I have seen a lot of people spend time before their cuts just designing their item while people are waiting in line. Could their be a way to install the design programs and even rd works on the computers out in the common area, so people could design and get their cut set up in rd works then just save the rd works file and open it on the laser computers. This would defiantly save a lot of time. It would even let people who are waiting in line get their cuts ready.
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There have been several posts/threads regarding the two new [design nope, not for design!] Laser use only computers on the east wall in the newly reconfigured laser area.
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This Bad Formā¢ and should be discouraged.
RD Works is reasonable; new design apps not so much so. There are so many possible design apps as is - i.e. I use an AutoCAD clone and donāt expect the 'Space to have it on hand. If weāre shuffling existing licenses around thatās one thing, but we should encourage laser users to arrive ready to cut.
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For a long time, reality and laser policy/etiquette could not be reconciled. A double bind that was unavoidable.
- Policy: We advise our users to download RDWorks onto their laptops and desktops so that the file is ready to cut upon arrival.
- Reality: The version RDWorks on the Thunder website has a virus or throws a false positive on a virus scanner.
It is entirely possible to have what one thinks is a good design, only to have design issues crop up when importing into RDWorks. Itās very frustrating all around.
Two weeks ago, John Gorman installed a clean copy of RDWorks on the network. As more users download this to their machines, the design-at-laser-workstations problem will disappear. And we do agree that having RDWorks on DMS machines will also help. Win-win.
Thank you for bringing the issue to Team Laserās attention again, @nclindberg . In the excitement of getting the new lasers, I had forgotten about the clean copy. Many of our users do not use Talk. Iāll add a notice to the bulletin board tomorrow. You have done a good service.
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Is new/clean version of RDWorks V8 on the two new design computers in the lase are? I assume the answer is yes but figured I should ask and get it documented here.
I downloaded rdworks8 on my laptop at home to prep files, but I noticed that that files donāt always have the same scan/cut settings when I open the file on the laser pc. Not sure whatās going on there.
With the pcs against the wall, donāt those also say ānot for designing, only for loading jobsā as well?
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Marshall, Iām going to tag @talkers to reply to your question.
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I hear you. Happens to me, too, sometimes. RDWorks has a mind of its own sometimes. Always best to double check. āMeasure twice, cut onceā.
Correct. However, while we were waiting for the new lasers to arrive, it was OK for users to do design work on the two machines not yet dedicated to a laser, in the interest of shortening the backlog of users waiting in the single-Thunder queue. Those were imperfect times, compounded by the busy gift-giving season, and we did what we could. Thank you for your patience.
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Aye. Iāve been there with .dxf files on the Lasersaur. Itās why I always brought my laptop with me to the Space. Had to surrender a spot in line at least once because of design-to-production workflow issues that involved more than a 2 minute fix while someone was tapping their foot behind me.
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Kudos to you for having the good grace to step out of the queue and keeping peace in the house. May others learn from your example.
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Those arenāt design computers. Each one is for running one of the 4 lasers.
They actually say ānot for designā on the screens.
We should lock them logins to people who have taken the laser classes, as Iāve seen quite a few people doing completely non laser stuff on them
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Thanksā¦I realized that (for 1st time) from HHMās previous post in this thread and meant to print a retraction. Sorry if I misdirected anyone (my original stoopid post has been redacted). For whatever reason I had never noticed the ādesign onlyā notices. I suggest some signs everywhere that tell people to pay attention to all of the other signs everywhere as a solution.
cāest une bonne idĆ©e re: login = being in Laser AD group.
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Digital Media & Logistics are working on 3 design computers in the Common Room, along where aerospace used to be. Should be helpful for designing files and then taking them to the laser computers.
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Inkscape and Illustrator are still installed on them, those computers should only have rd works on them
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I thought they had AI on them because you canāt import .svg into RDWorks and not everyone owns AI at home?
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Luke,
Are these three ādesignā computers solely dedicated to Laser design work?
No, they are for designing / developing / working on any project at DMS. More powerful than the laptops but less portable.
Weāll have some guidelines ready when we actually get them setup
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Thanks for the quick and accurate response!
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That is true I did not think of that
Yep, and sometimes you do have to fix the file to get it to import correctly
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