2020 fusion fusion version 8.0 - what's n… · 2020 fusion version 8 ‘what’s new?’ 1 of...

2020 Fusion Version 8 ‘What’s New?’ 1 of 14 2020 Fusion Product Management Rev 1.0

2020 Fusion

What’s New in Version 8?

Viewing, Lighting & Rendering

Ability to Rotate a Background

New functionality has been introduced allowing a user to be able to rotate backgrounds within one or more named views within a design. A new ‘Backgrounds’ panel within the ‘View’ ribbon has been added in which both existing and new functions can be accessed:

Entering a value (from 0-360 degrees) in the ‘rotation’ field will result in the background rotating by the corresponding amount not only in that named view but also in any other named views that are linked to it. This behaviour is consistent with that which already exists for lighting and layer management, meaning that users have even greater flexibility at their fingertips. For example, they can create named views which will either use the same background with differing rotation settings or brightness levels (which was previously managed as part of the lighting settings), or use different backgrounds altogether for respective named views, allowing for a more accurate representation of different parts of the design with their own views to the outside world.

Note: although it remains possible for a background added to the perspective view to also be applied in the elevation views, it should be noted that the brightness and rotation settings are independent of one another – i.e. changing a background rotation or brightness setting in a perspective view will not affect the background in the elevation view types.


Support for 'Cylindrical' Backgrounds (Including UI Enhancements)

In previous versions of 2020 Fusion, it was possible to either import a ‘standard’ image to serve as a ‘flat’ background, or a specific ‘panoramic’ background that was designed to be wrapped around the design to act as a ‘sphere’.

In Version 8.0, users now have one additional option, called ‘cylindrical’ which will allow them import images with wider aspect ratios such as photographs that can be taken using the ‘pano’ option (or equivalent) found on many smartphones.

Fusion will manage these types of image in a different way, essentially turning them into a cylinder and wrapping the image around the ‘outside’ of the design – the end result being a continuous view being applied across all aspects.

Also, as part of this development, the ‘Import Background’ dialog has been simplified to aid usability.


Printing & Export

Ability to Access or Launch Previously Published 360° Panoramas

Since its introduction, it is clear that 2020 Fusion designers have made this feature a key part of their sales and presentation model, often creating many panoramas showing different door styles, or creating scenes at different times of day to share with and impress their customers.

Although it has always been possible for the salesperson to also receive a copy of the email/URL resulting from the publishing of a panorama, these may not always be easy to find in their mailbox at a later date, in the event that the email needs to be resent, or if the salesperson simply wishes to revisit a previously published design. Up until now, the designer would have no option but to republish the panorama once more.

To overcome such problems, Version 8.0 now includes a 360° Panorama ‘gallery’, in which links to any previously published panoramas from the specific design are stored, allowing the user to quickly and easily be relaunch the panorama, or to copy the URL for inclusion in an independently sent email.

360° Panorama: User Warning When Customer Name/Salesperson Name/Dealer

Name Have Not Been Entered

The 360° Panorama solution includes the facility for an email to be sent to the customer, salesperson, or dealer email address. It is expected that at least one of these will be selected and, most importantly, that the corresponding email information will have been entered in the customer details, salesperson resource information, or dealer information respectively.

From Version 8.0 onwards, in the event that any of these fields have not been entered, the user will be reminded at the point of attempting to publish a 360° Panorama.


Info Block Preview

2020 Fusion users have the ability to create and customise their own ‘Info Blocks’ – a panel of information that can be added to a printout containing various items of information relating to the design, or to the salesperson, retailer or manufacturer. However, it has always been difficult for users to visualise the changes that they are making as the user interface is not only quite complex, but it was never possible to see the impact of the changes made until viewing a design with the info block activated in the ‘Print Preview’ area of the application.

Now, the addition of a preview area allows a user to immediately see the results of the changes made, making it quicker and easier to configure the Info Block in confidence.

Hide Decorative Items From Installation Views

In previous versions of the application, when installation symbols were added to a design, 2020 Fusion automatically created a predefined ‘installation’ named view for each wall upon which they are placed. Such named views can be preconfigured to display only the installation symbols themselves, or to also include ‘standard items’ from manufacturer catalogues using the preference entry indicated below.


However, when this option was checked, this would result in not only the cabinets/furniture from manufacturers’ catalogues being displayed, but also all decorative items as well. This often resulted in a cluttered view which was not easy to read or interpret.

Version 7.4 and Earlier:

Now, effective from Version 8.0, decorative items will always be excluded from installation views, regardless of this preference setting – making the printouts clearer and easier to read.

Version 8.0 Onwards


Dimensioning

Manual Dimensioning: Enhancements to the 'From - To' Dimensioning Mode

2020 Fusion’s ‘From – To’ manual dimensioning mode has been further enhanced to allow a user even greater flexibility than before when placing user-defined dimension rails.

Previously, this tool only supported the addition of dimension rails from one ‘point’ (i.e. a corner of an item, or a ‘hotspot’ on a part of the item’s drawing) to another. Although useful, many customers also expressed the need for this tool to support the application of user-defined dimension rails from a ‘point to a line’ (or vice versa) or from a ‘line to a line’ (i.e. from one parallel line to another). Until now, designers wishing to apply a ‘point to line’ dimension rail were compelled to use the ‘dimension right angles’ tool and then delete the unwanted one of the two rails generated.

Version 8.0 now offers full and flexible functionality, all within the same mode, with the interface updating accordingly, dependent upon whether a user clicks on a point or a line.

In the following example, the user wishes to dimension the distance from the front of the unit in the island configuration to the bottom wall – in this instance the interface reflects the fact that this is a ‘line to line’ and the indicators of the beginning and end points of the dimension rail change accordingly:


Annotation

Extend Multiple Arrows From a Single Piece of Manual Annotation 2020 Fusion already allows a user to extend an arrow from a given piece of manual annotation. However, it is often the case that the same piece of annotation is applicable to multiple items or parts of a design. Up until now, designers have been compelled to place multiple instances of the same piece annotation and extend arrows individually to each respective point of interest. This would often lead to cluttered plans and elevations as well as unnecessarily wasted time.

As of Version 8.0, it is now possible to extend multiple arrows from the same piece of annotation. This is done in exactly the same way as before – by holding down the CTRL key, then clicking and dragging the mouse outwards from the annotation itself.

Note: There is no change to the means by which an arow can be removed from a piece of annotation and it also remains the case that saving a piece of annotation for future use will only save the text and not the arrow(s) with it.

313559 Improved Logic for Named View Wall Annotation Numbering

2020 Fusion has a facility that allows users to numerically annotate walls in plan view, so that they can easily be matched and cross-referenced with their corresponding elevation named views. However, in previous versions, the methodology behind the numbering of walls was not totally logical, particularly in the event that a given wall was deleted, replaced, or repositioned.

The numbering mechanism has now been revised to consider all walls currently in the design in relation to one another, regardless of the order in which they were added. The start point for numbering considers the concept of ‘chains’ – i.e. numbering will commence using the first wall in the longest ‘chain’ of walls. Other rules are then applied to determine the start point, depending upon whether the room is closed or open.


Design Creation

‘Stretch Selected Edge’ to Show Both Overall Worktop Length as well as Offset Value

2020 has a range of editing options allowing a designer to shape and customise a worktop to the customer’s exact requirement; one of these tools is the ‘Stretch Selected Edge’ tool.

In previous versions, when using this tool, some users would be confused by the fact that the distance by which the worktop was being extended or reduced was being displayed in a field labelled ‘Length’ when, in reality, this was actually an ‘Offset’ value.

In Version 8.0, the interface has been updated to display both an overall ‘Length’ value and an ‘X Offset’ value, giving the designer the freedom to either enter the overall length of the worktop, or to simply alter the existing length by a specified amount. Each field will update accordingly after an entry is made and confirmed in the other.

Note: This enhancement has also been applied to the Stretch Selected Edge tool when using ‘Edit Graphic Fixtures’ and ‘Edit Flyover Shelves’ facilities.

Enhancements to the Prompted Links Dialog

A number of changes have been made to 2020 Fusion’s ‘Prompted Links’ dialog not only to aid usability, but also to make it more consistent with the ‘Catalogue Items’ palette, from which the ‘parent’ item will have been just added. The improvements include:

• The list of available items is now displayed on the left-hand side and the list of selected items is now displayed on the right-hand side.

• A slider has been added to allow the user to view the items as either a list, or using small, medium, or large icons.

• The ‘Search’ filtering/search tool has been renamed to ‘Item Name’ and relocated above the list of available items.

• ‘Description’, ‘Length’, ‘Depth’ and ‘Height’ filtering/search tools have also been added.


• The item price (including tax) and the source catalogue for the selected entry will now be indicated in the information section of the list of available items.

• Linked items will be added to the parent item in the order indicated on the right-hand side (bottom to top).

o Managing this is made easier through the addition of move up/move down buttons.

• Handing can also be set, if appropriate, but only if the following hidden preference is set within the [Customise] section of the PPPtefs.ini file:

EditablePromptedLinkedUnitAttributes = "1"

Improved Clashing & Invalid Style Details Notifications

In very complex designs, users can sometimes be presented with a large number of ‘clash’ notifications – most of which are valid, but some of which are less so. Also, users may have previously found themselves being presented with notifications when it is not actually necessary to do so.

Version 8.0 delivers a number of enhancements in this area – the end result of which will be that the clash messaging will be more targeted and meaningful.

Clashing Preferences for Windows & Doors

Users now have the ability to define the ‘open depth’ for doors (default 1,000mm) and windows (default 0mm) respectively, which will reduce the number of unnecessary clashes being reported based upon the opening (or ‘swing’) of doors and windows.


‘Unacknowledged Clash’ Notifications

The occasions upon which these will be presented to the user has now been rationalised and will only appear when is absolutely necessary.

Notification of Invalid Style Options

This notification dialog has been updated to include a ‘counter’ of the number of invalid style options that need to be addressed.

Clash Management Centre

A counter has also been added to each of the clash type section headings to give a clear indication of how many unacknowledged clashes of each type are present in the design.


Catalogue Items Palette: 'Series' Search Criteria Various manufacturers use ‘series’ to separate different product lines within a single catalogue. Typically, a designer will use a single series within a given design and will not mix products from different series.

Previously, there was no option to filter products in the ‘Catalogue Items’ palette based on series and all products were always offered for any given catalogue. This made it difficult to find complementary products in a catalogue that contain multiple series.

Effective from Version 8.0, users can apply an additional search criteria that allows them to filter the products displayed in the Catalogue Items palette based on the series selected.

Access to this search criteria is hidden by default. In order to activate it, users will need to add the following entry to the ‘Customise’ section of PPPrefs.ini:

[Customise]

EnableSeriesSearchCriteria = "1"

User Interface/User Experience

Modified Date and Previews for 'Recent Designs' (Backstage View)

The process of recognising and reopening recently visited plans has been made quicker and easier in Version 8.0 thanks the new preview facility in the ‘Recent’ section of 2020 Fusion’s backstage view.

Users can define the size of the previews (or choose not to show them at all) in the ‘General’ section of 2020 Fusion’s ‘Options’:


When viewed in the ‘Recent’ area, the preview will display the customer number/name, along with the name of the design and the date on which it was last modified.

If the user needs a closer look at the previews, then they can zoom in on the page by holding down the CTRL key and scrolling the mouse wheel.

Designs can easily be opened simply by double-clicking on the preview itself.


Grouped Items (Unit Groups) Options UI/UX Enhancements

A number of modest changes have been made in this area, ensuring consistency of behaviour (aligning warning messages presented to the user when renaming or deleting) and consistency of language (always referring to ‘Grouped Items’), as well as supporting multiple selection/deletion in the corresponding section of 2020 Fusion’s ‘Options’.

Relocate 'Change Material' Button to Top Level of Items Ribbon

‘Change Material’ is a commonly used option within 2020 Fusion, allowing designers to express their creativity when applying colours and materials to items within their plans.

In order to improve accessibility to this option, a change has been made to its location within the user interface. Now it can be found at the ‘top level’ of the ‘Items’ ribbon, instead of its previous location under the ‘Selected Style’ split button.

Note: This change will not affect any users who have already added the Change Material button to the Quick Access Toolbar – it will continue to function as before if accessed in this way.

In addition to the above change, the ‘(Change) Selected Style’ split button will now only be active if one or more file-based design items are currently selected. It will not be active if only cloud-based items are currently selected.

Default State of 2020 Fusion Palettes

A change has been made to the default configuration of 2020 Fusion’s palettes to aid usability, considering the increased prevalence of wide screen displays since this was originally defined.

Specifically, this means that the 2020 Cloud ‘Browser’ palette (on top) and the file-based ‘Catalogue Items’ palette will now be positioned on the left-hand side of the screen and the ‘Navigate’ palette will now be positioned on the right-hand side of the screen.


This change will be applied not only to new installations but also to those of existing users upon initial upgrade to Version 8.0. However, once done, users will remain at liberty to (re)apply any configurations of their own.

Note: This change will only affect the overall positioning of the palettes – it will not affect any customisation of the options within the palettes themselves.

2020 Fusion to Align With MS-Office 2019

2020 Fusion has a long history of aligning with the look and feel of the Microsoft Office UI/UX; consequently, the interface in Version 8.0 has been updated to indicate the current active ribbon in the same way, as well as for the ‘Search’ field to be labelled and function in a consistent manner.

2020 fusion fusion version 8.0 - what's n… · 2020 fusion version 8 ‘what’s new?’ 1 of...

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