Author Topic: New CS videos  (Read 10978 times)

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Offline ahbushnellTopic starter

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New CS videos
« on: November 30, 2017, 01:47:37 am »
More videos on you tube for Circuit studio.  I'm glad they are doing video's but they are very think on information. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNw7Av7hr1lr1kT2J0Pm5OQ


Andy
 

Offline slowertech

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2017, 02:51:55 am »
Darn my suggestion did not make the cut.
 

Offline ahbushnellTopic starter

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2017, 03:34:54 am »
What was your suggestion?
 

Offline slowertech

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2017, 04:26:23 am »
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2018, 01:07:18 pm »
they are pathetic are providing instructions, I like the videos but they have waited so long to start doing them and only cover the basics which we have had to figure out, some videos o the finer points of the software would be nice.
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 01:25:55 pm »
they are pathetic are providing instructions

The online help documentation is generally very good. The videos are a nice extra, not a replacement.
http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/CircuitStudio+Documentation

It still takes time and effort on your part to read documentation and learn new skills. And of course some patience.
 

Offline Joel_l

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2018, 03:07:35 pm »
I would say their online docs are poor. When I first started using CS, first few things I tried to look for were impossible to find. I ended up getting answers by asking questions in this forum. And then there is the ongoing issue of I want a downloadable COMPLETE real users manual that I can browse through offline. Downloading piece meal is not acceptable.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2018, 03:09:41 pm by Joel_l »
 

Offline ahbushnellTopic starter

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2018, 03:24:49 pm »
they are pathetic are providing instructions

The online help documentation is generally very good. The videos are a nice extra, not a replacement.
http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/CircuitStudio+Documentation

It still takes time and effort on your part to read documentation and learn new skills. And of course some patience.

There are pages in the documentation that are blank. 

Hopefully they will continue to update. 
 

Offline taydin

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2018, 04:05:59 pm »
I have been following the documentation page and the "howie" guy seems to be updating it. So things are improving.
Real programmers use machine code!

My hobby projects http://mekatronik.org/forum
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2018, 08:49:46 pm »
Yes they are making an effort, but some of it has been shoddy and their start at videos was a bit basic. One video sounded like it was sped up and the demonstration was so fast I found I hard to follow.
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2018, 09:36:58 pm »
I would say their online docs are poor. When I first started using CS, first few things I tried to look for were impossible to find. I ended up getting answers by asking questions in this forum. And then there is the ongoing issue of I want a downloadable COMPLETE real users manual that I can browse through offline. Downloading piece meal is not acceptable.

You have been complaining about help docs being online only for some 8 months now (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/circuit-studio/downloadable-manual/) but I just don't get it.
Personally, I need an internet connection when working on a project, for datasheets, supplier info, design tips... so up-to-date online docs work well in this context. No connection would be frustrating to say the least.
Everyone has there own style I guess, but do you really need to refer to help docs much after using it for 8 months?

As you have previously said, all the ECAD packages you have tried have annoyed you to some extent, even your favourite Allegro.
Hopefully, now you have had time to use CS it annoys you less and there no showstopping features which prevent you completing your designs.
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2018, 10:58:33 am »
A classic example is how do you define the standard for a pin? oh yea it just remembers the last settings you used IF you press TAB whilst placing a pin...... There are no specific default settings and they don't tell you anywhere......
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2018, 11:28:06 am »
The way it is seems intuitive to me.
Setting a default parameters for a new pin would be near pointless anyway, there are many options I/O/IO/CLOCK/NEG... which you often need to select except for the most trivial of schematic symbols.
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2018, 12:42:39 pm »
No things like text and the pin length are pretty standard for most. It only remembers the setting IF you press TAB whilst placing the pin to alter it, NOT if you change it's properties AFTER it is placed. The whole functionality hinges on one knowing to press TAB mid placement..... a very obvious thing I can discover by myself not. They mention the pressing of TAB in the "manual" but omit to say that any changes made here will be the new defaults and that this is the only way of setting up defaults. Like i say, crap documentation.
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2018, 12:50:26 pm »
CS is a sizable piece of software. If you actually expect hand-holding documentation detailed to that level then you are asking for a huge amount of documentation, 80% of which would never actually be used by anybody.

 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2018, 12:54:41 pm »
I think what we are talking about is basic functionality and it would take but one sentence to mention that: if you edit pin settings by pressing TAB during placement these will become the new defaults, I mean I just said it right? they have a huge long page that explains obvious GUI items but forget to explain about the functionality of a hot key, if hot keys are the only way of accessing options they need explaining. I can explore what is on the screen options wise, but things that rely on a hot key are a bit hard to find.....
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2018, 01:49:21 pm »
Well, this page does a reasonable job of explaining the TAB hotkey for pin editing, figure out the finer details yourself when using it:
http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/Sch_Obj-Pin((Pin))_CS

...and since there are rather a lot of shortcut keys there is also a window to help you with that too:
http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/HelpAdvisor_Pnl-Shortcuts((Shortcuts))_CS
 

Offline Joel_l

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2018, 03:12:12 pm »
I could use the online docs if I needed to while actively working on a project, that is if the online docs actually worked for me. One of my first cases was just wanting to highlight traces on a layout, searched for every thing I could think of, color trace, color track, highlight trace, highlight track.... not a single hit that was useful. Yes, I finally figured out how to do it in a cumbersome way ( which I later learned was the only way, ugh ) to do it. I had the same issue when I was trying to figure out how to do something with vias, numerous useless search hits. James chimed in with some suggestions but they did not help.

For me, a complete doc is what I go through offline ( read, I would make a hard copy ) and learn about the nuances of the software.  My preference while working on a project would be a good complete PDF that I can reference whether I'm online or not. As far as part specs.... I will have already gathered that information.

Learning the basics of the software is not the issue, as you elude to, you can do that by just playing with software, it's the little details. And for me, I get those better thumbing through a real manual, I'm even happy to print it myself. The other consideration is if you use the software a lot or not, this is for casual use for me, so it takes longer for things to sink in.

The reason I keep beating on this is it smells too much like paths I've been down before, company milks something along for as long as they can with minimal to no support. I'm still hoping this will not be the case. I left a company years ago that had a similar business model.

Even EAGLE came with a printed manual when I bought it years ago.

As you say, different folks like different things, I prefer printed manuals.


I would say their online docs are poor. When I first started using CS, first few things I tried to look for were impossible to find. I ended up getting answers by asking questions in this forum. And then there is the ongoing issue of I want a downloadable COMPLETE real users manual that I can browse through offline. Downloading piece meal is not acceptable.

You have been complaining about help docs being online only for some 8 months now (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/circuit-studio/downloadable-manual/) but I just don't get it.
Personally, I need an internet connection when working on a project, for datasheets, supplier info, design tips... so up-to-date online docs work well in this context. No connection would be frustrating to say the least.
Everyone has there own style I guess, but do you really need to refer to help docs much after using it for 8 months?

As you have previously said, all the ECAD packages you have tried have annoyed you to some extent, even your favourite Allegro.
Hopefully, now you have had time to use CS it annoys you less and there no showstopping features which prevent you completing your designs.
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2018, 10:18:09 pm »
As an example, the how to generate outputs video. The example shows how to produce gerber layers and the BOM, no mention of the NC drill files. guess what, I can export gerbers pretty easily but no one can figure out my drill files - CS always manage to tell us how to do the simple stuff but miss out the stuff that needs a little explaining......
 

Offline ahbushnellTopic starter

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2018, 10:35:43 pm »
As an example, the how to generate outputs video. The example shows how to produce gerber layers and the BOM, no mention of the NC drill files. guess what, I can export gerbers pretty easily but no one can figure out my drill files - CS always manage to tell us how to do the simple stuff but miss out the stuff that needs a little explaining......
Go to projects and select Generate output.
There will be a list of output files that you can configure.  Select NC Drill Files and select Configure
The attached file shows the setup I just used to make a board and no problems.
If you look on board vendors web site it will often list what they look for.

Andy
 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2018, 07:50:18 am »
except 2 suppliers could not handle my gerbers, fortunately they could make sense of the ODB++ files. Why on earth make a video about gerbers and miss out the drills, they should have swapped the bom for the drill files. IF your going to make a video about gerbers you make sure you cover all of the files needed to be sent to a board manufacturer. A board manufacturer does not give a toss about your bom so why put that with gerbers instead of drill files ? they are completely and utterly incompetent!
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2018, 09:58:37 am »
Simon, thank you for your moderating work on this forum, I appreciate that you are part of the team that keeps this excellent site up and running. That said, comments like this
they are completely and utterly incompetent!
are at best good comedy and at worst sweeping generalisations that make you seem somewhat childish. Both this and the E14 forum have a few of these beauties from your good self.
Sometimes you have a point and sometimes I see it as a lack of understanding on your part. Either way, please have a little more restraint and patience, I'd like to help you but comments like this reduce my motivation.

IMHO ensuring you send drill and gerber data to your chosen manufacturer is a very basic check regardless of the ECAD software you are using and there is often a separate button for gerber and drill file creation.
 
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Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2018, 10:07:47 am »
Well I thought I had sent drill files several times, but no one could work them out. As I said if you are going to do a video about Gerber data then you should include drills, a full Gerber set with drill files goes to a board manufacturer, Gerber's and BOM won't really get you manufactured boards.

Never mind of course that the default BOM template is actually the board stack template so you won't actually get a BOM until you play with the settings because some incompetent idiot set the defaults up wrong so every single user has to change it before they can use the software....
 

Offline ahbushnellTopic starter

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2018, 02:26:46 am »
Well I thought I had sent drill files several times, but no one could work them out. As I said if you are going to do a video about Gerber data then you should include drills, a full Gerber set with drill files goes to a board manufacturer, Gerber's and BOM won't really get you manufactured boards.

Never mind of course that the default BOM template is actually the board stack template so you won't actually get a BOM until you play with the settings because some incompetent idiot set the defaults up wrong so every single user has to change it before they can use the software....
Life is tough

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

Offline Simon

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Re: New CS videos
« Reply #24 on: January 06, 2018, 10:02:17 am »
There's no need to be sarcastic. It's not like this software was given to me for free. I made what is for me a significant investment into it before I had a chance to fully understand its capability because yes you get one month free trial but that is nothing when you are trying to try out such a complex piece of software on a part-time basis. This software used to cost £2500 and overnight dropped to £800. It was sold on the basis that you would get all that good stuff that people had come to love in Altium designer when in fact the software is quite buggy and when you get down to the point where your trying to produce a bill of materials it does not actually produce a bill of materials but instead produces a spreadsheet that lists the names of the layers is rather silly when all it would take is a bit of attention on their part in putting in a bill of material template as the default instead of the stack template as the default template for the bill of materials. How you can choose a layer stack template as a template for a bill of materials is just another hole in the software functionality. The two things are different but apparently you can throw any gibberish at it as a template.

If you try and find the official support for circuit studio that is indeed the element 14 forum which unfortunately is in itself not the greatest piece of software as it's one of these new-age things instead of a proper forum system like the one we have here. So getting support there not the easiest thing and at the end of the day you can only but appeal to other people who are potentially just as clueless as you and seem to be locked into this religion where there was nothing wrong with the software anyway. I did come across a review which I didn't fully read and was written about the initial release of circuit studio and the guy did not sound impressed and as I keep saying said it was just simply full of bugs.

The closest you get any decent support is one person that works for Farnell that is willing to look into potential bugs and he has in fact acknowledged that a couple of the things I have pointed out are indeed bugs that need looking into. He has also been most generous in giving me a few pointers here and there, but he is only one person.

So we have a software made by one company and the support is offered by the company selling it in the form of the other potentially clueless users try to help each other with one person passing genuine bugs back to the manufacturer software. To add insult to injury the manual is not exactly as comprehensive as it could be and spends a lot of time pointing out the obvious. They then finally pull their fingers out of their arses and start making some videos which could be replaced by good written documentation but whatever floats their boat I'm certainly happy to look at a video as much as I am to read good documentation. But the videos also just cover basic things and do not go into the finer detail. So they are pretty pointless.

If you would compare this to say Proteus you will see quite quickly that with Proteus you got for about 80% of the cost a software that was stable albeit awkward to use which is why I stopped using it and you could ring up during office hours and speak to somebody who understood the software and will try to help you although there documentation often was not brilliant either although they had a long-standing list of videos as well. So can't a multinational company compete on quality in the same way some little company based purely in England can. Yes on the whole circuit studio works well but it feels like it is more out of accident than design.

edited to remove errors made in the speech recognition, another piece of not so brilliant software that 2 years later still can't interface properly with a web browser while the manufacturers claim there is no problem.....
« Last Edit: January 06, 2018, 12:47:59 pm by Simon »
 
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