Definitely enjoyed the Shaper Origin class last Friday and looking forward to exploring this tool a bit more. We glossed over the account / profile aspects of the tool, though. If I remember correctly, the tool was logged into some other member’s account at the time.
I’ve looked for more info on shapertools.com about how accounts / profiles work, but their online info seems very low detail. I think that the tool is generally designed to save and sync stuff like designs and settings via a cloud account, but they don’t document that aspect very clearly.
What seems clear, though, is that the only way to create new accounts is on the tool itself… There doesn’t seem to be any way to create an account on the website, even though they do refer to logging in on a computer to manage data and even sync to the tool over wifi.
I’m guessing they aren’t really designing that workflow for shared tools in a makerspace. So, I’m thinking that leads to the key questions from my perspecitve: how do we want to handle accounts/profile workflows on ASMBLY’s Origin? Should every user create their own account? Or should we have a single shared account?
Personally, I’d prefer to create my own personal sandbox account, and I’d be thrilled if every time I use the machine I just log in there and get my personal settings, designs, etc.
If anyone else has managed to find a clear reference with more details about how Shaper’s workflows actually are supposed to work around these aspects, by all means please share.
There is a workshop@asmbly.org shared ShaperHub account. I’m not really sure how easy it is to send projects to different accounts; it may very well be easier to have each user make their own.
I received a login confirmation request to my shaper origin account earlier today. Last time I used it was in February and I thought I logged out when I was done. My understanding is we can create our own profile that is saved in Shaper’s cloud and then log into it on Asmbly’s machine. I don’t remember how I made the account but it was pretty straightforward. May need to create it on a regular computer.
You should be able to save and load designs from a USB drive also. That seems simpler to me – stick to internet access via network routers, not wood routers!
Normally, I might mostly agree with that, but I am getting the impression that the Origin might be designed as a “cloud first” kind of device – i.e. sure, its core features work offline, but the richest workflows and full features seem to be cloud-based. For example, I think that they offer a way to upload personal vector designs to your personal ShaperHub account and have them auto-sync to the tool whenever you sign into the tool on the same account. That could have serious advantages when handling a large number of designs and/or complex designs.
Unfortunately, my impressions here are still based partly on ignorance… again, I’m a bit frustrated that the official Shaper company docs are very sparse on details about account workflows in general. In my particular case, I’m also out of town for two weeks, so I can’t futz with the tool myself and learn more about it directly until I get back home. I made an attempt to RTFM online while traveling, but… the aforementioned FM is quite sparse.
Anyhoo, that’s why I’m fishing for info here from the folks who have had more actual practice with the tool and the workflows.
Regardless, I do think that we should establish a “best practice” recommendation for how ASMBLY members use accounts/profiles on the tool. Some brainstorming of ideas/questions:
If it turns out to make sense for every user to have their own account, a best-practice might include logging off when you put the tool away (or reverting to a default account like workshop@asmbly.org).
Or, if it makes more sense to share a common ASMBLY account, should we establish clear expectations around the shared space? Is it likely to get cluttered with a bunch of auto-sync’d data as multiple users add stuff?
Possibly related: does the tool have local storage that fills up? Does that need manual management, or does Shaper good a good job of auto-managing that?
I’m confused. How is this better than putting files with your own designs on a USB drive, which are available as soon as you plug the drive into the Shaper, without any concerns about accounts?
I don’t mean to assert that I believe it is all-around better. I can see the advantages of having direct personal control of your USB drive files, etc.
I’m just getting the impression that Shaper (the company) considers cloud syncing to be the “premier” workflow and thus is likely to invest more R&D to make it the most full-featured and smooth workflow. Again, I am flying a little blind on that speculation since I haven’t personally signed in to evaluate how their cloud sync features actually work. If cloud sync features turn out to be reliable and well-designed, I personally really like the idea of having the option to view/organize my projects on a full-size computer screen, then going to the tool and just have all the latest show up without fiddling with a physical USB drive. I also like the possibility of being able to edit/tweak designs on either screen and just having them auto-sync without a bunch of manual file copying.
If the cloud sync / account system is glitchy or otherwise just annoying, I’m perfectly happy to fall back to USB drive workflows.
Ultimately, I hope we can agree on some simple practices that allow for either set of workflows in an easy-to-manage and easy-to-share way.
The Origin Hub is not designed for a multiuser environment so forcing it to work that way currently results in some clunkiness. With this in mind we at ASMBLY set up a single account to manage the hub, store training materials and build an inventory of designs with community appeal. That said, it was never going to satisfy if the tool became popular as we hoped it would.
Consequently we told people during training that they could create their own Hub accounts. This came with a major caveat that if they didn’t log out then their designs could be used by others. Also, Workspaces are only saved on the machine and don’t get copied to any Hub account. Consequently Workspaces are always at risk of someone deleting them on the tool and the user needing to recreate them.
In speaking with product people at Shaper Tools about shared work environments they told me they want to open up the “on tool account creation” constraint. It works as intended because they originally only wanted Origin owners to have accounts.Makerspaces are causing a rethink.
While account creation on the website was expected to happen soon, the second change wasn’t scheduled. That second change was saving Workspaces to Hub accounts. Having this and a private Hub account would truly make this a personal tool within the makerspace.
BTW, I don’t recall where we posted the Asmbly account credentials. Perhaps @tomthm could ensure it’s marked somewhere on the Systainer? For the Asmbly account to be useful the tool needs to be signed in.
Thanks, @TravisGood! It does make sense that they set things up originally to be a bit more tied to personal ownership of the tool, and I was guessing that was why their main website makes that assumption. As much as I am a little frustrated by the sparsity of their support docs on the topic, it feels they applied a pretty typical strategy for a 1.0 innovative product like this: Do a limited number of workflows (and documentation) at first, but make sure that initial draft is clean and professional. They do seem to have accomplished that.
It is also pretty cool that they are obviously listening to feedback and starting to become more flexible. Definitely interested to see how it continues to evolve.
In the meantime, I was able to use the signup link you posted, so now I actually do have an account on the website (thanks again!). It just seems like this is still a preliminary workflow for them, which I guess explains why the link is not prominently shown on the web site.
Anyhoo, I’ll keep exploring the web side a bit while traveling, then I can obviously serve as a test case guinnea pig on syncing to the tool on first use.
FWIW, I also like the idea of having a shared account for the org as a way to potentially simplify sharing start-up training designs, etc.
Me too as their first apps remind me of the iPhone with web apps before the App Store opened and turned the world upside down. An app store is on their roadmap and I hope it happens soon!
A couple of other things the current account system does it provides some level of security in that if the Shaper is stolen it can be remotely disabled if someone tries to re-register the tool in certain cases. Shaper also updates its software from time to time and a main account helps control that process.
My thought is in a shared space loading files via USB is best practice rather than individual accounts.
Shaper Origin released two new additions today - Shaper Studio Studio and Shaper Plate Shaper Plate Both tools will release in mid-September.
Plate is an alignment tool and Studio is a design tool that runs on most platforms including phones. With Studio you can have a free limited account or pay $99 per year for a full featured account. You can still use other design tools but Shaper states Studio allows you quick access to simple designs.
Hi folks. I was excited to take the certification class for the Shaper Origin, and have started working with the tool.
Coming back to the topic of Accounts/Profiles, I’ve set up my own Shaper Studio account to be able to design SVG files. Unfortunately, the free Shaper Studio “Lite” subscription is pretty severely defeatured (for example, does not allow you to merge multiple polygons to create a more complex shape, and more importantly, does not allow you to add cut info for shapes, like depth of cut, inside vs. outside, etc).
Would it be possible to use the main ASMBLY Shaper Studio account to create SVG files? And if so, does someone have the relevant login info for Shaper Studio associated with ASMBLY’s Shaper Origin? I would love not to have to pay an extra $100 to Shaper for a full Shaper Studio subscription.
FYI, info on the different Shaper Studio versions, for background (trial, vs. Studio Lite, vs. Full Subscription):
