jcogdell

This issue has been passed onto the Braceworks team and is being worked on.

You can also do this using class attributes or the attribute palette go to Spotlight preferences (File-Document Settings-Spotlight Preferences) open the 'Classes and Color' pane toggle on the 'Modify Lighting Instrument Color' check box and then choose how you would like to control the fixtures color Next choose either 'Lighting Instrument' to control the color by class based attributes or 'Color Field' for direct control using the 'Attribute Palette' settings Note, if you choose class based you can define which class or classes are controllable using the 'Modify only geometry in the class' drop down menu. You also have the option to save these settings a default at the bottom of the dialogue so you only have to go through this process once In 2019 it is the same basic process but the old preferences dialogue has everything on in a single dialogue window

Thanks for the vid, If you could pm the file it is based on, I'll have a look and see if I can spot anything that maybe causing this, I currently can't replicate the issue at my end with a clean file. Could you also send me your system specs, I doubt it is part of the issue, as I use a 2018 XPS laptop as well, but it will help.

Hi Everyone I thought I should add to this that we are looking at developing tools for power planning. I can't say when we will release anything as we are only at the initial stages of the background research, but this thread is providing us with some excellent feedback on the subject and will be a big help.

@ghunter I have raised the issue with the Braceworks dev team and they are investigating

Hi Scot I've not encountered this myself, are you using the copy and paste from the right click menu? If you are, another way to do this that may avoid the problem would be to use the duplicate short cut, hold the control key (command key on a mac), left click (and hold) on the object to be duplicated and then drag and drop to where you want it.

Currently, to the best of my knowledge there is no way when using the ganging tool to avoid the vertical offset, as it is displaying 2 data fields at once, this a limitation of the ganging tool. A work around would be to combine the power patch data into a single field, either using one of the circuit fields (name or number) instead of both or if that is going to cause problems for your paperwork set the ganging tool to display dimmer and copy the patch data there. Another option is to use the spotlight cable tools, when assigning circuits to a plugbox, you can gang them and it will insert an icon to show this on you plan.

This is correct the red box shows where the power and data ports are on the fixture, and Spotlight uses this as an orientation reference. In my experience most fixture manufacturers use this standard, though as Josh says, there are some notable exceptions such as some of the Varilite range (notably the old 3000 and 3500 series, not sure about the newer models as they are not commonly used in Europe) and the Elation/GLP X4 impression wash range for example.

This behavior has been fixed in 2020, It will now allow you to place you lights on either chord of the truss when the red Load attachment line highlights If you want it on the top chords or side hung you will have to manually add the truss height to the fixtures 'Z' coord (or manually drag and drop in the appropriate view) and/or rotate the light to the desired orientation, the same as before. An important note is that the OIP for Lighting instruments now includes x,y and z rotation fields to make it easier for to control the orientation of the light in 3D

yes, select the fixture and open the software console in the window menu.

If you have not already done so please contact tech support, below is the link to the online help request form from our website https://www.vectorworks.net/support/help

Hi Jazz Do have any of the manufacturer details? I can put a content request in for it if you do. Gruße Jesse

How big is your design? Does it have a lot of symbols? or is it more geometry based? Could you post the file or PM it to me? so that the Dev team can have a look at it Gruße Jesse

Hi Dave This is the result of the interaction of the ganging tool's preferences with the label legend assigned to the lights. As you selected the option, in the ganging tool preferences, to gang 'by circuit'' you will get a 2 part label for the ganging object (this will also happen if you select the option gang 'by channel and dimmer'). This is because in both of these cases the ganging tool label label is referencing the data in 2 data fields and combining it, 'by circuit' references both the 'circuit name' (top) and 'circuit number' fields from the fixtures. The horizontal offset that you can see in your example appears if you have set the one of these fields to 'right reading' in the label legend assigned to the fixtures. The easiest way round this is to prepare a label legend for the fixtures that you plan to use the ganging tool with , that does not have any right reading data fields in it.

Cheers Mark That's an approach I hadn't considered.