Conrad P Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Hi Everyone, This topic is a place where I will share nuggets of information and techniques you may not have come across. Conrad 3 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 (edited) Did you know... How to do Arrow connections between layers? You select the Connect tool, choose Arrow mode, click on your source socket and you want to move to another layer. How? 2 ways: Use the Navigation Palette - click in the active layer column to switch layers, or... Use Cmd (Ctrl)-Arrow-Up/Down keys to move up and down the layer stack. Either way it always helps to have the Nav Palette open so you can always see where you are going 🙂 Edited January 17, 2020 by Conrad P 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 Did you know... that ConnectCAD 2020 works nicely with Vectorworks Project Sharing? This is a happy by-product of our transition to Vectorworks SDK! So when you have more than one designer working on your project, set it up for Project Sharing and you can all work together on the same file. Give it a try! 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 Did you know... that double-clicking with the Connect tool makes the "next connection"? Say you're connecting some sockets on device A to device B. You take the Connect tool and draw your first Circuit joining the topmost socket on A to the corresponding one on B. Your Circuit remains selected after creation - here's why. If you now want a similar shape of Circuit from the socket below, just double-click it. This is the 2020 version of the old Connect Next command. And it's even better than before - it's smart about signal types too. So start double-clicking and save yourself time! 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 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 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Did you know... how to use the ReRoute tool to line up those cable IDs? ReRoute tricks.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Did you know... the whole story about special device names in ConnectCAD and what they all mean? Special Device name prefixes explained.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment
Conrad P Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Did you know... that the Spotlight Numbering command also works in ConnectCAD. Here's Jim Woodward's guide. Conrad CCD VWS Numbering Workspace.mp4 4 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted March 30, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 30, 2020 Did you know ... that you can edit the Circuit > Cable Length parameter dropdown to have whatever values you want? The default values are loaded for the file /Plug-Ins/connectCAD_Data/CableLengths.txt in the Vectorworks application folder. You can override this by putting a duplicate of the file in the corresponding user folder path and edit the file to your own needs. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted April 2, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted April 2, 2020 Did you know... that it's not so difficult to migrate your custom fields and their data from ConnectCAD 2018 to 2020? You can do it all using standard ConnectCAD and Vectorworks commands. Here's the how-to. Migrating Custom parameters to ConnectCAD 2020 from ConnectCAD 2018.pdf 2 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted May 1, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted May 1, 2020 Custom fields in 2020 explained And how to use them in worksheets reports. CustomFields1.pdf CustomFields2.pdf Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted May 18, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted May 18, 2020 You can add Signal and Connector types. Have a look in your user folder under Plug-ins/connectCAD_Data and you'll find the files SignalTypes.txt. and ConnectorTypes.txt. Questions: - Where's the User Folder? Go to Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences and select the UserFolders tab. You'll see where the user folder is in the dialog. - Those files aren't in there - what now? Add the files attached to this post to get you started. - OK got the files - how do I add my signals etc.? Open the files in a text editor. They are simple tab-separated text and the first row is a header showing what the columns do. Here's a picture. Just add as many rows like this as you need. SignalTypes.txt ConnectorTypes.txt Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee JimWoodward Posted September 28, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted September 28, 2020 Here's 2 short videos on Data Visualization and Data Tags, these are setup for ConnectCAD, but these features can be applied all across VW. Data Visualization can be used in Design Layers directly as well as each individual Viewport. Data Tags For CCD.mp4 Data Viz For CCD.mp4 3 Quote Link to comment
Kevin Krautle Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) On the data visualization note, You don't necessarily have to use a data tag to see an image of the device in your symbols. However it is a nice way for a different use case. The cool thing about CC Symbols is that you can add images to them after they are created, and then save them as symbols to reuse. To add an image, just doubleclick on your already created device on the drawing (just like when you want to edit connectors) and add your image. Just be aware of the location of the symbol template (in this example I use a custom dev_label_generic). Exit out of the symbol, and then you can save as symbol to add to your resource library to use again. Edited September 29, 2020 by Kevin Krautle 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee JimWoodward Posted September 30, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted September 30, 2020 This is a short video on editing device labels and populating the dropdown menu in the OIP. Device Label Attributes.mp4 2 Quote Link to comment
Jeroen Depaepe Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 On 1/21/2020 at 11:43 AM, Conrad P said: 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 2.25 MB · 118 downloads If we create schematic devices from a panel only the input devices are created. Any idea if there is coming an update to include outputs? Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted January 5, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 5, 2021 @jdepaepe In Vectorworks 2021 just select the devices you want to change, click the Edit Device Array button in the Object Info Palette and choose Input or Output in the dialog. There isn't a foolproof way to determine how a connector is being used so you have to set it. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted January 13, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 13, 2021 Snap grid controls the size of ConnectCAD schematic objects like device and sockets. this leaves you free to draw schematics at any scale. Event planners love this because they can draw directly on floor plans. So what's the catch? If you want to customise the symbols used in sockets and device you need to be aware of the scaling. The easy way is to first set the snap grid to 4mm that way the scaling is 1:1. Do all your editing with this grid then when you are happy with the result set the snap grid to the value you want before you save your new template. If you have existing symbols created on say 1/8" grid then you can use the Scale Objects with a scale factor of 4mm / 1/8" to adjust the content to a 4mm basis. Then set the snap grid to your favorite value. Schematics in fact are Not to Scale drawings. The absolute size of objects doesn't matter provided the proportions and text sizes look right. Quote Link to comment
joneztria Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 this is great to see that signalTypes are still modifiable. i just noticed something in our 2016 install, however, that it seems there was a different set of columns in the file: Signal Prefix Conn R G B LS LW Description i know we do have customized signal type line colors - is this how this was implemented? or ..? thanks! Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted January 26, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 26, 2021 Hey Matt, ConnectCAD has been steadily improving over the years !!! All signal type coloring is now done using Vectorworks Classes. so for each signal type a class is created named Sys-Circuits-<sigtype>. You can edit all the attributes applied to your signal type by editing the class attributes. So "R G B LS LW " are no longer relevant because the class takes care of all that - much better. I'm pretty sure this is covered in the online help too. Our Tech Pubs team do a great job. But, if there is something missing please do let me know. Conrad 1 Quote Link to comment
joneztria Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 thanks @Conrad Preen! i thought this might be the case, but just couldn't find anything in the online help. i need to figure out how to use the search to exclude non-relevant results! incidentially, what search term(s) could you put in to find this topic in the online help? you guys rock - much appreciated Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Alexandra Duffy Posted January 26, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 26, 2021 Hi, The online help does not go into great detail on this subject - see https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2021/eng/index.htm#t=VW2021_Guide%2FConnectCAD%2FEditing_devices_and_sockets.htm We say that "The ConnectCAD template contains sets of classes with names that clearly indicate their function. The classes can be edited to change the appearance, font style and color, etc. of various ConnectCAD objects for a customized look." If that's not detailed enough, I can add more information in the future. FYI, I searched for "signal types" which got me to "Adding sockets, loops, and terminators" and from there I clicked on "Editing devices and sockets." Alexandra Manager, Technical Publications Quote Link to comment
cessnaflyer Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 @Conrad Preen What if its a mystery what snap scale was used on some older created devices? Anyway I can figure that out so I can use the scale object trick? And do I just scale the socket or the entire object? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Conrad Preen Posted February 11, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 11, 2021 Hey everyone! This thread is drifting off-topic in a major way. Forums (or is the plural fora?) are notorious for being full of useful info that nobody can find. This thread is for useful nuggets of information, how-to's etc. If you have something to contribute great. If you have a question start a new thread with a useful title. Conrad 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Nikolay Zhelyazkov Posted November 17, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 17, 2021 Did you know... You can easily find out what's new in ConnectCAD in the help site, by checking the New Features page and searching for ConnectCAD there. For example, here is the 2022 New Features page - https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2022/eng/VW2022_Guide/LandingPage/New_features.htm#h 3 Quote Link to comment
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