Side panels and floating cards: peek, pin, resize and move

The Build page has a panel on each side of the 3D view:

• Left: the Recipe (your steps) and the Thing tree (pieces and connections).
• Right: Parameters, the Make list and Chat.

When you open a Thing, both panels are folded into slim rails, a column of small icons at each edge. The model gets the whole width.

Peek at a panel

Rest the pointer on a rail and the panel slides out over the 3D view. Nothing else moves. Move the pointer away and it folds back after a moment.

Click an icon on the rail to pick which tab you see, for example Chat on the right.

From the keyboard, press Tab until you reach a rail. The panel opens while the focus is inside it. Esc folds it away.

Pin a panel

To keep a panel open while you work, pin it:

• click the pin at the bottom of its rail, or the small round pin at the panel's top corner;
• or press [ for the left panel and ] for the right one;
• or press ⌘K and type pin.

A pinned panel is a normal column: the 3D view makes room for it. Unpin it the same way. Press \ (backslash), or ⌘K → Collapse panels, to fold both back to their rails.

Solid Vibes remembers your pins on this computer, so the editor opens the way you left it.

When a panel opens by itself

Sometimes a panel opens for a few seconds because there is something worth a look:

It floats over the view and folds away by itself after about 8 seconds. Move the pointer into it and it stays while you use it. A pinned panel only highlights the row, and keeps the tab you chose.

If your computer is set to reduce motion, panels appear without sliding.

Make a panel wider or narrower

Drag the inner edge of a panel, the edge next to the 3D view. The pointer turns into a double arrow. You can also click the edge and use the ← and → arrow keys. Double-click the edge to go back to the normal width.

The width is remembered for each side. A floating panel uses the same width. Panels can't get so wide that the model has no room left.

Floating cards

Some tools show a card over the 3D view: the connection editor, Join and Connect, Wiggle it, Fit check, Split, the smoothness check, the flowing-shape editor, and the forms for operations such as Extrude, Cut, Shell or Hole.

Cards always stay in the free part of the view: below the view cube, above the prompt bar and its toolbar, and left of the zoom buttons. If a card has more than fits, it scrolls. Look for the scrollbar along its right edge.

Move a card

• Drag its title bar. When you hover the title, a small grip appears at the top of the card.
• From the keyboard: press Tab to reach the title bar, then Alt + arrow keys to nudge it, or Alt + Shift + arrow keys for bigger steps.
• Put it back: double-click the title bar, or press Alt + Backspace.

Each kind of card remembers where you put it, so the connection editor opens where you left it last time. Cards never jump around when you select something else. If the free space gets smaller, for example when you pin a panel, the card stays inside it.

Smaller windows

The panels show on windows about as wide as a tablet held sideways (the left one) or a small laptop (the right one). On narrower windows they stay hidden, as before.