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?

+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.

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

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!

+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

+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

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.

Thank you, about to revisit the videos.  Trying to get lines to stick to 90 degree angles.  I have one device connected where the lines stay in in 90's, but then added another where they're not 90's but straight point to point.  can't seem to change that.

Also, when likes are in 90's, can they be set to not overlap automatically?  Right now if I move it, the lines all turn at 90 degrees at the same spot and overlap

+x

 

Rob Robinson - 9/17/2023 2:37:09 PM

Hi Rich,

I'm glad you figured out the problem.

To answer your last 2 questions:

Products are added based on user requests.  If a product does not yet exist in the library it's usually because no one has requested it yet.    If (when ) you become a registered user you can request products to be added to the library.  We can't estimate turnaround times before receiving the particular request but on average new products are added within 2 working days of approval of the request.

ID is a system-generated value and you can't re-generate these values within a project.  However, if you copy your drawing and paste into a new, empty Project then the products will be assigned new IDs sequentially, starting at 1.  That said, I'm not sure how you would want to use ID - generally you might set your own identification Attribute which is not based on the chronological order in which products are added to a project, as ID is, but in a fashion that makes sense within the context of the project itself e.g. Spec or Schedule Reference, or [Type]-[Number] etc. 

Your question about rear view detail has been passed to the Symbols Dept and you'll receive a response by email in due course.

I hope this is helpful.

Very helpful thank you

+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.

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com