What’s new in Leta

Holes, curves, parameters, splines and a much fuller drawing mode.

Modeling

• Hole feature: ISO and inch sizes; simple, counterbored, countersunk, counterdrilled, tapped and tapered; cosmetic or modeled threads
• Curve feature: helix, spiral, through points, from equations, projected and intersection curves
• Sweeps can follow a curve, such as a helix for springs and threads
• Parameters, Relations and Config Tables
• Project parameter files (.lppm) that several parts can share
• Copy Geometry brings in another part's solid
• Thin Extrude on the Extrude menu
• A closed blend section's start point can be dragged

Sketch

• Ellipse and Spline tools, and every feature can use them
• Elliptical and spline model edges can be projected
• Sketch round and chamfer work at corners with arcs, ellipses and splines

Import

• STEP import of any part, as recognized features or as a solid body
• Recognized features: extrudes, revolves, holes, rounds and chamfers
• Sheet-metal imports read corner reliefs as flange rules instead of drawing them in sketches
• DXF import reads ellipses and splines

Drawings

• Dimension tools on the Annotate tab, with a symbol palette
• Ordinate, baseline and chain dimensions, and Arrange
• Hole, chamfer and round callouts, threads drawn, and Model Annotations
• Geometric tolerances, datum features, surface finish and weld symbols
• Revision and hole tables
• Auxiliary, cropped and broken views; offset and half sections; draft mode
• Templates, company title blocks, layers and line styles
• PNG export
• Views can show any configuration of a part

Sheet metal

• Round relief, relief depth, and a short corner join

Interface

• New asks for the document type: Part, Sheet Metal or Drawing
• Origin axes colored X red, Y green, Z blue, and the same size at any zoom
• Middle-click a feature in the tree to show its dimensions on the model and edit them
• Measure works between any two things, gives X, Y and Z, and draws the result on the model
• Approximate volumes are marked ~ and have a Recalculate button
• Frame rate setting in Options; windows in the background draw 10 frames a second

Speed

• Much higher frame rates, especially on 4K screens

Fixes

• Mirrored rounds are no longer left with spikes at corners or unrounded edges
• A model edge a sketch can't take now says why
• DXF files drawn looking down -Z import the right way round
• Rotated drawing text, such as notes on vertical bend lines, is drawn rotated on screen

Drawings arrive, and sheet metal fills out.

Drawings

• New drawing documents (.ldrw) in their own window: File > New Drawing
• Base, projected, section and detail views with exact hidden lines
• Dimensions, notes, center marks, balloons, bill of materials, title block, border and zones
• Dimensions follow the part when it changes
• ISO, ANSI and custom sheet sizes, first- or third-angle projection
• Export to PDF, DXF and SVG, and print
• Flat pattern views of sheet-metal parts, with bend notes and a bend table
• Drawings autosave and recover like parts

Sheet metal

• Bend feature and Bend Line sketch tool, with an angle and direction per line
• Sheets from open sketch paths
• Bend allowance, bend deduction and bend tables
• Flange corners relieved and closed; new flange positions and offset
• Tear drop and rolled hems
• Jog, tabs and Break Corner
• Miter Flange
• Cuts through bends, and cuts made in the flat
• Forming tools: dimples, extruded holes, louvers and lances
• Bend lines can meet at a corner, so a box folds from a flat blank
• Cut List window, and more DXF export options
• STEP import: sheet-metal parts come in as fully dimensioned features
• Long sheet-metal histories rebuild about six times faster

Fixes

• The Sheet Metal tab's Flat group no longer disappears on 1920-wide screens

Sheet metal, and strips redesigned as cards.

Sheet metal

• New sheet-metal part type (File > New Sheet Metal Part) with its own Sheet Metal tab
• Sheet, Flange, Hem and Cut features; a flange can cover part of an edge, with relief cuts
• Sheet Rules: thickness, bend radius and K-factor, typed or picked from a gauge table
• Flat pattern view with bend lines, and flat pattern export to DXF

Modeling

• Rounds can take priority and cut through the holes in their way
• Shell handles curved surfaces, neighboring surfaces and drafted hole floors
• Sketch linear patterns can run along datum planes, default planes and model edges
• Linear patterns can run both ways from the seed (Symmetrical)
• Center Slot added beside the end-to-end slot

Interface

• Every feature strip redesigned as cards
• Smaller screens: grouped ribbon menus with submenus on hover, and strips that scroll when too wide
• Sketch Mirror, Fillet and Chamfer have their own strips; fillet and chamfer size can be set
• Rotate Resize opens with nothing selected
• Loading popup when a rebuild takes more than two seconds

Speed

• Faster rebuilds, most of all on parts with many rounds, patterns and mirrors

Fixes

• A sketch round at a dimensioned corner no longer pulls the shape out of true
• Mirrored sketch arcs no longer add a redundant constraint
• Shell refusals are the same every run

A new look for a new name.

Interface

• A new color scheme; the ribbon and its buttons rearranged and restyled
• The logo button, top left, replaces the File button
• The view toolbar swells under the pointer, and can sit at the top, bottom or right
• The turning Leta logo shows while parts load
• Several ribbon commands, groups and Options pages renamed

Improvements

• After an update, Leta shows the release notes for every version since the one you had

Fixes

• Projected sketch entities can be converted to construction geometry
• More shell failures are reported clearly instead of crashing

Speed, options, analysis and export.

Modeling

• Mirror a boss together with its rounds; mirror in two planes at once
• Act on several tree rows at once: delete, suppress, hide and more
• Section view, on the View tab
• Sketch points
• Datum planes tangent to a surface through a vertex

Speed

• An edit rebuilds from the feature it changed, not the whole part
• Each boolean is built once, and in parallel
• A part with freeform rounds that ran at 4 frames a second now runs at about 60

Interface and files

• File > Options with saved preferences, recent parts, a working directory, background and grid
• Folder Browser and Favorites, model tree filters and settings
• Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar and graphics toolbar customization
• Analysis tab: mass properties, Measure, short edges, geometry checks, and draft and thickness checks for printing
• 3D printer build volumes, and whether the part fits each
• Tools tab: Build Replay, Model Info and Feature Info
• Export 3MF, OBJ, pictures and DXF; import DXF; print
• Save a Copy, numbered versions and Manage File
• Appearances (colors) on the part, surfaces or features, carried into 3MF
• Hidden Line and No Hidden, saved views, datum filters, tangent edge display and zoom by box
• A Help menu with shortcuts, and standard CAD keys

Sketch

• A Sketcher Palette of polygons, sections, shapes and stars
• Cut, copy and paste, also between parts
• A selection drags as one piece; a paste goes beside the original or where you last clicked
• Rotate Resize has turn, stretch and scale handles

Fixes

• Starting Leta with a part to open no longer crashes it
• Model Info no longer crashes on a saved part
• Circular patterns run round the ring by the seed's middle
• The ribbon collapses reliably on small screens

The first beta, for testing the sketcher and part modeling.

First beta

• The sketcher, the feature tree and the part modeling features
• Offline, machine-bound licensing with a 30-day evaluation
• AES-256 password protection for parts
• Crash reports, a session log, and File > Report a Problem
• Not yet in it: splines, ellipses and sketch text; holes, helixes, parameters and relations