Unyk Basics

Unyk is a software program created in tandem with 3D Printers in order to allow the users to prepare 3D objects/models for actual printing with any 3D Printer available in the market.

SCREEN LAYOUT

When Unyk starts, a new blank project appears on the Unyk screen. The following illustration identifies each part of the Unyk screen.

1. File Menu

2. Quick Access Toolbar

3. Title Bar

4. Slicing Tools

5. 3D Area

6. View Box

7. Quick View Bar

8. Object List

9. Main Toolbar

FILE MENU

1. New Project (Ctrl + N): creating a new project.

2. Open Project (Ctrl + O): opening an existing project.

3. Save Project (Ctrl + S): saving a project.

4. Save As: saving a project as another one.

5. Recent Objects: opening one of the recent objects.

6. Recent Projects: opening one of the recent projects.

7. Import From Project: importing items from a project saved.

8. Preferences (Ctrl + F4): configuring the preferences.

9. 3D Print (Ctrl + P): printing a project.

10. Help: containing the Unyk User’s Manual and all the necessary documentation for a good understanding of the software and the 3D printer.

11. About: providing you with the information about the Unyk software such as version number, update status, program information, copyright, etc.

12. Exit: Exit Unyk.

LEFT QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR

1. New Project (Ctrl + N): creating a new project.

2. Open Project (Ctrl + O): opening an existing project.

3. Save Project (Ctrl + S): saving a project.

4. Pick: selecting one or many objects and moving, rotating or rescaling it/them.

5. Rotate (F3): rotating both the platform and the object.

6. Panning (F4): selecting both the platform and the object and dragging them to another position.

7. Undo (Ctrl + Z): canceling or reversing the last command or commands executed.

8. Redo (Ctrl + Y): reversing the action undone.   

9. Add Note: adding a note to a part of the object marked with a blue circle.

10. Measure: measuring the distance, radius, angle, etc. between the parts belonging to the object.

RIGHT QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR

1. 3D Printer: selecting, viewing, editing or adding a printer.

2. Material: viewing details of the materials and selecting the material.

3. Thickness: showing the thickness of each layer to print.

4. Support: selecting, viewing, editing or adding supports.

5. Information: providing you with the following information:

6. PT: estimated print time.

7. VOL: volume of the object.

8. Feedback: letting you send your comments or report issues with the Unyk to us.

INFO! The estimated print time depends on the pre-selected Printer, Material, and Thickness. Therefore, it will be updated whenever you add or move an object.

TITLE BAR

1. The Title Bar is a bar located in the middle of the top bar of the Unyk screen and displays the name of the project being worked between two arrows.

2. It can contain many tabs showing the names of the opened/imported object, created support, and done repairs.

SLICING TOOLS

The Slicing Tools is a toolbar located along the left side of the Unyk screen and allows you to view or visualize the cross section of an object and export all the slice images of the object. Move the cursor to any point on the Slicing Tools bar. A detailed toolbar pops up along the left side of the Unyk screen

1. Height Bar: showing the height (mm) of the slice of the object calculated from the bottom of the platform according to the Z-coordinate.

2. Objects: showing the slice of the object with or without the object.

3. Parts: showing or hiding the parts of the object above the slice plane of the object.

4. Plane: showing the plane cutting the object and containing the slices, and a vertical ruler.

5. Hatching: showing the printed area of the object which is marked with a yellow net.

6. Slice Run: allowing the Height Bar to run automatically from the minimum point (the lowest point) to the max point (the highest point) of the bar.

7. Slice Settings: creating configurations for the slice run.

8. Slice Export: allowing all the slice images of the object to be exported when the whole object is inside the platform.

3D AREA

You visualizing all the objects inside the area. It includes:

1. Coordinate System (x, y, z): defines a frame of reference which is to measure the position, orientation, and other properties of the objects inside it.

2. Platform: is the three-dimensional area which defines the space/border within which the objects can be printed. If there are any objects or parts of the objects missing from the platform, or being not placed completely inside its boundaries, the job will not be printed.

VIEW BOX

Being located at the left bottom of the 3D Area and includes Orientation Box and Orientation Indicator. It lets you visualize the object in different angles or describe its position and orientation in the 3D Area.

QUICK VIEW BAR

1. Zoom: letting you magnify the Platform (Zoom Platform)/Objects (Zoom Objects)/a part of the 3D Area (Zoom Window) or enlarge (Zoom In)/reduce (Zoom Out) the 3D Area.

2. Shade: letting you visualize the object in six different modes: Shade, Triangle, BoundingBox, ShadeWire, Wireframe, and Transparent. The Transparent mode can be chosen together with one of the rest five modes.

3. Top/Front: letting you view the object in seven directions: Top/Front, Back, Front, Left, Right, Top, and Bottom.

4. Show/Hide: letting you show or hide visualization tools in the 3D Area such as Platform, Coordinate System (Coordinate), Orientation Indicator (Orientation), and Orientation Box; object information such as Dimensions, name (Tag), and Object Info. Moreover, you could make Ruler and Mark Menu appear or disappear to work with the object.  

OBJECT LIST

Located on the top right corner of the 3D Area. It lets you see the list of the objects shown in the 3D Area and the toolbar to work with the objects.

1. Select All: letting you select all the existing objects in the Object List/3D Area.

2. Clear Selection: letting you deselect the objects selected.

3. Invert Selection: letting you select the objects unselected and vice versa. If there is no selection, all the objects will be selected.

4. Repair All: letting you repair all the existing error objects in the Object List.

For each existing object in the Object List, there is an Object Square. You could see its current status (maximum of three statuses) with dim buttons or four function items surrounding the image of the object in the center with bright buttons by hovering the cursor over the Object Square.

1. Show/Hide Object: letting you show or hide the object.

2. Unload Object: letting you remove the object from the current project.

3. Repair Object: letting you repair the object.

4. Unload Object: letting you remove the object from the current project.

5. Create Support: letting you create/edit the object support

6. Show/Hide Support: letting you show or hide the object support.

MAIN TOOLBAR

The Main Toolbar is the bar located at the bottom of the Unyk screen containing the functions needed for the projects.

1. Import Object (I): letting you import one or more objects into the 3D Area.

2. Export Object: letting you save the object as a “.stl” file.

3. Unload Object (U): letting you remove one or more selected objects from the current project.

4. Move Object (M): letting you move an object or a group of objects inside the Working Area.

5. Orientate Object (O): letting you position an object or a group of objects inside the Working Area by rotating it/them in many ways.

6. Rescale Object (R): letting you change the size of the object to either smaller or larger.

7. Duplicate Object (D): letting you duplicate an object or a group of objects.

8. Mirror Object: letting you mirror an object or a group of objects.

9. Arrange Object (A): letting you arrange all the objects or selected objects inside the platform.

10. Mate Object: letting you arrange the position between an object and the bottom of the platform or between two or more objects.

11. Create Hollow (H): letting you create a hollow object by creating one or more shells inside the object or one shell outside it.

12. Wrap Object: letting you create a grid mesh around the outer surface of an object.

13. Merge Objects: letting you merge two or more objects into one object.

14. Create Holes (C): letting you create a number of holes in one or more objects.

15. Triangle Reduction (T): letting you reduce a number of triangles of the object.

16. Smooth Object (S): letting you smooth the object.

17. Cut Object (Ctrl + X): letting you cut the object into smaller parts in various shapes.

18. Add Label (L): letting you create an embossed or debossed text to print on the object.

19. Create Support: letting you create supports for the object manually, automatically or advancedly.

20. Add Level Support (Shift + A): letting you create level supports vertically inside the platform so that you could print many objects each time.