Conrad P

Thanks Danny I will extend the range to GIANT RACKS

Hi Daniel, Finding names for stuff can be a tough call as we expand across more design disciplines. Regarding your question, both the Device Builder and Service Select symbol libraries are valid approaches and in a way serve different needs. Device Builder is better suited to creating schematic devices because it constructs your device out of data preserving your particular house style. I could see some fun improvements to DB like adding richer graphics assuming we can store these somehow in the database. You can of course save devices as symbols and share them with your colleagues. But for us distributing schematic device symbols worldwide would run into the problem that designers have different preferences regarding colors, fonts, units, grid settings and therefore socket spacing. Device Builder doesn't have this problem. Where symbol libraries really come into their own is for modelling physical equipment items. Already we are working to leverage Vectorworks existing symbol content and integrate it with ConnectCAD Equipment objects to provide accurate, rich graphics. Moving forward I can see the day where we have physical equipment symbols available to complement Device Builder makes and models. Thanks for getting me thinking about this. As ever, it's great talking with you guys. Conrad

Hi Max, Thanks from me also. We'll get that file sent over to us and check on this. Conrad

Hi Daniel, Your question makes absolute sense to me 🙂 You want ConnectCAD and Spotlight to talk to each other - and I think that's a great idea. I'll brainstorm this with the Spotlight guys and see where we can take this. Conrad

Hi Dima At the moment the limit is 8 custom parameters. We'll be looking at making these unlimited in a future version. You can play with which ones are text fields and which are choice lists. If a choice list is present then the parameter will be formatted as a dropdown, if it is not present then it is a edit text. Conrad

knallfrosch21 - please contact VW Sales in the US or your local distributor.

Hi Mike, We're always working to improve ConnectCAD. Hooking up with Vectorworks has only accelerated that process. In this last year we have completed a huge transition from being primarily based in Vectorscript to becoming a fully SDK-based plug-in. Of course there have been some changes. We wouldn't be doing the new technology any justice if there weren't. You do well to draw my attention to anything you see as an omission. You appreciate that we have taken the opportunity to prune away some dead wood. Please let me know in as much detail as you can regarding any facilities you had, that you actually miss now. Publishing our roadmap here is something I would have to clear with my management. But I can tell you that we have a lot of ideas in the pipeline. There will always be an infinite list of things a piece of software doesn't do !!! Perhaps it's a tribute to how great software has become that our expectations are limitless! Conrad

Did you know... that the Spotlight Numbering command also works in ConnectCAD. Here's Jim Woodward's guide. Conrad CCD VWS Numbering Workspace.mp4

Another of the beauties of being embedded in Vectorworks. The synergies! The ConnectCAD numbering command also provides automated numbering based on the names of your devices and sockets or any other parameter you care to use. All this choice, thanks to it all being in the same environment. C

Did you know... the whole story about special device names in ConnectCAD and what they all mean? Special Device name prefixes explained.pdf

Did you know... how to use the ReRoute tool to line up those cable IDs? ReRoute tricks.pdf

Did you know... how Connector Panel devices and Equipment Items work together in ConnectCAD 2020? Here's the definitive guide. ConnectCAD 2020- Visualizing connector panels.pdf

Sorry Art that doesn't work for SDK plug-ins. Conrad

Hi Ido At the moment I would suggest abbreviating the names and make/models a bit, and using Text Align Left or Right to maximise the available space. We will make Text menu drive the Name parameter in a forthcoming release to help some more. Best Conrad

Well, that's interesting... yes you have a point. You could partly alleviate this by choosing Text Align Left or Right. After that it becomes difficult. We are having a think about this... Conrad