Session 1: Navigating MachineBuilder

Take a tour of Vention’s Cloud-CAD platform, MachineBuilder. You’ll learn about different menus, part categories, and settings available to you as you design your machine.

Opening MachineBuilder (0:14)

- To access MachineBuilder, log in to your account and click ‘Create new design’ to begin building

- Select the type of application you wish to design or select ‘Blank Design’ to create your custom machine

- Enter a title and additional information about your design in order to get started. You can always come back to edit the design properties later on

Parts menu (0:38)

- On the left, you have the parts menu, which includes all our parts grouped into categories; from structural, frame accessories, fixtures and tooling, and many more. You can browse by categories or by brands

- At the top of the parts menu, you may access our additional parts menus, including your own imported parts, as well as public parts, made available to all users

Adding a part to our design (1:03)

- To add a part to a design, click the part in the parts menu, and click again to drop it in the 3D workspace. If you are adding an extrusion, you will also have the ability to resize the extrusion at that moment

- When you left click on a part, the navigation compass appears, offering the option to move and rotate, resize, anchor or unanchor a part, or attach or detach parts

- Right click on the part for more options, such as make transparent, hide, delete, and highlight connected parts

Connecting parts (1:38)

- We often refer to the Vention ‘Parts Menu’ as a ‘click-and-click interface’. When connecting parts together in the workspace, the navigation compass will appear. Use the left/right arrows on the compass or on your keyboard to toggle between various connection options for the selected part

- To slide a part along its degree of freedom, simply click the part and drag it along its displayed slider

View orientation (2:02)

- At the bottom left corner, you have the 3D cube to help orient your design, you can click on any face to jump directly to that view, or click and hold to rotate

Main menu (2:17)

- At the top left of your screen, you will find the ‘Main Menu’ bar, including the title of your design, the design ID and the version of the design you are currently working on

Project action menu (2:28)

- The small arrow next to your design title opens up your ‘Project action menu’, where you can access your design properties, bill of material, assembly instructions, and more

Quick actions (2:41)

- At the right of your design’s title you will find the quick action icons: this includes the Saving, the Bill of Material, the Revision management tree, which allows you to access all previous versions of your design, and who created them. Versions are saved automatically, so at any point, you can open a different version of your design which has been previously saved. And finally the Snapshot tool, where you can easily update your design thumbnail for easy retrieval among all the designs in your team dashboard

Menu (3:15)

- In this menu, you can create new designs, open existing designs, insert a component, save, and more

- One exciting feature is the possibility to import other CAD files to your design by clicking and selecting the file. SolidWorks, Catia, Inventor, Step and IGS are all supported file formats

- From the ‘Help menu’, you can access tutorials directly or discover the CAD’s useful keyboard shortcuts organized by assembly essentials, view or orientation mode, or tools

- Access the CAD settings from the menu: from here, customize your MachineBuilder view and display units, toggle on and off selected toolbars, adjust your visual display preferences, smart design features, and behaviours linked to your mouse preferences

General design toolbar: left to right (4:08)

- Along the top of the screen you will find the ‘General design toolbar’. Here you will find the parts annotations where you can see the price of each part, the serial number, and or the dimensions. To turn these off, simply toggle the icon and select ‘Hide annotations’

- Below, you will find the measurements tools: measure face-to-face, edge-to-edge, and point-to-point. To turn these off, simply click the measurements icon and select ‘Toggle visibility’

- To the right, you can select the units you wish to design in: you can work with either mm or inches

- Below, you can select the part snapping increments for your design, going from 45mm, 22.5mm, 11.25mm, 5mm, to 1mm. Note that working with the 45mm increment level will give you the best tradeoff between speed and connection option relevancy

- To the right, you will find the modify section where you have the possibility to undo changes, and group or ungroup components. To group components, simply multi-select the parts you wish to include in a group and then click the ‘Group’ button.

- The view section offers an array of options. You can select a preferred visual style to work with including: shaded line, shaded & wireframe, or simply shaded

- You also have the exploded view, which allows you to see how all the parts from your design fit together

- In your design structure, you can find your parts tree, listing all of the parts contained in your design with their associated fastener. If you’d like to locate a specific piece, simply click it, and it will appear highlighted inside the design

- Finally, you have the ‘Fit to view’ icon which brings all parts located in your 3D workspace into your screen view

- Next we have the, ‘Part connection’ section of the toolbar. The point-to-point connection which allows you to manually create a connection between two parts that are floating in your 3D workspace

- The connection checker ensures that all parts are properly connected in your design

- In the ‘Design Validation’ section, you can request design support from our team of application specialists. You can select the type of help you are seeking as well as the scope

- You also have the option of using the ‘Automated design check’ to make sure all proper connections are made, and that no extrusions are interfering with each other

- For new users, you may want to take a look at our instructor feature. By toggling ‘on’ the instructor, a window will appear, generating suggestions and comments when you click on different actions in the MachineBuilder

Collaborate (6:44)

- On the far right of your toolbar, you will find tools to facilitate collaborating with your team. You can leave and edit comments about your design for your teammates

- You also have the option of exporting your design as a STEP file, which will allow you to import it to different 3D softwares, such as SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or Catia

- The share icon allows you to add collaborators to your design, as well as publish it to the community

Add-ons and software (7:11)

- At the bottom of the standard parts library, you will find the add-ons and software buttons. Use those to complement your design bill of material before ordering. Note that these parts will not appear in the 3D workspace

Price (7:28)

- As you design the price of your assembly will be calculated in real-time. Clicking the cart icon will also display the estimated assembly time and weight of your design. You will also be able to download and share a pdf quote

Bill of material (7:40)

- To view your Bill of Material, simply click on the quick action and this will open a new tab in your browser. Here you will find an itemized list of all the parts included in your design

Check out (7:51)

- When you are done with your design, and ready to order, simply click the shopping cart to move through the checkout process