David Ormsby

Getting the placement can tricky. Grab the titlebar in question, and drag it on top of the ToolSets titlbar on the left - you should see a preview of where it's going to drop - then release the button. Hope it works

I've been using a the truss tool to create corner blocks, by setting the length of the section to the width of the truss. Not perfect, but it looks closer in 3D than an extruded square.

I use the Fn/# on my laptop constantly - not too bad once you get used to it. I also bought a USB keypad for when I'm at my desk - $20 well spent.

What version of VW?

I have had this happen too - very frustrating.

Andrew - Trying this from memory, but... Make sure the "Light Info Record" is in the drawing with your new symbol. In the resource browser, right click on your new symbol and select attach, then check light info record. Now, right click the symbol again and select edit 2D. in the object info pallette, click the data tab. you can now fill in info for each field. Note this doesn't update existing symbols already in the plot though - you have to insert new ones to get the info to auto fill.

Eddie - The inches thing can be a big help - I use some RPC people and getting them placed properly is a big help by just typing in a number. BaRa - wow, never saw that! And it let's you set the default mapping too! It's always bugged me that the default mapping was set to spherical....

George Nice stuff! Are using the Advanced Render module?

Eddie If you are using feet and inches in VW, do you have C4D units set to inches? - Took some trys, but this worked in terms of having the C4D measurements show up correctly.

I'll try that - thanks

Well, I export 25meg files to C4D everyday in less then 2 minutes - all my classes intact. And revise the C4D files as quickly. But whatever works for you.

It would be great if the Titleblock PIO could have fields that would automatically update with the filename and current date, ala the date stamp tool.

Guess that makes sense - The windows version doesn't create a new blank file on minimize/restore, I can see how tht would be very frustrating. FYI, as I understand it (at least in the Win version) VW opens the file Default.sta out of the root folder on program launch. If you edit the untitled file, with your favorite scale, layers, symbols, etc, and save as Stationary, name it default in your root VW folder, that's what you will start with everytime.

Eric Can't help but ask, but I'm curious about your request. It seem an industry standard for any program to open a blank doc so it's ready to work - in my case Cinema, Excel, Word, Poser, Acid - they all do this. Photoshop is the only one that doesn't. What is it that bugs you about this? For me, having "Untitled" in the titlebar always serves as reminder to Save As .... Again, just curious what it is you wish it would do

I think the point is in the tool's name - it's the Ganging tool, not a Twofer tool. I have to guess it was designed to give clarity to a plot as to what lights are going to come up together - regardless as to how the hanging position is cabled. I to would like to have a real twofer tool - that would summerize the channel, circuit and dimmer - but for now there isn't one

I'm not sure what caused that, but I had it happen once - I think I ended up copying and pasting all my layers into a new file.

Hybrid symbols - those which have both 2D and 3D views can only be rotated around the Z axis - i.e. from the top. The idea being that a symbol would not have the same look in 2D if the 3D version is hanging at 45 degrees. Your best bet is to right click the symbol in the resource browser and duplicate it - give it new name like Mac2k rotated. Then right click your new symbol, select edit, 3D, then got to a front or side view, select all, and rotate to 45 degrees. Now you can use that symbol on your rotated trusses. Use the same process to fix your other symbols orientation. [ 12-10-2005, 09:10 AM: Message edited by: David Ormsby ]

Docked or undocked - after selecting a resource the first time - a left click makes the scroll bar jump back to the top of the window (any resource - folder,script,symbol). After that, I can double click in there just fine - until I change the folder. Right click gives the menu with no jumping.

Thanks - I thought Spotlight might be included under that feature. In another post Ion described a script that works on the title block date and filename fields as long as it's just dropped as a symbol. Is there any way to modify that script to see the fields in the Drawing Border? Also - the Date/Name plug in works well, is there any possibility that function could be included in the titleblock? Thanks

In the resource browser, if I scroll down and left click an item, the browser jumps back to the top. I then have to scroll down again to select the item. Kinda frustrating.

Ion I had just asked almost the same question in another topic! I tried your script, and it works great on the symbol by itself, but doesn't work in the new integrated drawing border/titleblock PIO in VW12. Thanks for the tip though!

"If I'm reading the manual right, any of the "P_" values should automatically appear in a new titleblock in the same document. However this does not seem to be the case - am I reading this wrong or am I missing something? Also, is there a way to make the titleblock Date and File Name fields automatically update? These seem to be manual entry only. "

Jonathon I can bring titleblocks in with no problem, my question has to do with how they work. Thanks though

Any one from NNA?

The early version of the C4D plug was a bit whacky - seemed to scale the VW file based on it's overall size, which was maddening. The current version hasn't done this to me, and if C4D's "units" are set to inches, everything comes in to scale. I do all my texturing in C4D, so I can't speak to that, but I know the Material Exchange has been updated as well. Again, to me the advantage to the plug in is in revisions. When the VW file is modified and exported, C4D offers the option either to Add or update an existing model. Updating keeps all the previous texturing in place.