kacey1

quote: Originally posted by daisymurray: have just created 1st magic sheet but channel & colour info is obscured by the graphics both on screen & in printed format This happens if you have a lot of lights coming from approximately the same direction-they tend to overlap. The magic sheet is just a group, so you can select it and edit the group and move things around or change the fill atrributes of the text so you can see everything. HTH

quote: Originally posted by RobbMann: Thanks, Kacey--right now I just use the mouse pointer, then use the rotate function to go 90 deg. to tthe right, and I get it where I want it--I was just hoping for an easier way. On a side note, is it possible to edit/reassign the quick keys? [ 12-15-2001: Message edited by: RobbMann ] Yes you can reassign your quick keys. From File menu select edit workspace and you can change them there. There is also more info in the manual about creating custom workspaces.

quote: Originally posted by RobbMann: I do this too--the point is that the mouse pointer is 90 degrees to the front of the instrument when rotating. I want to have the lens train point directly toward the mouse pointer, so when I'm rotating it (after the first click to place it on a lighting position) it is aiming at my pointer (wherever I rotate it to, it points at...) Seeing as the seating problem is just a matter of rotating all the chair symbols by the same degree, will the seating bug be fixed in a future download? To achieve your desired rotating-you would want your instruments to be left facing instruments- edit each symbol and rotate them 90 degrees to the left. However, this will seriously affect the label legend behavior-it would take a lot of work around in that area to make it work the way you'd like it. I don't know when the seating layout bug will be fixed-when I find out I'll let you know.

I think there is not a way to work around this-for the lighting postion object this may be an actual bug, however I believe for the symbol, it is by design. For symbols, if you want to use anythign other than show/snap/modify for classes, you'll have to create the symbol in the correct class. For positions, perhaps you can do more sorting by layers than by classes? I'll enter this into the bug list as a bug/wish item so that it works in a more user-friendly way. [ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: kacey1 ]

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: I am running VW Spotlight 9.5.0.b7 on Windows. I am trying to create a hybrid lighting position that dwells on just 1 Class but no matter what I do when the Position gets created, it lives on both the Class that I created it on and the "None" class. I am not creating any of the lines orginally on the "None" Class and the symbol itself is fine on the Class I created it on, it is only when I convert it to a lighting posistion. Please tell me there is a fix for this! Thank you Lonnie Lonnie-I'm not sure I understand what you mean by it is living on two classes. What class options do you have set?

quote: Originally posted by RobbMann: Let me preface this by saying I'm new to spotlight (learned CAD on VW8.5). However, I've had problems with both "creating a seating layout" and in placing and focusing lighting instruments in that they face 90 degrees to one side of where my handlebar says they should. This is a bug and has been entered into our bug tracking system. To work around it-open the master chair symbol file, and enter each chair and rotate both the 2d and 3d portion of the symbol so they are all "South Facing" as opposed to "North Facing." They should then insert properly. quote: The same thing when placing a lighting instrument--I want it to aim at its focal point ( my hanging crew is all uni students with very little experiance--trying to make it as idiot proof as possible)--however, the handlebar is of by 90 deg. (get "vertical" message when the instrument is pointing sideways) so I have to rotate the icon after placing it--and, wouldn't you know, it rotates to the right, which means it doesn't have a quick key associated with it. The way our symbols are inserted, they don't work the way your are describing. I'm not sure how to better describe to you how to make it work because I just do it and it works! Think of it this way-click once and the light is north facing- then you're going to move it clockwise or counterclockwise to be at the rotation you want-you're not going to be able to move your mouse to the spot you want it to point at. I hope this helps a bit and doesn't confuse you even more!! [ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: kacey1 ]

quote: Originally posted by jtallen: What symbol are you looking for? I thought all the SL 8.5s were in 9.try thisIf you are talking about SpotLight 8.5 and you still have 8.5 on your computer(you installed 9.0 in a different folder) you should be able to navigate through your resources menu to the SL 8.5 symbols folder that the old symbol was in and place it from that folder. This is somewhat true-you can't direclty insert an 8.5 symbol into a 9.01 file. You can open the 8.5 file and it will convert to a version 9 file. All of the symbols will then be useable in 9. HTH

Can you please e-mail me a copy of your file? Thanks!Kacey kacey1@nemetschek.net

The changing to squares bug with ETC symbols is due to the degree symbol in the name-rename the symbol to something new, replace the instruments with the new symbol, and voila, you should be fine. This bug should be fixed by 9.5's release. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

Go to the page menu and change your layer scale to 1/4 or 1/2" HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

The gobo projector moves away from the light if it's an exceptionally steep angle, such as when the light is at 0 and so is the focus point. As for it not projecting-there could be many reasons. If you edit the gobo, do you see it okay? Again, check the custom renderworks settings and make sure you are projecting onto something-a floor or other object. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

How many labels are you using? Is the label you're trying to move dead center by any chance? If it's dead center and you are not using 6 labels, occassionally the control points get stacked on top of one another. In the label legend manager, move the label that is center a little bit up or down. That should help. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

quote: Originally posted by mtanguay: I am working on my first design in VWSpotlight 9.0 (PC) and am slightly confused about Object Info and Light Info Record, especially the difference between this data when the object is a symbol and an instrument. I can understand your confusion-let me see if I can shed some light (pun intended) on the situation... All SpotLight SYMBOLS have a record attached to them, called the Light Info Record. This includes, as you have seen, the beam info, weight, name etc. When you convert a symbol to and INSTRUMENT, SpotLight looks at that Light info Record and says "Aha! Inst Type for this one is 6" Fresnel. I'll put that in the OI palette under inst type." and so on through the list. In the OI palette you will not see the beam info, and some other fields. However, SpotLight still uses this information when you focus an instrument and turn its beam on. quote: I am attempting to use the instrument symbols that come with VW, these have the manufacturer's specifications included in the Light Info Record when the the object is a symbol. Now if I simply insert the symbol it says "2D Symbol" in the shape tab while in plan view. Now if I convert to instrument, the Light Info Record for the object no longer reflects the specifications for that instrument(ie the Light Info Record is the same for all instruments independant of type), yet now the shape tab recognizes the object as a Lighting Device. Therefore my questions are: This is correct. When it becomes an instrument, you no longer see that record. What you are seeing is essentially the "blank record" or sort of a template. Any changes you make to this record will become a default value and change EVERY symbol in the document. quote: 1. When using lighting symbols that came with Spotlight is it necessary to convert them to instruments? Is it necessary? No. However, if you want to use all of SpotLights really cool features, then yes. If they are not converted to instruments, no paperwork can be generated, no lights focused, no label legends applied etc. etc. quote: 2. If I need to convert them, how do I get them to maintain the correct specifications for that type of light (ie beam angle etc.)? They automatically do that. As I said above, when you look at that data pane after they've been converted it appears that there is no light info record attached. This is because, technically it is attached to the SYMBOL and you are looking at the INSTRUMENT. quote: I attempted to edit the defaults as described in VW 11-33 and this simply gave all new lighting instruments the same Light Record independant of instrument type or symbol used. Therefore: 3. If I have to convert Spotlight instruments symbols, do I need a Light Info Record specifically for each type of instrument employed? Instruments do not get the light info record, SYMBOLS do. The instrument merely reads that record info. The instrument is essentially a wrapper that goes around the symbol. Read Kevin Moore's post in the thread about speed and the instrument being a recipe... quote: 4. Further, if I need to edit the specifications these symbols came with (i.e. different wattage) how do I do that and have it effect all instruments of that type? If you want to edit ALL of your Source 4's to have an inst type of S4 edit the SYMBOL. From the resources palette select the symbol, click edit 2d, and then go the OI palette and with nothing selected go to the data pane. Now, when you change the light info record you are chaging it for only that symbol, and all the instances of that S4 will have the new information. quote: A student swimming upstream in a technology resistant theatre, Meredith Tanguay I hope that makes things a little clearer than mud. Let me know if I need to clarify further for you. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

quote: Originally posted by Josh Monroe: Ok. just fyi - I downloaded the beta 9.5 and it fixes the insertion/grid problem... but now when I change the data for an inserted fixture or move that fixture, it deletes the symbol and replaces it with a rectangle. Let me, guess the symbol name has a degree symbol it it? Just rename the symbol for now-it's a known bug and is being worked on. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

The parts library is in the same folder as the cyc units. Usually it ends up a the bottom-it is a separate folder called "Altman Cyc Parts" or whichever manufacturer. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

The parts library is in the same folder as the cyc units. Usually it ends up a the bottom-it is a separate folder called "Altman Cyc Parts" or whichever manufacturer. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

No, there is no boom base symbol in SpotLight-I'll put it on my list for the next version. To create the truss, you need to change the hanging angle in the OI palette to 90deg. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

Sorry for the slow response, it has been quite a week for everyone I'm sure. When you use refresh instruments to update everything on the plot, make sure that nothing else is selected. Otherwise, it will only refresh the selected items. I've never seen the bold/plain text behavior. Do you mean bold on the plot or in the OI palette? (Another user has seen the OI palette display bold items.) HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

For 9.01 the addition of the alternate modifier keys for workspace shortcuts required a file format change to the workspace. As of 9.01 the proper extension for workspaces is .vww Why your workspace has stopped working, I'm not quite sure. Have you edited it all? If you see this again, try to remember the steps you took to get there. If perhaps it happens after a particular file or tool, and we'll try to track it down further. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

Sorry for the slow response, it's been a rough week. This seems to be a VW core bug with the way it handles class color for symbols. We'll look into it. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

I am going to make the assumption that you are using SpotLight. Do NOT import your first record as the manual tells you to. This is an error and will be fixed for the next release. You may find the SpotLight forum helpful; there is a more detailed post on the importing error. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

Are all your label classes turned on? Are you in show/snap/modify others for classes? Is your label legend still assigned to the instruments? Most likely when exporting, you exported the label legend field and changed it while in LW? Check the OI palette and make sure the Use Legend field matches the name of your label legend exactly. Or select the instruments and assign them to the legend again. As for the importing the first record, you are right that it does not work because you exported the field lables as the first record. This is a known error in the manual and there is a posting on the tech board about it. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America [This message has been edited by kacey1 (edited 09-05-2001).]

See page 4-8 of the SpotLight User's Guide for the proper way to create multi-circuit instruments. You need to build them from the parts library. Each symbol is to scale, and should build you a fairly reasonable representation of a strip light. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

I have only seen this once-I believe it was with one of the Altman Fresnel symbols. Which ones aren't showing up? That will help us in diagnosing and fixing the problem. You can edit the key yourself and add anything that was forgotten. It is simply a group. HTH ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America

I'm not a programmer and don't even play one on TV, so perhaps it would be possible to do it. I'll put it in the wish list. ------------------ Kacey Fisher Quality Assurance Specialist Integrated Products Group Nemetschek North America