AWaters

Sidearms are so common that I'm surprised that this hasn't been addressed before. But I also don't know how long we have been able to associate lighting accessories with lights. It's been a long time since I've used Vectorworks on a regular basis.

Correct, you can just use the rotate tool and it'll spin around the vertical pipe. The loci that is part of the c-clamp that I built the symbol around stays at the center of the pipe. Edit: You just have to make sure you select both the arm and the light since they aren't technically connected.

So last week when I realized that I wasn't going to get a fast answer I made this model. This is a decent approximation of what a standard sidearm looks like here in the US. The Safer Sidearm is a modified version of this that puts more strength at the clamp on the pipe, but I've never actually seen them in real life. I started with a c-clamp that I found in the Resource Manager, extruded a 1/2" diameter circle off the center of the clamp, and then modeled that little tee piece that connects to the light. I converted this all to a symbol. When I brought the symbol into my drawing I converted it to a static lighting accessory, and then attached that to the rigging position that is my boom. I then did what you suggested and made a new version of the light I intended to hang and removed the clamp from that symbol. Then I went lazy and just lined up the top center of the yoke with the tee on the sidearm in 3D. Then I attached the light to the rigging position that is the boom as well. So now I can move the boom anywhere in my drawing and everything moves together. The light and the sidearm aren't technically attached to each other, but it looks right in my drawing and that is really all I'm worried about.

You linked me to a very informative webinar that didn't answer my question. In the webinar he builds booms with full 2" pipes rigged 90 degrees off of a vertical pipe that he converts to hanging positions and hangs lights off of. The sidearms I am dealing with are of the 1/4" pipe rigged to a light in the place of a traditional c-clamp which has a c-clamp on the end of the pipe which is then hung on a vertical pipe. In the resource manager library there is a symbol under lighting accessories that is just the type of sidearm that I'm talking about. It is the City Theatrical Safer Sidearm. It being a light accessory, I would think that I would be able to attach it to a lighting instrument in the correct fashion coming off the top of the yoke horizontally 90 degrees. Instead it attaches to the light in the center of the fixture and doesn't perform the way that I would want it to at all. Now all this being said, in the 5 days since I initially asked this question I have modeled my own sidearm that is more realistic looking to my purposes and gotten it to behave the way I wanted. But thank you for trying to help.

So I'm modeling some basic booms from my theater. Because I have time on my hands, and can be nitpicky, I'd like to have the lights in the drawing on side arms like they are in real life. Using the Safer Sidearm from the resource manager, when I insert it, it either ends up in space about 20' from the light or it puts the c-clamp end in the middle of the light where the shutters are. I don't understand how this is supposed to work.

I had to reinstall VW 2020 on my computer yesterday and since I've been working today all my render options keep coming and going. I've drawn a stage with textures on walls and objects. In the past hour or so they have only been rendering as white objects. When I select an object and go to the Render tab in the OIP it will show me what the texture should be but won't render it. When I switch from OpenGL to Fast or Final Renderworks the model just disappears. The objects are still there, I can select them, but nothing is rendered on the screen. I restarted VW a number of times at this point and sometimes other render options aren't even listed when I click on the teapot. It'll just show me OpenGL or Sketch, and in the OIP the Render tab will just have sketching options. Any idea what could be going on?

Sure, Here is my VWX and the MVR file. On a tangential note, when I do "Send to Vision" instead of using MVR, everything transfers fine but the shutter cuts that I did for my conventionals in Vectorworks don't translate correctly in Vision. Schlesinger Center New Dance Mode.vwx Schlesinger Center New Dance Mode.mvr

I'm having a similar issue to this. I figured out the initial mm problem, but my hang positions (except my ladders) are still stuck at the origin. Also, none of the focusing I did in VW transfers with the MVR file. Why is that?

I was just coming here to say that I figured it out. My class options were set to Show/Snap others, and setting it to Show/Snap/Modify others fixed it. I don't understand why that would affect them in this way, but ok.

I tried that and it didn't help. What I did discover is that I only seem to be able to select lights by clicking on their insertion point. I used to be able to select a light (or any object in general) by clicking anywhere on the symbol.

I'm working in Vectorworks Spotlight 2020 and I'm having a lot of issues with selecting my lighting instruments. I have a full plot drawn out, and I'm trying to fine tune some things but Vectorworks isn't letting me click on a light. It will let me marquee select lights, but it won't let me just click and select a light.

I tried that earlier today and it didn't work. What did just work was me turning off my external monitor. But thanks for the help.

I'm working on a Surface tablet with an extended monitor. I moved Vectorworks between the tablet screen and the other monitor and the Attributes palette disappeared. If I switch workspaces it is still around but I have no idea where it is when I'm in the Designer workspace. And yes it is checked in the Window>Palettes menu.

I did this and, like JMonroe, it didn't fix the Update problem.

ok, thank you.