Online Training for eCabinets

[Gary Campbell]

I've just had a chance to start watching the online training videos. Due to printing and shipping times not being as quick as online delivery, I am not able to compare these to my copy of "The Almost Complete Guide" for a few days.

The videos are Camatasia style live action that show very well actions being taken on screen. They are also narrated in real time and cover each section very well. Even tho I have not watched anywhere near all of the over 100 videos in my folder at present, and these 100+ are not all of the content that is available, I am very pleased at the content.

Knowing the proper order for setting and/or changing parameters prior to adding or modifying items will be a great help. I have also found that I have many more useful options than I was able to find muddling around on my own.

As I said above, there are a large number of files to watch. They range in time from a few minutes to a half hour and are appropriately named. You can stop and rewind as you wish. They can be viewed as often as you wish. There are references to the book, which is shown to have very detailed drawings and explanations.

My son and I have decided to tranfer our design and cutting over to eCabs and this training will shorten the learning curve for both of us by months. More on the "Book" when it arrives.
Gary

[alister]

Where did you find the printed version of
"The Complete Guide"
I looked around the ecabs forum yesterday and couldn't find an obvious link ...I have the pdf on the laptop but a hard copy would be handy, but I'm trying to avoid printing it myself.
I don't have the link yet...but I'm really tempted.

[training@thermwood.com]

The guide that is being referred to is "The Nearly Complete Guide to eCabinet Systems". It is the same manual that is used for training at Thermwood and at our seminars. There is no download for this guide. It can be purchased online at http://www.ecabinetsystems.com/ecabinet_systems_online_training.htm. At the bottom of the page click on "Sign Up Here" to view it on the online store. This guide is also used with the online video that we're offering. If you subscribe now, you'll get a two year subscription. I believe that that offer has been extended to 29 May. After that the subscription will be for one year. Other info is available online or by calling Thermwood Corporation.


Dennis L. Englert
Product Training Manager
Thermwood Corporation

[woodworx]

Can I trade in my "The new furniture" book?

[Gary Campbell]

To those of you that may be thinking about either the "the Nearly Complete Guide" or the online training, I now have looked over both and can give a hearty recommendation.

The "Nearly Complete Guide" is a very well put together 3 ring punched loose leaf format ready for your binder. The loose leafs allow for replacement as the software changes. Very detailed and loaded with color illustrations that even my old eyes can see. Due to the number and size of the illustrations, it reads much faster than its size.

The videos, which have many references to book pages for additional details and options, are also very well presented. Each video has a single topic that can be viewed as many times as required. Some topics have as many as 5 or more videos, depending on their complexity. Most videos are from 10 to 30 minutes in length. As you watch them, you are able to see the on screen actions, which include the menu access, the selection, and then the selected action happening in real time on the instructors screen. This makes, at least for me, a very easy process of doing these actions for myself.

It has taken some 2 weeks for me to go thru about 2/3 of the 100+ videos I have access to for the first time. There are also more coming in the future.

The only negative so far is, that I had to provide my own binder for the "Nearly Complete Guide", small sacrifice for the value gained.
Gary

[dlcw]

I agree totally with Gary.

The videos are helping to take the learning curve from months down to weeks at most. Granted you won't be an expert after a couple of weeks, but you will know most of the ins and outs of eCab.

The videos are very well done and it's nice to not have to sit through an hour or two of one video. The subject matter is broken down and presented in bite sized chunks that are easily absorbed. I have a two monitor system where I can watch the video and walk through the process in eCabinets running on the second monitor. This really helps with the muscle memory thing. If you've done it, it sticks with you longer.

Anyway, like Gary said, I was a little surprised when the "book" showed up as a bunch of paper wrapped in plastic with no binder. That said, the "book" is printed on very high quality paper in full color. That is a huge plus.

I highly recommend both the book and the video training. They are both excellent.

Don Thomson
Diamond Lake Custom Woodworks, LLC
http://www.diamondlakewoodworks.com

[alister]

I just installed the update and noticed that online training is now $25.00 a month.

[Gary Campbell]

Another note for those that may be sitting on the fence. There are additional videos being added almost daily that explain the new features of version 6. (Version 6 was released today)

There are already in place, a whole section of introduction and specific sections that allow you to shorten the learning curve substantially.
Gary

[frank134]

How I am confused. Let see is this right?
1. buy video 900.00 something for two years use.
2. Nearly Complete Guild $???.00 you get to keep.
3 Online Training for $25.00 a month. the training new to be. What do you get with this?
If I got this wrong please explain.

Thank you
frank
Sitting on the fence.

[Gary Campbell]

Frank...
The $25/mo fee for the training is relatively new, at least to me. It appears to be an even better deal than was avalable when I received mine. As you say it was formerly priced around $900 for 2 years access. At $25/mo that would be only $600 for a 2 year period.

What you receive is access to online training videos that are very well presented and right to the point. It is especially a good value for my son & I due to the fact that we were cutting fairly often with V5.2 and didnt get to try out version 6 but a few times.

I did get a chance to watch a couple hours of the "whats new in version 6" training videos and installed the new version over the weekend. There are some substantial differences in the software and the online videos shorten the learning curve by a bunch.

I did not see that the nearly Complete Guide was included in the monthly fee. Maybe Dennis will chime in and correct anything I may have posted erroneously.
Gary

[englert]

Yes, the program has changed. The previous offering is no longer. The new version is $25 per month on a subscription basis. The Nearly Complete Guide to eCabinet Systems is no longer included, but is available for $110. An announcement with regards to this program should be forthcoming. It appears that many of you have already received the update to Version 6.

On a side note, the online video series is an ongoing project. Not all of the Version 5.2 videos have been replaced and some may not, where V6 had zero affect or very minimal affect. For example, one button was changed in the Part Editor. There are a number of video clips on the Part Editor and Constraint Manager processes. I will probably create a short video for situations like this.

Unless you are a recent subscriber, if you signed up for the annual subscription program you should have already received an email regarding the program and our resolution.

I think that covers it. I was thinking about posting an announcement, but that seems unnecessary at this point. Some pretty sharp eyes here to take notice of this new program so quickly.


Thanks,

Dennis Englert
Manager of Product Training
Thermwood Corporation

P.S. If you view the videos and note any problems please send an email to training@thermwood.com (mailto:training@thermwood.com). Videos are a strange animal. On this end they look good going out.

[porscheman]

Dennis,

Great idea on the subscription-based online training - sounds like a great way to bring lots of people up to speed on the new V6 features at a very affordable price point.

Regarding the Nearly Complete Guide, has it been updated with the V6 features, or are there plans to do so? If I remember correctly, the bulk of the price for that Guide is to cover in-house printing costs, so I'm not sure if I should wait until it becomes the "Even More Complete Guide to eCabs" before buying a copy.... :-) Can revised sections of the document be mailed out with new V6 changes if I buy the guide now?

Regards and thanks for keeping members of this forum posted on the latest releases.

John

[englert]

John,

While the actual name hasn't changed, the "Even More Complete Guide to eCabs" as you referred to is indeed V6. So you can purchase it now without doing any insert changes.

Gary Campbell does a very good job of describing the book and videos. Lots of pages, but lots of graphics and large print. The videos, there are more now than ever before, but shorter. I'm also trying to update the descriptions for each video so it's easier for you to go directly to a subject matter.

One question that was raised to our support staff about the videos was accessibility. After you register online with screencast.com, then you can view the videos anywhere and by whoever you authorize with your signin. You should be able to be signed in on multiple computers. For example, your wife might be the designer and she's at home; your the cabinet expert and you of course are at work. Both of you should be able to view the files. You just can not download them.

In another post it mentioned using dual monitors. I've started doing that. It is great and would be well worth the investment. It's gotten so bad, I sometimes wish for a third monitor. I have a lot of programs open at the same time, especially when I'm creating videos and books.

Long winded, but yes..."The Nearly Complete Guide to eCabinet Sytems" (no name change) is available and it has been updated to V6. We are no longer shipping V5.2 versions.

Thanks,


Dennins

[zeykr]

Dennis,
Are update pages available to those of us who bought the 5.2 version of the Complete Guide?

[englert]

Ken,
I do not have update pages for the Complete Guide. I'd guess that I had to change over two-thirds of the book and would have a difficult time identifying and extracting any updated pages.

I do hope that any changes within Version 6 can be accomplished easily, but we have not discussed the possibility of selling or making available updated page inserts.

Dennis

[frank134]

were do I go to order the book and the video before I buy the link?

[dlcw]

Go to Thermwood website, get their 800# and give them a call to get signed up.

Don

[Gary Campbell]

Frank...
Most of the info is on the eCabinets site. THere is a lot of good info and some very useful products there.

Manual: http://www.ecabinetsystems.com/ecabinet_systems_manuals.htm

Training Video : http://www.ecabinetsystems.com/ecabinet_systems_online_training.htm

eCabinets Home: http://www.ecabinetsystems.com/index.html

Hope this helps, Gary

[frank134]

Ne ver mind I found it and already order both.

[porscheman]

Frank,

As noted by Paul on this forum and Larry Epplin on the eCabs forum, you can now download and run the Link on your computer without having to purchase it upfront. That's a stunning new offer/capability in my opinion.

Since it looks like you'll be able to configure the Link with your choice of tools/bits, set all the machining parameters as described elsewhere on the eCabs/Link area of the ShopBot forum, perform the nesting using the Link, and output code to the previewer that you can visually review, you risk nothing (excluding your time) by going this route. For the first week or two after I purchased the Link, this was all I did anyway. I didn't have a router bit touch wood until I was sure the toolchanger code looked correct and that the table coordinates specified by the Link appeared to be reasonable. I actually uncovered a few bugs in the early versions of the Link this way.

If you, or anyone else, was sitting on the fence waiting for eCabs or the Link to improve, I think the time has come!! And no, this was not a paid endorsement.... :-)

John

[Gary Campbell]

JC, et al...
If you run this feature on a machine with no hasp dongle installed you will notice that all of the SB related and toolchanger code is visible, but the majority of the tool movement lines have been converted to "****LINE MOTION****".

This will surely allow prospective purchasers a chance to look it over and even get familiar with the settings prior to purchase. It will also allow setup as JC descibes above. I am very impressed with this solution as it allows me to open the Link and discuss settings at my office computer while my hasp is installed on my SB computer at the shop. This is a great addition!
Gary