Creating Smart Templates

Available with the Following Subscriptions: Premium, Enterprise
Available for the Following Roles: All roles

💡Note: Smart Templates are currently only available for Zones and Lines.

Smart Templates are a tool that allows you to place multiple objects at once, following a template or rules (the rules are created using Visual Programming). You can create a static template, or make add rules with Visual Programming, to make it adjust to various parameters.

For instructions on using a Smart Template, refer to Using Smart Templates.

Creating Smart Templates

1. Enable the Smart Templates feature flag - instructions can be found here: 🧪 Experimental Features
2. From the Project Setup toolbox, select the Smart Templates tool.
3. Either:
   1. Click Create Template, or
   2. Click Upload an existing template that you would like to edit, then click Edit Template.
4. Create the changes that you want (see Editing a Smart Template below).
5. When you are done, you can either:
   1. Click Download Template to save a copy of the json file for later use or for sharing.
   2. Click Confirm to apply these changes to the currently active template, and proceed to use the template.

Editing a Smart Template

When editing a smart template, the things you can do are:

1. Edit Name of the Template
   • This will become the name of the downloaded file, and what people will see when using your template.
2. Add Objects to the template (to populate the template)
   • This allows you to select existing objects in the scene or tree, to copy into your template.
   • When adding objects, they will retain the properties of that object when added (for example, if you add a grass-textured zone, the zone in your template will be grass textured). The only way to change this currently, is removing the object and adding a new object with the texture/color you want. See the Tips & Tricks section for more details on this.
3. Edit Visual Programming for the template (to make it adjustable)

Visual Programming in Smart Templates

Smart Template Visual Programming uses Input, Calculation, and Creation nodes.

1. Input nodes take data from user or template creator (such as numbers, sketches, and positions).
2. Inputs run through calculation nodes to make adjustments.
3. Values are sent into creation nodes, which creates the object in the scene.

When you first add objects, it creates a basic template, and the Visual Programming will just contain one input node, and the creation nodes for each object you added. The template origin represents the main Move/Rotate handle for positioning the template, and by default will pass that position to the reference point of each creation node.

The Transform contains the offset that the object had from the origin when you added it. This allows each object to have its own offset when you move the template origin around.

The sketch contains the original sketch of the object (for any sketch-driven object).

If you want to pass a custom sketch to the creation nodes, you would:

1. Add a sketch input node.
2. Pass the reference point through the sketch input node.
3. Pass the sketch output of the sketch creation node to the creation nodes.
4. Clear the transforms for the creation nodes (since they no longer require an offset).

You can then add other input nodes, calculation nodes, and creation nodes, to build the template that you want.

Tips & Tricks

• The current workflow to add an object that doesn't exist in the scene or edit the properties of an object in the template:
  1. Download a copy of your template.
  2. Exit out of the template (and discard).
  3. Add/Edit the object in your scenario.
  4. Open Smart Templates again, and Upload the copy you just downloaded.
  5. Click Add Object, and select the object you in the scene.
• When using the Add Object function for projected objects, start with the bottom layer first, and work your way up. If adding the bottom layer, blocks the higher layers, you will need to add them from the tree.