PR #7065 GUI Animation dumps to the same place as Export-As-Image
I just merged this change to where animation frames are dumped when you
check the box in the GUI.
Note: There is no change to the CLI behavior. This is a GUI change only.
In 2021.01 they were dumped to the current folder, which would change
when you opened and saved files. Some time since then that
current-folder change has been removed, and the result was that the
frames were dumped into the folder that was current when the application
was started... on Windows, usually the installation folder.
With this change, they are dumped to the same place that Export-As-Image
defaults to. That is:
- The last place a PNG was exported to, if any.
- Else, the folder the SCAD file is from, if any.
- Else, the user's documents directory.
This is not great. Really, I think, "dump" should be a button rather
than a checkbox, and should pop up a save-like selection box that lets
you choose a folder and maybe a prefix for the file names. But that's a
much larger redesign.
But at least now it should be much more useful.
That's a good change- thanks Jordan.
But- (there's always a "but"), would it not be better overall to have an option in preferences where you could specify paths to specific folders for the various file types?
As a for instance, I save most of mine to my nas drive and it's a pain to repeatedly have to navigate to it when I save stuff. Especially galling to an ocd pedant like myself, when it frequently wants to try and save it in Program Files- a windows protected folder and the last place you'd want to save it to.
I know- I'm lazy- but what can I say, I'm just an ex-pat pom at heart🙂
On 2/10/26 02:56, Jordan Brown via Discuss wrote:
I just merged this change to where animation frames are dumped when you check the box in the GUI.
Note: There is no change to the CLI behavior. This is a GUI change only.
In 2021.01 they were dumped to the current folder, which would change when you opened and saved files. Some time since then that current-folder change has been removed, and the result was that the frames were dumped into the folder that was current when the application was started... on Windows, usually the installation folder.
With this change, they are dumped to the same place that Export-As-Image defaults to. That is:
- The last place a PNG was exported to, if any.
- Else, the folder the SCAD file is from, if any.
- Else, the user's documents directory.
This is not great. Really, I think, "dump" should be a button rather than a checkbox, and should pop up a save-like selection box that lets you choose a folder and maybe a prefix for the file names. But that's a much larger redesign.
But at least now it should be much more useful.
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Cheers, Ken
bats059@gmail.com
https://vk7krj.com
https://vk7krj.com/running.html
A baby can be defined as an ego with a noise at one end and a smell at the other.
Your job as parents is to teach them to control all three.
My job as a grandad is to tell you how you are doing it all wrong!
On 10/1/2026 9:48 PM, Ken via Discuss wrote:
But- (there's always a "but"),
Always.
would it not be better overall to have an option in preferences where
you could specify paths to specific folders for the various file types?
Perhaps. Or perhaps not. ("In the same folder as the source file" is a
sensible policy, as is "in a type-specific folder relative to the source
file", as is "in a type-specific folder in a particular place".)
In this particular change, I wanted to address a particular case that is
pretty clearly wrong. A more general solution would be good... but
would also be much more complex and potentially controversial. See
issue #7064 "Overhaul default folder selection" for my thoughts on a
longer-term overhaul.
Especially galling to an ocd pedant like myself, when it frequently
wants to try and save it in Program Files- a windows protected folder
and the last place you'd want to save it to.
Yeah, that's on my list. That one is more controversial, I think; it's
known that some make use of the underlying behavior (using the
application's initial directory as the default) by setting up
per-project Windows shortcuts that select the appropriate folder for
that project.
At least on Windows, the Quick Access sidebar allows for easy initial
selection, and after that the defaults are probably not bad.
Thanks Jordan- your reply jogged my memory- so I did what I should have done ages ago- changed my openscad shortcut to start in my top-level openscad files folder. Now it starts up pointing to exactly where I want it to.
I should have thought of it myself much sooner- but age (too much) & memory (too little) are slowly betraying me. I can still run & cycle- but thinking & remembering is getting harder🙁
On 2/10/26 13:02, Jordan Brown wrote:
On 10/1/2026 9:48 PM, Ken via Discuss wrote:
But- (there's always a "but"),
Always.
would it not be better overall to have an option in preferences where you could specify paths to specific folders for the various file types?
Perhaps. Or perhaps not. ("In the same folder as the source file" is a sensible policy, as is "in a type-specific folder relative to the source file", as is "in a type-specific folder in a particular place".)
In this particular change, I wanted to address a particular case that is pretty clearly wrong. A more general solution would be good... but would also be much more complex and potentially controversial. See issue #7064 "Overhaul default folder selection" for my thoughts on a longer-term overhaul.
Especially galling to an ocd pedant like myself, when it frequently wants to try and save it in Program Files- a windows protected folder and the last place you'd want to save it to.
Yeah, that's on my list. That one is more controversial, I think; it's known that some make use of the underlying behavior (using the application's initial directory as the default) by setting up per-project Windows shortcuts that select the appropriate folder for that project.
At least on Windows, the Quick Access sidebar allows for easy initial selection, and after that the defaults are probably not bad.
--
Cheers, Ken
bats059@gmail.com
https://vk7krj.com
https://vk7krj.com/running.html
A baby can be defined as an ego with a noise at one end and a smell at the other.
Your job as parents is to teach them to control all three.
My job as a grandad is to tell you how you are doing it all wrong!
On 10/1/2026 11:36 PM, Ken wrote:
so I did what I should have done ages ago- changed my openscad
shortcut to start in my top-level openscad files folder.
That's certainly a workaround. I do want to change the default
behavior, because by default it does The Wrong Thing. But XKCD 1172
https://xkcd.com/1172/ applies, as it always does. (That's why the
discussion in #7064 has CWD as an option.)
Controversial indeed. My output (STL files) always go in the same
place, never in multiple per-project places, never in the same directory
tree as the source.
The "per-project shortcuts" are used to invoke OpenSCAD by setting the
input path (initial directory?) to different values?
How about adding command line options for the initial input and output
directories? That would be all that I needed: I would always invoke
OpenSCAD with the same two directories.
Allowing the user to have SOME control over the default directories
seems essential, whether on the command line or in Preferences.
Jon
On 10/1/2026 11:02 PM, Jordan Brown via Discuss wrote:
On 10/1/2026 9:48 PM, Ken via Discuss wrote:
...it's known that some make use of the underlying behavior (using the
application's initial directory as the default) by setting up
per-project Windows shortcuts that select the appropriate folder for
that project.
At least on Windows, the Quick Access sidebar allows for easy initial
selection, and after that the defaults are probably not bad.
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This report is puzzling. My OpenSCAD ALWAYS starts in the same
directory. I do not need a shortcut to get the behavior that Ken desires.
My issue is that the default for writing STL files is always in a
location where I am not even permitted to write anything, let alone in
the place that I always write STL files. In this behavior, OpenSCAD is
stunningly stupid.
Jon
On 10/1/2026 11:36 PM, Ken via Discuss wrote:
Thanks Jordan- your reply jogged my memory- so I did what I should
have done ages ago- changed my openscad shortcut to start in my
top-level openscad files folder. Now it starts up pointing to exactly
where I want it to.
--
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www.avg.com
On 10/2/2026 8:22 AM, Jon Bondy wrote:
Controversial indeed. My output (STL files) always go in the same
place, never in multiple per-project places, never in the same
directory tree as the source.
Yep. It's not a simple picture, because there are multiple styles.
(Mine go next to the source file, though I am increasingly using F8 so I
don't keep them.)
The "per-project shortcuts" are used to invoke OpenSCAD by setting the
input path (initial directory?) to different values?
Yes.
How about adding command line options for the initial input and output
directories? That would be all that I needed: I would always invoke
OpenSCAD with the same two directories.
Something like that is plausible, though I'd prefer to use preferences.
Allowing the user to have SOME control over the default directories
seems essential, whether on the command line or in Preferences.
Let's just say "desirable". "Essential" means "can't be used without
it". I do not want to get into a significant redesign before we get
this release out. (We do want to get a release out, right?) Unless a
behavior is unusable, I don't want to do throw-away design, that leaves
us with either a compatibility hiccup in the future, or with the
requirement to maintain "temporary" behavior forever.
This report is puzzling. My OpenSCAD ALWAYS starts in the same
directory. I do not need a shortcut to get the behavior that Ken
desires.
You're on Windows, running a relatively recent OpenSCAD, and you're
starting OpenSCAD using the Start Menu entry that installation creates?
The default "open" location is the last folder that you opened a file
in, persisted across runs. (After the first installation, the default
is the installation folder, which is wrong. But at least it's OK
forever after that.)
The default "save" location is the installation folder, because it is
the current folder when the application starts. (This is the single
stupidest thing in the picture, now that animation-dump is fixed-ish.)
My issue is that the default for writing STL files is always in a
location where I am not even permitted to write anything, let alone in
the place that I always write STL files. In this behavior, OpenSCAD
is stunningly stupid.
Hmm. That doesn't match my observation and analysis of the
Export-As-STL semantics. (Unless you are rendering and exporting one of
the examples.)
Export-As-STL (and all of the other Exports, as far as I know) uses
these rules:
- The same folder that you last exported that type of file into, if
any. (Not persisted across runs.) - Else, the same folder as the source file came from, if any.
- Else, the user's documents directory. (As reported by the
platform. See "User Documents Path" in Help/Library info.)
If you're not seeing that, please let me know the exact sequence that
you're using, starting from the application not being running. I think
you mentioned a NAS drive; if there's one in the picture then describe
how it fits in.