Vectorworks, Inc Employee Popular Post PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2018 Our teams here at Vectorworks, Inc. paid close attention to the wishlist requests and other forum communications this year, and we heard you loud and clear — you want improvements to the quality, speed, and usability of the software and its existing capabilities. To give you a taste of what we’ve been working on for the next release, Teaser Tuesdays are back! The first item we are sharing, which should be of interest to pretty much all of you, is a user interface improvement that I already miss instantly when I need to hop back to old versions: Class and Layer Filtering, combined with a new Class and Layer Search. This video showcases a key improvement to the software as a whole, to solve for a challenge for which many of you had long adapted to a less than optimal workflow. What I personally like about this improvement is not only the functionality itself, which is instantly useful, but also how well planned out the feature was from the start. It includes search and default filters and the ability to tag classes and layers, then search for those tags. It’s so simple! You will also have the ability to create custom filters to be displayed among the default ones, making it easy to quickly call up a set of items and then refine the results further if needed. AND these filters can be saved and shared between files, meaning these preconfigured filters can be attached to your templates and included in company standards. Now for something NEW! We will be hosting a live Facebook session to discuss each of the items we share in Teaser Tuesday posts. Here’s how it will work: the teaser will come out on Tuesday (Wednesday if you live on the front edge of the world!) and then you can post questions about it on Wednesday in the forum, through direct messages, or on our Facebook post. On Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET, we will answer your questions live on the official Vectorworks Facebook page . If you can’t make it, don’t worry, we’ll also be transcribing the answers and posting to the forum too. Feel free to ask any questions you like related to the feature that was just teased. This format is an experiment for us, so we also welcome any feedback or suggestions for the format, as well. We plan to share Teaser Tuesday posts and host live Q&A sessions each week leading up to our launch of Vectorworks 2019! 16 2 Quote Link to comment
Patrick Fritsch Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Still hoping for more efficient detailing tools...geez their old. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 7 minutes ago, Patrick Fritsch said: Still hoping for more efficient detailing tools...geez their old. Not in the scope of this task, but for 2019 we do indeed address a few different aspects of detailing! Not sure if those features will make the cut for Teasers but they''ll be in the rollout materials for sure. Quote Link to comment
Andrew Davies Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Sounds like a great feature! Don't want to start a whole "what's not in 2019" thread - but was really hoping for a GUI update. Cripes VWX feels old now. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Popular Post PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2018 6 minutes ago, Andrew Davies said: Don't want to start a whole "what's not in 2019" thread - but was really hoping for a GUI update. Cripes VWX feels old now. I want one too, but even though I've been firmly in that camp for years now, I REALLY like the changes they made this year, next teaser is a raw performance feature that should please many. We do plan on a significant UI update, but realize its a huge undertaking and likely one that we would make the focus of a whole release. This years internally stated focus however, was short and to the point: "Quality". I have heard rumors that 2020s may be simply "UI" 4 1 Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 This looks pretty useful, especially for Classes. Two questions come to mind - Do you have access to the instant search in the Layer and Class dropdowns in the OIP when an object is selected? I can see this being the most useful place to have it for Classes, since really the only time I change a class is through the OIP and that's when a long list of classes is difficult to navigate. I'll admit I never use the dropdowns in the mode bar. I always work in the Navigation Palette when changing the current layer or class. Can you assign a tag to layers/classes during a DWG import, much like you can assign a prefix? I love that this years focus is "Quality"! Kevin Quote Link to comment
Jim Kunzendorf Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 fantastic news! Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, Kevin McAllister said: Do you have access to the instant search in the Layer and Class dropdowns in the OIP when an object is selected? I can see this being the most useful place to have it for Classes, since really the only time I change a class is through the OIP and that's when a long list of classes is difficult to navigate. I'll admit I never use the dropdowns in the mode bar. I always work in the Navigation Palette when changing the current layer or class. Yep! It's also in a number of different and less obvious places where we interact with classes, like in the Class and Layers override lists for viewports. It isn't absolutely everywhere (I noticed it not being present deep within some dialogs from some PIOs), but nearly all places where there is a class dropdown on the top level or one level deep in UI elements. 7 minutes ago, Kevin McAllister said: Can you assign a tag to layers/classes during a DWG import, much like you can assign a prefix? I have to avoid answering this for the time being because there's something related to it that I can't discuss yet. 2 Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Great improvement - I Like! Quote Link to comment
Andy Broomell Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Cool! 3 hours ago, Jim Wilson said: AND these filters can be saved and shared between files, meaning these preconfigured filters can be attached to your templates and included in company standards. Meaning it has to be pre-set up in a template, or will there be a way to share between existing files (similar to Resources)? Another question - is there a way to see what tags have already been assigned to classes, aside from right clicking a class and going to Assign Tags? For example, does the Organization dialogue box have a new column for Tags? I feel like I'd want a place to see an overview of what tags have been applied to classes throughout a document, especially when working on files that have been started by other people. 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 7 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said: Meaning it has to be pre-set up in a template, or will there be a way to share between existing files (similar to Resources)? You can do it with a template or you can use an "Import" option that will let you bring filters in from a targeted file. They don't appear in the resource browser though, they are handled in the background as a kind of file metadata. 8 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said: is there a way to see what tags have already been assigned to classes, aside from right clicking a class and going to Assign Tags? For example, does the Organization dialogue box have a new column for Tags? Yes, there is a "Tags" column in the Org dialog that will display them.No new column for them in the Nav palette, but there's a contextual "Assign Tags..." menu shortcut to jump right to class tag assignment from there instead. 1 Quote Link to comment
Andy Broomell Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, Jim Wilson said: Yes, there is a "Tags" column in the Org dialog that will display them.No new column for them in the Nav palette, but there's a contextual "Assign Tags..." menu shortcut to jump right to class tag assignment from there instead. Cool, this is about what I would expect 🙂. I agree that having them in the Nav palette would be too much, but glad to hear they'll show up in in the Org dialogue box. Slightly off-topic, but related, any chance the "Description" attribute for classes and layers was given a column in the Org dialogue box? I was surprised to not see it there when that functionality was added a version or two ago. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said: Slightly off-topic, but related, any chance the "Description" attribute for classes and layers was given a column in the Org dialogue box? No change there, I know there was talk of it but there were some problematic issues with potentially putting that much text into those columns. I believe it was tested and found to be unstable, so it was benched until we revisit the underlying guts of the Org dialog. Quote Link to comment
Andy Broomell Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 8 minutes ago, Jim Wilson said: No change there, I know there was talk of it but there were some problematic issues with potentially putting that much text into those columns. I believe it was tested and found to be unstable, so it was benched until we revisit the underlying guts of the Org dialog. Understood. Also, I hope when those underlying guts are revisited, we'll gain the ability to directly enter information in each field (or changing color, etc) by clicking directly in the Org dialogue box, without having to go into the Edit dialogue box for each thing. Just putting that out there. Sorry, back on topic now.... 😄 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 Just now, Andy Broomell said: Also, I hope when those underlying guts are revisited, we'll gain the ability to directly enter information in each field (or changing color, etc) by clicking directly in the Org dialogue box, without having to go into the Edit dialogue box for each thing. Just putting that out there. This is exactly the kind of deep dive into functionality I'd like to see for serious UI improvements. Maybe a coat of dark paint afterwards 😉 1 Quote Link to comment
elepp Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 1. Will it be possible to use the pipette tool to transfer the filter setting from one viewport to another? 2. Will the tagging as well as the filtering be accessible via vectorscript/python? Would be nice to be able to write a script that runs through the viewports in the sheet layers and assigns the right filter to them. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, elepp said: 1. Will it be possible to use the pipette tool to transfer the filter setting from one viewport to another? Well the filters are specific to those dropdown and palette lists, it isnt a filter applied to the viewport itself, its the ability to filter the class and layer slections when using class and layer overrides. Those class and layer visibilities CAN already be transferred by the eyedropper though, so I suppose the answer is Yes unless I misunderstood your question. 3 minutes ago, elepp said: 2. Will the tagging as well as the filtering be accessible via vectorscript/python? Would be nice to be able to write a script that runs through the viewports in the sheet layers and assigns the right filter to them. Unsure! i will check. I'll try to make sure to get an answer before the livestream so it can be included. Quote Link to comment
Wesley Burrows Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 3 hours ago, Jim Wilson said: Yep! It's also in a number of different and less obvious places where we interact with classes, like in the Class and Layers override lists for viewports. It isn't absolutely everywhere (I noticed it not being present deep within some dialogs from some PIOs), but nearly all places where there is a class dropdown on the top level or one level deep in UI elements. I have to avoid answering this for the time being because there's something related to it that I can't discuss yet. This smells like a possible class remapping tool might become a reality 🙂 Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 I was watching the video hoping that you were going to move over to the right and show us that the 'saved views' dropdown had received similar treatment. Because that's the one I use more often now. I don't often go into the class or layer dropdowns except to get things set up in preparation for creating a saved view (and increasingly I do that from the navigation palette instead). I'd particularly like to be able to have saved views nested in submenus like we can do with classes. Just having a think about why I don't much use the class or layer dropdowns...if I'm about to draw a new object I'll often activate the class I want by doing a right-click on a similar object nearby. But perhaps I'd start using them more, with these improvements. 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 Limited to Classes and Layers for this year, but there have been a number of places (many mentioned during Beta testing) that we want to bring this same UI to in the future. Font list, Saved Views, Viewports, all came up in these talks and I would not be surprised to see it becoming more prevalent elsewhere as well. 1 Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Jim Wilson said: Limited to Classes and Layers for this year, but there have been a number of places (many mentioned during Beta testing) that we want to bring this same UI to in the future. Font list, Saved Views, Viewports, all came up in these talks and I would not be surprised to see it becoming more prevalent elsewhere as well. The font list and the Marionette node search field would be prime candidates for immediate search without having to hit enter. I could see tags being used for Viewports. The Viewport pane in the Navigation Palette definitely needs something to help it to be more useful. Right now there's no way to know where a viewport is (eg. it would be great to be able to organize the list grouped by sheet for example). Kevin Edited August 7, 2018 by Kevin McAllister Quote Link to comment
Matt Overton Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Why doesn’t creating a tag auto create a basic filter for that tag? that reduce steps and give us an instant view of what tags have been used. 4 Quote Link to comment
Andy Broomell Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 If you've filtered Classes in the Nav Palette, will there be any actions that trigger it to reset to viewing all classes? (Besides hitting the little X of course). For example, what happens when: -Switching to different tab in the Nav Palette and switching back (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact) -Running a Saved View (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact... unless Saved Views have been given the ability to save or not save filter states). -Closing a file and reopening (I'd expect class filter to be reset, though I could see this going either way.) Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted August 7, 2018 16 minutes ago, Matt Overton said: Why doesn’t creating a tag auto create a basic filter for that tag? Well, you can use the search function on tags manually as well. I dont know if I'd want that filter list at the bottom to be as long as the number of tags id want to make. The Filter system is more designed to be a way of calling up conceptual groups of filtered items by multiple criteria, like items that include more than one similar tag or are in a specific state and have a specific tag, etc. If you just wanted to find things based on a single tag, then i would think the search would be faster than scrolling through a now-50-item Filters list after making a few dozen tags? (I realize now that my quick example filter in the video of just one tag doesn't clarify this or make the intended usability obvious, my fault.) 12 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said: If you've filtered Classes in the Nav Palette, will there be any actions that trigger it to reset to viewing all classes? (Besides hitting the little X of course). For example, what happens when: -Switching to different tab in the Nav Palette and switching back (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact) -Running a Saved View (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact... unless Saved Views have been given the ability to save or not save filter states). Right now they stay as you left them in these scenarios, so you can go back and forth without it resetting on you. There was some debate over whether it should ALWAYS reset back to "All Classes/Layers" when you click away and that users might get confused if they have a filter enabled they forgot about, but having it stay the way you last left it seemed overall to be more intuitive and if a user did make that mistake once, they likely won't keep making it once they're used to the interface. 15 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said: -Closing a file and reopening (I'd expect class filter to be reset, though I could see this going either way.) If you close/reopen, the filters do reset back to the default Show Everything state, as I would also expect and agree with. Quote Link to comment
Mark Aceto Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Massive appreciation for this feature. Thanks to all who listened! Quote Link to comment
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