The complexity and size of my current project has dictated LOTS of feathers to connect devices on different pages (tabs).  This is painful interfacing between, for example, a 32x32 matrix video switcher and the inputs/outputs that are connected to it.

I haven't found a way to "open a second window" so I can edit both ends of the feather-pair(s) simultaneously.  Sure would make life more productive.

Is that possible?

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your post.  While I understand the challenge, it's not possible to have more than one drawing tab in a project open at any one time.  This is a very low-level thing, in programmatic terms, and not something that could be achieved without ground-up re-architecture of the SD7 platform.

Sorry that I can't give you the answer you are hoping for in this instance.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 1/28/2019 6:50:57 PM

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your post.  While I understand the challenge, it's not possible to have more than one drawing tab in a project open at any one time.  This is a very low-level thing, in programmatic terms, and not something that could be achieved without ground-up re-architecture of the SD7 platform.

Sorry that I can't give you the answer you are hoping for in this instance.

Ok.  Got it.  Then, as a secondary question, how can I easily find an errant label on a feather.  I'm currently trying to locate the "third feather" is after getting the warning "More than 2 Feathers with FeatherID's of "xxxxxxx".

Hi Ray,

Good question.  By default the FeatherID is not visible on the drawing, so to find the errant feather you'd need to select each and look at the Properties Grid.

Fortunately the FeatherID is a text attribute, it just resides on a layer that is hidden by default.  If you bring up the Layers Dialog and make the Attributes layer visible, this will display the FeatherID text above each feather, and this should help you spot which feathers have the duplicate ID.

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 1/28/2019 7:34:53 PM

Hi Ray,

Good question.  By default the FeatherID is not visible on the drawing, so to find the errant feather you'd need to select each and look at the Properties Grid.

Fortunately the FeatherID is a text attribute, it just resides on a layer that is hidden by default.  If you bring up the Layers Dialog and make the Attributes layer visible, this will display the FeatherID text above each feather, and this should help you spot which feathers have the duplicate ID.

I hope this is helpful.

I found my "error" and believe I've clarified, for me at least, the rules of feathers:
- Feathers must be in pairs only (I already understood that one.)
- Only two feathers can, and must, have the same FeatherID (I understood that one, too.)
- Feathers don't show up in the Cable Schedule if not paired and assigned a FeatherID  (Was pretty sure of that one but may not be true.)
- No feather, even when appropriately paired, may be connected to two device ports. (This was a discovery to me; hadn't tried that one before...)

Translation: You're feathering a mic cable (for example) to a simple control device with three pin/post terminals; function A / function B / ground.  The black wire, red wire, and ground go to separate pins/posts on the device.  You must use three feather pairs to represent one cable.

Bummer....  Wish it were different.

Hi Ray,

Yes, the fourth point is correct - there can only be a one-to-one relationship between Cables and Feathers.

What you go on to say identifies a different point.  Cable objects are designed to represent a discreet circuit path; for example the Mic signal. The issue you mention later occurs because you're going down to the next level - the 'core' level.  So a Mic Cable is designed to show the Mic signal but not, by further extension, the 3 cores that make up that signal.

I think the solution, given that Cables are Signal rather than Core level (and usually Cable Schedules cover Signal rather than Core level information) would be simply to 'terminate' the Cable at the Feather and then just use Line objects to represent the Cores.

Alternatively - and this is a common practice - document the connection to the control device separately as a 'Wiring Standard'.  Such connections are usually made the same way so, instead of documenting every instance of every core connection, you could have a detail that clarifies, for example, Mics are wired pin 2 hot, pin 3 cold, pin 1 shield; document this once and recycle it once per drawing, or as a standards sheet, as required.  This will also save overall drawing time.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 1/28/2019 10:03:23 PM

Hi Ray,

Yes, the fourth point is correct - there can only be a one-to-one relationship between Cables and Feathers.

What you go on to say identifies a different point.  Cable objects are designed to represent a discreet circuit path; for example the Mic signal. The issue you mention later occurs because you're going down to the next level - the 'core' level.  So a Mic Cable is designed to show the Mic signal but not, by further extension, the 3 cores that make up that signal.

I think the solution, given that Cables are Signal rather than Core level (and usually Cable Schedules cover Signal rather than Core level information) would be simply to 'terminate' the Cable at the Feather and then just use Line objects to represent the Cores.

Alternatively - and this is a common practice - document the connection to the control device separately as a 'Wiring Standard'.  Such connections are usually made the same way so, instead of documenting every instance of every core connection, you could have a detail that clarifies, for example, Mics are wired pin 2 hot, pin 3 cold, pin 1 shield; document this once and recycle it once per drawing, or as a standards sheet, as required.  This will also save overall drawing time.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful.

All good info, Rob.  Would you consider taking this temporarily 'offline' so I can send you snapshots of what I struggled with?  I can post it all here but I suspect it'd be more than most folks want to plow through...   Plus, I can describe a method I've come to use for cases where there are large numbers of feathers on multiple pages/tabs.  Then we/I could come back and post anything helpful that comes out of that conversation.

Hi Ray,

Happy to - please feel to email project files etc to techsupport@stardraw.com


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com