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Fabric Belt Maven User Manual

Version 0.1 · September 2026 · Mac, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro

Fabric Belt Maven is a document-based editor for periodic textile geometry. You can construct woven, braided, non-crimp, and jersey-knit cells; inspect yarn paths and sections; measure geometry; preview repeated cells; and export models for other tools. The same .fabrictextile project can be opened across the supported Apple platforms. Dimensions in the editor are millimetres unless a control says otherwise.

Engineering status. Fabric Belt Maven is a research and visualisation tool. Its numerical analyses and conveyor-belt models are not commercially qualified. A visually plausible model, a successful solve, or a clean export is not a product specification, safety approval, material certificate, or substitute for measured calibration and independent engineering review.

1. Start a project

1. Open Fabric Belt Maven and choose New Document. The starting document is a small plain-weave example with alternating over/under crossings.
2. Save the document using the platform’s standard File → Save or document controls. Projects use the .fabrictextile extension and include geometry, materials, draft information, and accepted results.
3. To continue an existing project, choose Open and select a .fabrictextile file. The repository also includes Examples/Textiles/PlainWeave.fabrictextile for practice.
4. Give the project a useful name in the inspector. Keep a separate copy before replacing a recipe or importing another construction.

The left list contains yarns, grouped by layer when layers exist. Select a yarn there or in the 3D model to inspect it. The centre contains the selected workspace. The right inspector contains project, yarn, and draft controls; use Inspector in the toolbar to show or hide it. Undo and Redo also have the standard Command-Z and Shift-Command-Z shortcuts.

2. Work in the model view

The Model workspace shows the periodic cell. Use the Preview repeats toolbar control to display one through five cells in each planar direction. Repeats change the preview, not the saved unit-cell geometry or its measurements. Select a yarn to highlight it. Use the point-editing controls in the model to edit a yarn path, choose a drag axis, and set a millimetre snap increment. A failed geometry build appears as Geometry needs attention with an error; adjust the problematic path or section before exporting.

On Apple Vision Pro, Spatial view opens a separate volumetric window for the active document. The standard window remains the editing surface. Close the spatial window when you finish inspecting a model.

3. Change a weave draft

Choose Draft to edit the interlacing plan. In a conventional woven cell, warp yarns run in one repeat direction and weft yarns in the other. A draft cell indicates which family passes over at that crossing. Change the cells and regenerate to update the yarn paths. The inspector exposes the weave recipe when no yarn is selected.

If you manually alter generated yarns, the stored recipe and geometry may diverge. The editor warns that the saved draft records the original construction; replacing it can discard manual changes. Save a copy before a regeneration that discards edits. The default plain-weave cell is a useful small case for checking the meaning of each crossing.

For multilayer weaving, choose 3D weave draft in the toolbar. Start with a through-thickness, layer-to-layer, or angle-interlock preset. Set the weft layers, picks, warp/binder lanes, and binder-slot draft; inspect the result in Model and Sections. These presets produce editable geometry and do not prove that a loom can manufacture the construction.

4. Create other textile families

Use the toolbar sheets to construct additional families:

Each generator can replace existing construction geometry. Read its discard warning and save a copy when keeping manual changes matters. Belt imports preserve source evidence, but catalogue values and generated geometry can disagree; review the reported differences. Conveyor-belt reinforcement is the first planned physical-calibration family, and measured test data are still needed.

In the legacy Mac solid-woven preview, straight warp ends remain aligned across layers while an assumed weft path changes layer. This is a schematic binding plan, not a contact solution. If the undeformed weft is thicker than the nominal gap between warp ends, the preview can show yarns passing through each other. The analysis flags weft passage and withholds estimates; a measured binding plan or contact-resolved yarn deformation is required before treating that route as physical.

5. Edit yarns, layers, and sections

Select a yarn to edit its path and cross-section in the inspector. A control point belongs to the selected yarn and can be changed numerically or with the model’s point tool. The Layers workspace manages yarn and solid-layer grouping. Solid covers and skims have distinct materials and mass; they are not silently counted as dry yarn mass. The Sections workspace cuts the current generated surface so you can check yarn order, gaps, and layer thickness in context.

Use Properties for cell and yarn measurements. Depending on construction, the panel reports dry-fibre areal or linear mass, nominal fibre and envelope fractions, yarn length, crimp or length excess, and separate solid-layer mass. “Nominal” values are geometric estimates. Background matrix, impregnation, and adhesive mass are not included unless explicitly modelled. Resolve any listed issue before using the value downstream.

6. Inspect analyses

Analysis contains matrix/yarn elasticity and finite-solid mechanics tools. Configure materials and boundary/loading controls before solving. Save accepted results with the document. Review convergence, reactions, field units, mesh quality, and any issue list; a completed solve is not automatically a validated physical result. Supported solid analyses include specific element formulations, staged loads, periodic constraints, and explicit contact options. Some combinations remain unsupported. The user interface reports an unsupported case or resource budget rather than treating it as a valid solution.

Flow explores periodic Stokes–Brinkman permeability. It can save velocity and pressure fields and compares solver results with independent checks. Permeable-yarn inputs and flow boundary assumptions must match the material being studied. Voxel refinement and measured calibration are still required before treating these results as physical permeability data.

Meshes builds supported boundary-fitted yarn and solid-layer volume meshes and reports quality and periodic-seam information. Fitted matrix mode is limited to parallel-cord configurations with bonded interfaces; general curved, interlaced matrix fills and multiple rubber compounds are not supported. Inspect Jacobian and clearance reports before solver export.

Some large analysis jobs can run through a configured Mac compute worker. Worker results are tied to an immutable input revision and accepted only into a matching document. Keep the Mac available, check job status, and review the result receipt. A worker result does not expand the qualified physics of the model.

7. Exchange and export

Use TexGen exchange to import or export a supported TG3 construction. Check yarn orientation, units, repeat directions, and material assignments after exchange. Not every Fabric Belt Maven feature maps to a TG3 field.

The Export menu offers a surface STL, scientific surface VTU, and USDZ presentation. STL carries triangulated shape; it is not a complete material or solver model. VTU carries scientific mesh fields appropriate to the chosen exporter. USDZ is for 3D presentation. The analysis and mesh workspaces also expose supported volume-mesh and solver-deck exports. Compare the exported file against the on-screen model and read any export limitations in the relevant workspace.

8. Subscription and privacy

Fabric Belt Maven is planned as one auto-renewable monthly subscription at US$10 per month in the United States, with two weeks free for eligible new subscribers. Apple displays the actual local price, terms, and trial eligibility before purchase. The trial, renewal, cancellation, and refund process is handled by Apple. Use Restore Purchases in the subscription screen to recover an eligible subscription, and use Apple’s subscription settings to manage or cancel it.

The app does not require a Maven account. Maven Software does not collect personal data or analytics through Fabric Belt Maven. Project files remain wherever you choose to save them, including your own iCloud Drive if you enable it. Apple processes App Store purchases and may handle related account data under Apple’s policies. If you email support, that email contains information you choose to send; see the privacy policy.

9. Troubleshooting

10. Support and further reading

For app help, write to support@mavensoftware.ai. Include the app version, platform/OS version, steps to reproduce, and the exact error text. Share a project only if you are comfortable disclosing its contents. Technical scope and verification notes are in the repository’s Documentation/ directory; particularly Textile-Implementation.md, Textile-Analysis.md, Textile-Flow.md, and Commercial-Qualification.md.

11. Worked example: from a draft to an exported model

This exercise uses only built-in construction data and is a practical way to learn the difference between a draft, its generated yarn paths, and a rendered preview.

1. Create a document and save it as First Weave.fabrictextile. The initial model has two warp ends and two weft picks. In Model, identify the two yarn families by their colours and by the names in the left list.
2. With no yarn selected, open Start from a pattern in the right inspector. Choose Twill · 4 × 4. The pattern command replaces the current weave recipe, so save a copy first if you need the original. Confirm the warp-end and weft-pick counts and look at the rebuilt model.
3. Open Draft. Each cell is a crossing. The screen explains which colour or symbol means warp over weft. Change one cell, then return to Model and compare the yarn path at the corresponding crossing. If the result is not what you intended, use Undo and try again.
4. In the inspector, change warp or weft spacing by a small amount in millimetres. Observe the difference in Model and Sections. The spacing is a saved geometric input; changing Preview repeats is only a display choice.
5. Open Properties. Record the cell dimensions, yarn lengths and any available nominal fraction or dry-fibre mass. These values derive from the current geometric and material inputs. They do not account for unmodelled coatings, matrix or manufacturing compaction.
6. Choose Export → Surface mesh (.stl), save the file, and open it in an independent viewer. Compare its orientation and visible crossings with Fabric Belt Maven. Repeat with Scientific surface (.vtu) if your downstream tool needs the scientific surface representation. Keep the .fabrictextile document as the editable source.

12. Review a generated construction before replacing a document

The 3D weave draft, Tubular braid, Non-crimp fabric, and Jersey weft knit toolbar buttons open construction sheets. They generally separate setup from commitment: choose a preset or enter dimensions, run the sheet’s Review action, inspect its counts, size and issue messages, then use Replace textile only when the preview represents the intended construction. A review checks the generator’s stated geometry constraints; it is not a manufacturing or strength certificate. The replacement can overwrite manually edited yarn paths or properties. Undo can restore the previous document state while the editing session remains open; keeping a separately saved source file is safer.

In a 3D weave draft, the preset establishes a binder pattern. The slot index describes the binder’s position relative to the weft stack: slot zero is below it, and the highest slot is above it. Review lane order, binder routing and layer count in Sections after replacement. In Non-crimp fabric, ply order runs from bottom to top; orientation entries use the displayed lattice directions and the stitch can be chain or tricot. In Tubular braid, check interlacing count, yarns per helical family and whether axial inlays are enabled. The saved source-path refinement controls curve approximation; a smoother display alone does not refine those paths.

13. Working with belt reinforcement evidence

Belt construction has a catalogue route, a file-import route and an attached-source view. The catalogue is a way to build an editable periodic repeat from supported belt inputs; the import route accepts a compatible Fabric belt project or audited result JSON. Review the source identity, model version and calculated quantities before replacing the current textile. After replacement, compare reported source mass and repeat geometry with the generated yarns and solid covers. If you subsequently edit the geometry or materials, the attached original source remains as historical evidence and its calculations may no longer describe the edited model.

The first physical-calibration target is conveyor-belt reinforcement. Until measured specimens and tests are linked to a specific construction and material batch, use belt geometry and any computed response for exploration only. Record the specimen, yarn count and construction, rubber or matrix specification, test conditions, units and uncertainty with any comparison. No calibration is implied merely because the catalogue conversion succeeds.

14. Save and share reproducible work

A useful hand-off contains the original .fabrictextile file, a brief note of the construction and units, any source data you are permitted to share, and the exported file’s intended purpose. Include the app version and explain any issue warnings, solver assumptions, mesh resolution or unsupported feature notes. When comparing two models, retain separate document versions rather than relying on a single overwritten file. The full project is preferable to STL when a collaborator must reproduce the draft, material inputs or analysis settings.

On iPad and Apple Vision Pro, use the system document browser to choose a local or iCloud Drive location. On Mac, use the standard document menu. The app does not synchronize projects to a Maven account. If a file is stored in iCloud Drive, its availability and sharing are controlled by your Apple account and file settings. Before relying on work across devices, confirm that the same saved file opens and that its latest changes are present on the other device.