Macros

Location: Account → Settings → Library → Other → Macros

A macro is a saved sequence of design actions (corrections, text, logo, and so on) that LutraCAD can replay for you. You assemble a macro in the macro editor and save it, then use it in either of two ways:

• Run it yourself on an insole design you have open, whenever that particular treatment applies.
• Let it run automatically on every new design of the matching type, by ticking Run on new design.

Because you can save as many macros as you like, you can build a set of recipes side by side, for example one for a standard diabetic insole and one for a sports insole, and pick the right one per design. Only the macros you mark with Run on new design are applied without being asked for.

Create a macro

Assemble a macro step by step in the macro editor.

1. Click Add, enter a name, and confirm. The macro editor opens straight away.
2. From the action palette on the right, click the corrections you want. These are the same actions available in the CAD designer, and each one is added as a collapsible step.
3. Expand any step to set its parameters (height, thickness, region, side, and so on). Use Delete on a step to remove it.
4. Optional: tick Run on new design, described below.
5. Click Save.

To change a macro later, click Edit on its row in the Macros list.

Run on new design

When Run on new design is ticked, the macro plays automatically whenever you start a new design of the matching type. The Macros list shows a checkmark in the Run on new design column for these macros.

Leave the option off and the macro stays in the library until you run it yourself.

Run a macro on an open design

Running a saved macro by hand is possible for insole designs. Shoe last, midsole, brace and helmet designs have no macro control in the design environment.

1. Open the insole design.
2. Go to the Base step. The Macros section sits at the top of the panel, above the insole settings.
3. Next to Macro, click Select. A Macros window lists the macros in your library.
4. Tick one or more macros in the list.
5. Click Select. The window closes and the ticked macros run on your design, in the order they appear in the list.

A macro run cannot be undone

Once a macro has run, its actions cannot be reversed. Check that you ticked the macros you actually want before you click Select.

note

The Macros section only appears once you have at least one macro in the library. It is also hidden for insole designs built from an imported 3D solid or an imported top pattern, because those start from finished geometry rather than from a pattern the macro can act on.

tip

The Macros window also has a Based on PDF button. That is a separate feature: it reads a specification form from a PDF file rather than running a macro.

Placeholder tokens

Placeholders let one macro personalise every design it runs on. Instead of typing a fixed value, you insert a token that LutraCAD replaces with that design's real value at run time.

For an engraved Text action, use the placeholder dropdown:

• Leave it on Automatically replace information, or
• Pick a placeholder (for example the client id, client name, or date). Selecting one inserts its token into the text box.
• Use the Side dropdown to place the text on the Left or Right.

For an Add logo action, use the Enabled dropdown to pick which logo from the library to place (choose None for no logo).

tip

Insert the client-name and date tokens once, and every insole the macro runs on gets that client's own name and date engraved automatically.