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Quick Start

The Parts of the Screen​

PatternMaker Pro has four main parts: the Main Menu, the Toolbar, the Workspace and the Toolbox.

User Interface

  • Main Menu. This is along the very top. Some choices are grayed out until you open a draft.
  • Toolbar. This is just below the Main Menu. It holds the drafting tools, grouped by category, such as Points, Lines and Curves. A button with a small purple circle in the lower right corner opens a group of tools. Click a button to see the tools inside.
  • Workspace. This is the large area where you draw your pattern.
  • Toolbox. This is the shaded area to the right of the workspace. It shows the tool you are using.
warning

Only open one copy of PatternMaker Pro at a time. Working in more than one window can permanently damage your data.

The Workspace​

To pan (move the view), click and hold the left mouse button and drag. To zoom, scroll with your mouse wheel.

The workspace is a fixed size, and everything you draw must stay inside it. To see its edges, select Properties > Show Workspace Canvas.

The Toolbox​

At the top of the toolbox you will see details about your draft: its name, version, whether it has been memorized, the units, the selected layer and the measurement set in use.

When you select a tool, the toolbox shows what that tool needs. Each tool follows the same pattern:

  • The tool name is at the top. Click it to open that tool's page in this manual.
  • The instructions are just below the name. They tell you what to do next.
  • Save keeps your work and adds one to the draft's version number. Each version is kept, so you can step back with File > Undo. See Undo.
  • Cancel closes the tool without keeping any changes.

To make the toolbox wider or narrower, move your mouse to the edge between the workspace and the toolbox until the cursor changes to a double line with arrows. Then click and drag.

tip

Use File > Copy Draft to save a copy of your draft at an important point. The copy keeps all of its versions.

Start Your First Draft​

  1. Select File > New Draft.
  2. Choose a tool from the toolbar and follow the instructions in the toolbox. Each tool tells you what to do next.

If you are new to drafting and want to learn what each step means, see the PatternMaker Pro Academy. It teaches drafting from the beginning and links back to the tools in this manual.