Many Variations of specific designs making my GFUI incredibly cluttered
Specific use of designs (functional, aesthetic, to be sold, family favors etc.)
My GFUI needs to have folders or some form of filtration with tags structure that I can use to make the use of the GFUI more efficient.
User Story would look like:
As a GlowForge Pro Owner, I would like to have a filter for my GF Finished designs using a user-definable text tag.
I being a technical architect in my day job, use a lot of highly specialized elements to build a complex system, and due to this have a penchant for organizing things into folders. So I would prefer to have a user story something like the following:
As a highly technical designer of variated and complex GlowForge designs, I would like to see the visualization of the GFUI in a folder based configuration with the ability to move and copy objects between the folders. I would optionally like to be able to drag and drop these items as that is what the world is accustomed to however the acceptance criteria could start at just having folders and being able to move objects between them.
Well its equally applicable for both Pro and Non Pro users, however, with specific regard to PRO and the passthrough slot, I have several large sign designs that are 10 feet long and due to several limitations of the GFUI and software alignment in using the passthrough slot I have had to break up these signs into many segment designs. In order to make sure I can repeat the design segments individually I have to create a sprawl of many different items that look identically from a glance within the UI as they are copies from the same file.
Through the years we’ve had discussions of many features and wish lists. I think that this is one of the top requested items and well it should be!
I know Glowforge has its own road map and their deliverables are tied to initial promotions; however, file organization and search seem to be a basic functionality that should be there out of the box.
It would be great if we had access to the hopper and could vote for significant feature rollout.
Search with tags would help immensely. And the Pro features require specific files where tagging would be most helpful.
I think having files that have a corresponding materials tag would be helpful. Say I have some material left in the tray that I want to use up. I could call up appropriately tagged files to get an idea of what to do next. Now some people may be a little more programmatic in their productions, but Sometimes I am at a loss as to what to do next.
I thought about this also, since I have several designs that need tweaked based on the material and it also creates that same fragmentation/sprawl of designs that look identical to the eye from the GFUI. Very frustrating when internet is slow also since I may have to look at 3-5 designs before I get the one setup I wanted…
I rarely use the GFUI library anymore, and just manage all my files in my own folders and upload from my PC to the GFUI most of time. It’s soooo much faster than going to the library to find and then add a file, especially since it doesn’t capture many of the files I do upload & want to use again anyway, or it sometimes loses I file I just added if I go back to the library to load another image (mostly etching, but sometimes SVG for cutting, too).
I have no problems with files being lost, but I tend to just upload what I need for the day. I feel like the more copies of files I have, the higher the chance that I’m going to use an outdated copy - so I just keep working copies local and backups that are never touched/modified from their backup state.
That said, some kind of filtering or ordering would be nice. The pagination is pretty annoying to get down to various catalog files and then they are sorted by date added, so you have to at least browse across each entry.
That workflow is not effective for me since I am making products that need to be repeatable and have 5 kids so my time is very limited.
I need to be able to reproduce old work when an order comes in, and not take 20 minutes (my average time to make an engrave) to look for the “right” version, if that makes sense.
Totally makes sense. I also do a ton of repeat jobs rather than one-offs, and have multiple sizes. Those are all saved locally, in an orderly fashion, so I just upload them for the day. If it took me 20 mins to do that, I would certainly look for another method like you are.
Looking at my file cabinets, and imagining if I only had one drawer that I had to pull thirty feet out to get to stuff in the back. And I had to stop and wait for a moment every two and a half feet. And there were no hanging folders to organize it with.
Not a pretty image.
Folder organization on the GFUI has been a really low priority for me. I’d like to see the Snapmarks rolled out to everyone first.
I keep mine on my desktop. In a folder called Laser Designs. (Which contains several dozen other folders, one for each project.)
The Project folders are listed alphabetically, but can be ordered by date as well, are completely searchable, and contain pictures of the finished builds, as well as notes used on construction, discoveries made along the way, and any tutorial notes that pertain.
Makes drag and drop very easy, and I don’t have to keep stepping out of the interface to load things. From the dates and the thumbnails on the files in the folders, I am able to easily pick the most recent version, (or any earlier versions if I want to try something different), and if there were to be a complete collapse, I have a copy of the files here. I use an SVG viewer so I can actually see differences in the files themselves, but not very often…generally the most recent file is the one I need.
Which is pretty much the same as the original suggestions, the only difference is where the storage occurs. In my case, I prefer to do it on my own computer, and not relegate it to the cloud. It’s a hell of a lot quicker.
Periodically, I go through and delete the unneeded stuff from the GFUI dashboard, so scrolling doesn’t take that long in any case. I generally just save the Catalog purchases there as well. (Which reminds me…lonnng overdue on that with all the snapmarks testing.)
I feel like their is a certain amount of irony around the fact that people were so reticent to upload their designs to the cloud, and also concern about what happens if GF goes under (or bought out and shut down by a competitor, etc.), yet it also seems to be people’s main working file repository.
A little of that, yeah.
This is a different batch though, the naysayers have probably found another flag to rally round by now. Too many examples of things made on a Glowforge to keep up that narrative.
Great Idea! - @dan…
Many times the company has demonstrated concern for the customer’s wishes, A list of what you see as reasonable/reachable from the Hopper, tabled for a vote seems like just the thing glowforge would get behind.
Of course, just as it stands now, progress on any requested feature would be at the company’s leisure - but let popular vote have an impact on direction. Just a thought.
I agree that it seems basic that tags and folders in the GFUI project area is a core capability if this is a production tool and not a plaything. I also tend to use my computer folders for this and upload each time to make sure that I have the correct file. But for some of my items that are just repeat, production pieces such as my multi-tool and Fleet Kits, I like to just place in a sheet, align Snapmarks and go. Those should be in a protected area and I should be able to lock the material type so all settings remain static.
Only downside there is your settings aren’t saved. Fine if you do a lot of one-offs. But for those who do a lot of repeat work and have, say, 100+ different designs that they run off, using the cloud-based setup is really the only way to go.
Glowforge really needs to fulfill this request and get some organization going on.
