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AddPlyby Addcomposites

Guided exercise

First laminate: a four-ply [0/+45/-45/90]

Open a shipped planar example, confirm its four declared plies, save it, reopen it and export it.

Time about 15 minLevel BeginnerExample Four-ply laminate with a cutout

This page prints cleanly to sit beside the workspace.

Prerequisites

  • A desktop browser with mouse input; the 3D viewport needs room and a pointer.
  • The application open at /app. No STEP file is needed for this exercise.
  • Browser storage enabled for this site, so Save project can work. The workspace says so plainly if it cannot.

Starting example

Label
Four-ply laminate with a cutout
Open from
CAD laminate workspace → Tools → Templates → example library card (Opens in CAD · preview limited).
Basis
Synthetic starter

A synthetic starter, not a published part. Its stack is exactly [0, 45, -45, 90] and it carries a 40 x 40 mm cutout; the cutout is retained as design intent and does not change the four declared angles. Flat 8-ply laminate is the other [0/45/-45/90] family starter if you prefer a symmetric eight-ply stack.

Open workspace All tutorials

  1. Open the CAD laminate workspace

    Go to /app. The CAD laminate workspace opens by default. If the composites bench is showing instead, press CAD laminate (multi-face) on the menu bar.

    Controls this step usesCAD laminate (multi-face)CAD laminateToolsOpen workbench

    Expected: The header shows the active project name (Untitled project until you name one) and one of the save chips: Saved, ● Changes not saved, ● Not saved or Saving…. The status bar reads CAD laminate · N faces · N tooling groups · N regions · N plies.

    Note: Tools → Open workbench opens the specialist laminate tools and keeps this CAD design loaded; it does not discard it.

    Report this step ↗

  2. Open the shipped four-ply example

    In the ribbon choose Tools → Templates. In Example library, filter if you like, find the card Four-ply laminate with a cutout (Opens in CAD · preview limited) and press Open in CAD.

    Controls this step usesToolsTemplatesExample libraryFilter examples…Four-ply laminate with a cutoutOpen in CAD

    Expected: The example becomes an editable CAD laminate: one measured planar face, one tooling group, one region and four plies, shown in the status bar and in the Ply stack. The notice says the cutout is retained, not previewed, and the region list says Cutout retained · not previewed in the viewport: the 40 x 40 mm cutout is kept in the design, but the viewport may draw only the region’s outer outline and cannot show the hole or a filled clipped region.

    Note: Only cards marked Opens in CAD have an Open in CAD button. Cards marked Needs inspection or Opens in the composites bench have no Open button and state why on the card.

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  3. Confirm the four declared orientations

    Press Ply stack. Read Declared ply-intent, then use Edit on each ply to see Angle (°) and Zero reference. Change nothing yet, or change it and press Apply changes.

    Controls this step usesPly stackDeclared ply-intentEditAngle (°)Zero referenceApply changesRevert

    Expected: Four hatched layers running 0°, +45°, -45° and 90°, measured from the reference line marked 0° →. The ply list names four plies; the Declared angle column appears in the plybook later.

    Note: A ply angle here is declared design intent against the shown reference. It is not a solved fibre direction and nothing drapes it.

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  4. Give the plies a material

    Press Materials. The example already references one material: select it and confirm or edit Name, Form, Nominal ply thickness (mm), Thickness basis and Process state, then press Apply changes. To author your own instead, press New material, fill the same fields (plus optional Areal mass (g/m²) and Provenance) and press Create material, then rebind each ply in Ply stack under Material reference.

    Controls this step usesMaterialsNew materialNameFormNominal ply thickness (mm)Thickness basisProcess stateAreal mass (g/m²)ProvenanceCreate materialApply changesMaterial reference

    Expected: Every ply names a material record, and the material panel shows which plies reference it. Optional fields left blank are stored as not declared rather than guessed.

    Note: A material record is authored design intent, not an approved material basis, and this build computes no mass from it.

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  5. Name and save the project

    Choose Tools → Model browser, type a Project name (for example First laminate tutorial), then press Save in the title bar.

    Controls this step usesToolsModel browserProject nameSave projectSaved

    Expected: The header chip changes to Saved. File → Projects (n) now lists the project under Projects in this browser.

    Note: Projects live in this browser and this site address only. They do not sync; Export project… is the portable copy.

    Report this step ↗

  6. Inspect the unified laminate summary

    Choose Deliver → Export, then Summary…. Expand Additional analysis · overlapping coverage and material mass basis for the extra measurements.

    Controls this step usesExportSummary…Laminate summaryDeclared pliesOrientation referencesLocal declared thicknessNominal material usageNo arrangement was measured.UNRESOLVED — no usage is claimed.Current — this summary describes the design on screen.

    Expected: Declared plies is 4 and the summary lists the four orientation references. For this cutout starter it does not show a union area or a material usage figure: Measured union area and local declared thickness reads No arrangement was measured (evidence MISSING), and Nominal material usage reads UNRESOLVED — no usage is claimed. The union area needs a measured arrangement of at least two regions and this starter has one. Usage needs an exact clipped area for the cutout region, which this build does not measure for a region with a hole; the whole face area is not substituted. The summary still states Current — this summary describes the design on screen.

    Note: The summary is a DECLARED NOMINAL BUILDUP over measured CAD geometry — not a cured thickness, not a drape, not a producibility verdict and not a whole-part map. It quotes a number only where measured evidence exists.

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  7. Reopen it and verify the laminate survived

    Press File → Projects (n), then Open on the saved project. Wait through Opening a project, then press Ply stack.

    Controls this step usesFileProjectsOpenOpening a projectPly stack

    Expected: The project reopens with the same four plies and the same declared angles; Declared ply-intent shows four layers again. The cutout region again reads Cutout retained · not previewed in the viewport.

    Note: Opening rebuilds the exact geometry from the stored BRep, so it can take as long as the original import.

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  8. Export a supported artifact and read what it claims

    Press File → Export project… for a portable backup, and Deliver → Export → Export HDF5… for the open exchange file. Choose Deliver → Export → Export for AddPath… only when you want the design-intent handoff (Exercise 4 covers it).

    Controls this step usesExport project…Export HDF5…Export for AddPath…ExportFile

    Expected: A portable project file, or an .addply.h5 file, downloads with a notice naming exactly what it carries.

    Note: Export project… stores authored inputs only and is a backup, not the local project. The HDF5 file is AddPly HDF5 1.2: design intent and selected STEP surfaces only, with no fibre paths, courses, drape, verdict or machine program. HDF5 is an open format, but this is AddPly’s own profile, not a vendor schema.

    Report this step ↗

← Back to the guide

Completion checklist

  • The status bar and Ply stack both report four plies, declared 0, +45, -45 and 90.
  • Every ply names a material record that resolves.
  • Save project reports Saved, and the project reopens with four plies after File → Projects (n) → Open.
  • Summary… opens, shows Declared plies = 4, and states the summary is Current.
  • A portable project backup and/or an AddPly HDF5 1.2 file is in your downloads.

Download a feedback report for this exercise ↗. The report stays local until you choose to share it.

Reset and recovery

  • Undo and Redo step through edits in the CAD workspace header.
  • To start over, press File → New project. If work is unsaved the guard offers Save to this browser first, Export a backup first, Discard and continue or Keep working.
  • To recover the saved copy, press File → Projects (n) and Open it again. The example itself is always re-openable from Tools → Templates.
  • If a save cannot be kept, the header shows ● Not saved and Export project… still writes the portable file.

Why this matters

Everything downstream is a view of authored inputs. Once you can name a ply, give it a material, save it and reopen it unchanged, you can trust that the summary and the exports describe the design you actually made.

What this exercise does not claim

  • No drape, fibre path, course or machine program is computed or implied.
  • No strength, stiffness, mass, buckling, producibility, qualification or performance result is claimed.
  • The synthetic starter is not a published or delivered part.

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