By Mats - 2/5/2012 2:33:10 PM
Hello,
I am preparing rack symbols for some products, and I define the width, depth and hight, and get a frame in the symbol library, with the correct dimensions.
I now put in images of the front and rear view of the products (frm product manuals), and I align and scale the image to the frame size.
Looks fine, I can switch between front, rear and side views.
I save the symbol.
When I want to use the symbol, the frame still have the correct size, but the image is scaled totally wrong, the image "size" is correct but the image is only displayed in one corner.
This worked ok in the A/V 2007 version.
Also, how do I exit the symbol editor, is it only bye the X button in the upper corner, or is there another way ?
Next step is to do a proper RACK drawing, and usually we use front, rear and side view in the same drawing, this is quickly fixed in A/V 2007, but seems to be totally impossible in the new version ?
In the A/V 2007 version, You just took a copy of the rack parts (in ungrouped mode) of the rear or side view, and pasted in this into the front view, now when You try You get
a messed up drawing with copies of the front view, but with incorrect placed objects...
Currently it seems that I need to go back to the old version, remake all customized products and redo all work in version A/V 2007, but I clearly hope not.
It seems that a lot of basic functionality in A/V 2007 doesn't even exist in version 7 ?!?
I hope I am wrong, but I seems to be pushed into a corner, where there is basic functionality that You are used to is missing (?)
Help!
Br
Mats
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By David Snipp - 2/5/2012 11:03:48 PM
Mats,
Can you upload an attachment of a project that contains your symbol showing the image problem?
Yes, the way to close the "Symbol Editor" is by clicking on the Close button. Think of it as a special project file.
As for showing the front and rear view of a product at the same time; Stardraw AV 2007 can be described as a drawing program with symbols. Stardraw Design 7 is a Project and Product based program that has symbolic representations of the products in different views. This provides much more powerful integration between the drawings and the project. For example, you can delete a product from a project and it will delete the product from all the drawings. Showing the Front & Rear View symbols of a product in the same drawing implies that there are 2 instances of that product in the project. I suspect that you are not trying to represent 2 instances of the product but instead show 2 views of the same product in the same drawing. Do you mind if the rear view of the product is not actually linked to a product? If not, then it should be possible to create a graphical copy of the symbol and just paste it into your drawing - treating it just like an image. We are working on a feature that will allow you to copy a selection as either an image or a metafile that can then be pasted into the same window without it pasting the whole product. For now, you should be able to do this by taking a screenshot - by hitting the Print Screen button and then pasting it into PAINT or some other image editing software and cropping out the parts you don't want and then saving it as a PNG file, which you can then insert, using the image tool, back into your Rack Drawing. I know this isn't ideal as it is a raster image but it will give you what you want now.
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By Mats - 3/4/2012 2:26:59 PM
Hello,
Regarding the link between the product list and drawings (racks in front and rear views for example). I think that you miss a very important point here, almost all drawing systems that handles products also have "views", and with this You can have more then one view of the same object, a rack should then have 3 views, front, rear and side, without adding the need for print screen and paste in an "image" of a specific view.
It's the same for the block schematics, we usually have complex drawings, that take up an A0 or above, so we split it down to perhaps 15-25 A3 or A4 drawings, again different views of the same basic objects.
Anyway, a more irritating problem is that images in the rack symbols are treated totally wrong, please see my attached screen prints where I first define a rack symbol, insert a jpg or png image of the front and rear view of the product, then I store the symbol.
Later when I try to use the stored symbol, the image that covered the complete front or rear view is just a small image in the corner...
I have attached the images I try to use as well.
This worked ok in Stardraw A/V 2007.
Br
Mats
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By Mats - 3/4/2012 2:33:24 PM
Next thing.
If I can't have the rear, front and side views in the same drawing, I try to create 3 drawings of my rack, front is ok, side is ok, but rear, how do I get a rear view of my rack, and an ok title block ?
Either I make something wrong, so please tell me, or
You have something seriousely wrong in the software, if You cant do a rear view drawing of the rack...
Br
Mats
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By Rob Robinson - 3/5/2012 2:53:25 PM
Hi Mats,
Thank you for reporting the image sizing issue - we have been able to reproduce this and will post back to this thread when a fix has been published.
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By RockPro - 3/6/2012 11:49:44 AM
I have spent, what is now going to be an extremely costly, number of hours on this issue.
Mats.. resize your graphics to 256DPI and you won't have the sizing issue any longer. Basically SD7 is handling all the jpg formatted images at native resolution. Your typical screen capture happens at 96DPI.. and that's how it shows up.
There are so many other issues working with "User Defined Products" and the symbol editor I'm about done with the whole deal..
SD7 folks.. graphics file handling is not being handled correctly.. in symbol editor, once you have added an image, the file handle is never closed.. in order for another program to access the same file again, SD7 has to be completely closed and restarted. Exiting symbol editor is not enough.
There are also a number of other issues.. for those of us working on a product like this, when we add the graphic on the rear-view page.. there is no need for SD7 to mirror the image. We are inserting an image of the rear correctly viewed. The behavior is the same as in the regular view but shouldn't be in editor.
Also.. once you discover this.. switching back to front view.. the correct view of the image on that layer isn't visible anymore.. deceiving because it is there.. but you can't see it.
Saving these files with 256dpi images reveals a penalty.. their size is enormous. It takes over a minute to write the symbol file on an i3 core machine which is totally ridiculous and I am sure there is a performance penalty one we start dropping these into racks.
I'll miss my deadline today and likely loose my shot at three commercial projects in the process.. so I hope the hell this helps someone.
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By Rob Robinson - 3/6/2012 2:49:03 PM
I am pleased to report that an update has just been published that addresses all reported image handling issues in User Defined Products. For full details please see http://forums.stardraw.com/Topic9175.aspx
RockPro - our records suggest, and we are pleased, that you have chosen to use the Stardraw Design 7 demo to document your projects. We hope, of course, that you will choose to purchase the application once the demo period has expired.
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By Rob Robinson - 3/8/2012 3:38:11 PM
Hi Mats,
Further to your comment about title blocks in the rack rear view, I am pleased to tell you that the update published earlier today makes it possible to insert a title block while in Rack Layout, Rear View, without the title block being mirrored.
Of course, if you then revert to Front View the title block will be mirrored, but you can then simply re-insert using Ctrl+T, Enter.
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By Mats - 3/11/2012 4:57:33 PM
Hello,
Thanks for the fixes, unfortunately, some new problems have poped up (I guess because of the fixes).
It's correct that You can insert and scale the images for the front and rear view, and it behaves correct (almost) later on, but:
a) When You edit the rack symbol, the front view, side view and rear view icons in the toolbar is not working anymore, You need to go to the rack layout lauers and manually switch to front, rear and side views.
(when You insert the product into a rack drawing, the icons for front, rear and side view works.
b) You select the rear view (high detail) of the rack symbol, insert an image that shows the rear view, and store it. Later when You use the rack symbol, and switch to the rear view, the image have been mirrored, so all positions, names and other things are mirrored, there is one mirror to much in the system ?
I have attached two sreenshots showing the rear view in rack symbol definition, and then the rear view when using the symbol in a rack drawing
Br
Mats
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By Rob Robinson - 3/12/2012 11:21:18 AM
Hi Mats,
Thanks for reporting the View buttons issue when in Symbol Editing mode - we have reproduced this, are working on a fix, and will post back to this thread when an update is available.
Regarding your second point, this is normal behaviour. As an example, if you have two racks, rack 1 is on the left and rack 2 is on the right when looking at them from the front. When you look at them from the rear, Rack 1 is on the right and rack 2 is on the left, i.e. the whole world is mirrored, compared to the previous view.
Everything on the Rear High Detail layer is in a mirrored state when you're in Front View mode, but you've only experienced this because of the issue with the View buttons, and we will correct this issue as soon as possible.
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By Rob Robinson - 3/15/2012 9:24:07 AM
A recent update fixes buttons for Rear View and Side View when in Symbol Editing mode, Rack Layout and Pictorial Schematic modules.
Use Help | Check for Updates, or Accept Updates when the application starts up to install the current version.
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By Mats - 3/16/2012 9:14:08 AM
Hello,
Thanks for the update from March 14 (You are quick with updates, appreciated!) but the things got even worse.
What happens now is this:
You have defined a products Length, with and depth.
You edit the rack symbol, and get the red outline.
You select front view, and insert an image describing the front view.
You select rear view, and You still see the image from the front view, but mirrored! (you should only see the outline!)
You insert an image for the rear view, looks ok now.
You select the front view, and what You see is the rear view image, but mirrored!
You select side view, and You still see the rear view image.
It seems that the system have lost connections between the views and the layer that hold the images ?
With best regards
Mats
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By Rob Robinson - 3/16/2012 9:29:17 AM
Hi Mats,
I suspect you may be inserting the images onto the wrong layers. You should check that your Current Layer is correct before inserting the image, or change the image's layer once it has been inserted.
For the Front View, set the Current Layer to Front High Detail.
For the Rear View, set the Current Layer to Rear High Detail.
Using the correct layers, View behavior will be as expected.
If you still have problems, please attach a project file containing your UDP to your next post and we will be happy to investigate.
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