preston bircher designs

I am exporting my sheet-layer to the PDF Plotter. I have to raster my text, or there isn't any. However, since upgrading to 2014 I can't seem to get any type in my TITLE BLOCK to actually appear in the PDF. All text in the Title Block appears onscreen, noting that I whatever class it's in, is visible. Just not when actually exported to a PDF. If I "print" to my Adobe PDF printer, it asks me for a filename--then absolutely nothing happens. It's never printed. Ideas? THX, Preston

I'm calm now... I had the NONE class [invisible]. That is one of the things that I don't understand; how the [None] class works. And why. I was working with an earlier post and Kevin noted an 'invisible class'. As all the classes I was needing were visible, I was at a loss. Then I just turned every class on, and the instruments appeared. Turned each class off one-at-a-time until the instruments disappeared. (why only the instruments, and nothing else in the theatre drawing I created?) At least I found it...

This is the most frustrating thing--moving up to 2014 this is my first light plot to create--I've been playing with other features. Now I'm sitting in the theatre and putting a quick plot together--and now no instruments! (???) When I hover over the location where I placed the instrument, there is a half-instrument ghost-gray dashed outline. Then when I float to the other side, the other 'half' of the ghost-outline will appear. When I try to "force select" the status line states that there isn't anything to select. I am using the VW library files for Altman, ETC, & Coemar. All are reacting the same way. Please help! THX, Preston

That is something we've all had to live thru! I just upgraded today to 2014... it's supposed to be "fixed" with this release... we'll see!

#klinsey--is there any hopes in Nemetshek working this out -- conflicts with he bounding box are severely limiting this potentially great tool! THX! Preston

Klinzey-thank you... it's there! For some reason I thought that I had before (I was using VW2012 at my former job--and to back-track to VW2010) You selected your 1) Table then 2) Chair. The F&B Manager of the venue will be utilizing more chairs around the tables--is there a way to customize that? And for the 3D render--cloth colors? I know I had seen that dialog in the past; but can't find it now! (???) Many thanx! Preston

I am trying to insert Banquet Tables and Chairs in a small ballroom (my first time) and the option is not available! I my resource browser has the symbols--and when I attempt to Create Event Seating, choose Banquet--I get the Table Spacing Option and chair option. But no place to choose any tables! (???) It creates a Classroom/Theatre layout--and no place in the OIP to add/change the symbol. It's like the feature has been 'disabled'. And the Help file is useless there. Ideas? THX! Preston

Thank you --- that is what I'm noticing. Not a very clean tool. I suppose I will have to insert and duplicate array along the curved line and then delete the seats I don't want. (the bounding boxes are not following the curviture of the concentric line(s) in which the seats are laid out. (this is common in most all theatres around the world... how could this tool not work for a standard layout?)) Due to the curved-nature of the seating layout, most of the back rows are deleted too! Not helpful, unfortunately. :-( Any other suggestions? Happy holidays--Preston

HELP! I've tried over several projects to make the Event Seating concept work in the Theatre World! I'm now just trying to make a simple 4-section seating in a semi-circle. That's basic and simple, eh? NOT! I can't find any information on how the seats fill the polygon that I've created in which to put my seats! It seems to leave some random space around the seats that I can't figure out. I have created my aisles and measurements that each seating section utilizes and drawn + slected those polygons. I insert the VW stock Padded Theatre Seat from the dropdown menu. Coordinate my Focus Point for the seats and they're facing the correct direction... Now--why are there large gaps around the section? Why is front row so far set-back? I'm able to 'offset 1st row, but then usually it starts deleting seats as I change it!?!?! There doesn't seem to be a tutorial anywhere on HOW this tool actually works! And the Trial-and-Error method is only making me angry--not solving anything! :-( Ideas? Many thanx, Preston

I've inserted a full-stage drape--in two panels--and it won't let me open it (ghost drape) -- all is grayed out? What have I done wrong? THX, Preston

after quite of few Q&A and ScreenCaps with me and Tech Support -- WE FOUND IT! It's a conflict with www.yousendit.com and their app! It's a minimial-known issue, and the first tech's I talked to never mentioned it. The tech I talked to today saw that I recently installed the APP for show coordination. There's a conflict, he noted it... I un-installed the APP... and now all is running again! TADA! Thanx for all the people who read it and scratched their heads! DON'T USE YOUSENDIT.COM APP & VW! Preston

Well... I uninstalled and re-installed! Still the same... but--there is something NOT uninstalling as per the info in the Knowledgebase... in the Start Menu, all of the "previous" files used is still there... ??? If I deleted everything, and searched the Registry, how is that data still there? It's totally frustrating that I can't call Tech Support on the weekends! (even worse when I'm attempting to do so from Europe!) Anybody's help would be greatful!!!! :-)

I am having a strange problem--when I attempt to run VW2012/SP4 it runs for a few seconds then terminates itself. I watch it in Task Manager then it just disappears. I've tried to run as Administrator, same result. Also tried in different compatablilty modes. Also, I've 're-installed' VW2012, still to no avail. This is a coroporate machine, and I am on a jobsite (a.k.a. "ship" in the Med) and not able to actually visit my TSD. But phone support and local onboard I/T people are all stumped. The Last Resort is to UN-INSTALL VW and start anew. But, as I tried when I upgraded from VW2010 to VW2012 that's an involved process. I have found the informaiton in the Knowledgebase and will try that soon. IS THERE ANY OTHER OPTIONS OR IDEAS? thanx y'all! Preston

This has been happening with me since I upgraded to VW2012. I have to adjust the Z-Coord every time--and they're all random!?!?! This needs an anwswer for us all!

I need to copy all the lighting fixutres from one file and "paste" them into another file. It's the same Showroom--but the older file has problems. And I need to grab the 250+ fixtures and SpEFX gear from that plot. What can I do? Thx, Preston

OK, What have i done? I am working in MM and a scale of 1:200 (big cruise ship) and all of my Ruler Measurements that are usually in meters, etc., are now in "2e005", "3e005", "4e005", etc. What happened? Any ideas?

I created my viewports and made the plot all pretty for printing. Then I needed to add a few intstruments and change the way the Truss Symbol looked on the drawing. My Design Layer looks GREAT -- but all the trusses that I edited the properties of (took away the graying in the pipes, etc.) have disappeard from the Sheet Layer and Viewport. ??? Also, the added instruments have not been added. I selected the Viewport and then View -> Update Selected Viewports... nothing. Then I selected the Viewports and then View -> Update All Viewports... STILL nothing?!?!?!??!! Do I have to make a NEW viewport and replace it all over again? THX... Preston

HE WAS RIGHT! Blame Canada for the fix! What I did was: 1. Rt-click on the symbol in the RB 2. Chose ?Edit? 3. Rotated the pipe 90? 4. On the drawing the pipe is now perpendicular to the instruments hanging on it?so I had to select them all and manually assigned them in the OIP to another hanging position (they also moved the first time I tried this...) 5. Rotated the pipe 6. The label rotated as well 7. Repositioned the label to the same plane as the others 8. Re-selected the instruments and then reassigned them to the hanging position 9. All is good! Thx...

Thanx Steve.. but the Symbol doesn't seem to have the legend with it... only the shape. And i can't find a Legend in the Legend Manager that would allow me to adapt the text & placement... ???

I am 'creating' a lighting position on my plot. However, the name of the position on the drawing is at the wrong angle. In this particular drawing, I have all my pipes running up/down (SR at top, SL at bottom) on the plot. I was able to move and resize accordingly--however, I cannot 'rotate' the label. It is currently Horizontal and I need it to be Vertical. When I select the rotate tool, and attempt to just grab the label--the entire position will rotate. (??) What is the formula to rotate just the label and NOT the entire postion? many thanx! :grin: Preston

I made it easy -- finding out that mfrs really don't have real VW symbols... I purchased Field Templates full V3 package -- there are several types of machines that you can import as a symbol as a lighting fixture and will have the data for DMX, etc., fields to fill-in and then export to LightWright. http://www.fieldtemplate.com/soft/softcopy.html Good luck...

Well... this required a Phone Call -- it turns out that I was resizing a symbol and didn't realize that when I clicked "entire drawing" that meant everything that I was working on--the entire show! I assumed that it was the "drawing" that I was working on. So I resized the entire drawing again against a baseline that I knew was a precise measurement -- and all is back to normal. However, every symbol or Plug-In Object that I imported while in that scale (basically, my theatre was the size of Manhattan) was now out of scale. So I had to delete that object in my OIP and re-import from the previous file(s) -- and now all is great and back to normal.

Next Problem: as I'm working--and I don't notice when--but all of a sudden as I'm placing instruments--their placing really tiny in comparason to the others. Now I have metric measurements (yes, working in Metric) that are unheard of! X: -7.3609727562995e006 Y: 3.6610427997077e006 What did I do this time? Many thanx...

Understood--I'm placing Colorams that need the Legend... but I do understand the methodology. Thanx...!

Just did... same thing. A "lighting fixture" will maintain it's pre-slected legend manager. however, "Accessories" will not. is there an option to not have this happen or yes, to have it happen? Thanx...