No Luck with Marionette & Project Sharing

[willofmaine]

I can't get Marionette objects to work with Project Sharing.  When another User goes to edit the Marionette, it just disappears (though the Select Similar tool will still find it).  It looks like the wires get confused, maybe not unlike as in this post:

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/57586-marionette-and-project-sharing-issues/#comment-287920

 

Screenshot 06, attached, shows the failed network (in this case a symbol).  Most of the wires have simply disappeared, one has gone entirely rogue, and a bunch connect to the one node of the "Scale Donut" wrapper, which wrapper has lost its other inputs.

 

So I created a brand new, blank Vectorworks file ("01-Simple Marionette.vwx", attached) with just a simple, rectangular extrude Marionette.  In that file, the upper row of objects share the same network symbol; the lower one does not use a network symbol.

 

I put a copy of the file in Dropbox and saved it as a Project Sharing file.  I then created a Working File from that and, at least based on limited testing, the Marionettes all worked as expected (drag copying them and editing them presented no issues).

 

I then switched my computer to a different User and there created another Working File.  The upper row of Marionettes seemed to work okay, but after I duplicated and tried to edit the lower Marionette, it disappeared.  Attached is a screenshot (Screenshot 07) of the network for the original lower Marionette, where at least one wire has made for the hills.

 

After switching back and forth between Users a couple of times and making edits, the Marionettes that had previously disappeared reappeared in the Working File on my main User account.  Also attached is the latest Working File, "05-Working File-Refreshed from Successful Twin.vwxw".  (In my main project file, the issues first encountered in the other User account were transmitted to the Working File on my main User account, and the "failed" Marionettes did not reappear...).

 

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.  Thanks!   VWIS236

 

 

01-Simple Marionette.vwx 05-Working File-Refreshed from Successful Twin.vwxw

Edited December 22, 2022 by willofmaine

[willofmaine]

Does anyone use Marionette with Project Sharing?... ... ...

[Pat Stanford]

Apparently not?  Perhaps my commenting here can get someones attention.

 

@Marissa Farrell Can you comment on this?

[Niels Timmer]

On 1/5/2023 at 9:32 PM, willofmaine said:

Does anyone use Marionette with Project Sharing?... ... ...

 

I do, and I experience similar problems as you described.

[HebHeb]

+ 1
switched back to "normal file"
 

I wasn't even able to send changes to the project file after placing a few more complex networks.

[willofmaine]

VW 2023, SP3: "Marionette network node connections are preserved when importing, copying, and pasting."  Does that mean what I think it means?  I like to think it means that Marionette wires will now be far more tenacious at staying present and connected than they have been for at least the past seven years.

 

With a little testing, and except for one instance where all the wires completely disappeared, so far, Marionette may show some promise with SP3, both with project sharing and otherwise.  A complex Marionette survived a master project file, duplications and edits in a working file many states away, commitment to the project file, and further use in my working file here.  Not only that, where in VW 2022 this particular Marionette takes 18 seconds to "reset" after being duplicated and changed, in VW 2023 (SP3) it takes only a fraction of a second(!).

 

And maybe, hopefully, Marionette Object Styles will be a viable replacement for network symbols, which I abandoned due to their apparent endless issues (oddly, Marionette Object "Styles" seem to function much more like symbols than they do the styles for other plug-in objects...).

 

So given Marionette's long history of appearing to work one day and failing the next, I'm nowhere near cautiously optimistic, but at least I'm desperately hopeful...

[Juliensv]

Interesting, my office has been using project sharing as the norm for about a year and a half now, and we have a couple marionette objects that have been working just fine throughout that. I have noticed the slow "first reset" when copying a marionette object to a new project file as willofmaine pointed out, but after that reset, and after committing, any other users see and can interact with the object just fine.

Mostly, our marionette objects have already been baked into the template file we all use to create our master files, so that may have mitigated any potential issues.

[Niels Timmer]

I'm still experiencing the same problems with Marionette in a Project Sharing environment. This is how the network of one of the Marionette Object Style looks when opening the project file again after the weekend:

 

 

Except for two or three, all connections are lost. All 31 instances of the Marionette Object disappeared.

 

Does anyone know how to prevent this? Are there best practices when working with marionette in project sharing files?

[HebHeb]

again I ran into troubles lately.
 

Especially with projectsharing…
What I also noticed: when I import a Marionette Object (style) out of the resource Manager some nodes loose their connection… (but not always… thats the funny part…)
 

What always works: copy paste from file to file…
 

I save every network as style, so I can always replace the „inside“ with a working „backup“. the only workaround that works for me at the moment.
Also I try to place every Marionette style before setting up the projectsharing file.
For now I stopped using projectsharing in projects where i relay heavily on marionette objects… (no fun solution when busy teamworks is needed)
 

 

[Antonio Landsberger]

@Niels Timmer and @HebHeb

Please send your findings to your local distributor, so they can file a proper bug report.