How to describe a part so it comes out right
What to put in your message to get an exact part: real sizes, what it attaches to, what it has to fit, and a photo or sketch. With four examples you can copy.
The AI builds what you describe, to the sizes you give it. Most disappointing first results come from a missing number, not from a missing detail. This guide is about what to put in the message.
Give the sizes you know
Say the numbers that matter, with units: the diameter of the pipe, the width of the phone, the thickness of the shelf. If you do not know a size, measure it first: a guess in the message becomes a wrong hole in the part.
Sizes are in millimetres unless you switch to inches in Settings. Everything you read in the view follows that choice.
Say what it attaches to and what it holds
- What it attaches to: "two screws into the wall", "clips onto a 20 mm pipe", "screws under a shelf".
- What it holds or fits: "holds a 6 mm cable", "a plate for a Raspberry Pi 5". The thing your part fits is worth modelling as a mock: a stand-in that is shown and checked but not printed. In the Features tab, Suggest mocks puts a ready question in the chat box, and sends nothing until you do. See mocks and the slide-in test.
- What it is made of or how thick: "3 mm plastic" is a useful thing to say.
Four examples to copy
| Part | What you could type |
|---|---|
| Cable clip | A clip that holds a 6 mm cable to the edge of my desk, 3 mm plastic, screw hole on top. |
| Raspberry Pi mount | A plate for a Raspberry Pi 5 with four standoffs, 3 mm tall, to screw under a shelf. |
| Drawer tray | A tray for my drawer, 90 by 60 by 25 mm, with one divider across the middle. |
| Wall hook | A hook for a heavy coat, two screws into the wall, strong enough for 5 kg. |
About the hook: ShapeDis does not calculate strength. "Strong enough for 5 kg" tells the AI what you want, and the checks do not prove it. Test a printed hook with a real load before you hang anything on it that matters.
Add a picture when words are not enough
Attach a photo, a sketch or a screenshot with the + button in the chat (Upload or add files), by pasting, or by dropping it onto the page. A PDF (a drawing or a datasheet) or a text file (TXT, MD, CSV or JSON) works the same way. Up to 4 files go with one message, a PDF can be up to 10 MB and a text file up to 100 KB. Pictures are shrunk in your browser to at most 1568 pixels on the long side before they are sent, and the AI looks at them as references for the model. If a browser cannot open a picture, try a JPEG or PNG.
To have the AI use a model you already have, upload an STL, 3MF or STEP file of up to 20 MB in the Files tab. The AI can use it in the model it builds.
Then change it by pointing
After the first version you do not need to describe the whole part again. Click the face or piece you mean and say what to change: it goes into your message with its size. Point, measure and size shows how.
What it is not for
- Organic shapes such as figurines. ShapeDis builds exact solids from sizes: brackets, clips, mounts, boxes, adapters.
- Parts where a failure could injure someone. It does not replace an engineer, and the AI can be wrong.
Try it on your own part
Describe it in plain words and watch it appear in 3D. Free to start, nothing to install.
Start designing