturing organizations who 

want to move to upfront concept modeling to save time and money, and continue to drive innovation. 

SpaceClaim 2011 – the Company’s seventh release of its software – builds on features that enable 

engineers to leverage 3D for concept modeling, bid modeling, and model preparation. 

Sheet Metal 

� New forms, corner reliefs, bend reliefs, and junctions 

� Identify tool 

� Hems 

� Joggles 

� Beads 

� Bumped bends 

� Improved selection highlighting 

Concept Modeling 

� Improved surface modeling and lofting 

� Symmetric Move 

� Mesh objects and snapping 

� Free TraceParts part library 

� Hand drawn curves 

� Make loaded components lightweight 

� Stored visibility states 

Simulation preparation 

� Face area power select 

� Volume extraction multiple loop discovery 

� Beam topology associativity with ANSYS 13 

Detailing 

� Multi-model drawings 

� Enhanced visibility controls 

� Publish cross-section views to 3D 

� Symbol placement improvements 

Interoperability and API 

� CATIA V5 R20, Parasolid v23, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5, SolidWorks 2010, and Siemens NX 7.5 

� Embedding of windows in other applications 

� Remote access 

� Access to assembly conditions 

� UI customization 

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General 



Several improvements were made, including lightweight assembly components, better control of visibility 

in custom views, and flex license borrowing. 

There is now a Purge button in the Undo drop-down menu. This allows you to save on memory use by 

clearing all previous actions during the SpaceClaim session. 

When you tile multiple windows, the active window is now indicated with a yellow border. 

There is now a new icon in the Structure tree that represents whether an external part is an assembly. 

Old icon: New icon: 

When you right-click a named solid in the Structure tree and select Move to New Component, the new 

component now has the same name as the solid. 

You can set the visibility of an individual curve in the Structure tree even when the curve is within a 

dependent copy of a component. 

Lightweight assembly components 

There is now a Make Lightweight option for external assembly components. This option is not available 

for internal components. To make an external component lightweight, right-click the component in the 

Structure tree and select Make Lightweight from the context menu. Making an assembly component 

lightweight uses less memory than when the geometry information is fully loaded and able to be modified 

by the user. To return the component to a fully loaded state, right-click the component and select Load 

Component. 

Visibility control in custom views 

When you create a view using the View tab in the Structure panel, new functionality allows you to save 

object visibility states with the view. When you create the view, you can enter a Name, Shortcut, and 

information to be stored with the view including Orientation, Object Visibility and Visibility behavior for 

new objects. The following is how to use each section of the dialog box: 

� Name – enter a unique name for the view state, which will appear in the Structure panel. 

� Shortcut – (optional) select hotkeys (Ctrl+ a number 0-9) to apply the view via the keyboard. 

� Orientation – specify whether the current window orientation should be saved with the view 

state. 

� Object Visibility – checking this box stores what is visible currently in the design window. For 

example, if two out of three objects are hidden/unchecked in the Structure tree at creation of 

this view state, selecting this view state in the future will show you the view with two out of 

three objects hidden. Visibility is applicable to all types of geometry, planes, and curves. 

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� Visibility behavior for new objects – specifies how to treat objects created after the view state 

was established. The three options are Unchanged, Visible, and Hidden. For example, you could 

create a box and a sphere, hide the sphere, and create a view state which shows only the box. 

Then you could create a cylinder and a cone, and then restore the “box” view state. If you 

selected Unchanged, the visibility of the cylinder and the cone will be unchanged based on the 

current view in the design window. If you selected Visible, the cylinder and the cone will always 

be visible. If you selected Hidden, the cylinder and the cone will be hidden when you select that 

view state. 

You can now right-click a view and select Apply View, Replace, Rename, and Properties from the context 

menu. 

� Apply view – reorients the object(s) and sets object visibilities to that view state. 

� Replace – replaces the stored view state with the current visibility state and view orientation of 

the objects in the design window. For example, if you have a view state with two out of three 

total objects visible, but your design window currently has all objects visible, and you right-click 

and select Replace, this view state will now be stored with all three objects visible. 

� Rename – enter a new name for the view state. 

� Properties – allows you to change any information originally specified for the view. 

You can double-click an established view in the list to change to that particular view. 

Changing the view state now animates during the change if the Animate changes to view projection is set 

to true in the Advanced SpaceClaim options. 

SpaceClaim options 

There is now a Reset All User Settings button in the top right corner of Advanced SpaceClaim Options. 

Clicking this button changes all the user settings to their default states. 

You no longer need to restart SpaceClaim when you select a different language in Advanced SpaceClaim 

options. 

When you select Zoom with mouse wheel: Always (hold Ctrl to Query Select) in the Navigation SpaceClaim 

options, scrolling the mouse wheel upwards (away from you) zooms out and scrolling the mouse wheel 

downwards (towards you) zooms in. When you select the Zoom with mouse wheel: In Spin/Pan/Zoom 

mode, you can zoom with the mouse wheel when the Spin, Pan, or Zoom tool is active. 

If your graphics card cannot support anti-aliasing, the Anti-aliasing option in the Popular SpaceClaim 

options is not displayed. 

Show status messages in design window in the Popular SpaceClaim options is now enabled by default. 

You can now change the Appearance SpaceClaim option to a Black Office 2010 color scheme. 

Flex license borrowing 

Flex license borrowing was implemented in the License SpaceClaim options. Flex license borrowing allows 

you to check out a flex license on a specific computer and go off the network and continue to use the 

borrowed license. You can borrow a license for a specified period of time, after which it is returned to the 

server on the date and time you specify. 

To borrow the license: 

1. In the Borrow License section, do one of the following: 


Check Specific Borrow Length and enter the number of days you want to borrow the license. 

The maximum number of days is determined when SpaceClaim is purchased. 

Check Specify return date/time and enter the exact date and time. Use this option if the 

borrow time is shorter than one day. 

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2. Select the Translator licenses to borrow. 

3. Click Borrow License. 



When the license if successfully borrowed, Borrow License is disabled (grayed out) and title bar shows the 

expiration date or the time remaining. 

To return the license: 

Click Return License and click OK. Restart SpaceClaim to complete the return. 

Selection 

New selection capabilities were added, including power selection for face areas and edge loop selection. 

You can now box-select more objects, including wrapped images and videos. 

Power selecting face areas 

You can use the Selection panel to find all faces within the range of areas between two faces. Select two 

faces, then select in the Selection panel. The results list displays all faces with areas within that range: 

Selecting objects using a boundary 

The procedure used to select all objects within a boundary has changed. 

To select all objects within a boundary: 

1. Select the Using Boundary option from the Select tool drop-down menu. 

The Select Bounds tool guide is enabled. 

2. Select the faces or edges that define a boundary. 

The Select Bounds tool guide is “sticky” so you do not have to hold the Ctrl key to add to your 

selection. Faces remain selected as secondary references in case you need to add or subtract 

from the boundary. 

3. Click the Select Seed tool guide and click any object within the boundary to use as the seed 

object. 

You can select multiple seeds. All objects from the seed object to the boundary are selected. 

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You can select edges to define the boundary, but you cannot select a combination of faces and edges. If 

you click a face, you will only be able to select faces. If you click an edge, you will only be able to select 

edges. Clicking in white space resets your selections. 

Selecting edge loops 

If Select edge loops using the mouse scroll wheel is selected in Advanced SpaceClaim options, scrolling 

through edge loop choices pre-highlights the selection, as shown in the following figure. You can click a 

pre-highlighted edge loop to select it. If you are connected to a multitouch monitor, this option is on by 

default even if the option is not checked. 

Designing 

Several enhancements were made to the modeling tools, including snapping for mesh objects, symmetric 

moving, improved assembly conditions, and access to the TraceParts content library as a free online 

service to SpaceClaim users. 

Sketch tools 

The Sketch tools were rearranged: 

You can now create a spline by dragging with the Draw continuous spline tool option. 

You can now draw a line from its center point outward. Select on the line tool, and then check the Define 

Line From Center box. 

When using the Create Corner tool, splines can now extend to the intersection with another sketch curve, 

as shown in the figure. 

In Project to Sketch, the options are now enabled even when the Body Select tool guide is not enabled. 

This allows you to select bodies from the Structure tree when using these options. 


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When sketching on a drawing sheet, you can create sketch curves that appear only in the active view by 

selecting the Create curves shown only in current view sketch tool option. This function is useful if you 

want to show multiple design possibilities using the views on your drawing sheet. If you want to work with 

the sketch curves as design elements, make them visible in your design document. 

Sketch curves outside the current sketch plane appear faded if the Fade Scene Under Grid option tool in 

the Grid ribbon group is selected. Selecting this option has no affect on layout curves. 

Mesh objects 

You can now import STL files in such a way that they are lightweight (facets only), with the ability to snap 

to the facets, as shown in the figure. To display the facet edges, select the Mesh option in the Edges dropdown 

menu in the Style group on the Display tab. 

A new icon in the Structure tree identifies a mesh object. You can drag and drop a mesh object into a 

component and move a mesh object with the Move tool. You can also change the color, layer 

membership, and visibility. 

You can sketch lines, splines, and points on mesh objects in 3D mode. Click the sketch tool, switch to 3D 

mode, then sketch on the STL model. The cursor snaps to the facet vertices, edges, and faces on the 

model, as shown in the figure below. 

You can sketch on a cross section plane of a mesh object, which allows snapping 

to facets that intersect the plane. 

You can use the line, rectangles, circles, splines, ellipse, 3 point arc, polygon, 

sweep arc, and point sketch tools to create curves that snap to geometry 

intersecting the plane, as shown in the figure on the right. Other sketch tools do 

not snap to the geometry intersecting the plane, but you can use these tools to 

create geometry off of newly drawn curves. 

When you select placement points on a mesh object, a circle around the point of 

the cursor helps you to identify facet faces, edges, and points. The following 

images show the types of selections you can make: 


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Type of Selection Image 

Double circle (normal to the 

screen) is displayed when cursor 

point is snapped to a facet’s 

vertex. 

Single circle is displayed and 

facet’s edge is highlighted when 

cursor point is snapped to a 

facet’s edge. The circle lies in the 

plane at the average of the two 

neighboring facet faces. 

Single large circle is displayed and 

a facet is highlighted when cursor 

point is on a facet. The circle lies 

in the plane of the facet face. 

Move tool 

You can now move a circular edge along a surface, as shown in the 

figure on the right. 

Modifying stored ruler dimensions created from an edge in the Move 

tool are now more stable. Previously, modifying the surrounding 

faces of these groups deleted the saved group information from the 

Groups panel. 



When rotating an object 90 degrees by double-clicking a rotational Move handle, you can now hold Ctrl 

while double-clicking to create a copy at the 90 degree angle. 

Symmetric move 

A Symmetric Move button has been added to the options panel within the Move tool. Use this to 

move objects relative to each other about a plane, as if they are mirrored objects but without the need to 

create a mirror association. Unlike the Mirror tool, the Symmetric move option can be used to move 

dissimilar geometry as well as similar. 

You can use this option with an automatically determined virtual mirror plane based on the Move handle 

location or you can use the Fulcrum tool guide to establish a fixed mirror plane. 

With a fulcrum-selected mirror plane, geometry that is the same on both sides of the plane is found and 

moved automatically when geometry is moved on one side of the plane. The center of each selected 

object determines which side of the plane the geometry lies on. 

To move objects symmetrically about a virtual mirror plane: 

1. Select two or more objects. 

2. Click the Move tool. 

3. Click Symmetric Move in the Move Options panel. 

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4. Click one of the translation arrows and drag. 



As you drag, a ghost mirror plane appears at the center of the Move handle, perpendicular to the 

direction you are dragging. Movements are mirrored about this plane. A ghost move handle is 

displayed on the other side of the virtual mirror plane to indicate the mirrored translation or 

rotation. Selected objects are moved symmetrically about the indicated plane. 

To reset the virtual mirror plane, change selection or toggle the Symmetric Move option. 

To move objects symmetrically with a fulcrum-selected mirror plane: 

1. Create a plane or planar face. 

2. Select one or more objects. 

3. Click the Move tool. 

4. Click Symmetric Move in the Move Options panel. 

5. Click the Fulcrum tool guide. 

6. Click the plane or planar face to specify the symmetry plane. 

Objects on the other side of the fulcrum plane with matching geometry are automatically 

detected and moved symmetrically about the plane. 

7. Drag a rotation or translation arrow on the move handle to modify the geometry symmetrically 

about the fulcrum-selected mirror plane. 

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You can symmetrically move objects that partially overlap a symmetry plane. The Symmetric Move tool 

uses the center of each object’s bounding box to determine which side of the symmetry plane it lies on. In 

the example below, the angled faces are symmetric to each other, but lie partially on either side of the 

mirror plane. Since the center of each of the objects’ bounding boxes is on either side of the plane, the 

Symmetric Move tool is still able to detect the symmetric geometry. 

Pattern along a trajectory 

You can now select a curve to use as a trajectory when you create a pattern, as shown in the figures. 

To create a pattern along a trajectory: 

Pull tool 

1. Select an object you want to pattern with the Move tool. 

2. Select the curve with the Move Along Trajectory tool guide. 

3. Select Create Patterns in the Move options. 


You can also hold Alt and double-click the curve. 

4. Pull the trajectory arrow. 

5. Release the mouse button to display pattern dimensioning options. Enter values by tabbing 

through the options. 

6. (Optional) Check the Maintain Orientation box to keep the patterned objects in the same 

orientation as the original object from which you made the pattern. 

New Pull mode icons have been added to the options panel, which show the current pull mode and the 

options that are available based on your selection and ALT selection. 

When using the Pull tool to extend a sketched spline, you can now use the Up To tool guide to extend the 

spline to the selected reference. 

When you use the Pull tool to change the length of a sketch curve, the dimension is displayed. 

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When you are pulling a point on a surface in a direction, such as towards an Alt+clicked vertex, as shown 

in the figure, the Pull tool no longer switches from the Direction tool guide to the Scale tool guide. 

You can pivot multiple separate, planar edges simultaneously, as shown in the following figure. 

Baseline faces now remain contiguous when you make rounds on a shelled solid: 

To create a round across a gap, select the Pull tool, select two faces that would meet at a corner, then 

click the Round tool option to preview the round, as shown in the figure. Pull to create the round. 

Previously, the size of the gap that could be spanned was limited by the size of the edge round that could 

be created on one of the edges. 

On geometry similar to that shown in the figure, you can now pull the rounds in the selected tangent 

chain without changing the round shown in blue: 


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Sweep is now selected automatically when a circular path is the Alt-selected trajectory for a perpendicular 

start selection face: 

The tab key now works to change direction of pull handles while creating slots. 

When you select the No Merge option while sweeping, the new swept geometry will no longer be merged 

with the original geometry. Previously, the new geometry would cut into the original geometry instead of 

just adding duplicate geometry in the same space. 

Previously, if you had two cylindrical surfaces, one inside the other, and you selected the inside one with 

the Pull tool and tried to pull Up To the outside surface, the inside surface would offset to the outside 

surface. Now, that surface will thicken and display a solid ring instead of offsetting the geometry: 

Pull direction for curves 

When pulling curves, there is now different logic that determines the direction of the extrusion: 

The default direction to 

pull a curve is along 

the Z axis. 


If you select a curve that touches 

another curve, the pull arrow points 

in the direction perpendicular to the 

plane of the two curves. 

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If a curve lies on the Z 

axis, the pull arrow 

points in the Y direction. 

Previously, the pull 

arrow would point in 

the Z direction and you 

could not pull to create 

any further geometry. 

Blending 


If you select two curves on the same 

plane, the pull arrow points in the 

direction that is perpendicular to the 

plane of the curves. For example, if 

you have a curve on the X axis, and a 

selected neighboring curve that lies 

on the Y axis, then the pull arrow will 

point in the Z direction. 


The keyboard shortcut “B” is now mapped to the Blend tool option in the Pull tool. Previously, this 

keyboard shortcut was mapped to the Bend tool in the sketch ribbon group. 

When blending between objects, new/blended geometry takes on the color of the object which was 

selected first. 

Blends can now be made between faces or edges of separate components. Previously, you were not able 

to blend between components. 

You can make a rotational blend between two planar faces that lie on the same plane. The following 

figures show blends that are possible with the Rotational Blend option. 

Blended faces automatically simplify to analytic geometry when possible. For example, if you blend 

between two circular surfaces of the same diameter, one directly above the other, the Shape property 

becomes Cylinder in the Face Type section of the Properties panel. 

You can now create a blend surface tangent to two faces along a given direction, as shown in the 

following figure. Select two curved faces and Alt+click a linear object such as an axis, sketch curve, or edge 

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to set a direction for the two tangent locations. Where you click when selecting the surface determines 

the approximate location of the edge of the surface. The Pull tool previews the resulting blend, as shown 

in the figure. Pull the handle, click the Full Pull option, or press Enter to create the blend surface. 

You can also create a blend surface tangent to one face and through one curve (or edge) along a given 

direction, as shown in the figure below. Select a face and a curve and Alt+click a linear object to set the 

direction. Then pull the handle, click the Full Pull option, or press Enter to create the blend surface. 

You can now blend using two loops. You can select a loop surface and blend to another loop surface. You 

can select curve loops to blend, or blend between one loop at a time to get different results. You can also 

ALT select to alter the system-default tangency reference direction. See examples below: 

The Local Guides option in the Blend options group has been updated. If this option is unchecked, the 

entirety of the blend will follow your chosen ALT selected guide curve. If the option is checked, only the 

portion of the blend that intersects this ALT selected guide curve will be influenced by this curve, with the 

rest of the influence fading away according to the distance along the profiles. In the following figure, the 

image on the left is with the option unchecked and the image on the right is with the option checked. 


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You can now blend from segmented edge to segmented edge along a non-segmented guide edge. 

Previously, the software did not recognize the segmented curves as one curve and the blend would fail. 

Other editing tools 

You can now select a split face to replace: 

When you use the Split Face tool, both x and y dimensions are now displayed when you dimension from a 

midpoint. Prior to this, only one dimension was displayed. To dimension from a midpoint using the Split 

Face tool, hover over a midpoint of an edge and hold down the Shift key until you see the midpoint with a 

purple parenthesis around it. You will now see two dimensions from that midpoint. 

You can now use the Fill tool to fill a chamfer on a surface. 

You can now select the Extend intersections option in the 

Combine tool to calculate partially intersecting surfaces as 

intersection curves, and then extend these curves to the next 

likely edge so that the underlying surface is completely split, 

as shown in the figure on the right. The setting for this option 

is maintained throughout your SpaceClaim session. 

When using the Combine tool, the Keep cutter option is selected by default. 

When creating a shell with the Shell tool, click the new Complete Shell tool guide to create the shell and 

automatically reactivate the Remove Faces tool guide. This change allows you to create multiple shells 

within one Shell tool session. 

A Complete tool guide was added to the Project tool. 

You can now Project a cylindrical surface and the end faces of a cylinder onto a 

face. Select the Project tool, and then click the edge or face you would like to 

project. You will see a purple line as a preview, shown in the figure on the right. 

Depending on what you select, you may need to choose the Select Direction tool 

guide to display the preview in the correct place. 


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In the Tweak Face tool, you can now modify a control curve by creating a group with the Move tool. The 

group you create will display a ruler dimension which you can edit to modify your curve, as shown in the 

following figure. 

You can now use the Mirror tool to mirror any geometry that can be moved freely with the Move tool. 

This includes curves, points, and axes. You can also mirror a sketch curve without leaving sketch or cross 

section mode. Once mirrored, changing the geometry does not propagate to the other side like changing 

a face or body would. Previously, you could only mirror a body, face or component. 

TraceParts Web 

The TraceParts content library is now provided as a free online service to SpaceClaim users. Select 

TraceParts Web from the drop-down menu on the File tool in the Insert group on the Design tab. Clicking 

the link directs you to the TraceParts web page, where you can choose from millions of modeled parts to 

download. 

Select from the categories on the left side of the web page and choose a part. A technical drawing is 

displayed along with a description, PDF documentation, and the available sizes. Select a part to download, 

then choose a CAD format (2D AutoCAD, 3D ACIS 6.3, or 3D SpaceClaim) and click Add to Caddy. You are 

then redirected to a page with your caddy displayed at the top of the page. When the caddy finishes 

grabbing the part, click Download. 

Before downloading, you have the option to open the part with “version for CAD direct export” or 2009+. 

After clicking download, a dialog box for opening or saving a zip file appears. Choose an option then click 

OK to get a zip file with an scdoc and text file of the part loaded onto your machine. You can then open 

this part in SpaceClaim. This service is free of charge with a valid SpaceClaim license. 


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The following image shows a sample part page from the website: 

Assembly conditions 

When you select an assembly condition in the Structure tree, the faces 

affected by the condition are highlighted, as shown on the right. 

When you create an assembly condition, the condition appears under both 

affected components in the Structure tree. 



You can delete an assembly condition by selecting the condition in the 

Structure tree and pressing the Delete key or right-clicking and selecting 

Delete Assembly Condition. If you want to delete all assembly conditions, click Select all conditions in the 

Options panel when an assembly tool is enabled or select a single assembly condition in the Structure tree 

and press Ctrl+A. 

The Tangent, Align, and Orient tools are now full tools with tool guides and tool options. These tools used 

to work only on selected objects. 

You can now use the Tangent, Align, and Orient tools to move solids that are not part of a component. 

(Solids still must be within components before you can assign assembly conditions.) 

You can now use the Tangent, Align, and Orient tools to position components without assigning assembly 

conditions in the Structure tree. To move components with the Assembly tools, select the tool and 

uncheck the Create conditions tool option. 

When you move a solid or component with the Tangent, Align, and Orient tools, the move animates based 

on the Animate Full Pull option in the Advanced SpaceClaim options. 

You can now Ctrl+click to select multiple objects in the Tangent, Align, and Orient tools. Multiple assembly 

conditions are created. 

You can now assemble mirrored components. 

You can now select a component to enable the Anchor tool, and select two components to enable the 

Rigid tool. 

When a component with an Anchor condition is selected, and you select the Move tool, the Move handle 

appears disabled. 

You can now right-click an Align condition and select Reverse Sense to align selected faces on opposite 

sides of the alignment plane, as shown in the figure: 

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You can now reverse an assembly alignment in more cases. 



When you select two faces, then select the Align tool, only the component selected first is moved. 

You can now uncheck the box next to an Anchor assembly condition in the Structure tree to disable that 

condition. 

Origins 

You can now align origins with no problems. Previously, if the origins were located far from each other 

and/or one origin was rotated away from the other, the align condition would not be satisfied. 

If you Alt-select an origin when creating a new component, opening this component in a new design 

window displays the world origin in the location it was placed on the object in the previous document. 

The following figure shows the component before and after it was opened in a new design window. 

To define a newly created component’s origin: 

1. (Optional) Create an origin. 

2. Alt-select an origin, in another component, or in the same component. 

3. Right click a solid and select Move to New Component 

4. Right-click the component and open it in a new design window. 

5. Turn on the display for the world origin. You will see that the ALT selected origin from the 

previous document is now the permanent world origin and that it is displayed in the same 

location as in the previous document. 

You can now select a placed origin and have a sketch plane automatically positioned to this origin’s x and 

y axis when entering sketch mode. You can then use this added origin as the world origin for a new design 

window. Previously, a sketch plane would be located on the existing world origin’s x and y axis, which 

would skew the component. 

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Sheet metal 


Origin Skewed Origin Skewed origin selected 

prior to sketch mode 


Sheet metal capabilities were significantly expanded, including the ability to sketch profiles; more options 

for edge reliefs, corners reliefs, junctions, notches, hems, beads, forms, bends, and joggles; and more 

control when converting parts to sheet metal. 

Select the options in the Highlight ribbon group to highlight junctions, reliefs, forms, joggles, hems, and 

beads when working with sheet metal designs. The highlighting is more muted than the highlighting used 

in the Convert tool. 

You can now select the highlighting colors used on sheet metal designs from the SpaceClaim sheet metal 

options, as shown in the figure. The Convert tool uses a more saturated version of these colors. 

You can no longer split a bend face using the Split tool. 

The Create ribbon group on the Sheet Metal tab was rearranged: 

You can now use the Fill tool on sheet metal objects, including beads, notches, and forms to remove 

them. Select the sheet metal object you want to remove using the Select tool in the Edit group on the 

Sheet Metal tab, then click the Fill tool in the Edit group on the Design tab. 

You can now create lightweight text notes, which can be edited and moved in 3D. Previously, you were 

only able to create a lightweight note, and move and edit the Engraved or Cutout text in an unfolded 

sheet metal part. 

If you place a note that extends across neighboring bends, the note will automatically wrap around the 

part when you click out of the operation. If you create a note on a bent part, you cannot move the note to 

a different face. 

To create a lightweight text note on a sheet metal part: 

1. Select the Note tool in the Annotation Group on the Detail tab. 

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2. Place the note on a sheet metal face. 

3. Type the text. 

4. Right-click the note and select Convert To Lightweight > Cutout or Engraving. 

Sketching 



You can now sketch polylines to extrude walls in sheet metal. Previously, you had to sketch a line, and 

then start your next line from the end point of your first line. Sketching in sheet metal is now consistent 

with sketching in a standard design window. 

You can choose between sketching a flat wall or a wall which is perpendicular to the sketch plane, as 

shown in the figure. You can choose the Auto, Flat, or Profile option. If you are sketching profiles, bends 

will automatically be added to sharp corners. 

� Auto - if you are sketching an open profile (series of lines), a perpendicular wall will be created. If 

you are sketching a closed profile (square, circle, etc.), a flat wall will be created. 

� Flat - any closed sketch will create a flat wall. 

� Profile - any sketch will create a wall that is perpendicular to the sketch grid. 

Selecting 

It is now easier to select notches, edge reliefs, and corner reliefs. 

You will now see a mini-toolbar when selecting multiple notches, corner reliefs, bend reliefs and 

junctions. Previously, a mini-toolbar was only available when selecting on one notch, corner relief, etc. 

If you box-select all of the faces of a sheet metal object (such as a corner relief), the object is selected. If 

you box-select any of the faces from right to left, the entire sheet metal object is also selected, even if you 

have not fully enclosed the object within the selection box. 

Edge reliefs and corner reliefs 

When you select a Bend relief type in the Sheet Metal SpaceClaim options, that relief type is used by 

default when creating sheet metal parts. This default can be overridden by selecting a different option 

from the Relief tool. 

Corner reliefs can now be displayed in a different color than edge reliefs by selecting a different color 

from the Edge Relief or Corner Relief drop-down in the Sheet Metal SpaceClaim options. 

Page 22


Circular and Smooth Edge Reliefs are now available from the Edge Relief option tool in the Modify ribbon 

group and from the mini-toolbar. The geometry is fully visible in an unfolded state. 

There is no longer a bend relief depth or width property for circular or smooth edge reliefs. 

The Corner Relief tool was removed from the Create ribbon group because corner reliefs are created 

automatically while creating sheet metal or when converting to sheet metal with the Convert tool. The 

Corner Relief option tool allows you to modify the default corner relief type. 

You can now select multiple corner reliefs to change them all to another type. 

If the bends neighboring a corner relief are equal, you can select the bends, then select the Smooth 

option from the Corner Relief tool to modify the corner relief. 

The properties of a corner relief now reflect the type of corner relief except that the Smooth type is not 

shown for unequal radius or angles, and the Diagonal type is not shown for equal radius or angles. (Largeangle 

corners also do not work.) 

You can now select the Smooth option from the Corner Relief option tool for unequal radius bends and 

non-90-degree corners: 

You can now select Laser Symmetric from the Corner Relief option tool when you select an existing corner 

relief to change its type: 

The Default corner relief was added to the mini-toolbar. The None corner relief type was renamed to 

Filled. 

You can now return a corner relief from the Filled type to the Default type by selecting the vertex where 

the corner relief would be, then selecting the Default option from the Corner Relief option tool. 


Page 23


You can now select a corner relief, then select the None option from the Corner Relief option tool in the 

Modify ribbon group (or from the mini-toolbar) to remove the corner relief object but leave the 

geometry. The geometry will just be gray instead of yellow. 

There is also a Reference option in the properties panel, Corner or Middle, which you can toggle, based on 

how you would like your corner relief to be positioned. Each type of corner relief has different properties 

that you can edit; for example, Smooth has a Diameter property, Square has an Offset and a Width 

property, Circular has an Offset and Diameter property, Triangular has an Offset, Width, and Height 

property, etc. Changes to these properties are best understood by viewing a flattened sheet metal part. 

The examples below show a circular and square corner relief with either a corner or middle reference 

property. 

Junctions, notches, hems, beads, and forms 

A None junction option was added to the Junction tool in the Modify ribbon group and to the minitoolbar. 

To enable this option, you must select an existing full overlap, partial overlap, or no overlap bend. 

The Reverse tool no longer appears in the Create ribbon group. To reverse a partial overlap or full overlap 

sheet metal junction, right-click the junction and select Reverse from the context menu. 

You can now create a notch by selecting a vertex or thickness edge and 

selecting a notch type from the Notch option tool. Notch objects are 

highlighted, as shown in the figure on the right. You cannot yet place 

notches in the middle of an edge. 

To modify a notch, select a notch, then select a notch type from the Notch 

option tool in the Modify ribbon group or mini-toolbar to change the notch type. You can also change 

notch types by modifying the Notch Type value in the Sheet Metal group in the Properties panel, and 

change the geometry of the notch by modifying the other property values such as Width, L1, L2, and 

Radius. 

You can now select a notch, then select the None option from the Notch tool in the Modify ribbon group 

(or from the mini-toolbar) to remove the notch object but leave the geometry. This enables you to 

manipulate the geometry freely, consistent with Junctions, Corner Reliefs and Hems. 

You are now able to make hems. You can choose from a variety of hem types including Simple, U-bend, 

Teardrop, and Rolled from the Hem option tool or from the mini tool bar. 

You can only make hems on straight edges which have squared straight thickness edges. 

You can change hem geometry using the Properties panel. Previously you needed to directly change the 

geometry in the design window. 


Page 24

You can now make a partial hem on an edge: 

1. Click on an edge in the Pull tool. 

2. Adjust the edge points. 

3. Tab between the arrows to select direction. 

4. Pull to create the hem. 



Pull arrows are no longer displayed as an option for pulling an edge that is part of a teardrop hem. 

Previously, you were able to pull a wall from an edge of a teardrop hem which would intersect other 

geometry unrealistically. 

There is now a None option in the Hem option tool which allows the user to create a regular wall instead 

of a hem if they so choose. 

To convert a hem to a regular wall: 

1. Click a hem. 

2. Select the None option from the Hem option tool. 

A wall with regular sheet metal colors is now displayed. 

The positions of the Bead and Bend buttons have been swapped in the Sheet Metal ribbon. 

Use the Bead tool in the Create ribbon group on the Sheet Metal tab to create beads on sheet metal 

designs. 

To create a bead: 

1. Click the Bead tool. 

2. Select the curves you want to use to create the bead. 

3. (Optional) Modify the radius of the bead in the Bead radius option in the Options panel. 

The minimum bead radius limit is 0.25xT (thickness). 

4. Click the Create Bead tool guide to create the bead. 

The height of the bead will be the same as the radius of the bead. 

Do it faster: Use the Select tool to select the curve, then click the Bead tool to create the bead. 

You can also create a bead with the Bend tool by selecting the Create 

Bead option. 

You are now able to make beads that extend across an entire face, as 

shown in the figure on the right. You can do this using the Bend tool 

options or with the Bead tool itself. 

Bead dimensions can be modified in the Options panel. You can now 

change the Round Radius of a Bead in the options panel, which is the round at the base of the bead that 

intersects with the part. You can also change a Bead Radius or Round Radius using the Properties panel. 

Page 25

The default round radius at the base of a bead is now 1mm. 

Beads unfold the same way that Forms unfold. 



You can no longer make a bead in between joggles. Previously, you could make a bead but the joggle 

would break. 

Items in the Forms tool drop-down menu have been consolidated to make list shorter. Groups which only 

had one item have been merged. 

The Forms tool’s Create rounds tool option is now selected by default for the relevant forms (such as 

Bridge). 

There is now a Thread Punch form type in the countersink group of the Forms drop-down menu. The D2 

property was removed and only Thread size remains. 

To create a Thread Punch: 

Pull tool 

1. Select Thread Punch from the countersink group in the Forms drop 

down menu. 

2. Select a thread size in the Options panel. 

3. Hover over the part until you see a blue outline on the part face. 

4. Click to create the thread punch. 

Cursor hints and pull handles appear in blue when pulling sheet metal or performing a sheet metal 

operation: 

When you pull multiple walls simultaneously, a selectable corner relief object is created. 

If you select a thickness edge with the sheet metal Pull 

tool, the Round and Chamfer options are now available 

from the Pull options and in the simplified mini tool bar. 

The figure on the right shows a sheet metal chamfer. 

When pulling a sheet metal edge to create a new wall, 

you can enter a Bend angle in the Sheet Metal options to set the angle between the two walls and you 

can enter a Bend radius value to set the inside radius of the bend. The Bend angle option measures the 

angle from the flat state of the sheet, which is now consistent with the Bend tool’s Bend angle option. 

When you specify the bend angle, the pull handle immediately changes to indicate the specified direction. 

Previously, the handle changed only after the drag action. 

If you have multiple flat sheet metal parts with different thicknesses, when you pull an edge of any of the 

parts, the properties menu will reflect the correct Bend radius thickness. The thickness is determined at 

creation, for the part with that particular thickness. Thickness can only be changed in the properties 

menu. Previously, the bend radius value did not reflect the correct value of the selected object. 

Page 26


If you pull an edge parallel to the top of the sheet with the Pull tool, it now creates a joggle, as shown in 

the following figure. 

Pulling a thickness face up to another sheet metal face no longer makes a separate solid. 

When you pull a wall up to an angled wall, the wall now merges correctly to the 

walls from which it extends, as shown in the figure on the right. This action no 

longer creates two separate walls. Note that the extension and angled wall do 

not merge – a small gap is maintained. 

You can now create a swept sheet metal wall by selecting a tangent chain of 

edges and pulling them perpendicular to the chain, as shown in the following 

figure. These swept sheet metal walls can be unfolded. 

When you pull an angled sheet metal wall, the neighboring wall is no longer skewed. Instead, it is 

modified so that it does not maintain the junction, as shown in the figure. 

You can now use the Revolve tool guide in the sheet metal Pull tool to make angled end faces. 

Move tool 

Moving a wall with edge reliefs no longer distorts the reliefs. 

You can now move joggles and edge reliefs with the Move tool. (The Move 

handle is not displayed for notches or corner reliefs because they cannot be 

moved.) 

You can now move the walls between joggles, as shown in the figure on the 

right. 

You can now rotate walls that are split on an edge about the bend junction. You 

can also use the Move tool to translate the wall shared by the each of the walls. 


Page 27


In the following example, two walls are split at an edge, both bent at a 90 degree angle from the base face 

and pulled in opposite directions. You can now rotate these walls and translate the base face with the 

Move tool. 

You can now translate a wall that has four adjacent joggles with the Move tool: 

When you move a wall with a hem, the hem used to disappear and create just a bend instead in its place. 

Now the hem follows the translation of its parent wall. 

Bend tool 

You can create a bead with the Bend tool by selecting the Create Bead option. 

A new Select Anchor Point tool guide was added to the 

Bend tool. Select this tool guide to select the face to 

remain fixed when the body is bent, as shown on the 

right. 

The Bend tool can now create joggles. 

To create a joggle: 

1. Select the Bend tool. 

2. Use the Select Cutter Point or Select Two Cutter Points tool guides to create the bottom bend of 

the joggle. 

3. Select the Create joggle tool option. 

4. Enter values in the tool options: 


Bend angle sets the angle for both bends of the joggle 

Bend radius sets the inside radius for both bends of the joggle 

Page 28



Joggle height is the measurement between the top of the sheet going into the bottom 

bend and the top of the sheet coming out of the top bend 

5. Use the Select Anchor Point tool guide to select the face to remain fixed when the rest of the 

body is bent to create the joggle. 

The second joggle line is previewed when you select the anchored face. 

6. Click the Complete tool guide to create the joggle. 

To create a joggle from existing bends: 

1. Select two bends with a face between them. 

2. Right-click and select Create Joggle From Bends. 

The face between the two bends is added to the joggle, and the highlighting color changes from 

purple to magenta. 

3. Set the joggle options. 

4. Click the Complete tool guide to create the joggle. 

To return a joggle to two independent bends: 

1. Right-click the joggle. 

2. Select Explode Joggle from the context menu. 

A status message verifies that the selection is a joggle. The bends remain selected so that you 

can right-click and select Create Joggle From Bends again to immediately return them to a joggle. 

You can create the joggles shown in the following figures: 

You can no longer create an invalid joggle from junctions that are separated from each other. 

When creating a joggle, you can now anchor the face between the joggle’s two bends. 

When using the Joggle or Bend tools, if you click an empty location in the Design window while the Select 

Anchor Point tool guide is active, all previous work is cleared and the Select Cutter Point tool guide is 

activated. 

You can now select a bend and modify the Bend Steps value in the Sheet Metal section of the Properties 

panel to instruct the operator and machine to create a large radius bend by bumping. A bumped bend is 

Page 29


one that is not “rolled” smoothly. Instead it is hit with a sharp tool, making a number of closely spaced 

sharp bends that together create a large bend. 

When you unfold a bumped bend, you can display the bend steps and bend dimension properties of the 

bend in the Unfolded window by making the Bends and Bend Dimensions layers visible in the layer dropdown 

in the Style group on the Display tab or in the Layers panel. 

Convert and Identify tools 

The Convert tool was split into two tools, Convert and Identify. The Convert tool is used when importing 

regular geometry into SC to convert the geometry into sheet metal geometry. Once this has been done, 

the Identify tool can be used to call out forms, joggles, hems etc. appropriately. 

When converting a solid to sheet metal with the Convert tool, when you click a vertex and create a corner 

relief. You can then select that corner relief and view and change its properties in the Properties panel. 

When converting to sheet metal, face pairs are now only shown in blue. Previously, faces were 

highlighted in green and cyan. 

You can now CTRL select more than one body to convert to sheet metal parts. 

The Convert tool now detects end faces that are not square, as shown on 

the right. The edges of these sharp faces are displayed in red so that they 

can be squared or classified as a junction. Click the edges to square them 

or create a junction, as appropriate. When a thickness face needs to be 

squared, the edge you click determines the length of the sheet metal wall. 

You can now find joggles with the Convert tool. To find and identify a 

joggle: 

1. Select the sheet metal body you want to convert. 

2. Click the Select Joggles tool guide. 

3. Click a bend of the joggle. 

4. Ctrl+click the second bend of the joggle. 

5. Click the Create Joggles tool guide to create a joggle object. 

When working in the Convert tool, you can now create a notch by clicking a vertex or thickness edge 

when the Assign Objects tool guide is active. 

The Identify tool allows the identification of beads, forms, hems, joggles, notches, and gussets. Certain 

geometry is automatically identified and highlighted in red. You will have to manually select the faces to 

identify hems and notches. The following table summarizes the current capabilities for automatic 

selection: 


Page 30

Type Automatic Manual 

Beads X X (Select faces) 

Forms X X (Select faces) 

Hems X (Select bend) 

Joggles X X (Select two bends) 

Notches X (Select faces) 

Gussets X X (Select Faces) 

To use the Identify tool: 



1. Convert geometry to a Sheet Metal part by using the Convert tool in the Import Group on the 

Sheet Metal tab. 

2. Click the Identify tool in the Import Group on the Sheet Metal tab. 

Identifiable geometry is highlighted in red. 

3. Choose the Forms, Hems, Joggles, Beads, Notches, or Gussets tool guide, depending on the kind 

of geometry you want to identify. 

Some geometry is automatically identified and other geometry must be manually selected and 

set to the geometry type using the Complete tool guide. 

4. The geometry is highlighted in the appropriate color based on the geometry type (form, relief, 

gusset, etc.). 

When using the Identify tool, you can now complete the creation of identified objects by pressing the 

Enter key or double-clicking the object. 

You can now identify gussets, as shown in the 

figure on the right. Indicate the gusset with a 

single click on one of the faces. Multiple 

gussets can be created at the same time by 

CTRL selecting one of the faces for each gusset. 

You no longer have to click the Complete tool 

guide in between each gusset. 

Unfold tool 

The default Home view in the unfolded part window is now the Top view instead of the Trimetric view. 

You can no longer drag unfolded sheet metal parts in the Unfolded window by dragging their vertices with 

the Select tool. 

If a chamfer is recognized as a form, it now unfolds based on the Flatten form as property for the sheet 

metal design. 

You can now unfold flange forms, as shown in the following figure. 

When you create a flange form on an inner loop by pulling the edge of the inner loop, edge reliefs are 

created automatically, as shown in the figure above. The edge reliefs are specified by the Edge Relief tool 

Page 31


in the Modify ribbon group. The relief is not yet classified as an edge relief; notice that there is no 

highlighting on the edge reliefs shown above. 

Identified gussets can now be unfolded. 

If there is not already a view of an unfolded sheet metal part in a drawing sheet and you unfold the part in 

the sheet, the General View tool is selected and a view of the flat part is previewed so that you can place 

it on the sheet, as shown below. 

Detailing 

New features were added for drawing sheets, including better visibility control of components within 

views and attachable symbols. 

The Structure tree in a drawing now displays assemblies and components under each drawing view, as 

shown in the figure. Previously, the design was a top level component and the drawing views existed 

under the model. 

Visibility control in drawing sheets 

You can now control the visibility of individual curves in component instances by right-clicking the curve 

and selecting Hide from the context menu or by checking or unchecking the box next to the curve in the 

Structure tree. Previously, the visibility setting applied to the curve in all component instances. 

You can now control the visibility of curves individually for each view on a drawing sheet by right-clicking 

the curve in the view and selecting Hide in Selected View from the context menu. Previously, the visibility 

setting applied to the curve in all views. 

Toggling the view state on a particular component in a drawing only hides or shows that component in 

that particular view. 

You can now right-click an object in a drawing sheet view in the Structure tree and select: 

� Show in all views to show that object in all views 

� Hide in all views to hide that object in all views 


Page 32


You can now choose Isolate in selected view from the context menu for drawing views from either the 

Structure tree or the view in the design window. When you click this option in the context menu, all of 

your geometry will disappear from that particular view and leave you with the one object you chose to 

isolate. All other views will remain with all objects shown. In the structure tree, you have to right click on 

a solid for this option to be available. In the design window, you can click on a face of the body you want 

to isolate and click the option. This option is not available for components. 

When you create a new view (general view, projected view, cross section, or detailed view) in a drawing 

sheet from another view in your drawing sheet which is already there, the visibility of objects is copied to 

the new view. 

Visibility of a model in a drawing sheet is independent from the visibility of a model in the design window. 

So if you hide an object in your design window you will still be able to see that object in your drawing 

sheet and vice versa. Also, if you insert a model into a new document, then the model appears with the 

visibility saved in the document. After inserting the model, the visibility of objects will be independent of 

the visibility of the saved document. Previously, inserting a model set all objects to visible. 

Multiple component and assembly views 

You can now create a drawing sheet that contains views of multiple internal components as well as an 

assembly view. 

To create a view of a component on a drawing sheet: 

1. Select the General View tool. 

2. Select the component from the Options panel. 


As you move your cursor over the drawing sheet to place the view, the model you selected is 

previewed at the cursor location. 

3. Click to place the view of the selected component on the drawing sheet. 

To create a view of the assembly in a drawing sheet that includes only a view of a component: 

1. Select the General View tool. 

2. Select the assembly from the Options panel. 

3. Click to place the view of the assembly on the drawing sheet. 

The assembly appears in the Structure tree as a root node. 

You can move the view of a component from one drawing sheet to another by dragging the view in the 

Structure tree. 

Once there is a view of a component on the drawing sheet, when you select the Bill of Materials tool, you 

can select the component in the Options panel to create a BOM for just that component. 

You can now right-click a root node in the Structure panel of a drawing sheet and select Open Root Part to 

display the design document for the component or assembly. In a drawing sheet opened from a 

component-only design document, right-click the component root node and select this option to display 

the design document for the full assembly. In a drawing sheet without any views, right-click the Drawing 

Sheets root node and select this option to display the design document for the assembly. 

When working in a drawing sheet that contains multiple components shown as root nodes in the 

Structure tree, you cannot combine or split geometry that is shown in different root nodes, since there is 

no relative placement defined between them. 

Drawing sheets 

You can now delete a drawing sheet that is currently displayed in a window. If you delete the drawing 

sheet from the Structure tree, the window closes. If the drawing sheet is no longer referenced by any 

Page 33



other open design document, it is removed from active memory. It is not deleted from other documents 

that reference the drawing sheet. 

When you externalize a subcomponent of your design, and your document includes a drawing sheet, 

SpaceClaim now saves a drawing sheet in the new, external document and modifies the drawing sheet in 

the original document as shown below: 

If the original drawing sheet Then the new, external document And the original drawing 

had… 

has… 

sheet… 

No views No drawing sheet Has no changes 

Views only of the externalized 

subcomponent 

Views, but none of only the 

externalized subcomponent 

Some views of the externalized 

subcomponent 

A drawing sheet with all the views Is deleted 

No drawing sheet Has no changes 

A drawing sheet with just the views 

of the externalized subcomponent 

Has no views of the 

externalized subcomponent 

If your drawing sheet view is skewed in the drawing window, and you have nothing selected, you can click 

Plan View to orient the drawing sheet to the drawing window. 

You can now right-click a view in a drawing sheet and select Use Last Sketch Plane. 

Cross-section views 

You can now publish 2D section views from drawings to 3D. To publish a 2D view 

to 3D, right-click the cross section view or cross-section indicators on the drawing 

sheet, or click the view in the Structure tree and select Publish to 3D. Published 

sections appear as a root node in the Structure tree. You can right-click the 

published cross-section in a Design window and select Clip with plane, as shown 

in the figure on the right. 

You can use the Move tool to move a published cross-section. 

The size of the arrow heads for the 3D section plane are now sized correctly 

when the view scale is something other than 1:1, as shown in the figure on the 

right. 

Sketch points not on the section plane no longer appear in a Cross Section view 

when you select Area from the Section Type property. 

Modular grid 

You can now select from several options for displaying a modular grid for all new views in drawing sheets: 

� Automatically show modular grid when two grid directions are parallel to the sheet: Two of the 

X, Y, or Z axes in the view must be parallel to the drawing sheet to display the modular grid. 

� Automatically show modular grid when at least one grid directions are parallel to the sheet: The 

X, Y, or Z axis in the view must be parallel to the drawing sheet to display the modular grid. 

� Do not automatically show the modular grid 

You can also modify the Modular grid properties in the Properties panel. 

Page 34


When the grid is displayed, mouse over or click a grid label to display the handles, and then drag the 

handles to expand or shrink the grid dynamically, as shown in the following figure. 

Symbols 

You can now copy and paste inserted symbols within the same drawing sheet. 

When you enter a value in any symbol’s Rotation property, it now rotates counterclockwise. 

When inserting a symbol, you can now attach it to a geometry reference and set 

the orientation of the symbol in relation to that reference. When creating the 

symbol with the Create Symbol tool, a small origin handle appears, as shown on 

the right. Move this origin handle to set the origin of the symbol. Then, select one 

or more of the following new tool options: 


Allow attaching placements to geometry to attach the origin point of the symbol to 3D edges and 

curves. You must select this option to create an attachable symbol. 

Orient placements normal to geometry to orient the symbol perpendicular to the selected curve 

or face. 

Maintain an upward orientation for placements to automatically position a symbol oriented 

normal to geometry so that it is never upside down. This option is useful for annotation symbols, 

such as surface finishes, that should be perpendicular to their reference geometry and also right 

side up relative to the reading direction of the model. 

Click to attach the symbol to the highlighted geometry. The symbol will move with that geometry as it 

changes. To flip the attached symbol to the opposite side of the selected geometry, set the Flipped 

attachment property to True. 

Examples of attached symbols are shown below. 

Symbols attached 

to geometry using 

new options 

Same symbols with 

Flipped Attachment 

property set to True 

Same symbols 

moving with changed 

geometry 

Attaching symbols to 

the intersection of 

two curves 

You can now box-select section curves of a solid when creating a symbol in sketch mode. 

When editing a symbol, hovering over a sketch curve with your cursor/origin only finds intersections along 

the highlighted sketch curve. Previously, hovering over a sketch curve with your cursor/origin would find 

all intersections between all curves, making symbol-editing significantly slower. 

Page 35

Graphics Styles 



The Color drop-down in the Style ribbon group of the Display tab now has a new section named Target: 

This Target section only appears when a face or edge is selected, and the fields depend on what you 

selected. Selecting a target allows you to change the color of bodies in your model more easily, because 

you only need to select a face. When you change the target, the value stays for the duration of the 

SpaceClaim session. 

Measuring 

The measuring tool now has its own precision settings that override those in the Units SpaceClaim 

options. 

The angle between a sketch curve and a face is now measured by extending 

the sketch curve until it intersects the face and measuring the angle between 

the sketch curve and a line that is perpendicular to the surface at the 

intersection point. This angle is displayed by the Measure tool with the Angle 

to surface normal label. The angle between the extended curve and a plane 

tangent to the surface at the intersection point is displayed with the Angle to 

surface label, as shown in the figure on the right. 

You can now override the precision specified with the Primary precision 

option in the Units SpaceClaim options when using the Measure tool. Select 

the Precision option and enter new values in the Precision and Angular Precision fields. The precision 

value is stored permanently as a user setting. 

If you measure two objects that touch, the Measure tool displays the distance as zero and displays 

(Coincident) next to that value. If you measure two parallel objects, the tool displays the angle between 

the lines or planes as zero and displays (Parallel). If the value is zero, but one of these labels is not 

displayed, then the objects are not actually touching or parallel; the value is displayed as zero due to the 

precision setting used to measure the distance or angle. 

You can now measure the combined length of multiple selected sketch curves, edges, or faces (measures 

the combined length of the faces’ perimeters). The Measure tool displays the combined length with the 

Overall Length label. 

Repairing 

When using the Small Faces tool, you can now select the Select Sample Face tool guide to select a face 

and set the value in the Maximum area field to the area of the selected face. 

Preparing 

Beam Section properties can now be edited in the Properties panel by highlighting values and changing 

them accordingly. This allows for beams to be created which have different geometry characteristics from 

their profile sketches. 

Page 36

When using the Volume Extract tool, you can now hover over a face with 

internal edge loops to pre-highlight the edge loops for selection, as shown in 

the figure on the right. Click to select the pre-highlighted edge loops. 

When selecting edges in the Volume Extract tool, you can click a selected edge 

to de-select it. 

You can now query-select edge loops on faces obscured by other geometry 

when using the Volume Extract tool. 

Importing and exporting 

SpaceClaim 2011 has added interoperability with the following formats: 

� CATIA V5 R20 

� Parasolid v23 

� Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5 support* 

� SolidWorks 2010 support* 

� Siemens NX 7.5 support 

� Enhanced VRML colors and control 

� DXF and DWG translators support more entity types 

� STL import as mesh 

*Originally released with SpaceClaim 2010 SP1. 



When you are spinning an STL model, the center of the STL faceted data is used for Spin-on center. 

The Create multiple documents when importing assemblies SpaceClaim file option is no longer selected 

by default. When this option is not selected, if you import an assembly from one or more files, they 

remain in one SpaceClaim file instead of being split into multiple files, one for each external component. 

SpaceClaim now stores graphics data (facets) in an open binary format to avoid the compression and 

decompression steps required by the previous XML format. This change increased the performance of 

graphic calculation and display for changed or loaded models by a factor of 11. The speed at which large 

documents are loaded and displayed increased by a factor of 1.7 as a result. 

Face colors are now saved when you export a VRML file. 

There are now new print resolution options to set tolerances when you export a VRML file, as shown in 

the figure below. Set these options on the SpaceClaim Options > File Options > VRML page. The Deviation 

and Angle sliders allow you to set the resolution of the VRML mesh. In a VRML model, the deviation is the 

distance between a chord drawn through a curved cross-section of the model and the curve’s most distal 

point. The angle is the angle that the chord line makes with a line tangent to the cross-section curve. 

You can now change the triangle faceting ratio by setting the Facet Aspect Ratio option when you export a 

VRML file. 

Page 37


When you export a design to DXF, curves created from solids and surfaces are now placed on the correct 

layer. 

When you export a design to DXF, the Save as Black and White option is unselected by default. 

There is now a new option for exporting CATIA V5 files called Simplify Spline Surface Data. The default 

setting is ON. 

Teigha 3.4.0 libraries have been added for importing and exporting AutoCAD files. There used to be two 

options: OpenDWG and Autodesk RealDWG. Now it has changed so that the options are Teigha and 

Autodesk RealDWG. 

There is now an option in the AutoCAD file settings called Insert hatch entities as. The default is Nothing. 

The option only works with Teigha but will be implemented for RealDWG in the future. 

JTOpen 5.3 libraries have been added to allow reading and writing of JT files which were created with that 

version. 

ID’s are now maintained for beam endpoints and segments when transferring to ANSYS. 

Multitouch 

You can now Ctrl+tap to remove query-selected edge loops with multitouch. 

The radial menu now supports secondary selection. For example, you can select one of the Pull tool 

guides, and then select loops of edges with the radial menu, whether or not a primary reference was 

selected. 

When the radial menu is displayed, touch input is processed only within the menu to minimize accidental 

dismissal of the menu. 

The Snap View tool was implemented for multitouch. Use a three-finger hold to activate the Snap View 

tool. Once the tool is active, tap for a left mouse click. Flick for a left mouse flick. Use a three-finger hold 

again to inactivate the Snap View tool. 

The four-finger box select tolerance was increased to allow your fingers to move while selecting. 

Previously, a very slight movement by any one of your four fingers interrupted the pre-highlighting. 

In the Pull tool, if you drag with one finger, starting on whitespace, then hover over an edge and doubletap 

with another finger, you can query select through the available edge loops. This behavior is the same 

as a simple double-tap. 

In the Pull tool, if you drag with one finger, starting on whitespace, then hover over a face and triple-tap 

with another finger, all the faces of the body are selected. This behavior is the same as a simple triple-tap. 

Two taps that occur within 600 milliseconds are now recognized as a double-tap to make it easier to 

display the radial menu on N-trig devices. 

When you connect a multitouch computer to a projector and then clone the display, the multitouch signal 

now adapts to the change and compresses the area of the screen so that it is useable for touch 

interaction. 

When a SpaceClaim session has windows on multiple multitouch displays, you can now sequentially use 

one or the other display for multitouch interaction. 

When you first open SpaceClaim on a multitouch display, you can identify the display to SpaceClaim with 

a single tap. (Previously, multiple taps were sometimes required.) 


Page 38

API enhancements 

© Copyright 2011 SpaceClaim Corporation. SpaceClaim and the SpaceClaim logo are trademarks of SpaceClaim Corporation. All other 

names mentioned herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. 


API v7 Final Release, with all other API versions still supported. Version 7 of the SpaceClaim API contains 

the following additions to previous versions: 

� Headless operation 

� SpaceClaim windows can be embedded in client applications 

� Remote access to communicate with SpaceClaim on another computer 

� Customizable properties panels, open and save dialogs, tool options, tool guides, mini-toolbars, 

and application options panels 

� Move tool support for custom objects 

� Access to custom symbols (blocks) 

� Hidden line image support 

� Access to assembly relationships 

� Access to much more sheet metal functionality 

See the API Release Notes for more detailed information.

SpaceClaim 2011 Release Notes

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