export to SVG on sequoia

Hi, I don't know if this has ever happened to you. When I try to export, a pop-up appears to indicate the format, but the dialogue box to select the destination folder does not appear. Does this happen to anyone else?

Matteo,

Let me get this straight. You choose Export... from the File menu, and the format dialog appears, set to SVG by default. Is there a Cancel and Next button below the format picker? If so, what happens when you press Next?

Pressing the Next button should take you to the destination dialog. Please confirm that you tried pushing Next and something else happened. It would be helpful to see screenshots.

You mentioned in your title that you are running on Sequoia. I have not yet upgraded, and now I am afraid to. I'm hoping this is a false alarm, but if not, it may be that Sequoia doesn't like something about this Nodebox dialog. If that's the case, there may be other dialogs or functionality affected.

Every time Apple upgrades the Mac I hold my breath. Sooner or later they are going to make some change that affects the Nodebox app. When open source software is no longer regularly maintained, this is how it dies.

Adding Frederik in case he knows anything about this and can confirm.

If anyone out there has already upgraded to Sequoia, can you please try exporting an SVG and report to us if you experience any difficulties?

Stay tuned.

UPDATE

Turns out my wife has already upgraded to Sequoia, so I was able to test this on her Mac.

She had an older version of Nodebox which refused to open on Sequoia. But when I deleted that and reinstalled 3.0.52, it opened fine and I was able to export an SVG with no difficulty.

So, Mateo, please try again. If you're still having trouble, try deleting your current Nodebox app and reinstalling 3.0.52. Then try it again. Please report back so we can be sure your system is working OK.

Phew! So far it looks like Nodebox runs fine under Sequoia.

John

Hi John,

Thank you very much for your swift response.
Probably Sequoia, it’s not the cause: once I click the “Next” button, the pop-up disappears, and nothing happens. So, no destination dialog…. :(

Attached is a screen recording.


Best,
Matteo

Matteo,

Thanks for the screen recording. Strange.

I wonder if the dialog could be present but somehow located beyond the edge of your (main) monitor or under another window. I don't know your monitor setup and if you have more than one.

You might try getting out of full screen mode and move the Nodebox window around to see if anything is lurking under it (shouldn't be possible but stranger things have been known to happen).

Better yet, do a full shutdown and restart of your Mac and see if that helps. Also, did you try deleting Nodebox and reinstalling 3.0.52?

Have you noticed anything else odd? For example, if you do a Save As... from the File menu, does the folder destination dialog pop up then? Have you noticed any trouble with that dialog from apps other than Nodebox?

Puzzling and frustrating. Please try these suggestions and report back.

John

Hi John,

Thank you for the suggestions. I restarted the Mac, opened Nodebox, and exported as SVG, but nothing happened. I’m having trouble figuring it out, and thank you for your effort anyway!

Best,
Matteo :)

Matteo,

You never said if you tried reinstalling Nodebox 3.0.52. If you haven't, give that a try; it only takes a minute.

A few more things to try / think about:

• Does this happen when exporting in any format, or only when exporting SVGs? Try exporting the same thing as a PNG.
• Does this happen for ALL SVGs, or only for this particular drawing? Try exporting a simple rectangle as an SVG.

Have you been trying to export the same thing in all your attempts? If so, it could be that there's something about the particular drawing you've made with your Nodebox network.

Here's another thing to try: if you are not shy about sharing it, send me a zipped copy of your NDBX file and I will see if I can export it.

This feels to me like a solvable problem. I'm willing to stick with it as long as you are.

John

Hi John,

I tried all the possibilities :sob:
And even a single block file doesn’t export.
Attached is the file, which will probably work on your version :)



thank you in advance,
Matteo

Sent from mobile, sorry for typos
–
Matteo Moretti
Designer, Professor at Uniss,
Founding partner at Sheldon.studio
·
Check out our last project :point_down:
Data Gamification on steroids https://sheldon.studio/works/blurm3not
·

Hi Matteo,

No file was attached to your last note. Could you try again?

Also, you never said if you had reinstalled Nodebox and are using the latest version, 3.0.52

John

Hi John,

Yes I reinstalled it, too. Here is the link to the file
https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/ce472ffa-ff0b-46f5-95cb-b04bf5fced80
best,
matteo

–
Matteo Moretti
Designer, Professor at Uniss,
Founding partner at Sheldon.studio

·
mail hello@matteomoretti.com
website matteomoretti.com

Check out our last project :point_down:
Data Gamification on steroids https://sheldon.studio/works/blurm3not

·

Hi Matteo,

Yes, I was able to export it just fine on my machine. I am still using Sonoma, but that may not be the issue. I also don't have the font you used. I suppose you could try changing the font to Ventura, but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Just to be clear: at this point you cannot export ANYTHING in ANY format - correct? If you start from a clean slate, launch Nodebox to get the default single rect, and then try to export that as, say, a PNG: the same thing happens? An export dialog but no save dialog?

The obvious questions when trying to hunt down a bug like this:

1. When was the last time you were able to export an SVG successfully?
2. What changed on your system between then and now?

Additional questions:

3. Are you able to open your Nodebox file and SAVE AS another copy? I ask because Save As uses the same dialog. If you also cannot do a Save As that may indicate a lower level issue, not just a problem with Export.
4. Are you able to export from other apps (e.g. Photoshop)?

Can anyone else in your office export a Nodebox file? If someone else in your office can use Nodebox from their Mac that would give you a temporary workaround, and would also indicate that there is something about your particular machine.

I asked Googles AI for suggestions. It said 3rd party utilities can sometimes interfere with the save dialog - do you have anything like that installed? Something that affects the way the windows and dialogs appear on your Mac?

It also suggests not just exiting the app (Nodebox) and restarting, but FORCE-QUITTING the app and restarting. To Force Quit, open Nodebox, then hold down the command, option, and esc keys simultaneously. The force quit dialog should appear. You can then select Nodebox and press the Force Quit button.

If you are using multiple monitors, you could also try turning those off and try again with the simplest possible setup.

What we really need at this point is more clues. When I encounter a persistent bug like this I try "rattling the cage", that is, I try banging away randomly to see if I can uncover any additional symptoms.

Sorry you are going through this. I don't believe I've ever come across a problem like this before.

John

Hi John,

It’s correct: I can’t export anything :)
The last time I used NB was many years ago, but I have no memory, probably years, so before the Sequoia update, which I connected to the bug. However, many other things have changed, which I cannot accurately track.

However, I can save files, the dialogue window appears as it should be, and yes, I can export from other software.

That week, I worked without multiple monitors, on my single computer. Next week, I will check with other colleagues: I suspect it will run fine on their laptops. It’s a very bizarre situation I’ve never experienced, too.

Thank you for your effort, but don’t get mad with this, please :)

Best,
Matteo

Hi John,

I made a guest account, logged in, and it finally worked.
So, it's a third-party software conflict :)

Best,
Matteo

–
Matteo Moretti
Designer, Professor at Uniss,
Founding partner at Sheldon.studio

·
mail hello@matteomoretti.com
website matteomoretti.com

Check out our last project :point_down:
Data Gamification on steroids https://sheldon.studio/works/blurm3not

·

Mateo,

Congratulations! And thanks for letting me know.

Thanks also for your concern. I was in no danger of getting "mad with this", but I was beginning to get curious.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do with Nodebox. If you check out my Cartan Node Library - or my Instagram gen art account - I think you will discover many possibilities.

Have a great weekend!

John

P.S. Thanks for sharing the BlurM3Not link. Really interesting! Great work!