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Move Plan from Segpro to woodturnerpro

Dale Ford

PRO Member
i wish to move a plan from segpro to woodturner pro. I share and get a json file that woodturnerpo will not open. ???
 
Hi Dale:
Due to the different type of data base structure used by Segment Pro and Woodturner Pro you cannot directly move a plan developed in one program to the other. Segment Pro has a file extension of *.json. WoodTurner Pro files have a file extension of *.wtp. The export/import function will not work between the two programs.

What I have done in the past is to print out the summary sheet for the Segment Pro plan. Then in WoodTurnerPro I can quickly reproduce the project by entering the inside, outside and ring thickness for each ring. When done I can then go back to each ring and "paint" change the wood species to copy the design.

I have also used the ring view in WoodturnerPro to change species.

Hope than helps.
 
These two programs, Woodturner PRO and Segment PRO were written 17 years apart. In 2000, c++ and xml were the technologies of choice. In 2017, I chose the leading technologies of c# and json as the libraries to support them are far better tan what was available in 2000. I saw no need to make the files interchangeable because the programs were written to accomplish completely different things.

In Woodturner PRO, the software keeps track of everything you do, right down to the segment level. The database keeps track of every row and you are free to do whatever you want to every row. In Segment PRO, I wanted to make an autonomous program that uses artificial intelligence to do all the work for you on the fly. There are no stored rows, once you have a profile and a height, the software builds the bowl based on simple AI to render a bowl in three styles that uses the defaults as you have entered them to render a standard segmented bowl.

In Woodturner PRO, you use 3D Design Pro to creat a wall profile that has both an outside and an inside profile. In Segment PRO, you only make the outside wall profile and the software uses a formula that creates an inside profile for you. At the time the bowl is rendered from scratch whenever you make a change, the rows are understood as are the inside and outside diameters. So this data could be rendered in xml with a schema that would make it readable in Woodturner PRO. But there wouldn’t be a profile because I can’t make a profile that has both the inside and outside diameters because the data structure behind 3D Design Pro and Segment PRO is like French and Chinese. So without a 3D Design Pro created profile, the Profile SNAP button of Woodturner PRO becomes worthless and so if you want to make any changes to the shape, you will have to do that manually for each row.

In my opinion, once you spend time with Woodturner PRO, you will see that if you’re going to create a non-standard bowl that you can’t create in Segment PRO, it will be far faster to build it start-to-finish in Woodturner PRO because it was made to do just that.

However, I am now back to programming after taking a break from programming. I’ve been working hard on an upgrade to Segment PRO that will fix some issues and provide some new technologies such as basket weave and a Cutlist that will open a spreadsheet in Segment PRO where you can do most of the things you can do in a full featured program like Excel. This means that you can go to the Summary and then immediately open it up in the Spreadsheet that will fill the whole screen without having to Export the data every time you want to see it. Although these have been kicking my ass, I have both of these working but due to prior commitments, I won’t be able to release it until April.

I also have on my list for the following release several more features and one of them is the export from Segment PRO to Woodturner PRO which I think will be used once or twice by a user and then never be used again. When I look at spending time on that versus adding support for fractions and other things that would likely be used by 100% of the users, you can see why I’m hesitant to do it.

My goal in writing this software has always been to give users the things they need, but not necessarily all the things they want. This lets me keep the price low so I don’t have to rely on recurring revenue to stay in business.

I don’t get reimbursed at all for any additional features. I’ll never lose a single order because this functionality isn’t there and all upgrades are free and there won’t ever be a subscription model. I don’t mind doing this as I think it is good to keep challenging my brain, but as a retiree, I find golf and music far more fun than developing and supporting software for free.

Lloyd
 
Thank you for the very detailed and informative answer. I am impressed! Please enjoy your golf and music.
 
Thanks Lloyd for all your software efforts.

In addition to building a lot of segmented bowls I also write code, C++. I also have a commercial product that has nothing to with woodworking and has been out there for decades both a DOS & Windows version, yes, I said DOS which some users refuse to give up due to stability. Writing code is a thankless task done in solitude with users always wanting more.

My preference is WoodturnerPro & 3D DesignPro. Both superb products but like all software, mine included, each have a few minors glitches. Understanding those the product is a dream to use giving almost absolute control over the design process.

Just because it's old doesn't mean it isn't good. Keep up the good work, you've helped bring Engineered Bowls to the average turner.

Thanks again,

Jay
 
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