Steve B.

Does VW error check ?. How easy is it to get a customized color order in VW (6.25", separate from 7.5", separate from 10"). How about a console patch sheet (I export from LW direct to the Express Off-Line editor, you can do this as well in VW). I can think of a good many things that LW does much, much better then VW, which is why I suspect that VW isn't trying real hard to correct the worksheets and is the reason so many people use both. FWIW, I use a basic rep plot and when I start a new show, I start in VW, only adding basic info, then export to LW, merging the file into a corresponding LW file, this way I don't have to re-invent the wheel by filling in all the LW basic stuff (dimming system, frame sizes). I then flesh out the LW file, Ch's, colors, purpose, temps, etc... exporting to VW. If I need to add anything, I do so in VW and export ONLY those new units/accessories etc... as a data-in to LW, where it adds it to the existing file. LW does a much better job of counting stuff, creating paperwork tailored to the purpose, etc... To me, the import/export process is painless and keeps both files the same. Steve Bailey Brooklyn College

Put it on a different layer at a different scale SB

Create a new label legend for side lights When editing in the label legend manager, rotate the instrument in the direction the unit focuses (as well as using the correct symbol for the light), then place your attributes wherever you want them. It takes a few tries to get all the attribute placements correct on the drawing. You might want to create a SR separately from a SL, ditto a different label for a PAR vs. an S4. I find it easy to create a SR then do a Duplicate in the resource browser, then go in and rotate horizontal for the new SL label, as example. SB

Two-fer tool never worked right and I doubt it's been fixed in V12. I simply draw in manually, faster this way and you get what you want, where you want it. SB

I'm the LD at a PAC (NYC area) and also get advance info from events coming in, and I've yet to see anything in other then Adobe or Vectorworks. Note that we are not building shows (carpentry) so are not going to see construction plans. Most of the info we get sent is basic ground plan and band layout (variety acts) and light plots. The larger Light Plots from dance and musicals are almost always in VW if they're not in Adobe, and almost always, if I call and ask, were drafted in VW. I've actually seen an increase in the past 2 years in plots done in VW and am comfortable saying that VW is the program of choice for LD's. SB

I've been regularly upgrading from VW 10.5 to 11, 11.5 and now 11.5.1 as well as Win XP Home edition, SP1, to Pro edition, to SP2, with all current upgrades. I have had no issues. SB

Never mind. The site download page has a Tools for Spotlight for VW11.5. SB

Confused. Does AutoPlotVW and Tools for Spotlight work with VW Spotlight v11.5?, much less VW 11.5 ?. The AutoPlot website states seems unclear as to whether it functions for VW 10 and above. SB

Just saw this... In the "What's new in LW 4.06 & 4.07" Adobe file from John is a note that there was a bug in the file format for automated actions prior to V4.06, thus requiring you to re-create your automated actions in versions 4.06 and above. SB

As a follow up Also known as - It's Sunday AM the coffee hadn't yet taken effect and my brain just went "Wait a minute - what's this LW 4.08 ?, my version is 4.07". I usually get the e-mail from John M about updates, must have missed this one. Went and downloaded the bugfix, ran it and then did a LW into VW test. All works fine here, so I'm not sure that 4.08 vs. 4.07 is an issue. My LW export automated function worked fine as well as my automated import map in VW. To back track, have you done successful file transfers prior ?, and what's different now (besides 4.08). Note that there's a VW 11.5 now as well. SB

First thing I'd do would be to get rid of any existing automated VW into LW files that LW saved. I would then re-do a successful import, going thru all the steps manually, paying attention to the comments in the manual about importing first record, noting that the "-" character means a blank field in VW, etc.. Do the import manually at least once, without recording the automatic actions, making sure it works, then do it again, this time allowing LW to record the operation. I call mine the "VW to LW" function. LW should dump this file in an automated folder and you should be able to recall it in LW under File - Automated. SB

My only comment is that as comparasion, Lightwright allows backwards capability to v2 from v4, which is better then 10 years of backwards compatability (in the educational version too boot). John M doesn't seem to see the need to limit this type of functionality in the current version of Lightwright. I'm certain it's a marketing issue for NM that affects the architectural market as well and am doubtful that Kevin will reply, but can say that I'm now less likely to recommend VW due to a student, due to this particular issue. I'm certain that the drafting instructor here is going to be very annoyed at this as well. Steve Bailey Brooklyn College

Kevin, Any particular reason you folks disabled this functionality in an educational version ?. Steve B.

This came up in conversation today... I've been using V11 Spotlight for a few months, and was under the impression that I could only export backwards to version 10, not further to 9.5 or 8, etc... The Export function in File, only shows an export to v10. Am I missing something ?. Steve B.

A simpler method may be to assign a "spare unit" lable legend for the non-used units, which will have circuit and unit number, but not color and channel container/number. You might have to create a few spare unit labels, but that's quick to do using Resource Browser and duplicate, then editing out un-needed info in the label legend. This method is a quick indicator that the units remain on the rig but are not used for a particular show. It would also seem that you WANT the numbering to stay the same for all units on the rig, whether the unit is in the particular hookup or not. I would use Lightwright for the hookup and patch info, simply noting in the marked column those units not in a particular show, printing only those units pertaining to the show. LW is very good at this. SB

You can re-build the menu and tool bar by using the Workspace Editor. Go to File, Workspaces, Workspace Editor - Edit Current Workspace. Make sure that Spotlight is in the right side panel of the Menu and Tool sections. If not, you may not have it installed. SB

1) Make sure you've created lighting instruments, not just symbols. Select all those newly created units, go to Spotlight - Create Instrument 2) You need to create Label Legends for the assorted units. This is also done in Spotlight, Label Legends. Here you can create the assorted legends needed for all the various units on the plot, up to 25 total legends. Note that it's a snap to grab all these legends from the plot on the next plot - use Resource Browser - Files and Folders - Browse a Document, go to label legends and import all the legends from the existing plot. Also works with any specially created symbols - Center Line, Piaster Line, Booms, Box Booms, etc... You then need to assign the appropriate legend to units so as to see Channel circle, color, unit number, etc... 3) You number units by selecting all the units on the position - now's a good time, with units for a position selected, to go to Find and Modify and actually match those units to a position. You did a Create Position when you added them, didn't you ?. You can group select a positions worth of units and - go to Spotlight - Number Instruments. Here you can select an auto arrangment, or do a manual number - works well for booms, as example SB

Ethan, I can understand the frustration, but the best advice is to read the manual and follow the directions. This did work for me and I've gotten to the point of being able to create my own strip symbols (L&E MR16 strips) and having VW correctly understand it's a multi circuit unit. The Spotlight tool has a function that says "Creat multi-circuit instrument" or some such. You do need to select all those individual units to be combined as MC's but the manual covers it pretty well. As to LW (3&4), both the VW and LW help sections do a good job of describing the worst traps to avoid, such as how to tell LW that the "-" symbol is VW's way of indicating a blank space in a "cell" (Spreadsheet lingo). I've had very good luck with both LW3&4 in getting data both directions, though LW4 has a good deal more information then LW3 affixed to an instrument, much of which you need to be careful not to send over to VW. Again, the help sections covers it well. At this stage, you probably want to be more specific as what steps you follow, both with VW and LW, so we can determine if you're missing something. You can also check past posts as there's been a good bit written about LW/VW transfers and issues. Steve B.

Well, now I'm confused Isn't "flip it about it's long axis" the same thing as changing the indicated direction of focus ? I'm visualizing this as Plan View (I'm assuming 2D here ?) - I.E. as if I was on the grid looking down at the lighing pipes. The standard drafting system that's been in use for decades is to draw an instrument symbol on a pipe so that the obvious location of the gel frame/front of instrument is generally oriented towards where the light will focus. A plan view drafting seemingly has the symbols appearing as if they were pointed straight out - parallel to the stage deck, and often "pointing" either US or DS, or perhaps at an angle towards a defined architectural item (door, chair, etc...). If I drafted a plot that had all my Pars indicated as being focused DS and decided to focus them US, the plot still appears as if they were parallel to the floor, but now the gel frame/front of instrument is pointing US. In VW, when you attach a label to a fixture and rotate it - 180 degrees for instance, the fixture will appear to not be hung on the pipe, but now floating somewhere in space. The method I described earlier is used to do a 180 degree rotation of the direction of focus for individual or groups of fixtures, while keeping the fixture as appearing still "hung" on the pipe. There's another method to rotate a single instrument, as if you were panning the fixture, to allow individual units to be shown as focusing to different locations. Sorry for the seemingly beginners language, partly a response for not knowing - as well as I should, the correct VW terminology in some instances and also for wanting to start from the beginning and make sure we are talking about the same thing - with out actually seeing it. Sort of like describing a set design over the phone, or faxing the painted elevations. Steve B.

Glenn The label will flip with the fixture. You may want to create a 2nd label legend for "DS Focused Units" vs. "US focused units" or whatever. Easy to do - Go to Resource Browser, open the Label Legends folder, duplicate the lable legend by right clicking on it - giving it a new name. Then open the label legend manager in Spotlight, select the new label legend, edit layout, marquee/select the entire label and use Tool - Rotate - Flip Vertical. You can then do a selection of the desired fixtures and use Find and Modify to group change the fixtures to the new label legend. FWIW, my electricians and I went back and forth on what they wanted to see, in terms of format, and we decided to allow the label to rotate with the fixture, as it placed the dimmer, color, channel in the same place in reference to the fixture body, every time. In my case I went to a circle container for the channel, no container for the dimmer, both at the "back" of the fixture body, with color and use at the lens. If I understood the original question, and this is my application. I have a group of fixtures on a pipe that are currently shown as focusing US. I want to group rotate so they show as focusing DS. The method I described allows all the selected fixtures to rotate 180 degrees while staying centered on the pipe. I place the Mirror Object Mode reference line on the pipe itself, as that's the mirror reference point. You can also use Click+Shift to select only those fixtures you want rotated. Hope this makes sense. Steve B.

Draw a marquee around all the instruments you need to flip. Click on the 2D Mirror Tool, then go to the left side of the tool bar and click on the left of the two Mirror Tool choices - Mirror Object Mode. Then click once on the truss/pipe to the outside of the first unit needing flipping (or last it doesn't matter) then hold click and drag line across the pipe thru the units and release beyond the last unit needing flipping. Units will flip 180 degrees, labels follow. Hope I explained it correctly Ateve B.

I'm not at the computer with VW, but some thoughts. Orphaned units indicates that there's no match between the LW units and the VW units. VW creates new objects and calls them orphans upon import. Double check the LW file to see if these units have external ID's. You need to open up Columns and allow a view of EID's. The EID in LW should match the UID in VW, for a particular unit. When you created the plot, did you convert units to lighting symbols ?. I create the plot first, creating symbols, positions (converting lights and positions to lighting symbols and lighting positions), numbering correctly on the plot and sometimes adding a Purpose, I then export this file to LW. VW is where the UID is created and that shows up in LW. I can then sort, develop a (dimming) system, color frame info, add channels, dimmers (circuits as needed) purpose, color, templates, use, etc... in LW then export back to VW to flesh out the plot. It is possible to import to VW a non-VW show from LW (having no UID's/EID's) and then match those oprhaned units to symbols and positions, frame size, etc... but it's very tedious. It also sounds like there's issues with the mapping fields, which would cause information in particular LW fields to not line up with the corresponding VW fields. You need to create a map during the import (which you can save for future use). Re read the manual (VW and LW) for information about mapping, especially about importing first record and blank spaces. Getting the mapping correct is vital. SB

Ditto Jgoss's comments, I've been able to read A-Cad drawings from our renovation architect, modify them in both v10.5 and 11 (we just recently upgraded), re-export to .dwg format and have them read by the architects office as well as the ETC A-Cad systems. The only comment I heard was from ETC, where certain text styles - bold, etc... didn't convert correctly, but were still readable after a quick modification. I'll be at the ETC user training session in 2 weeks and will (hopefully) get a chance to attempt a Vectorworks v11 conversion to WYSIWYG/Emphasis. It's something I will really need to figure out as we are planning to upgrade to Emphasis this year, but will continue to use VW (it's more widely used, IMO) as well as LW4, which we also just upgraded to (worth it). I'll let you know Steve Bailey

Third. Planning on upgrading our Express to Emphasis, am now sold on VW and LW and would like to keep it that way. Steve B.

Michael wrote: "There is no good way to handle units that have more than one control channel." Agreed, though some of us are lucky enough to use Lightwright for the hookup/paperwork portion, with LW able to deal with multiple channels per device. One suggestion for the plot would be to configure a separate label legend for non-"Light" devices - ML's, scrollers, etc... that has a specially configured oval circle (container) to contain the range of channels numbers and a "Dim Box" container to deal with the circuit that provides power, if it has a number. SB