SamIWas

Yeah, I already do that via text files. It's just an extra step in the process. I know that a direct, immediate, and automatically updating connection is possible with Filemaker via ODBC. I've gotten it working briefly on small projects, but it is mind bogglingly difficult. I'm hoping for VW and FM to work together to make a solution with easy, automatic connection between the two. FM Is so powerful when it comes to tracking and reporting data.

I just want FileMaker connection. I don’t even have excel.

Dear god, please make this work with FileMaker. That would be worth the cost of the program alone for me. Well, maybe worth $1000. please please please

Are you saying you have a spreadsheet outside of Vectorworks and want to import that spreadsheet, match each line to a symbol, and apply the data from that spreadsheet to the symbols, filling the necessary record format(s)? If so, yes. I have dozens of scripts which do this. Each symbol/lighting device/plug-in has a unique ID, and the script matches the data from each line to the symbol using that. It's can get quite complicated. The basics are to use OPEN(filename) and then create a loop to read each line and separate each cell into a variable. Find any symbol which matches the key variable, and SETRFIELD to apply the variables to the records fields.

Oh, well, that's just mean. If there's some new great way of sending and receiving data from external sources (particularly Filemaker), I'm going to be quite a happy camper.

🥴 See! I knew it was that easy and that I just overlooked something. Thanks Joshua!

I feel like this is one of those moments where 'm going to smack my head into the desk when/if someone gets me the answer, but i'm just too brain-tired right now to get it. I have a bunch of custom tools which are in a tool pallete. I just got a StreamDeck, and want to be able to call those tools from it. Since there are only a few keyboard shortcuts left, those aren't a good solution to calling them. My other solution is to create a script which calls the tools my name. But DoMenuTextByName doesn't work for this. I don't want it to create and place the tool, just activate it. Anyone got any solutions here?

If 2021 has some new way of handling shortcuts, I'll be all for it. If they also fix the script-limit issue which has been around for 8-9 years now, that'll be enough for me!

I made this request many years ago, but I'll try again. There are now so many menu items and so many tools, that the basic keyboard shortcuts aren't cutting it. There are only so many combinations of keys and ways you can contort your hands to run shortcuts. And most of the possible shortcuts are already taken. And with the rise in automated things like streamdeck and programmable mice, being able to further expand shortcuts would be very handy. This also benefits people like myself who build large custom workspaces with custom tools and scripts. I again propose a system like Cinema 4Ds. In addition to Command-X (or Control-X), or Command-Option-Shift-X, allow hierarchical double-key shortcuts. For instance, to grab the mirror tool in Cinema 4D, you press M then H (M for a mesh list, and H for mirror). This increases the available shortcuts by multiple times and allows easy programmability for other devices. The current shortcut system is limited to just over 200 shortcuts. That's a lot, and it does cover the most-used tools. But those, combined with double-key shortcuts could easily allow for well over 1000. Obviously, this would probably kill some current shortcuts, and would require a change in muscle memory, but there would be a lot of gain on the other side.

I, for one, do not agree. The old icons look sterile and institutional.

Yes...this is the issue. Yep. This is what I do often. But, when you rotate, especially with "adjust flipped text" on, things get really funky. Sometimes, the fields stay in order. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes, they flop to odd locations. Sometimes, they don't. The basic labels all work just fine, including the Universe/Address field. I made my own custom field to deal with this issue, but then it sucks sending to other people.

This is what I do currently. And it works, but is error prone if I forget to run the script. This is something I need to look into. Maybe that would;d be a decent short-term solution.

I have never had this issue before, but it popped up yesterday. I do need to update to the newest service pack (which is happening currently...sloooowwly). I've been working on 2020 SP3.1. I've been working on a large drawing, and every now and then, I have to hit undo (obviously). There have been several times recently where I hit undo, and it steps back some 10-15 minutes worth of work, completely erasing everything that was done in that span. And redo does not appear to bring it back. Has anyone else seen this behavior? And just now I found that VW had not done the most recent backup or two (autosave every five minutes), so I lost all that work. 😡

I think this has been requested before, but it was buried... One of the best improvements in Spotlight was the Universe and DMX Address fields, and how they work together with Absolute Address (does anyone use that?) and the combined Universe/DMX Address Field, with a selectable divider (I use a period while some use a slash). I would love to see this same feature used for Circuit Name and Circuit Number. These two fields are almost always used together, and having them separate makes label legends act extremely funky when rotating, with unpredictable results. Combine them into a Circuit Name/Number field, with a "-" as the default divider, but changeable like the Universe/Address one. I solved this with my own custom field, but it's a manual process to enter the info and thus error-prone.

Absolutely. I'll share them with anyone who needs them. Where it becomes unfortunate is that I don't work within a small team. I work here and there and everywhere, and plots that I draw will be used by someone else who will then send them to someone else to refer to. I was hoping those things could track across once I converted them to red symbols. I was under the impression that the red symbol sort of "contained" the plug-in. But I see now that it simply maintains field entries for an existing plug-in.