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Jeff H
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 29
Location: Naples, FL
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 Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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I'm on the PC7 side of this one too. I find the ready visibility of scale important to the way I work. I hope a spot can be found for it. Not too big an issue for me right now as I am still PPC. Have to borrow my wife's MacBook to play with PC8.
Jeff H |
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patrickm
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 322
Location: santa barbara, ca
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| Greg wrote: | (snip...)
To repeat again, it seems like an easy fix which would accommodate users different ways of working would be to have the option to place the scale in the Drawing Toolbar. I've sent an email request to ES, and hoping it may be considered. |
Well, now that I have WT9, I've started to use PC8 exclusively. Like Greg, I am used to using the Status Window to verify/change scales of drawings. Like Greg, I guess I'll have to adjust my workflow to accommodate the lack of Status Window in PC8. And, like Greg, I think having the drawing scale indicated in the Drawing Toolbar would be a great feature. I'll send ES an email (like Greg) to that affect.
In the old Status Window, I frequently used the Scale, Nudge and Edit All features. Having Nudge in the Drawing Toolbar is fine with me. Having Edit All Layers only in the Layers Window is fine with me. I'll have to adjust my workflow due to the lack of visual cue as to the Drawing Setup scale.
For what it is worth, this is the way I have traditionally worked:
I draw plans in a PowerCADD template file that I have set up with my default layering scheme. I have the Drawing Setup scale set to the plan scale. I draw my details in separate individual files (because I frequently use a single detail on many different projects and frequently email DWG's or PDF's of individual details to clients). If my plan drawing layout allows room for details in the same file as the plan, I copy a detail and paste it into the plan file's linework layer, then I move the detail to the correct detail module location. If I need to modify a detail, I delete the detail from the plan file, go back and modify the original detail, then, again, paste the detail into the plan file's linework layer and move it to its correct position. (I probably could use References, but I remember them being problematic in the mid-'90's and developed this method at that time, which I haven't changed.) I find it very helpful to visually verify the drawing scale, so I'll have to get used to this new paradigm and figure out an alternative approach.
regards,
patrick |
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CJH
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 323
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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Your workflow is very similar to mine, although I tend to draw details in the same drawing file as the plans, meaning there is a mix of 1/4" plans and 3/4" details. I used to be constantly changing the scale depending on if I was drawing on the plan or details.
If you set the drawing scale to your plan scale (1/8"or 1/4") and then use a separate layer for your details and use the layer scale set to the detail scale, you will be in good shape, as the drawing will always be to the plan scale except when you are on the detail layer it will be at the detail scale. I find this works much better than when I was constantly changing scales depending on whether I was working on the plan or details as the scale now changes automatically. There really is no need for a visual reference of the drawing scale as you know it is set to what the plan scale is (and you no doubt have that scale identified on the drawing), and the layer scale of the detail layer is displayed with the layer.
All of this takes a re-think of the way we work, but I find it is an improvement. |
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Greg
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 219
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Still no harm in having the option to have the scale displayed in the menu bar. Those who don't like it can turn it off.
I have done a lot of importing of drawings from other platforms recently. With PC8 I am finding myself continually having to open up the Drawing Setup to check the scale. Would save a lot of steps if the scale were displayed. |
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CJH
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 323
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| True, also when opening older files that were not set up in this way it would be good to see right away what scale it is set to and to be able to quickly change scales, as when a contractor calls and needs a dimension check. |
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patrickm
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 322
Location: santa barbara, ca
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:56 am Post subject: |
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One way to look at it is that it is nice to have the scale identified on the actual drawing (Drafting 101)-- likewise, it would be nice to have the scale identified on the screen (CADD Drafting 101).
Whatever ES does, I can deal with it. I'd just like to visually verify the scale.
regards,
patrick |
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Steve Woolf
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 43
Location: Amherst, MA
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| Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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Did someone mention the WT tool called Find Layer Tool? If you create a separate layer for each scale, then when you go back to work on a detail you simply select any object in the detail and its layer becomes the active layer. I've assigned the L key to that tool and use it incessantly.
Although this works pretty well for me, I have been thinking for a long time now about suggesting a feature that might be called "smart layer switching" which could be toggled on or off in Prefs. When turned on, as soon as you select an object, its layer becomes active (and its name pops up next to the cursor as with the find layer tool). That would save us a few steps, and might feel real good, more akin to manual drafting (where the whole idea of layers is unnecessary!). A further enhancement of this would be that if you click, or start drawing, anywhere close (set the distance in prefs) to an existing object, the layer of the existing object becomes the active layer. I think this would feel even better.
The motivation here would be to make layers more transparent, no pun intended--because while layers are a necessary and powerful feature of a cad system, they do not contribute to making a cad system any more intuitive as a drawing environment.
Steve |
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Matt
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 391
Location: Sterling, Virginia
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:48 am Post subject: |
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It'd be interesting to know if engineered software is reading these comments. I used the Status Window all the time, it was always at the top right of my screen.
I don't care if the info is in the status window or on the toolbar, but I want to be able to stipulate the zoom percentage. I like to work at 100%, 50%, etc.
I believe that drawing with random zoom percentages is one of the main reasons why CAD drawings frequently lack the tactility of hand drawing. It's easy to draw too much or too little when there is no visual relationship between what is on your screen and what is ultimately printed.
Two thumbs down for the loss of this important feature from PowerCADD 8. |
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pbacot
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 856
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Things like scale and drawing zoom could (conceivably) be added to the toolbar choices--certainly of more use than using real estate for big buttons for things like open, save, print, cut, paste etc
_________________
Peter B |
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Greg
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 219
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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I would vote for the option of both (scale & drawing zoom) being added to the Drawing Toolbar.
I've been told its best to send an email to Eng SW, as they don't always follow this forum. |
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Matt
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 391
Location: Sterling, Virginia
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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That would be nice, if we were voting.
If anyone is doing speed tests for PC8 I would love to send you a file.
I created a powercadd drawing with 152 objects that use shadows, gradients, and transparencies. It's not an extraordinarily large file -- 220k.
My new PowerCADD 8 is slow as a dog with it, and luxuriantly displays the beachball when panning or zooming. It would be good to know if others see the same behavior. I am running it on a 2.16 GHz Duo Powerbook. The same file seems a bit snappier in PC7, but not much. |
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CJH
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 323
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:44 am Post subject: |
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| Matt, this sounds like a not enough memory situation. I find that the standard 1Gb on a laptop is not enough with PC running by itself, 2Gb not enough if mail or some other program is running (widgets can eat up a lot of ram also). Installing 4Gb has worked well. You can see if you are short of ram by opening Activity Monitor while you run your test file-if there are page ins/page outs it means you are out of ram and the computer is using the hard drive as virtual memory which is very slow. If you want to post the file, others could try it and see how it runs on their machine. |
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Matt
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 391
Location: Sterling, Virginia
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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| There are 2 gigs of memory on the machine. |
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Badbilly
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 4:04 am Post subject: |
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What I liked the best about having the status window is that I could visually see what scale I was at, change the nudge amount, see what layer I was on and best of all change layer , all in one place. Now I have to look around at different parts of the screen for all those things, not as efficient for me.
Bill |
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