FROG3D USER MANUALS
Streamline Automation is the Calgary-based manufacturer of the extensive FROG3D foam cutting system. As a new technician at Streamline, I was tasked with learning how to operate the various components of the system.
At the same time, the company was in the process of revamping their training curriculum and user manuals. Clients who purchase a FROG3D system typically receive one week of training in Calgary prior to the delivery of the system. Streamline wanted to standardize the training sessions, and include those in-house projects as familiar samples in more comprehensive User Manuals.
While I was going through some of the proposed training projects, to learn them myself, I was asked to create screen captures to put in the new manual. As I was creating the visual content, I suggested some changes to the wording in the manual.
I was soon tasked with the job of re-writing all of the manuals.
The manuals cover the entire FROG3D system, and span a number of different CNC machines and a host of software packages. As the hardware and software was designed as a holistic system, the manuals needed to prepare new users to knowledgably implement all aspects of the system. As well, as with any industrial machining system, safety protocols had to be rigidly laid out, and re-emphasized continuously.
I addressed the interfaces and capabilities of software, and the safe and proper use of equipment. Projects often spanned different manuals, as a sample project moved from the 3D CNC laser scanner, to the wirecutter, to the mill.
My teaching background and experience developing curriculum was instrumental as I began to flesh out the User Manuals. I needed to devise appropriate sample projects for the many varied capabilities that the system was designed for.
Criteria for projects included:
Ease of creation. Most clients who purchased a system had little or no CNC machining experience, and often had little or no CAD experience.
Relevance. Streamline’s core clientele consisted primarily of manufacturers in the theming industry. They make oversized sculptures and movie sets and 3D billboards and museum displays. I wanted the projects to reflect the actual work they would be using the equipment for.
Familiarity. I wanted clients to be practicing on objects that they understood in three dimensions.
Material efficiency. Particularly in the case of projects that were undertaken in our one-week Calgary-based training sessions, we strode to minimize material usage. The 2D frog project, for example, is sized specifically so that four frogs can be made from a single sheet of MDF.
I was responsible for the content of the manuals only - text, graphics, screenshots, photographs, GIFs, and video. In these samples, you can see a few specific instructions I’ve included for the graphic designer who compiled the information while I plowed on into the next project.
The samples are from the FROGWire User Manual, in the section addressing 4-axis cuts using the software program BobWire. The entire section can be accessed here.
