Where is everybody?

[Joe Mattei]

I thought it was fixed... I actually connected to this forum three times in a row. WOW! Then, five times in a row I got the Death Message. I feel like I should say something since I was able to connect. How about, "Have a nice day!"

[David Jones]

This is the first time I have been able to access the forum since early February. I am looking forward to the new server. I think accessibility is the main reason for not much discussion. I am not sure if me being in Australia has anything to do with it. Earlier, accessibility was never a problem.
Perhaps President Trump is responsible!
David Jones

[Rob C]

Wow! Actually got on. What can I say, I'd love to see a better working forum too.

Alfred, maybe any more serious discussion about SketchUp integration should be direct, and not dependent on getting onto this forum.

If anybody want so to see some SketchUp work work, here are a couple examples, but I don't have examples right this second of what stuff looks like brought back into PowerCADD:

https://robertcoolidge.smugmug.com/Arch ... ily-House/
https://robertcoolidge.smugmug.com/Arch ... ent-for-a/

[Joe Mattei]

Good morning! I must say... since this website has started working on a regular and consistent basis I expected a flood of pent-up comments and suggestions, but it remains dead. Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well. Hamlet: Act 5, Scene 1, Page 8.

[pbacot]

I'm at home.

[pbacot]

Hey, nice work, Rob! I am generally doing exterior elevations with SketchUp and LayOut these days, but I take a LayOut pdf and put it in PowerCADD because the tools for annotating and finishing are so much better in PCADD. One can make the LO pdf a Reference, but because LO doesn't have a consistent output naming for pages, it takes a little more effort each update.

[Yodarick]

So Alfred is working on a PCadd to Sketchup translator, how awesome is that. These two are my mainstay, I've been using .dwg files to go to SU from PC.

I want to say as a long time user, 27 years now, and still working at 72, PowerCadd is my tool everyday, I can not say enough about the beauty of this program. Yes I have some minor complaints but they are minor.

This is my one major complaint, which I have previously asked Todd to change. When importing a new file like a dwg, it opens in PC with the default of having the grids showing and having the snap to grid on. In 27 years of using this program I have never used the snap or needed the grids on. It involves two extra steps every time I open a dwg file or other import like pdf.

PLEASE TODD CAN YOU MAKE THIS SIMPLE CHANGE?

[huc]

This is my one major complaint, which I have previously asked Todd to change. When importing a new file like a dwg, it opens in PC with the default of having the grids showing and having the snap to grid on. In 27 years of using this program I have never used the snap or needed the grids on. It involves two extra steps every time I open a dwg file or other import like pdf.

Hint: Save a custom stationery file with Grid Snap = off and Gridlines = Off into the PowerCADD Application Folder > Stationery

Next time you open a DWG file (e.g. double click to open in desktop) you'll see the PowerCADD stationery dialog box. Choose the custom stationery and you'll get the desired result of Grid snap = off, gridlines = off

I've been doing that for a long time as I typically have custom line weights and other settings I prefer to start a drawing with.

Hope that helps

[Yodarick]

Hint: Save a custom stationery file with Grid Snap = off and Gridlines = Off into the PowerCADD Application Folder > Stationery

Thank you for such a simple solution, I have used custom stationary for my drawing files but had not thought of this.

Many thanks

[sgladfelter]

I once checked this site weekly, at least. When it became crippled, I stopped and haven't looked at it in 6 months. Will start lurking again! I'd hate to see the discussion forum moved to reddit or someplace else.

[patrickm]

I don't check it as often using a browser, but I have been monitoring it using Shrook (a RSS reader app) so that I can easily see when someone posts.

[Rob C]

Hey, nice work, Rob! I am generally doing exterior elevations with SketchUp and LayOut these days, but I take a LayOut pdf and put it in PowerCADD because the tools for annotating and finishing are so much better in PCADD. One can make the LO pdf a Reference, but because LO doesn't have a consistent output naming for pages, it takes a little more effort each update.

Thanks. That's kind of what I do mostly lately: Use SketchUp to produce the elevations and some section views and bring them back into PowerCADD. I need to make LayOut part of that process, but every time I start working with it, I guess I get a kind of mental gag reflex after so many years of PowerCADD. It's like getting off my own road bike and getting on a kid's tricycle.

[Rob C]

I don't check it as often using a browser, but I have been monitoring it using Shrook (a RSS reader app) so that I can easily see when someone posts.

I haven't heard of that. I joined a local Makerspace organization lately, and they use Slack to communicate. It's more or less structured like a bulletin board, and you can log into a site with a browser, but I mostly keep up with an iOS app for it.

[Charles Freeborn]

I attempt to drop in from time to time, but as said success rate is around 10%.
As for 2d vs 3d, I'm finding myself doing less and less in 2d and more modeling in Form Z. My customers have grown to pretty much demand a rendered model with surfaces in the proposed materials, realistic looking backdrops, etc.
My primary complaint with Form•Z is when the design is done and I need shop drawings (I design and build furniture) the drafting palettes outright stink.
Alfred is getting tired of me asking for open clip or eq that actually works for taking models from 2d into F•Z and 3d views into PC without getting a hash of un wanted lines, mangled scales, etc etc.... In my prefect world Alfred would build a plugin module of WT that F•Z could run in it's drafting mode (F•Z Layout), and I can abandon PC altogether.
As it stands I'll grind my way along for the next few years and hope that either or both programs stay afloat, my clients don't get even fussier with their visualization needs and I can ease into retirement where there will be NO CADD.... just me, my tools, a pencil and paper and a cat sleeping in the sun on the windowsill.... aaaahhhhh.....