[Observation] Complexities and clarities: sketches and user guides

[NorthHighlander101]

I've been using Layerling for about a fortnight and with Stefan's help along the way. It has been revelatory compared to the other solid modelling packages I have tried and is a significant advance on them all.
May I make a couple of observations, please?
IMHO, Layerling is getting more and more features which is excellent. However, I am far from being a solid modelling expert. In my late 70s and wanting to use it for hobby purposes, this complexity is becoming bewildering. The various YouTube videos help a lot but I feel that Layerling is fast approaching the likes of Fusion and Blender whose learning curve is almost vertical and, for me, impossible to fathom to the point where I could not reasonably use them. Of course, I will probably be in the minority of Layerling users.
I turn to the excellent user guides but my main criticism is that, despite the fullness of the descriptions, the layouts of the guides make it difficult to find the information I am seeking if I don't read through sometimes many lines of words in a single paragraph.
Having written user guides, I know how much time it takes to write them. So, if I may offer my services to help restructure them, please let me know.....
I may be nit-picking but I feel that this is such a good package for the likes of me, it would be a shame that complexity and clarity fall by the wayside in the quest for ubiquity.

[henmedia]

@NorthHighlander101 thank you for writing this, and you're not nit-picking. You're right on both points: layerling keeps growing, and the guide has grown into long paragraphs that you have to read through to find one thing.

Two things help right now: the search at the top of the guide finds a word across all chapters, and the ? at the top of a part's settings opens the guide right at that shape or tool.

I'd gladly take you up on your offer. Could you pick the chapter that bothered you most and show here how you would lay it out? A rough outline of one or two sections is enough to see what you have in mind.

As for the complexity: the basics (shapes, moving, grouping, holes) work just as before, and the new tools stay out of the way until you go looking for them. If there's a spot where something new did get in your way, tell me where.

[uninteressant2026]

@NorthHighlander101 @henmedia
I've thought about that, too, but I'm still in the process of familiarizing myself with Layerling's many features and reporting any minor bugs.
I'd still be happy to offer my help here by proofreading the instructions and checking to see if the descriptions match reality.
I know from personal experience how easy it is to overlook a detail.

[henmedia]

@NorthHighlander101 thank you, Tony! Your draft didn't come through, though: GitHub drops attachments from email replies. Could you open this discussion on the GitHub page and drag the file into the comment box? Then I can look at it properly.

@uninteressant2026 thank you, Ingo, that's very welcome. Whenever a description in the guide doesn't match what layerling does, post it here or in a new issue with the chapter name, and I'll fix it.

[NorthHighlander101]

On 2026-11-05 14:26, Stefan wrote: @NorthHighlander101 [1] thank you for writing this, and you're not nit-picking. You're right on both points: layerling keeps growing, and the guide has grown into long paragraphs that you have to read through to find one thing. Two things help right now: the search at the top of the guide finds a word across all chapters, and the ? at the top of a part's settings opens the guide right at that shape or tool. I'd gladly take you up on your offer. Could you pick the chapter that bothered you most and show here how you would lay it out? A rough outline of one or two sections is enough to see what you have in mind. As for the complexity: the basics (shapes, moving, grouping, holes) work just as before, and the new tools stay out of the way until you go looking for them. If there's a spot where something new did get in your way, tell me where.

Hi Stefan Thank you for your reply and for not taking offence at my comments, after all the hard work you put into Layerling! I have very quickly taken the user guide paragraph for sketches and put together an example of the sort of thing I was meaning. It is very much a quick draft for your review, it needs work in order to be publishable. There needs to be some convensions on e.g. instruction colour and font (I have italicised 'click' as an example of an action). Comments as a result of an action being taken are shown in blue italic. Such are the conventions I am referring to. Note that I have used a serif font (good old Times Roman!) as IMHO it is easier on the eye, but tat might be my age! Please let me know what you think and if you want, I can take this further for you. Best regards Tony Hagon

[NorthHighlander101]

On 2026-11-05 14:26, Stefan wrote: @NorthHighlander101 [1] thank you for writing this, and you're not nit-picking. You're right on both points: layerling keeps growing, and the guide has grown into long paragraphs that you have to read through to find one thing. Two things help right now: the search at the top of the guide finds a word across all chapters, and the ? at the top of a part's settings opens the guide right at that shape or tool. As for the complexity: the basics (shapes, moving, grouping, holes) work just as before, and the new tools stay out of the way until you go looking for them. If there's a spot where something new did get in your way, tell me where. --

Hi again Stefan Further to the example user guide I have just sent you, I am replying to the above points: Yes, the search facility has been very valuable - as long as I know what I am searching for! That is my problem and lack of experience. The query at each part setting is especially useful. But here is an example of a difficulty I am having. I do not want to put a comment on Github as I want to try to fathom it out myself but I am having difficulty with sketches. You may remember helping me by drawing the various radius curves on the corner post for my carriage project. (Btw, your solution has worked fine and I will send you images of the result in due course). Your instruction is very clear but the difficult I have is understanding how sketches work. I am trying to draw two sketches in order to carry out the loft between them. But I don't understand how to draw a second object on the same sketch, if that is the proper method. I guess I am using my TurboCad experience and expecting the sketch workplane to switch to 3D and to draw the second sketch in a difference in the Z dimension. It was the Sketch User Guide that I was struggling with but I will persevere! Best regards Tony Hagon

[henmedia]

@NorthHighlander101 for a loft you don't draw both outlines in one sketch. Each sketch becomes a body of its own:

1. Draw the first outline and click Finish sketch. It stands as a flat body on the workplane.
2. Start a new sketch, draw the second outline and click Finish sketch again.
3. Lift the second body to the height you want with the black arrow above it.
4. Select both bodies and click Loft sketches. The loft runs from the bottom of the lower body to the top of the upper one.

For simple ends, such as a rectangle to a circle, the Loft shape in the shape library is quicker: you type both ends as numbers.

It is described here: Intersection (the paragraph on Loft sketches)

One thing to know: when you answer the notification e-mail, your reply is posted here in the discussion as well. Your example guide still didn't come through, as attachments get lost on that way. Dragging the file into a comment on the GitHub page works.

[NorthHighlander101]

Eureka! Many thanks for the key to unlocking the door, Stefan!
I suspected that separate sketches might be needed but I could see a way to create a new one.
The key was the 'w' to be able to use a surface as the new sketch workplane! All done now and the corner fits beautifully.
Like every in life, it's easy when you know how....

[henmedia]

@NorthHighlander101 thank you for the sample, Tony, it showed me what was missing. I've rebuilt the "Drawing" part of the sketch chapter along your lines, in the guide's own style: each tool has a card of its own with the icon it has in the toolbar and its key, one step to a line, and what happens then is marked with an arrow and set in colour. The page now also says that you put the workplane on a face with W before you start a sketch there, the step you were missing.

https://layerling.com/guide/sketches.html#drawing

It's only this one section for now, in English and German. Before going further I'd like to hear what you think, and anyone else reading here too: is it easier to find what you're looking for, or is it too much? @uninteressant2026, as you offered to check the descriptions, I'd be glad of your view as well.

Glad the corner fits! I'm looking forward to the photos of the carriage.

[NorthHighlander101]

Firstly, here is the sample of my edit of part of the User Guide for your consideration...
User guide TH Example.pdf

[uninteressant2026]

Draw a line, correct so far, but maybe we should add a hint, that layerline always snaps to the grid settings when you let go the shift key.
Arc ist ok for me
With Splines we should point out, why the first part is always a straight line, and how you can change this.
Freehand of course doesn't stick to the grid, but if you move the resulting points it does. That's ok, but also worth a hint I think.

[henmedia]

@uninteressant2026 thank you, these are good points, and I've added them as tips to the cards for the next version:

• Line: every point you click lands on the snap grid. With Shift held the 15° step comes first, so the end can lie between the grid lines.
• Bezier Curve: the first stretch only bends at its start if you drag at the first point too. Otherwise it leaves that point straight, and you can bend it later with the point's handle.
• Smooth Curve: at the ends of an open line the curve heads straight for the next point, so the first and the last stretch bend less than the others. Select the end point and drag its handle to bend them more.
• Freehand: the stroke ignores the grid so it follows your hand, but a point you drag afterwards snaps to it.

English and German for now, like the rest of the cards.

[henmedia]

@uninteressant2026 your tips are on the drawing cards now, with layerling 1.149.0: see Drawing tools in the guide.