This really came to light when I started to put together some plans for a new job and I realized that I am making more symbols with the Symbol Wizard than I am importing. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't bother writing this email if I didn't love the program and all of its features. However, when you sell your product based on how quickly one can do drawings just by dragging and dropping, it doesn't set well when your customers have to waste time drawing a speaker box that has been on the market for a year. Isn't this the feature set and support that we pay for?

The request symbols feature on the web site is great however, (once again), this extra time is time we are not making money. Would it be too much to have someone monitor manufacturers and deal with this? If it is MY JOB to update Stardraw's symbol library then someone there needs to send me my employee handbook!

Once again, I think Stardraw AV is a great program. I just think that those of us that use it and PAY for it are being ignored.

Dave Stuart

Acoustical Audio Design

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your post.  You have correctly identified that keeping up to date with new product releases is the greatest challenge faced by an application like Stardraw A/V - we already supply over 38,000 symbols from more than 400 manufacturers and, far from being idle, new symbols are added daily.  This year we have already added more than 500 products, but it is a Herculean task and, since we do not have infinite resources, we have had to accept that we will never be 100% up to date with all products from all manufacturers.  In the light of limited resources we are forced to prioritize the symbols we create based on user requests and availability of data.

Even though symbol support is free of charge to manufacturers and as streamlined a process as we can make it, the key obstacles we face are:

• Manufacturers are sometimes unable or unwilling to provide the data we require.
• Since library updates do not represent a direct revenue stream (or cost) for the manufacturer, and since manufacturers, like you and us, have limited resources, provision of data is not prioritized as highly as we would all like.

To be honest, it would be very easy for us to add thousands of new products from manufacturers that provide great data, but who you've probably never heard of.  We could make it look very impressive on paper, but ultimately it wouldn't serve your needs or ours - you want the data from the small subset of manufacturers that you personally use.  This is why we rely on the online symbols request utility; you can tell us exactly what you need and we will go out and source the data. What's more, we will prioritize the symbols you ask for, even though it may take 100 times longer to generate a particular symbol, for example, if the manufacturer provides poor data, or none at all.  We appreciate, therefore, that you have taken the time to request products online and I'm happy to tell you that the QSC and Allen & Heath products you asked for are currently being drawn and should be available in days rather than weeks.

There is further leverage at your disposal - as someone that uses manufacturers' products, you can use your power as a customer to tell them of the importance you place in their timely submission of data.  You are far better placed to exert such pressure than we and a single email to your suppliers can work wonders.  Manufacturer data requirements can be seen at http://www.stardraw.com/Manufacturers/Including_Symbols.asp 

As you know, Stardraw A/V is a mature product, has been available for many years and is well known throughout the industries it serves.  Stardraw Control is a new product so we are making every effort to establish its presence - as someone involved in its marketing I am pleased you've noticed - but this in no way means that we have abandoned our long-established products.  In fact, development has been ongoing and in addition to the symbols updates already mentioned, we will be announcing a swathe of new features in Stardraw A/V et al. at InfoComm next month.  Again, feedback from our users is critical in development of new features; are there any specific utilities you would like to see added?

Likewise, training for Stardraw A/V is no less important to us than that for Stardraw Control and details of local seminars can be seen at www.stardraw.com/company/events  (seminars will be held in the next couple of months in Orlando and Atlanta)

I hope this information is helpful and would like to reiterate that yes, development of features and addition of symbols to Stardraw A/V is ongoing and if you can only tell us what specifically you would like to see added, we can prioritize our efforts accordingly. 

Kind regards

Rob Robinson