Custom sprue tree

Auto-sprue gives a good tree for most jobs. When you want to lay the pieces out yourself, click Edit Sprue Tree under Generate. If there's no tree yet, it builds one first.

#Moving, turning and scaling

Click a piece to select it, then pick a tool from the bar at the bottom left of the view, or press its key:

Snap makes moves and turns go in steps. The feeds and the trunk follow as you drag, and scaling updates the metal and button weight. Press Esc to deselect.

#Spacing colours

While you edit, the wax is coloured to show where pieces are too tight:

• Magenta means too close to another piece, the trunk, the flask wall, the top or the sprue base.
• Cyan means inside the advised spacing, but still allowed.

A live Tree check line in the panel sums up the layout, and Tips for a good layout has advice.

#The tree check

When you export a custom tree, the app first runs a full tree check of 14 rules. They cover the room between pieces, the clearance to the wall, top, base and trunk, feed length, feeding the heavy section, pieces angled up, heavy pieces low, balance, wall thickness, the button against the pouring cup, the trunk in the base hole, and scaled pieces.

Each rule passes, warns, or flags a problem with the pieces named. Click a name to select that piece. Export anyway is always there if you're happy with it.

#Going back to auto

Clicking Generate sprue tree on a custom layout asks before replacing it. Your project file remembers that you're in custom mode.