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Design the pads in the pad workshop

Draw pad pieces full screen: shape with nodes, sizes, colour, thickness, pattern and tail kicker. They only show in the render.

Level 6 · Finish and render · Finish · 15 min

Before this: Dress the board and get a product render.

You’re going to design the board’s pads full screen: their shape, their sizes and their look, with a 3D view beside them.

Workshop pads are for the picture only: they show in the Finish mode render. They don’t change the board’s shape, the STL or the volume.

You need an .s3dx open. It helps to have been through Finish mode first.

1. Open the workshop

  1. If the editor, the accessories or the rescaling are open, close them first.
  2. Click the Pad workshop button in the right-hand bar.

Result: the deck appears large, seen from above, with the tail on the left. On the right you have 3D view, Pieces, Shape and Look.

If you came from Finish mode, the program goes back to it when you close the workshop.

2. Add a piece

In Pieces:

  1. Pick a preset: Like the pad on one of your boards, Rounded rectangle, Oval, Follows the rail with a margin or Two strips (center cutout).
  2. In the second drop-down, pick the base. The default colour and thickness come from it.
  3. Click Add pad.

The new piece is selected. Click another piece in the list or in the drawing to select it. The circle on the left of each piece shows or hides it in the render.

3. Shape it with nodes and handles

With the piece selected you see its outline with nodes (circles) and handles (squares).

  1. Drag a node to move the outline.
  2. Drag a handle to change the curve.
  3. Double-click on the edge to add a node. The shape doesn’t change until you move it.
  4. To remove a node, select it and click Remove node or press Delete.
  5. Smooth node decides whether the curve runs round through the selected node or makes a corner.

If a shape doesn’t fit on the board, the program doesn’t make the change and tells you.

4. Set the sizes

In Shape:

  • Name and Side: Both sides, Left only or Right only (facing the nose).
  • From the tail (mm) and To (mm from the tail): where the piece starts and ends.
  • Half width (mm): half the width of the piece.
  • Centre gap (%): 0 is one whole piece; with more, you get two strips.
  • Bevel (mm): the chamfer on the edges, from 0 to 10 mm.

Below, one line gives you the dimensions: to the tail, to the nose, length and the minimum distance to the rail.

Piece buttons:

  • Duplicate places a copy right next to the piece.
  • Split left | right turns a both-sides piece into two.
  • Mirror moves a one-side piece to the other side.
  • Remove pad deletes it.

5. Pick colour, thickness and pattern

In Look:

  1. Colour: the colour of the piece.
  2. Thickness (mm): from 0.5 to 15 mm.
  3. Pattern: Smooth, Diamonds or Grooves. With diamonds or grooves you get Pitch (mm), Angle (°), Groove width (mm), Depth (mm) and Relief (Sunk or Raised).

Base look brings back the colour, thickness and pattern of the base.

6. Change the thickness from tail to nose

A pad can be thicker at the back than at the front.

  1. Type Thickness at the tail (mm), for example 6.
  2. Type Thickness at the nose (mm), for example 3.

Between the tail and the nose, the thickness changes gradually. If you leave a field blank, the Thickness (mm) above applies.

7. Add a tail kicker

The kicker is a rail-to-rail bump at the tail of the pad.

  1. Tick Tail kicker.
  2. Kicker height (mm): from 0.5 to 40 mm.
  3. Kicker length (mm): from 5 to 300 mm, towards the nose.
  4. From the end of the pad (mm): where it starts, measured from the tail end of the pad.
  5. Kicker shape: Rounded, Ramp or Flat.

If a value is out of range, the program doesn’t accept it and tells you.

8. Look at it in 3D

3D view shows the deck with the pieces, their thickness, their kicker and their colour. Drag to rotate and use the wheel to zoom.

Note: the thickness, the kicker and the pattern only show in the render. The board’s shape, the .s3dx, the STL and the volume don’t change.

9. Accept or cancel

  • Undo and Redo (or Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y) step through the workshop changes.
  • Accept saves the pieces in the board’s finish, next to the .s3dx.
  • Cancel (or Esc) leaves without saving. If you’ve changed something, it asks you first.

Result: in Finish mode the new pads show in the render and in the image you save.

Common mistake: looking for the workshop pad in the STL or expecting the volume to change. Workshop pads are for the picture only: the STL comes out the same as before.