The Athena Guide · 05

The canvas

Documents, files and web pages next to the chat, which Athena sees and writes

What it is

The canvas is a panel next to the chat. Each tab is a document of the conversation, a file in the working folder or a web page. It opens from the icon at the top of the chat, with /canvas, or by itself when Athena brings something there.

Working together

• Athena sees the open document and knows when it changes. You can select a passage and press Ask Athena.
• Her changes arrive live and stay highlighted for a few seconds.
• Your changes are saved with Save or Ctrl+S. There are Reading (laid out) and Source views.

Office documents

Copying. In text documents Ctrl+A (⌘A on the Mac), inside the document, selects only the document; the «Ask Athena» box that appears also has Copy, and the selection stays (Ctrl+C works). At the bottom, next to Save, Copy all copies the whole text (in Reading as you see it, in Source the source). In Word files and PDFs the Pages view is made of images: to select the text open Text, or use Copy all at the bottom, next to Download.

Word files, PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations and technical drawings (CADCraft DXF and DWG) created or changed by the Craft apps appear in the chat with a preview of the first page, and open in the canvas. For a drawing Athena knows its entities, layers, overall size and texts. VectorCraft graphics (SVG, AI, EPS…, one page per artboard) and FigCraft designs (one page per page) are shown drawn too, and Athena knows their texts; so are DesignCraft layouts (.designcraft, IDML), whose texts Athena reads. «Undo» under the answer brings them back as they were.

Audio and video

Audio (MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, OGG; AIFF and SoundCraft sessions are converted by SoundCraft) and video (MP4, MOV, WebM) play in the canvas, and you can skip back and forth. A video has a cover. Athena knows their length and format, and a session's tracks; what is said she only knows if you put it in the Library, which transcribes it.

FilmCraft (.fcproj) and EffectCraft (.ecproj) projects show six frames along the edit, each with its moment; Athena knows their sequence, clips, markers, compositions and layers. To watch them whole they must be exported to a video.

Images

Images open in the canvas fitted to the panel; a click shows them at actual size. Ordinary photos arrive as they are, PSDs and the other PhotoCraft formats are drawn by PhotoCraft, camera RAW files (DNG, NEF, CR2, ARW…) are developed by LightCraft. The Text view shows what Athena knows: size, shot and layers.

Athena at work, live

When Athena works with PhotoCraft, LightCraft, VectorCraft, FigCraft, DeckCraft or DesignCraft, the live tab opens in the canvas: after each step you see the work as it is at that moment (for presentations, the slide she is working on), with the name of the step. Below is the strip of steps (a tap reopens earlier ones, Follow Athena goes back to the latest) and Before and after puts the first next to the last. The file does not change until Athena saves it.

Athena looks at every step too: if the model sees images, she checks the result herself (too dark, wrong crop) and corrects it before saving.

3D models

An STL, OBJ or 3MF file opens in the canvas in 3D: drag with the mouse or a finger to turn it, zoom with the wheel or two fingers, and a double click sets it straight. The Text view shows what Athena knows: triangles and size.

To see one, drag it into the chat (up to 100 MB): Athena puts it in the chat's folder, under allegati/, and opens it. A model on the web she downloads with scarica_file, after asking your permission. If the site wants a login or an "I am not a robot" check (Printables and MakerWorld do), download it yourself and drag it into the chat.

Athena sees what she draws. Every time she creates or changes a model, the check reaches her on its own: size, volume, whether it is watertight and so printable, the separate parts and how far apart they are (apart, touching, or one inside the other, and by how much), and the clearance where they do not touch, like the rim of a lid inside the box. If the engine reads images, she also looks at four views and two cross-sections through the middle, and fixes the model before handing it to you; the chat shows the line "checked a 3D model". With modello_3d she can then look the way you would turn the part in your hand: from wherever she likes, zooming in on a spot, or cutting it at a given height, with a scale bar to judge sizes. She can also compare two models, for example a base and the part it goes on. If you see something wrong, tell her: she looks at exactly that spot.

Web pages

From the canvas «+» you open a web page: the Page view shows it as it is, the Text view is what Athena reads. Links are followed inside the tab, with back and forward.

On the phone

The canvas covers the chat: ‹ Chat closes it (the tabs stay), the icon at the top reopens it.