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Interactive Slicer

The Interactive Slicer panel (the “Interactive Slicing” column under the viewer) lets you preview a candidate facet, inspect the exact meetpoints it would hit, and then paste the generated FSL command into the editor with one click. It is powered by the same renderer and meetpoint pipeline that the studio uses during normal execution, so the preview reflects the current geometry, symmetry, and girdle settings.

The slicer reads the most recent machine snapshot exposed by ProFacet’s engine. If the design has not been processed successfully, the panel still opens, but meetpoint and girdle lookups fall back to simple centre markers.

Panel layout

The slicing panel

  • Side – choose Up (crown) or Down (pavilion). The current side feeds every preview and determines the sign of the girdle offset.
  • Angle / Index – slider + number pairs that map directly to the machine angle (0–90°) and index (0–gear). Drag the slider for coarse changes, or type numbers for precise edits. While the pointer is over a slider, hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) to activate fine-grained mode.
  • Target – selects what the facet should touch:
    • None (hide preview) disables all overlays and buttons.
    • Center point uses cp (the centre axis) and asks ProFacet for the exact centre when context is available.
    • Girdle returns the girdle contact at the current index/angle using the gp helper.
    • Proper meetpoint pulls clustered meetpoints from listMeetpoints; use ◀/▶ to cycle through candidates.
    • Depth exposes a depth slider (0–1.00) for classic angle + depth cuts.
  • Symmetry / Mirror – set the repeat count (xN) and whether to emit mirrored pairs (xxN). The slicer syncs the starting value from the current machine snapshot; it only appends x/xx to the preview command when you change it.
  • Girdle offset – when the target is cp, gp, or Proper meetpoint, adds +girdle on the crown or -girdle on the pavilion automatically.

Below the controls you will see:

  • A meetpoint navigator (visible only for Proper meetpoint). Each candidate shows its label, order, and whether it is a fallback. When the selected point lies on the girdle, the preview command switches to gp.
  • A live preview string that mirrors the facet command that would be added to the editor.
  • The floating Preview badge, plus Cancel and Commit buttons.

The slicing panel

Preview behaviour

  • Dragging the angle or index slider, hovering the Preview badge, or holding Ctrl/Cmd keeps the preview active.
  • The viewer shows:
    • A plane overlay and cap polygon sliced through the current mesh.
  • Markers for the selected meetpoint (and neighbouring candidates), the current cp or gp, and any girdle candidate provided by ProFacet.
    • The angle guide if it is enabled in the viewer.
  • When you release the slider or let go of the modifier key, the preview snaps back to the base mesh.

Committing or cancelling

  • Commit appends the preview line to the editor, choosing the next sequential tier name (P, C, or G based on side/angle), and reruns the interpreter so the viewer stays in sync.
  • Cancel clears the preview state and resets the target to None.

Meetpoints and girdle logic

  • Proper meetpoint filters out fallback candidates and anything that falls on the opposite side of the plane. The panel remembers your selection as you change the angle or index.
  • When ProFacet reports a girdle contact for the current sweep, the panel highlights it and offers the Girdle offset toggle so you can nudge the facet just inside or outside the girdle automatically.

Symmetry and warnings

  • The symmetry count must divide the machine gear. If it does not (or if the index exceeds gear / symmetry), the input fields highlight in red and a warning appears above the preview string.
  • Mirroring uses xx and produces left/right pairs, matching the way the runtime interprets xxN.

Tips

  • Precision mode (Ctrl/Cmd while the pointer is over a slider) lets you make sub-degree or sub-index adjustments without typing numbers.
  • Hold Ctrl/Cmd while tapping arrow keys in the numeric boxes to keep the preview active.
  • The preview command already includes any +girdle, symmetry, or meetpoint specifier adjustments, so the inserted line is ready to run as-is. You can still edit it manually in the editor after committing if you need to tweak the tier name or add notes.