Preferences

There are many preferences that can be set. We encourage you to explore the Preferences window and use the search tool in this manual to help you find preferences that might be useful to you. Some of the especially useful Preferences have been explained below.

In many instances, you will see an Update check box on the right side. When this is checked, the default value will be saved and recalled the next time the tool is used. When it is unchecked, the default value will be used every time the tool is enabled.

General

Theme sets the color scheme of the PatternSmith window. The options are Light, Dark, or System Theme.

Choose your desired units for length and area using the Units dropdown.

Tooltip Delay controls the time delay between hovering the mouse over a tool and the display of the tooltip. A new user may want to set it to 0 ms. An experienced user might want to set it to 800 ms or more.

Managers can control what functions users have access to by clicking the Set Permissions button. You can set a password to control who can change these settings.

Generate Synopsis Job Summaries will save information about jobs that have been sent to the cutting machine for later analysis with the Synopsis reporting tool. This feature requires an additional license. Contact Autometrix for more information.

Renderer

Geometry Smoothing draws pattern outlines with a slightly wider pen, in order to improve anti-aliasing for a better display. Fill Outlining leaves a small gap between the pattern outline and the fill, for easier identification. These will affect the display only.

The Import/Export section contains preferences relating to the Importing and Exporting of files. The Pattern Optimization section allows PatternSmith to run optimization settings when files are opened.

The Material Library section shows the current Material Library Server you are connected to. If you want to discover a new server click Discover. If you want to disconnect from the server, click Disconnect.

Project Editor

The Project Editor section contains preferences relating to the Nesting View and some tools on the Nesting tab as well as tools on the Patterns tab.

Activate Tool Windows Automatically will select the appropriate tab in the Tool Window depending on your current task.

We recommend that you enable Save Projects Automatically to save your project at the intervals you set.

• Set the number of files you want saved and how often you want AutoSave to occur.

• Note that as a precautionary practice, AutoSave saves your project to a different location from your save location. Enter the AutoSave location. If a problem occurs, you can go to this location to find the last AutoSaved version.

Use the Nesting preference when you are not connected to a cutting machine, like a design-only workstation. You can set a default nest length that matches your cutting table. It will be used every time a new file is created.

Pattern Editor

The Pattern Editor section contains preferences for many settings relating to the Pattern Editor including default settings for all of the tools. Some common controls for tools are shown below.

Element Detection allows you to control how close to an element the mouse pointer has to be before the element is detected. Many tools have their own setting for this.

Miscellaneous

Preview allows you to see a preview of what the new element(s) will look like. Original will keep the original element on the screen.

Close Tool when set to Automatic, it will close the tool after every use. Manual will leave the tool open. To manually close a tool, press the Escape key, click the tool icon again, or click on the Select tool.

Hardware

This section is specific option auxiliary equipment provided by Autometrix for CadShot, HideShot, PrintShot, and Insight. These functions are described in their respective Help files.

Plugins

This section contains preferences specific to PatternSmith plugins. These functions are described in their respective Help files.