Documentation / User manual

The window and the workspaces

Studio's window has the menus and a top bar at the top, six workspaces in the middle and the machine bar at the bottom. Each workspace does one main thing. The machine bar shows the machine's state and the next step wherever you are.

The parts of the window

From top to bottom:

• the title row: the menus on the left, the window's name in the middle, the window's keys on the right;
• the top bar: the machine, the workspace tabs, the edition, the AI's state, the user level and ?;
• the workspace: the 3D view and the panels of the workspace you chose;
• the dock under the 3D view, in the workspaces that have one;
• the machine bar, the same in every workspace.

Studio has no status bar: the machine bar does that job.

The title row and the menus

The menus are File, Edit, View, Machine, Program, Simulation, AI, Tools and Help.

• Press Alt and a menu's letter to open it: Alt+F opens File.
• Press Alt alone to light the menu titles, then use the arrow keys, Enter and Esc.

While a menu is open, no key reaches the machine. A menu shows only the items of your user level (see User levels).

The top bar

From left to right:

• the brand mark: it opens File > Machine library…;
• the machine: its model, its name and its state. Click it, or press Ctrl+Shift+M, to switch machines: type to filter, choose with ↑ ↓ and Enter;
• the workspace tabs (see The six workspaces);
• the edition, for example Learning: click it to open Help > Licence…;
• the AI's state: AI off, AI on, AI connected or AI awaits your OK. Click it for the AI's settings (see The AI assistant);
• the user level: click it to choose another level;
• ?: the list of keyboard shortcuts.

The machine bar

The machine bar runs along the bottom of the window. From left to right:

1. The state: Idle, Run, Jog, Homing, Hold, Door, Tool change, Check mode, Sleep, Alarm, E-stop or Off.
2. The program: its name, the line it is on, the section it is in, a progress bar, and the time run and the time left. With no program it shows No program loaded, whether the machine is homed, the tool and the work offset.
3. The next step: No alarm in green, or Next step: and the key that does it. In an alarm it shows the alarm, the next step and All steps, which lists the steps back to work (see Alarms and what to do).
4. The clock: the simulation's time, its speed and the real speed it reaches. The hourglass key pauses the simulation.
5. The keys: Single block, Cycle start (F5), Feed hold (F6) and Stop (F7). The key Studio suggests is filled in; a key you cannot use now is dimmed.
6. E-stop (F1), the round red key at the right end.

In a narrow window the bar leaves out the clock's time first, then the program's section and times (they move into the tip), then the clock's speeds, then the words of the next step.

The 3D view

The 3D view shows the machine, the workpiece and the tool as they are now.

• Drag with the left button to turn the view, with the right or middle button to move it. The wheel zooms towards the pointer.
• The keys at the top left choose a view: isometric, front, right or top. Follow tool keeps the tool in the middle. Display turns the tool-tip trail and the program path on and off.
• Tool close-up shows the tool at the cut in a small picture at the top right. It shows in the Run workspace while a program runs.
• The chips at the bottom name the workpiece and the tool.
• Click the workpiece or the trail: the bar under the view tells you which program line made that point, and the listing goes to that line.

The same choices are in View > 3D view. View > Colouring colours the trail and the workpiece by feed rate, cutting force, chip thickness, chatter margin or program line (Engineer level and up).

The dock

The dock sits under the 3D view. Its tabs depend on the workspace:

Analysis, Diagnostics and shop mode have no dock.

• Program: the program's listing. Follow the line keeps the line being run in sight; the time bars show each line's time in this run or the last one.
• Curves: the run's readings over time.
• Console: what Studio and the controller said. Type a line of G-code or a $ command in the line at the bottom and press Enter to send it; ↑ and ↓ bring back the lines before.
• Messages: warnings and findings, grouped by where they come from. A red number on the tab counts the warnings.
• Tool table: the machine's tools.
• Inspection results: the part last measured with the touch probe, check by check - its design, tolerance, measurement, deviation and the twin's estimate (see Inspection).
• AI activity: what AI clients did on this computer's machines.

Press Ctrl+J, or click the arrow at the right end of the tabs, to fold the dock to its tab row.

The six workspaces

Switch workspaces with the tabs in the top bar, with Alt+1 to Alt+6, with Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab, or from the View menu. Pressing Cycle start in CAM or Program takes you to Run. While a program runs, the Run tab has a green dot.

Setup

Setup (Alt+1) gets the machine and the part ready, one step at a time: Power, Home, Setup, Tool, Zero, Program and Cut. The panel on the right follows the next step until you pick one. See Setting up a job; the machines, power and homing: Machines and power.

CAM

CAM (Alt+2) makes programs: the job's setup, shapes and operations on the left, the chosen item's fields on the right, Generate program at the bottom. See Making programs. Engineer level and up.

Program

Program (Alt+3) holds the programs and the example parts, the editor and a preview with the program's checks. See Programs and the editor.

Run

Run (Alt+4) runs the loaded program. The right column shows the position, the spindle and feed, the overrides, the cut, the panel's keys, manual control, and the tools and zero. See Running a program and resuming.

Analysis

Analysis (Alt+5) looks back at runs: their curves, each line's time and forces, and the stability lobes. Engineer level and up. See Analysis and diagnostics.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics (Alt+6) shows the machine's power chain, the controller's inputs and the drives, and lets you inject faults into the twin. Technician level and up. See Analysis and diagnostics.

Messages and what to do next

Studio tells you what happened, and what to do, in these places:

• the machine bar: the next step, or the alarm and the steps back to work;
• the dock's Messages tab: warnings and findings;
• the Console: each line from the controller and from Studio;
• Tools > Audit log… (Ctrl+L): everything, with who did it and when.

Machine > Do the next step does the step the machine bar shows, and only that step. When an alarm stopped a program, the steps end with the line to start again from (see Starting again from a line).

User levels

A user level shows what a person needs at that stage and hides the rest. There are five:

Each level has everything of the levels above it in the table. A new installation starts at Engineer.

To change the level, use Tools > UI level, the level in the top bar, or Tools > Settings… > General.

Light, dark and shop mode

View > Appearance chooses As the system, Light or Dark, and turns Shop mode (large) on or off. The two choices are separate: shop mode works in either look.

Studio's own panels change at once. Lists and text boxes that the system draws take the new look at the next start.

Shop mode is for working at the machine, at arm's length:

• the machine bar, its keys and the E-stop are larger, and so are the text and the listing;
• Run has its own layout: the position, the program and a large listing on the left, the gauges under the 3D view, the overrides, the panel's keys and the messages on the right, no dock;
• the 3D view has two view keys and no tool close-up.

Panels and their sizes

Drag the edge between two panels to change their sizes; double-click the edge to go back to the design size. The 3D view keeps at least 360 × 240 pixels at 100 % display scale. Panel edges move with the mouse only. View > Reset the layout puts every panel of every workspace back at its design size at once.

Studio keeps, for each machine, the panels' sizes, the dock's tab and whether it is folded, and the workspace you were in. It keeps the window's place and size for the next start.