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Segment Pro - first impressions

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davehu

Guest
just download trial version a few days ago. Although I've only been woodturning for 4 years I was 30 years in the computer business, so this seemed like a great way to automate what is for me, the painful process of planning a segmented piece. Here are my first impressions:

1) this is a big one: No undo key. So I imported a profile and then moved several lines to change the shape at the top. Opps! I goofed and that looked bad. no problem on most other software, just hit the undo key (Ctrl Z) a few times. No go. No undo key. now I have to go back and find the profile re-import and start all over again. IS there really no undo key?

2 I printed out my profile. worked great. However I'd like to print the profile. I usually tape this to the wall behind my lathe so I can visualize the form, as I am shaping the bowl. Couldn't find a way to do that. I can't draw worth a flip so this is a show stopper for me.

3) Exports to a spreadsheet are in text values. Huh? There are ways to convert within excel but lots of people have limited spreadsheet expertise.

There were a few other bugs, but i only found them trying to do something an experienced user probably wouldn't do. (trying to save a painted ring view yields an "index out of range" error message. )

Are there any answers for issues 1 and 2? perhaps I missed something.
 
Hi Dave,
Lets first remember that Segment PRO is a brand new piece of software. It just came out of Beta, early this year and Lloyd is still adding features and killing bugs.
He is open to suggestions and has implemented several that were suggest by forum members.
Right now the only undo button is in the paint window.
If you think there should be more put in a suggestion in the Title: Bug Reports and Feedback
As far as printing out your bowl or profile there is a export image, and then print it out
The export to Excel worked on the previous version, but broke the version in France so Lloyd reverted to this version until he can fix it.
Yes, there are other bugs and other things we want added and there are other things Lloyd want to add, but it is still an awesome piece of software and will only get better.

Again if you find bugs or have suggestion post them to Title: Bug Reports and Feedback

Oh by the way welcome to the forum

Bob
 
Hi Dave,

You may also want to try my other software 3D Design PRO (now free) and Woodturner PRO. These are the prgorams that I released 16 years ago. 3D Design PRO is the equivalent of the Profile window in Segment PRO and it does allow multi-step Undo. I remember when I implemented it that it was not a simple task, nor would it be a simple task in Segment PRO. You can also print the various views such as the profile and cutaway views.

The difference is that in Woodturner PRO, you have to do all the work. You add rows one-at-a-time and set the properties of each row. I developed Segment PRO so that the software can do this work for you instantly after you make ANY change. It is a completely different approach to the design process and I've been thrilled with the customer feedback I've had so far - especially from turners that are just getting into segmenting which is who I targeted for this software.

In the Export to Excel, there are only two fields that are currently text fields - Inside and Outside diameters. Responding to requests such as yours, I changed all of the other fields to numeric. I temporarily changed those two fields back to text because they were causing errors for users in France (and probably other countries) and until I can create a virtual French version of Windows, I can't test my changes.

I appreciate and encourage your feedback but there's a couple things you have to keep in mind. First, I'm the only employee of Woodturner PRO and I'm recently retired and would love to spend some time in my shop. Second, I'm the only person that is actively writing software for segmented woodturners so when you say a feature is a showstopper, you are absolutely correct. If you must have a feature I don't have, you're out of luck.

Thanks to people like Bob (and a few dozen others), Segment PRO is the best 1.0 version of software I've ever released. I wish it had more features (and it will) and was more refined (it may never be). I'm actually quite pleased that having never taken a single computer or programming class in my life, I've been able to bring a powerful tool to segmenters for only $79. Fortunately, nearly all of my users understand that the software has warts but that I'm doing the best I can.

Lloyd
 
I think your reply is excellent I am by no means a computer expert but I am slowly getting to grips with it. Your customer service is second to none.
Thankyou
Peter
 
Thanks Lloyd and Bob. I understand completely. As I mentioned, I sold computers for 30 years for Compaq, DEC, and HP. I had a short stint at a software company, enough to realize and appreciate software design and how much time it takes to incorporate changes. I have a copy of Woodturner Pro. it was way too complicated. unless you use it frequently which I won't. since it's free, who can complain! I have turned just 6 segmented bowls in the past 4 years. I hope to do more, hence the interest in the Segment Pro.

The excel export isn't a big deal. You can cut and paste columns to change from text to numeric. don't waste your time on that one. The undo bothers me, but I have more time to spend evaluating. Printing the profile is important for me. Thanks Bob for the tip on exporting the bowl image. that might work. I'm going to give it a try on a piece I'm making this weekend.
 
Dave on the items that are in test format, the easiest way I've found to get them into number format is to highlight the items you want to covert, right click and hit copy. Then right click again and do a paste special, then go down to the operations and click the add radio button and the OK button.

Any question let me know
 
Also your excel suggestion works only if converting one cell. To convert a range you enter a 1 in a blank cell. copy that cell, highlight the range you want to convert, hit paste special, then click on multiply.

But I have another question. While exploring I deleted a category. (Urns). How do I get it back?

Also sorry if this question is in the wrong place. Any further questions, I post accordingly as questions and not bugs/feedback.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OH OH now you did it it's broke forever!!!

No not really, just go to categories, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the grey line, type in what you want and then your all set
 
Bob Beaupre said:
OH OH now you did it it's broke forever!!!

No not really, just go to categories, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the grey line, type in what you want and then your all set
Click to expand...

i see how to create my own, I am about to make several urns and would prefer to use one of the profiles that were built into the program. But under "profiles" they aren't there anymore.
Bob Beaupre said:
OH OH now you did it it's broke forever!!!

No not really, just go to categories, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the grey line, type in what you want and then your all set
Click to expand...
OK, I see what happened. all the urns had no category applied. To get them back I went back and recategorized them. won't make the DELETE mistake again! further f
 
Dave,

When you upgrade or re-install Segment PRO, the installer will restore both the category names and the profiles so the software is looking out for us (I've done the same thing).

Lloyd
 
One other "bug": I was able to print the summary fine, but when I choose to optimize board widths, the print out wasn't usable. It appears that when grouping, columns are added and it wraps them around even though there is plenty of page width to print them all. I got around it by exporting into excel and printing from there. probably what I'd end up doing anyway as I can print only the columns relevant to me. I am currently building a simple 10 row, 8 segment urn based on the summary. Hope to have it turned in the next few days. Is a simple painted plan as I'm going to turn it into a "basket illusion" vase. In the meantime I am going to look at Laminate Pro as well.
 
for anyone reading this... I just purchased the program. it will really save me some time in the design phase
 
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