Hi Rich,

If you draw a Cable thus; click (on Start connection point) and click (on End connection point), then it is represented as a straight line.  A single, straight line cannot arbitrarily add segments to itself if you later move the symbols to which it's connected.

However, if you use click+drag to draw a Cable, even a 'straight' one, then internally it has 3 segments - 2 horizontal and one vertical (with no length) - so if you later move a connected symbol then the vertical segment comes into play and stretches as necessary, keeping the start and end segments horizontal.  See the movie "Cable Tool", #04 at https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies

Regarding overlapping Cables; this is by design and Cables will not automatically change themselves to avoid overlapping.  We feel it is better for the user to decide how their drawing should look rather than have an algorithm attempt to do it automatically as things WILL go wrong (e.g. if there isn't enough room to automatically space such Cables).  Also, in many cases it is valid for Cables to overlap e.g. you're paralleling a connection or representing a multicore.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 9/17/2023 2:49:00 PM

+x

 

Rich Belgie - 9/17/2023 2:38:17 PM

Sorry but figuring stuff out, ha ha.

Anyway to bulk patch things?  Aka, router outputs 1-20 to switcher inputs 1-20?

Hi Rich,

No - connections are drawn individually.  If you don't see it in one of the movies at  https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies then it's unlikely to be functionality that's supported.

Figured out what I was doing.  Clicking on an output, then clicking on the input of the next device to draw a cable just does straight line point to point.  Clicking and dragging off of the output to the next input will create the lines I want.  For some reason I had to reboot Stardraw to fix it, all good now

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 9/17/2023 3:16:53 PM

Hi Rich,

If you draw a Cable thus; click (on Start connection point) and click (on End connection point), then it is represented as a straight line.  A single, straight line cannot arbitrarily add segments to itself if you later move the symbols to which it's connected.

However, if you use click+drag to draw a Cable, even a 'straight' one, then internally it has 3 segments - 2 horizontal and one vertical (with no length) - so if you later move a connected symbol then the vertical segment comes into play and stretches as necessary, keeping the start and end segments horizontal.  See the movie "Cable Tool", #04 at https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies

Regarding overlapping Cables; this is by design and Cables will not automatically change themselves to avoid overlapping.  We feel it is better for the user to decide how their drawing should look rather than have an algorithm attempt to do it automatically as things WILL go wrong (e.g. if there isn't enough room to automatically space such Cables).  Also, in many cases it is valid for Cables to overlap e.g. you're paralleling a connection or representing a multicore.

Just saw this, ha ha.  Got it!  I did have to reboot the app to get it working but it's fine now

Before starting with a huge project, I just played with a small made up project.  I'd love some feedback.  Started to label cables, tried to make as many straight lines as practical.  Tried to not overlap cables.

Are there any other best practices to look for as things scale larger?  Getting ready to draw a video control room with switchers, cameras, routers, displays, etc.  The control room connects to other rooms around the campus.

Do I make one huge drawing or one drawing per room, what's the best practices to start with?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Rich,
Your schematic looks fine and adheres to good drawing practice; there are no problems or changes that I would suggest - nice work.
Regarding your upcoming project, well, the answer is 'it depends'.  You might want to do a room per drawing or have the whole thing in one; Stardraw Design 7.3 allows you to structure things in a way that works for you, so, whatever's best for you is best.
The only tip I can offer, without knowing specific details, is that if you are going to print to hardcopy, Block Schematic drawings are designed to be legible when printed close to a minimum of 1:1 (or 100%) so don't create a huge drawing and expect it to be legible if you print it out on too small a page size. 
As a guideline you can check the size of a drawing when it's complete - just use the Dimension tool on the long axis of the drawing and this will give an idea of the page size to use (don't print at less than 80% of the drawing's size) - or you can start with a Title Block of the desired page size and fit the drawing within it (but this means that you'll be constrained to printing at 100%).  Of course, this is all moot if your output is digital - you can just zoom in.
You might find it helpful to attend a webinar (in which you can ask questions) - registration is at https://www.stardraw.com/company/eventsandtraining



Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 9/18/2023 7:17:54 AM

Hi Rich,
Your schematic looks fine and adheres to good drawing practice; there are no problems or changes that I would suggest - nice work.
Regarding your upcoming project, well, the answer is 'it depends'.  You might want to do a room per drawing or have the whole thing in one; Stardraw Design 7.3 allows you to structure things in a way that works for you, so, whatever's best for you is best.
The only tip I can offer, without knowing specific details, is that if you are going to print to hardcopy, Block Schematic drawings are designed to be legible when printed close to a minimum of 1:1 (or 100%) so don't create a huge drawing and expect it to be legible if you print it out on too small a page size. 
As a guideline you can check the size of a drawing when it's complete - just use the Dimension tool on the long axis of the drawing and this will give an idea of the page size to use (don't print at less than 80% of the drawing's size) - or you can start with a Title Block of the desired page size and fit the drawing within it (but this means that you'll be constrained to printing at 100%).  Of course, this is all moot if your output is digital - you can just zoom in.
You might find it helpful to attend a webinar (in which you can ask questions) - registration is at https://www.stardraw.com/company/eventsandtraining

Thanks for the feedback!

Obviously it comes down to what works, and all projects are a little different.  Ideally I would be able to print readable sets, but this is an internal project, PDFs may be just fine as well.

Trying to run with best practices if I can.  I did see the webinar, that date doesn't work for me unfortunately.

Would making one big system sheet, then highlighting areas in boxes to outline print areas, be a decent option when it's time to print?  PDF attached for reference.  Or, is there a way to duplicate a drawing, then break it up into smaller sheets?

BTW, print area is kinda messed up, it doesn't draw where I am clicking.  Maybe it's one of those Windows scaling things?  I'm on a 4K laptop, Win 11 Pro, running at 150% scale.

Also, for larger projects where there will be lots of wiring.  Do you still try to spread out all the wires so they don't overlap, or let them overlap and rely on wire labelling instead?

Also, is there a way to include cable nodes when area selecting parts of the black schematic?  I can see times when you don't want to do that, but when you have cables drawn around neatly, and you want to move a group of devices, it would be nice to include the cable nodes in that area as well.

Not a big deal for a couple items, but would be handy to move a group of cameras or playbacks around.

Thanks!

Hi Rich,

Again, the best way to work is the one that makes sense for you; there are very few absolute rights (or absolute wrongs) and you'll come to develop your own process as your familiarity grows.

Regarding Print Area, yes, there's a known issue working with Windows scaling >100%; this will be fixed in a future update.

Yes, you can approach things as per your attachment - temporarily switch Windows scaling to 100% to set Print Area - or you can split the system up into different drawings, it's up to you.  If the latter you might find  see the Movie "Feathers" useful, #25 at https://www.stardraw.com/sd7/movies 

Cable nodes can't be included as part of a multiple selection but it's easy to move Cable segments by dragging the center handle if you need to make adjustments later, if rubberbanding (when Cables redraw based on the movement of connected symbols) isn't giving you the results you want.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

Thanks again! I’ll play with different options and see what seems best.

I’ll check out feathering now!