MrTemplate

greetings; i'm finally drawing a plot in 3d. the lighting positions are ground-supported 12" box truss. in Top/Plan View i've drawn 10' long trusses, converted them to light positions, and all is well. i'm now trying to draw the vertical trusses that hold these lighting positions up (also 10' long, 12" box truss). in Top/Plan View they would appear as four small circles with connecting lines to create the "box" appearance. i currently believe that the only way to draw these vertical support trusses is to create a new hybrid symbol; the 2d would be as i described--4 circles with lines between them to create the "box"--while the 3d would be the same four circles extruded 10' long. is there a way to use the spotlight truss tool to do this instead? is there a simpler workaround? apologies in advance if this topic has already been addressed. i checked the forum but then ran out of time. any feedback cheerfully accepted. thanks, shelley

i don't fully understand your question--sorry, i don't know what a hidden temporary location is. i do know that last fall i had some corrupted files. and after talking with tech support and other sources i used the workgroup reference command (Organize > Workgroup reference) to regain the document without also tranferring the corruption. i also experimented with exporting to vectorscript. beyond making suggestions tho i'm not an expert in these matters. good luck.

dear katie; thanks for your response. i (mistakenly) thought that if i had been working in a document for a while (adding resources, deleting resources, adding symbols, deleting symbols) that there would be "left-over" stuff still residing unseen in the document. your note indicates that this is not so. thanks for the info. indeed, i will make a copy of the document, compress it, and upload it. thanks again for your time. shelley

indeed i can do this. i'm a little leery of the permanence of the purge command. beyond that, tho, was wondering (hoping?) if there was any other way to "slim down" a file utilizing one of the other methods that i'd mentioned. (or any other i'm unaware of?) can you tell me if the other methods have no affect in decreasing file size? is purge the only way to go? thanks

i have been working on a drawing for some time now. i wish to "export" it into a new VW file (and "slim" the new file) so that, while containing the resources and text in the working drawing, the new file size is as small as possible. (then i can email it out to folks). is there a "best" method to do this? right now i'm importing all of the resources from working to new, and then copying and pasting the drawing from the working file to the new file. i have also had limited success using workgroup references. and i've also exported/imported using vectorscripts. but i presume that this 2nd and 3rd method won't decrease the "new" file size. is there a preferred method that will guarantee in reducing file size? thanks

i'm about to fiinish a collection of symbols which includes adaptations of spotlight striplight resources (symbols). when i created my symbols, i duplicated a spotlight resource, replaced the 2D and 3D components of the existing spotlight symbol, and updated the data when necessary. other than that, i left the data and Light Info Record information intact. i've now been told that each of the striplight "parts" needs to have a Light Info Record attached, and the requisite information filled out for each "part" of the strip. from what i can tell, that is not the case in at least some of the altman striplights that i checked before i came here to the tech board. i can quickly edit each strip part (in the edit symbol window) and attach a Light Info Record to it, but then having to repeatedly fill each model name, wattage, frame size, weight, etc for each part, i'd rather create an editable worksheet for the resources in the resource browser (not for symbols inserted in the drawing.) after updating all of the information in the editable worksheet that updated information would be applied directly to the resources, rather than the symbols in the drawing. is this possible? i have tried selecting some resources, then invoking the command SpotLight > Utilities > Create Editable Worksheet, but that doesn't work. is there a way to create an editable worksheet that is linked back to the resources (and can then update the data in the resources)? any suggestions cheerfully accepted. thanks

dear katie; thanks for your response. yes i agree 1 point line width is thin. but did i somehow install the spotlight symbol toolkit incorrectly? is the default line width for spotlight symbols 1 point? or did i do something wrong during installation? thanks for your help.

greetings. i just tried to print a bunch of spotlight symbols on my laser printer and they all printed as faint lines. upon checking i find that the outlines in the resources are all 1 point line width. have i done something wrong? or is this correct? how do i globally increase the line width for all resources or must i edit each resource individually? mac OS 10.1.5, VW 10.1.2, hp laserwriter 6mp. thanks for any help.

greetings; i'm developing a set of lighting symbols for Spotlight based on the Field Templates that i've designed over the years. a friend suggested that i also convert the symbols into AutoCAD blocks, but he's uncertain which version of AutoCAD is the best default version. i believe i'm looking for the lowest common denominator version, (VectorWorks export commands recommend using version 12.) but will version 12 be able to support the symbols? or will "fills" be lost? do they need data fields inserted? is anyone out there AutoCAD-savvy that can tell me what version should be used? or can anyone give me a phone number of an AutoCAD person to call? any help cheerfully accepted. thanks in advance.

i just tried with ariel, creating a new label legend, and made the unit # bold, and had no problem. i'm on VW 10.1.2

hey jim; i tried that first--i created a folder within the vectorworks folder called Object Libraries (Disabled). and the unwanted files still showed up in the files list within the resource browser. after some amount of time i got bored and tried to use the 'remove from favorites' command. which is how we got here in the first place. yes if you can figure out how to eliminate the files by different folder or whatever let me know. shelley

jim; i'm not talking about the individual plug in objects within each file, i'm talking about managing the overall list of files in the dropdown File List within the resource browser. in general i'm finding the ability to remove files from the favorite list very clumsy and in many cases, when i attempt to remove a file, the wrong file is removed. yes i agree with you a master plot document is the way to go with individual symbols (PIO's) already imported into the document. but i'm talking about that list of favorites included with the default spotlight settings has has files for engineering and seating that (until now) i have never used and just get in my way.

though i rarely use all of the same categories that ken or bruce suggest, to my knowledge the initial visual request made by ken is still impossible. that is, if a line is drawn from the center of a symbol, (and under containers) i presume that ken would draw the line "under" the light. and at the present time (to my knowledge) everything in the label legend manager is stacked "on top of" the symbol. this sounds like the same limitation i encountered when i unsuccessfully wanted to "tuck" the channel circle container under the symbol. whether i want to use circles or ken wants to use lines, it seems like the folks working on future development of the label legend manager should be aware that users want to have other graphic information surrounding each symbol that can be turned on and off per symbol, and can also be "under" the outline of the symbol.

i've noticed that when i want to look at information about a symbol (PIO), when i click on the symbol and then change to the 'data' tab there is no information (beam spread, etc) shown. but when i insert the symbol (PIO) using the regular symbol insertion tool, and then select the symbol, and change to the 'data' tab, all of the '3D' information is revealed. am i doing something wrong? or is this something that needs to be addressed? i know that i often want to check this kind of info when i'm drafting and it seems an extra step to have to refer to a 2D symbol data info rather than look at the data in a lighting instrument. any guidance gratefully accepted.

now that you mention it i've had the same behaviour. but i can't localize it. it *seems* to be after i delete a symbol the X ruler shifts back to it's default (?) location. but, as you say, the X value in the data display bar remains consistent. and then after a couple of movements of the mouse (?) or actions (?) the X ruler restores to your adapted location (?). maybe after a new symbol has been pasted in???

spotlight 10.1.2, G4, mac OS 10.1.5 today i got tired of having to scroll through all of the object library documents provided in the file list of the resource browser--i don't need to see the metric version of lighting symbols in the file list. so i went to 'file list' and scrolled down to one of the metric versions in question (SL-Altman Metric.mcd) so that it is selected in file list. then i opened 'Files and Folders' Favorites menu, and scrolled to 'remove current from favorites'. when i executed this command, i somehow deleted (SL-Altman Imp.mcd) from my favorites list, but still have (SL-Altman Metric.md) included in my favorites. after some playing around i've determined that, although i've successfully removed the first three or four metric documents from the favorites list, i've also removed their imperial counterparts. and although i've selected the same object library to delete from the favorites list, it usually takes me two times to achieve this task. is there a way to globally select a bunch of documents or object libraries and either include or elimimate them from the favorites list? this is very clumsy and time consuming--especially when the results are not what you expect. or am i just doing something wrong?

hey jim; yes i cheated as well. but even with spreading the electrics out it was still a gooey chocolate mess even with just two shows, opera and a play. one sheet showing opera units, opera channels, play units without channels. another sheet showing opera units without channels, play units, and play channels. two sets of symbols; opera white-bodies, and play-shaded bodies. just a *little* nutty. no at this point me no go to michigan. on the other hand i've not gotten many calls for the fall. once again my career is over. again. shelley

hey jim; the need for tightness (tuck the circle under the light) is relative to the amount of space on the paper for the electrics. last fall i did a tour that had only nine overhead electrics in a 40' depth. no problem. on the other hand, at this last spoleto, i drafted two shows in rotating rep into 14 overhead electrics in a space with playing depth to only 26 feet. if i were to draft those without a circle around the channel i (& the elecs) would get hopelessly confused. and i feel that the channel is the primary piece of info about the instrument. kevin has informed me that his folks are looking at this. stay tuned.

oopsie. i think i gave you bad advice. if you delete that text then i don't think the units will know where they are position-wise. maybe allow the label to stand and 'cover' it with a white-filled rectangle/polygon that has a zero line width? then you still have position in the OIP but can't see it. sorry for the confusion infustion.

i've had no luck rotating the lighting position label. my fix has been to delete the 'postion name' in the OI palette (above rotation) and then type it in separately as text. (i presume it's a Bad Thing to delete the position name in the 'symbol name' field).

ah. i see. this could potentially be exactly what is happening. i'll do the search/replace and let you know if the symbols continue to transform. martin and kevin, thanks for the help.

quote: Originally posted by David Ormsby: What if you edit your symbols to include the circle? That would get it in the right place, and possible reduce your need to tweak Chn # positions... but if the circle is with the symbol, and if i have five basic positions in the orientation of the unit (front, front diag, side, diag back, back), then i would have to have five different versions of each symbol with the circle in different positions. which is what i've done with autoplot. and hoo-boy, keeping track of that is pretty time consuming.

mac G4 os 10.1.5 spotlight 10.1.2 i've been working in the same document for some time today adding symbols to the RB. in many cases i've been importing SL symbols, then replacing the 2D portion of the symbol with a polyline in the edit symbol window. after returning to the drawing, i just tried to shift-click on three different symbols, and then moved them. when i released the cursor, all three symbols turned into rectangles that were the same shape (although the original symbols were different sizes). when i changed to Top View the wireframes of the other symbols were fine, but the 3 remained same-sized rectangles. i quit the program, re-opened the application and document. the 3 were restored to their former shapes. all good. then i selected one symbol and moved it. when i moved the symbol it returned to the same rectangle shape. hints cheerfully accepted. thanks

hi jim. hope all is well with you. the 18 point font is so i can print out the plot in almost any scale and be able to read it. i draft the plots in 1/2" scale. on smaller plots i can then print as low as 38% (3/16" scale) or in some cases even 30% and the whole plot fits onto an 8 1/2 x 11. and the channels are still readable out of a laserprinter. when i try to make text small enough to fit into the provided containers (like 3 digit numbers) they get *really* hard to read unless you output the document at full 1/2" scale. and even then, for old eyes, it's at times a challenge. so i'm still looking for the holy 'container tuck under lighting instrument symbol' grail i guess.

hi folks. i'm currently working on a label legend. the circle provided as a container is way too small; i usually use 18 point arial for channels, and put the channel in a circle. (btw, it would be nice if the containers were text-sensitive and expand in size if the text is larger than the outside edge of the circle). so i drew a 7" circle and added this as a symbol in the containers folder. then, in the label legend manager, i assigned the channel the 7" container. usually i hand draft the circle so that it's 'tucked under' the lighting instrument, to clearly show that the instrument is controlled by That Channel. when i move the channel text close enough for the container circle to be 'tucked under', however, the result is the circle is on top of (and covering) a portion of the lighting symbol. so far no amount of 'send to back' in any edit symbol window has suceeded in allowing the symbol to be 'on top' of the channel circle container. anyone have any ideas? thanks in advance.