Simplify "portable"

[Wisar]

On the MAC they have hidden where they store customized profiles so when you "save" your changes they go somewhere that you can't access.

There is nowhere on a Mac that you "cant' access". The S3D settings (at least for v3) and stored in ~/Library/Preferences/com.simplify3d.S3D-Software.plist

You can use the plutil command to convert it to xml format if you want to look at it. You could try moving that file to Dropbox and then setting up a symlink back to the Preferences directory. That might work, as long as you don't open both copies of S3D at the same time.

Fair point. I should have just stuck with "hidden". I really thought that this was the answer that I was hoping to get...but...unfortunately this file is zero length on my machine. Knowing where this data is hidden would really help. It doesn't change the fact that this was a crap "enhancement" but at least it would protect me from losing my profiles when Simplify3D decides to take a dirt nap and wipe everything out (which has not happened to me often but once is too many times)!

Can anyone help me find this hidden data? Like someone who gets paid by the company to which I paid my license fee? Who have ignored my support request on this issue?

Thanks,
Will

[Wisar]

i have said this before but i will once again. the whole problem here is simply what they name the buttons. save = export.

Thanks for schooling me in the meaning of the word export. Decades long career in IT and I missed that whole concept!

Seriously, we are either using different software or using the same software differently. I keep a fair number of profiles, different materials, different jobs, etc. My work flow in version 2.x was as follows:

Change profile
Save profile

At this point the profile is saved as a file that I can access, backup, share, and know that it is going to be there even if Simplify3D needs to be reset (or if it crashes and resets itself which does happen). All without me needing to do anything else.

Since the upgrade my work flow has to be:

Change profile
Save profile
Select the export menu option
Select the appropriate profile
Type in the name of the profile since Simplify3D is too stupid to carry the name of the one I selected forward
Press save
Press ok to overwrite existing file

Am I the only user of this software that thinks this is a pain in the arse? A couple IT 101 changes would really help. Save All as an option. Remembering the name of the profile for the output file name. KNOWING WHAT FILE THE METADATA FOR PROFILES ARE NOW HIDDEN IN!

Any of the above?

[razster]

For version 2.x it was more like:

Change profile in software
Click Export to save changes
Type the name you want to save as
Press Save
Click OK to overwrite
<likely additional step of needing to change things in the XML since auto-configure sections weren't editable from the UI>

Personally, I'm a big fan of the new 3.x versions and how I can now edit almost everything I need properly from within the user interface. I'm sure it was a ton of work for the developers to add that, but it made my life much easier. It saves me from needing to mess with XML files constantly which is what I had to do in version 2.x.

If I ever need to backup or share one of my FFF profiles, I just go to File -> Export FFF.

[Wisar]

I guess my memory of 2.2 was rose colored in terms of the steps ... but it still had less steps than the upgraded version. Further it stored the profiles in the clear not hidden (without doing the export after doing the save). I never had to mess with settings that were not in the UI so I can't comment on that improvement...which it seems like could have been made without hiding the profiles!

Am I the voice in the wilderness here that would like to see some improvements to this changed process? Anyone else? Not even to ask for an export all or for the UI to default the save file name?

I worship at the alter of Simplify3D but still want to see some improvements in this particular area!

Will

[CompoundCarl]

I never had to mess with settings that were not in the UI so I can't comment on that improvement

Well I'll comment on that! In my opinion, that was the most significant improvement that was made in v3.0! In previous versions, even if you exported the profiles from the software, you almost always had to go hand edit the XML by hand. It wasn't easy to make changes in the UI and have them automatically be saved into the .fff profile. There also wasn't any good tracking for profiles and when they were modified. The new version is much better. I'm sure it was a massive effort to implement the new profile system, so if anyone from their team is reading this, thank you thank you thank you!

As far as the current export system goes, personally, it works fine for me and it's pretty easy to understand. The software does a much better job of handling the profiles and modification internally, and if I ever actually need the raw .fff file, I just go to file > export. And don't forget that whenever you create a .gcode file, the settings are automatically included in the top of that file as well. You can actually go to file > import fff profile and select a .gcode file to load the settings from which is pretty cool too.

I think I saw a feature request for this too, so I'm sure the S3D guys have already seen it and are working on it. They've clearly been working very hard updating the software with all of the new things they added in 3.0, so I'm confident they'll continue to improve things.