Functionality & Features

Right-Click Context Menus

Right-click context menus added to quickly access element editing features.

Freehand Rotation

Rotating elements freehand using Alt will snap to angles by default. If you needed to rotate to a specific angle, this was previously not possible with this feature. The granularity of the angles can be adjusted on the fly using the scroll wheel. If users want to truly freehand rotate, angle snapping can be disabled in Preferences > Pattern Editor > Snapping

Snapping

There is now a visual around your cursor when snapping, indicating the region where snap points can be generated. The size of this circle and whether the visual is shown can be changed in Preferences > Pattern Editor > Snapping

Alternate Selector (Scale Selector)

PatternSmith 10 has two selector tools in the editor: the normal selector and the alternate selector. The alternate selector is sometimes called the scale selector because when dragging an endpoint it scales the entire element rather than moving just that point. This is especially useful for splines, Beziers, and polylines where you want to retain the same overall proportions and just scale the entire element to be larger or smaller. This is sometimes called a geosym.

PatternSmith 11 has changed to a single selector tool for everything and integrated the alternate selector functionality into normal selection. Instead of switching to a different tool, simply hold the Alt key and drag an endpoint. If you drag the element itself, it will begin freehand rotating. You can also activate scaling behavior while dragging an endpoint normally by holding Alt during the drag. This makes it much easier to switch between modes. You can also use other dragging modifier keys while scaling such as Ctrl to snap the endpoint or Shift to drag the endpoint vertically or horizontally.

Trim Tool Functionality

A second “mode” for the Extend/Trim tool has been added. This is called the Advanced Extend/Trim mode. It is an intersection based mode. Select an element and see all possible intersection points based on the current settings. This mode also allows for removing a portion of an element between two points.

To switch modes, click the button at the bottom of the tool window.

Standard:

Advanced:

Repeating Notches

In PatternSmith 10, you could add repeating notches along an element via the notch properties in the element properties. In PatternSmith 11, this has been moved into the Create Evenly Spaced Notches tool.

Plot Priority

Plot Priority has been renamed to Plot Setup in PatternSmith 11, and includes additional functionality for setting up a pattern for plotting. You can now manually set element directions instead of only being able to view them.

Element Properties

Various properties only apply to certain element types. For instance, only circles can be register markers. In PatternSmith 10, these properties were always shown on elements even if they didn’t apply to them. They would be disabled but still visible. PatternSmith 11 hides these properties if they don’t apply to the element, which helps to declutter the properties view.

Duplicate Polar Array

The hotkeys used by the Duplicate Polar Array tool have been changed. To set the center to the cursor location, press Shift + Alt. To set the center using a snap location, press Ctrl.

Font Text Tool

The text tool has been enhanced to include using Fonts. PatternSmith renders any Windows font installed on the local computer. The Fonts are rendered in an outline style. Font size is specified in points. 72 points = 1 inch. They can be plotted with a pen or converted to PatternSmith Elements for cutting. Note: These entities will take far longer to plot on the cutting machine than a standard PatternSmith text element.