Teresa Hull

This is similar to some of the requests I've seen in here, but not quite ... I think there could be two more columns in Layer Navigation: Lock and Snap Lock would make it so nothing in that layer could be modified until the layer is unlocked. Snap (which is really "No-Snap Override" in my mind) makes it so that even if "Snap" is on as the general mode, some layers would still not snap. Particularly useful when a drawing contains a DWG that has tons of vertices that you need to see, but don't want to snap to, and you need to snap to other things. As a workaround, I've even gone to making a PDF, importing it (with snapping turned off on the PDF), and using it to draw; but it makes the file big, so I delete the PDF after drawing.

I think it would be really handy to have a Sheet Layer's page size display in Navigation, and also as an option as a field in the Title Block. This would probably mean that the user has to define the possible page sizes (and what to display for each): Letter Letter Portrait 8.5" x 11" Letter (8.5" x 11") etc. In the entertainment industry, I find myself creating different sized drawings for different things (sometimes using custom page sizes) within one drawing. I've seen a lot of different ways that people use the Sheet Number and Sheet Name fields to also display the sheet size info. Let's just give sheet size it a field that the Navigation window and the Title Block can access!

RickR, Thanks for posting this. These are all things that I know, but it's nice when all the info is in one place as a "How To" for an action. Thanks for taking the time!

What is the application of the new substring( function? Can someone give me some examples of how / why it is used? I'm pretty sure I'll find it useful, but I don't understand what it's for. I saw someone mention it or use it in a User Group meeting, but I'm now at a loss.... Thanks!

Rick, I'm working in an environment where everyone (lighting designer, lighting director, electricians, programmer, board ops) all work in the same drawing so that by the time the drawing is finalized for prep and installation and show, everything is in one file. While your suggestion of duplicating the fields isn't the worst thing ever, it is catastrophic if it is wrong (Dimmer changes during prep, but doesn't get updated to Dimmer Big) once we get on site. For now, it's just safer to only have the info in one field. With hundreds of units, checking for this would not be very fun. For now, I'm creating a duplicate viewport with only the labels I want bigger turned on (they are all classed), then scaling the text in that viewport. Not ideal because I can't adjust the label positions, but it works. Thanks!

Kevin, Thanks for the info about duplicate labels. I'm a little bummed that it isn't "officially" supported ... I guess I won't really make the duplicate labels an integral part of my Spotlight workflow. Cheers!

It's a major reason why I never could use Spotlight before ... (and the limited Lighting Device record fields, and the limited number of labels in a Legend). Hopefully it only improves!

This is a very helpful thread. I haven't really looked much at the 3D side yet of Spotlight symbols, but just been using whatever Spotlight ships with. Some of the "gotchas" that I knew about from other versions have been fixed in the recent releases, but I'm finding that there are now new "gotchas". Just need to learn the rules by which Spotlight operates ...

I had a similar issue a few days ago. I had to redraw it.

Andy -- I'm happy to adjust my approach; what I'm trying to do right now is figure out how best to make everything play nice. It's probably that I'm just being dense here, but I don't think I completely understand how Spotlight decides that a fixture should be a single vs. multi-circuit Lighting Device. I'm going to try to explain it in my own words, and please correct me if I am wrong: If there are nothing but symbols in the symbol definition, then Spotlight makes each symbol into a part of a multi-circuit Lighting Device. So in my original file that I attached earlier in this thread, the 5-deg was made into a single Lighting Device because the 3D contained more than just symbols (even though the 2D was only symbols); but the 36-deg contained only symbols in the 2D and the 3D, so it broke it apart into a multi-circuit Lighting Device of the three symbols that were in the 2D. So, to fix this, there could be any non-symbol object in the 2D or the 3D, and the fixture will insert as a single Lighting Device. And if I want to make sure that something inserts as a multi-circuit Lighting Device, everything in the 2D and 3D needs to be contained in a symbol.

I have not made ANY changes to the 3D (other than the copy-replace mentioned above) from the Spotlight symbols that ship with the product. My workflow for creating my library is to start with the Spotlight symbol, change the 2D to what I want it to be, then rename the symbol. I've essentially been doing nothing with the 3D, as I've been concentrating on the 2D and Label Legends for now. If the 3D is what isn't right, then I'm pretty sure it isn't right in what ships with Spotlight. FYI, I'm not pointing fingers, but just trying to understand how it all works. Thanks for your insight!

Andy, The ONLY difference between the 5-deg and 36-deg symbols in the 2D is that the 5-deg has 4 objects in the lens symbol, and the 36-deg has 3 objects in the lens symbol. No groups. No records attached in the 2D. Now the 3D is a different story ... Just now I copied the 3D from the 5-deg's symbol definition and pasted it into the 36-deg's symbol 3D definition (deleting the previous 36-deg 3D geometry), and the 36-deg inserted as a single Lighting Device. So there is something weird about the 3D side of the 36-deg that was making it bust into its parts upon Lighting Device Insertion. So with the 3D identical, now both are acting the same, but not acting the way Kevin describes that they should (single Lighting Device vs. multi-circuit Lighting Device). So it still doesn't explain why now BOTH aren't going in as multi-circuit fixtures, since the 2D only contains three 2D symbols (with no other objects). Vicious cycle!

Kevin, I am attaching a VW2014 file. All classes on. Identical construction. Only three symbols (no other objects) within 2D symbol definition. 5-degree is OK, 36-degree is not. Big Mystery! Now, I do understand how to make the 36-degree behave correctly (add some non-symbol object to the symbol), but why isn't the 5-degree a multi-circuit unit? Thanks!

Kevin, That makes sense ... but in practice, it isn't consistent. My 36-degree contains: -S4 Body symbol -S4 575w Cap symbol -S4 36-deg Lens symbol (no other symbols or non-symbol objects) My 5-degree contains: -S4 Body symbol -S4 575w Cap symbol -S4 05-deg Lens symbol (no other symbols or non-symbol objects) The 36-degree "breaks" into parts. The 5-degree is fine.

I have long been a non-Spotlight AutoPlot user (thanks to Sam Jones). I am converting everything over to Spotlight now that the Lighting Device Parameters are unlimited and can be arranged in the IOP. I am basing most of my symbols on the symbols that ship with Spotlight, but redrawing most of the 2D to how I like things to look on the plot. Each 2D portion of a symbol contains several 2D symbols (ie. body, lens, cap, etc.) that combine to make that specific fixture type. Sometimes, a Lighting Device on the drawing seems to break apart into these different parts. So I can't select the whole fixture, but each contained symbol. Everything is attached, and moves as one fixture, but the Lighting Device info is separate for each part. For example, I select the cap of a S4, and the Lighting Device info is mostly blank. I move the cap, and the rest of the light moves, but still only the cap is selected. I have not yet nailed down what I do to "break" the drawing, or what to do to fix it. It doesn't always happen. Has anyone else experienced this, and have any advice on what I could do to prevent this as I build a several-thousand-fixture library? Thanks!