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David Ormsby

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Posts posted by David Ormsby

    Beginner's Question: Moving in Vworks

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    picareta -

    You may want to try the Duplicate Array command - even if you need 1 copy, it will give you precise control over the copy's location.

    mralistair

    There is a third party plugin on the Vectorbits dot com site (Vectormove) that sounds like it could fit your bill. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have this feature built in, but they do have some handy tools there.

    Copy & Paste

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On my machine, the "=" key activates interactive rotate, and typing it twice opens the requestor - many VW commands work this way, a single press activates the tool, and a double press opens the requestor. (The "A" key being one of my most used - turning "snap to grid" on and off, or the double tap opens the grid snap settings box).

    I think the "v" is about placement - as I mentioned cmmnd+z,x,c,v are among the most common commands needed - undo,cut,copy,paste - and they all neatly adjacent to each other. More of a qwerty thing than windows - I seem to recall these commands working on the C64 and they may even predate ms-dos.

    BTW, these 4 keys by themselves are very useful in VW

    z = pan

    x = select

    c = zoom in (a double tap zooms in %50 on the cursor)

    v = zoom out (a double tap zooms out %50 on the cursor)

    Copy & Paste

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I think ccroft is right, if one menu command has a window open, the other menus will be inactive.

    cntrl/cmmd z,x,c,v (undo,cut,copy,paste) work in almost every application, on either mac or windows, and may be your only option here. HTH

    For what it's worth, and I'm sure most of the users here would agree, learning some of the basic keyboard shortcuts can really increase your productivity. I draft with one hand on the mouse, and the other on the keyboard, and rarely need to touch the menu bar, as many of the basic commands are available with a single keypress.

    Cinema 4Drall

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by David Ormsby

    I use the export from VW almost daily, and am very happy with the integration. The lighting, texturing, and rendering speed are all excellent, and many notches above RW.

    Cable Plots

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    What would the attached record have for fields? What would you want drawn on the plot? I'll see what I can come up with. Initially cable runs with a record attached should not be hard. You would have to fill out the record fields. A separate spreadsheet command could break the run into inventory lengths 100, 75, 50, 25, 10. It would have to take the maximum size, or perhaps all available sizes from some kind of preference record, but it's probably doable.

    Speaking from the corporate experience, where everything is temporary -

    Primary fields would include; Multi Name, Length, Part (i.e. A,B etc, for when the run is broken up), Voltage. Secondary fields would be Rack number and Destination (i.e. with multiple racks, Multi X is going to Rack 2 input H - be a nice help when tracking down circuits in the patchbay), Loads, Gauge, Spares.

    I'd like to see the primary fields appear at the female/truss end, and have all the fields assigned to thier own classes.

    The length rounding sounds great - as well as the ability to get this into a worksheet.

    Seems one challenge is to calculate the vertical drop. Once the cable was would it's way around the cieling, at some point it's going to drop to the floor. Perhaps there's a entry in a prefs screen that would add cieling/trim height to all cable runs, so even though it looks like a 50' run in Plan view, the tool would know to add 25' to get the hod to the floor.

    Perhaps additional fields would support the use of data cable runs for movers and control - Universe, Opto, Console....

    Not asking too much, am I?

    I think it would be the perfect companion for AP and Chain Motor, and I for one will drop coin on it immediately!

    BTW - Thanks for all your support over the years!

    Viewport Layers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Which "Pull Down" is your grid layer appearing on top in? Does the grid layer appear on top when looking at the design layers?

    Are the "shaded boxes" on a design layer?

    If you are looking at the Navigation Palette, check that the grid layer has a "1" in the right column - this palette can be sorted by visibility, name or number, the number indicates which layer is actually "on top".

    I hate VW worksheets

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by David Ormsby

    Create a new Worksheet in the Resource Browser and Open it. Create as many columns and rows as you think you may want. Mine has 2 columns, Symbol Name and Quantity.

    Right Click on a row number and select Database. The Criteria requestor pops up - in the first row select

    Layer - is - "layer name"

    Click more choices. In the second row selecr

    Type - is - Symbol

    Continue creating rows for each layer you want to count.

    Now left click/highlite your new database row. You will see the Sort and Sum icons have become active. Click and drag the Sum icon onto the "A" Column; this will summarize all symbols with the same name into 1 row. If you wish you can also drag one of the Sort icons onto the "A" column. Repeat this step for each Database Row.

    As a finishing touch, I entered text in the empty row above each database row with a name like "Lighting Layer"

    What I've done is created this worksheet in my template file. This file as all my default layers in it, and the worksheet will count everything on each of those layers. Even though it took a little while to set up, I only had to do it once, and everytime I start a new project these tools are available.

    Note that if you rename a layer, you will need to Edit Criteria for that row to get it to work.

    HTH

    Exporting X: coordinates

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    I gave this a shot as well, and using the "create report" command it does indeed work.

    The thing I can't see how to do is get the "=xcenter" data back into the OIP and connected to each fixture, so that it can travel to Lightwright through the Spotlight "export instrument data" command, as well as being available in the Lable Legend manager for printing on the finished plot.

    Perhaps the rumoured script sross has.....

    importing problem

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Kevin

    I don't know if Matt is running 12.5 - but I know that for myself and a couple of others we've noticed that the default mapping in "Import Inst Data/Autolink" does not seem to work by default anymore. It has been flawless single click operation up to 12.5. Now I've had to create a Import template and load it each time.

    Exporting X: coordinates

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Petri

    Generally when creating a stage plot all dimensions are based on a center line. Especially with a touring event, this is the only constant.

    It would be nice if PIO Instrument tool had fields for position. I tried putting the =xcenter into one of the user fields, but VW just treats it as text whether or not I used the SL report or a custom report.

    Pudge - one tool I use is included in the Autoplot for Spotlight tools (AutoplotVW.com) that will add an ordinate dimension to the drawing for every instrument. Mucks up the plot a bit, but can be very handy.

    Lighting Bar Measurements

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Not sure what you mean by "setting line", but have a look at Autoplot Tools for Spotlight (autoplotvw.com). There are some dimensioning tools in there that will place an ordinate dimension on every fixture, from center or where ever else you choose. A LOT of other great tools as well.

    Tracking Project Hours?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Before I started on the Allnetic thing, I used the log file quite a bit. I found that it would make an entry everytime the autosave was activated (which I have set to 5 minutes). And autosave only works on the active drawing, and if VW was the front window - so when I did have multiple files open, I could tell what I was actually working on by the autosave entries. Still a lot of work wading through it.

    Tracking Project Hours?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I wish that Logex did have a windows port - looks great!

    Al, I use a program called Time Tracker (www.allnetic.com) Very handy - allows for multiple projects and tasks withing projects. Starts and stops from the Task bar, and easy to edit later (in case you forget to stop or start it.) HTH

    Label Legend rotation Part 2

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Jim T - how are ya?

    Yeah, just found this out for myself as well. I ended up going into the Label Legend folder and duplicating the legend in use, and appending " - Back" to the name.

    Then I went to Edit Layout in the LLM, and swaped the alignment on the text block for Circuit Name and Circuit Number, so I see Number on the left in the preview. Then I selected the lights in question and Assigned the new label.

    Using the AutoplotVW Selection tools, it was actually less work than flipping each "downstage" facing unit.

    Just to be clear, Jim and I use a Legend that has Name and Number on the same line. Flipping horizontal used to "fix" the fixtures that were pointing downstage, getting Name to appear on the left.

    Type changing on Refresh

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    I've run into some wierdness - running 12.51 Spotlight and using the Field Template symbols.

    After importing from Lightwright, and refreshing all instruments, the Inst Type field is changing to "Light" for all fixtures, rather than (for example) Source 4 19. Before refreshing, the data shows correctly in the OIP. After Refreshing, all other data is fine except for the Inst Type field.

    I tried replacing the Field Template symbol with the SL version and the Inst Type shows correctly. I've double checked the Record data is correct in both. I've used the Field teplate symbols for quite a while without this problem, but it's the first plot with 12.5.1.

    Any Ideas?

    Thanks

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