[SML] More stupid VectorWorks questions

Mon Nov 27 21:18:35 UTC 2023

Hi folks;

Jeff Forbes wrote an email with a series of questions about ETC SoftSymbols. He wrote: 

Hello all, adventures with VectorWorks 2024 continue apace and now there are two new issues bugging me.

(1) This may be a Soft Symbols problem rather than a VW problem: A theatre I’m doing a show at added a bunch of new ETC LEDs to their stock, so on my plot I added ColorSource 36° DB Spots, ColorSource Linear 2 DB, and Source 4 Cyc ColorSource DB. 
The ColorSource Spots and the Linear 2s show up as 2 instruments, although a bit offset from each other which is how I noticed it. Channel 71 was reading as channel 7711. The Linear 2s are also 2 instruments, but the ColorSource Spots w/cyc adaptors are perfectly fine. 
Now, if I click on one of the offenders and look at the Object Info palette it was saying at first that I had 2 lighting devices selected. Now it just says one device, but 2 cells. So they’re reading as multi-cell devices? LightWright 6 also reads them as 2 instruments with the same unit number. Deleting one cell deletes the entire fixture. Oh, and if I double click on one of the offending fixtures and open the window that shows all of the data for that light there is a section to the left called “cells”, which lists the instrument as 2 cells. 

Onward…

(2) Inventory management is quite different now. I think I followed all of the instructions to the letter, but I can’t get the Instrument Key, which is now called the Equipment Summary, to show the number of each type of instrument remaining unused. In the Object Info palette I've checked “show counts” and “compare to inventory”. What I get is 36/0 when it should read something like 36/52. 

These are both driving me crazy.. 

Thanks in advance,

Jeff Forbes
jforbes1956 at gmail.com

I just sent him a private note, but am repeating it here for you all as well. I’m going to change my preference for receiving emails so I get them in real time, rather than at the end of the day.

I wrote:

Hi Jeff;

Steve Shelley here. I was just forwarded this note from the SML [I’ll get my own copy tonight.] Sounds like you’re getting frustrated, and I certainly understand. Welcome to vectorworks. Hahah.

I note that you’re working in vw2024. I’ve not completed my update to the ETC library to address the changes in the 2024 LIR. Apparently you’ve updated the ETC SoftSymbols object library into the vw2024 environment, so I’m a little uncertain as to what’s all going on here.

Can you send me the offending file? There’s lots of different variations for each of the symbols you mention, so it would be helpful for me to look at the actual resources that seem to be the problems. It sounds like I accidentally pasted two symbols on top of one another, but I can’t find that as a problem in my working file.
Both the ColorSource Spots and the Linear 2 resources are centered on the X-Y axes. When you say they’re “offset from each other” I’m uncertain what you’re referring to?
The “channel 71 > 7711” problem; I can only guess is a label legend problem. Maybe that label legend has two instances of the “channel” text in that particular label legend?
The ColorSource Linear 2 SoftSymbol is designed as a two-cell unit. The text at the top of the Resource Folder reads: “The ColorSource Linear 2 is made up of 16 LEDs - two cells x 8 LEDs each. Each instance below is a Lighting Device, comprised of two resources for each symbol. These symbols can be insterted by A) marquee-selecting both symbols below, copy, and paste them together into a destination document, or B) double-clicking a Combo* resource in the Resource Manager, and insert the resource into the destination document using the Spotlight Instrument Tool. When the Combo* symbol is inserted with the Spotlight Lighting Tool, the symbol transforms into a multicircuit fixture comprised of 2 Spotlight Lighting Devices. If the Combo* symbol is inserted using the Symbol Insertion Tool, on the other hand, it will transform into a single Group.” So as far as I can tell, the resource is working as it should; each inserted resource results in two separate cells.

In the future, it may expedite this process if you first send an email to me. One, I’ll get it sooner [currently I have SML to send me a collection of all emails at the end of the day, rather than individual ones as they are sent.] and two, I might be able to answer the questions and not have the entire SM List think that I’m a total doofus.

Thanks,

Steve

Ps: I was just closing up the working file, and noticed this text at the beginning of the ColorSource Linear Series folders in my document. It might help explain my methodology a bit more. It reads: 

“The ColorSource Linear product line are LED striplights that can be hung [Hung] using C-Clamps, or can sit on the floor (FLR.) The Linear chipset colors are either "Original": Red, Green, Blue, and Lime; "Deep Blue": Red, Green, Indigo, and Lime; or "Pearl": Warm White and Cool White.

All of the instances shown in this document are Spotlight Lighting Devices, inserted using the Spotlight Lighting Instrument Tool. Each series of 8 LEDs comprises a single cell of control - and each cell exports to a single row of Lightwright data.”

Hope that helps,

Steve

================

Steve Shelley, President

FIELD TEMPLATE LLC

714 Amsterdam Ave. #15

New York, NY 10025

[212] 865-2969 Office

Shelley at fieldtemplate.com

Www.fieldtemplate.com

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