Sketch a profile

Start a sketch

A sketch lies on a flat plane: the bed, one of the two upright planes, or a flat face of a part you’ve already made.

Tap Sketch in the tool strip, or press ⇧Shift⌘CmdK.
Tap a plane or a flat face. The bed is XY (blue), the front is XZ (green) and the side is YZ (red).
The view turns square to the plane, and the sketch tools appear.

A plate on the bed with three translucent planes around it and a bar reading Tap a plane or a flat face, XY, XZ, YZ, Cancel — While you choose, only planes and flat faces respond. The bar's XY, XZ and YZ buttons reach a plane hidden behind the part.

To sketch on a face, select the face first, then tap Sketch. It opens straight on that face.

Touch and hold Sketch for a menu of planes: On XY (bed), On XZ (front) and On YZ (side). With a flat face selected, the menu also offers On selected face. Tap Cancel to stop choosing.

Draw shapes

The sketch bar sits at the top left of the view. Its tools come in four groups: Select, then lines and curves, then closed shapes, then Offset.

The sketch bar: Select; Line, Arc, Spline, Point; Rectangle, Center Rectangle, Circle, Polygon, Slot; Offset; the hand button; Finish sketch — Select | Line, Arc, Spline, Point | Rectangle, Center Rectangle, Circle, Polygon, Slot | Offset. Then Draw with finger and Finish sketch.

Tap a tool.
Draw on the plane. Tap each point, or drag from the first point to the last.
Follow the pill under the bar. It names the tool and the next point to tap.

Draw with Apple Pencil. Your finger still turns the view, so a stray touch never draws. To draw with your finger, tap the hand button, Draw with finger. Then one finger draws, two fingers pan and a pinch zooms.

Click each point, or drag from the first point to the last.

A sketch seen from above: a 60 by 30 mm rectangle with a circle, and a smaller rectangle being drawn with 14 mm and 12 mm sizes beside it — A Center Rectangle on its way. Its size shows as you drag. The shapes that are closed are shaded: they're profiles.

Tool	How to draw it	Key
Select	Tap shapes to select them, drag to move them.	`V`
Line	Tap each point. Tap Done, or tap the first point again to close the outline.	`L`
Arc	Tap the start, then the end, then a point the arc passes through.	`A`
Spline	Tap the points the curve passes through, then tap Done.	`B`
Point	Tap once. A point is something to snap to; it makes no profile.	`.`
Rectangle	Tap two opposite corners.	`R`
Center Rectangle	Tap the centre, then a corner.	`T`
Circle	Tap the centre, then a point on the circle.	`C`
Polygon	Tap the centre, then a corner. Set Sides in the inspector first.	`P`
Slot	Tap the centre of one end, then the other, then tap to set the width.	`S`
Offset	See Offset a shape.	`O`

Line, Rectangle, Center Rectangle, Circle and Polygon also draw with one drag, from the first point to the last.

When the bar runs out of room, for example in portrait or with the browser open, the less-used tools move into More tools (…). With a keyboard, a drawing tool’s key also works outside a sketch: it starts a new sketch with that tool. Esc drops the shape you’re drawing.

Snap to what’s already there

As you draw, the point under your Pencil jumps to nearby geometry, so lines meet exactly and shapes line up. Fillet snaps, in this order, to:

the ends and centres of shapes, sketch points, and places where two shapes cross
midpoints of lines and arcs, and the quarter points of circles
a dashed orange guide, level with or straight above any point
the line a straight edge would make if it went on
the grid

Edges of parts that lie in the sketch’s plane snap too. Sketch on the top of a plate and you can snap to its outline and the centres of its holes.

A line being drawn whose end sits where a dashed horizontal guide and a dashed vertical guide cross — Two guides cross under the Pencil: the end is level with the upright's top and straight above the base's start.

The marker on the snapped point says what it caught:

Marker	Snapped to
Square	An end or a sketch point
Triangle	A midpoint
×	A crossing
Diamond	A quarter point of a circle
Ring	A centre

The grid step is in the inspector under Snap to grid: Off, 0.1, 0.5, 1 or 5 mm. It starts at 1 mm.

Type exact sizes

Fillet has no constraints. Each shape keeps its own sizes, and you type them in the inspector.

Tap Select, the arrow at the start of the bar.
Tap a shape.
Type its sizes in the inspector. A size applies when you press Return or leave the field.

A selected circle and the inspector showing Diameter hole_d with = 14 mm under it, Center X 45 and Y 15, and Construction and Delete buttons — Fields take numbers, sums and parameter names. Here the diameter is the parameter hole_d, which is 14 mm.

Any field takes an expression, such as 40 / 2 + 3 or a parameter name. Change the parameter later and the shape follows.

Use parameters and expressionsName your sizes and change the whole design from one place.

Move and change shapes

With Select:

Tap shapes to add them to the selection. Tap one again to drop it, or tap empty space to clear the selection.
Drag a shape to move all the selected shapes. They snap as they move.
Drag the end of a line to move only that point. Lines that meet there follow, so a closed outline stays closed. The points of a spline drag the same way.
Tap Delete in the inspector, or press ⌘Cmd⌫Delete, to remove the selected shapes.

Construction lines are dashed. They help you place things and they snap, but they never make a profile. Use them for centre lines and for the axis of a revolve.

To draw them, turn on Draw construction lines in the inspector.
To change shapes you’ve drawn, select them and tap Construction, or press X.

Offset a shape

Offset draws a copy of an outline a set distance away, like the wall of a box.

Tap Offset, the last tool on the bar.
Tap a line, arc or shape. Every shape joined to it end to end comes along.
Tap where the offset should pass. The distance shows as you drag.

You can also drag away from a curve to pick it and set the distance in one go. If the offset would fold over or shrink to nothing, the pill says so and nothing is placed.

Finish the sketch

Tap Finish sketch at the end of the sketch bar, or press ⌘Cmd↩Return. When the window is narrow, the button sits at the foot of the inspector instead.

The closed shapes are now profiles, ready to extrude or revolve. To change the sketch later, tap it in the browser’s Sketches list or tap its step in the timeline. Steps made from it update to match.

Extrude, revolve and Press PullTurn a sketch into a solid, cut pockets and push faces.

Questions

Why doesn't my finger draw?: Fingers turn the view unless Draw with finger is on. Tap the hand button on the sketch bar. If you try to draw with your finger twice, Fillet offers to turn it on for you.
Why isn't my shape shaded?: Only closed outlines become profiles. Check that the ends meet (drawing onto an end snaps to it), and that the shape isn’t a construction line.
Can I type a size while I draw?: On the Mac, yes: press Tab with a shape in progress and type the size. On iPad, draw the shape, then type its sizes in the inspector.
Can I make two lines stay parallel?: Not yet. Fillet has no constraints. Snapping lines things up as you draw, and expressions keep sizes in step.