dpkolus

I'm new to VW2023 and have been working on a stage plan using a mix of custom library symbols and VW stock symbols. Midway through my project, I created an instrument summary and realized symbols like wall sconces and chandeliers didn't appear on the summary because they didn't have Light Info Records and VW didn't consider them to be lights. To rectify this, I attached LIR's to all of the practical fixtures in my custom library, regardless of whether or not they appeared in the drawing. I kept all the original symbol names. To replace the symbols in the drawing, I first tried selecting the old ones without LIR's and used the Refresh Lighting Devices command. This had no effect. I selected all instances of one symbol, clicked the Replace Lighting Device button in the OIP and selected the new symbol with a LIR. This caused Vectorworks to crash. I deleted all the original LIR-less symbols from the drawing and from the document library and used Purge to get rid of anything I may have overlooked. Then I tried to Insert one of the new LIR'd symbols into the drawing. VW crashed. I went back to my custom library file, opened each problematic symbol in 2D and 3D edit modes and copied the geometry out to a brand new symbol with a completely different name. I attached a LIR to each of these new symbols and tried to insert them back into the original drawing. VW crashed. Here's the thing: only symbols that were originally in the drawing WITHOUT LIRs cause VW to crash when I try to insert their new versions WITH LIRs. Custom symbols that were never in the drawing but went through the same LIR attachment process can be placed in the drawing without causing any problems. It seems VW is holding on to information about the original LIR-less symbols that conflicts with the new LIR'd symbols, but I can't figure out where this might be or how to get rid of it. I'm out of ideas - all of yours would be appreciated! Thank you, Derrick

That was the missing link I needed! Right clicking on a VW library symbol in the RM did not produce the edit menu in Justin's reply but IMPORTING the symbol (now I understand what Michael & Tom meant) into a user folder from the RM unlocked it for editing and everything was easy after that. Thank you all for your patience in helping me figure this out. Now I've got a lot of work to do. Derrick

With the symbol imported, active and placed in the document, there is no DUPLICATE command available from the right click menu (see attached image.) I can use CTRL D to duplicate, which produces a copy of the symbol that retains all the properties of the original, including the inability to edit. I tried renaming the duplicated symbol by editing the INSTRUMENT TYPE field in the Properties dialogue that pops up after choosing EDIT (this is effectively the symbol's name - see attached image) but this didn't break the link to the original locked symbol file. What am I doing wrong? right click.pdf Edit menu.pdf

Michael, Thanks for your answer but I stalled on step 1. I need to duplicate a VW2023 library symbol that's already in VW - do I need to export it so I can import it? The Import Symbol (batch) command only works on non .vwx file formats. I tried making a .vwx file containing some of the VW library 3D symbols, exporting it as a .dwg and re-importing it using Import Symbol (batch) but I ended up with a blank page. Same result using .3ds format. Am I misunderstanding step 1? Derrick

I've been using VW Spotlight 2009 since 2009 and just upgraded to Spotlight 2023 to begin drafting in 3D. I would like to replace the 2D symbol geometry of some of the VW 3D library symbols with custom 2D symbols but am really struggling with how to accomplish this. I know the geometry of library symbols can't be edited but I'm not clear on how to create a duplicate for editing. The best I've come up with is highlighting the library symbol, using it to create a brand new symbol and editing that, but this doesn't seem right. Following along with this workflow, I was able to replace an existing 2D symbol with my own and the 2D/3D views works as expected, but the link to the record info attached to the original library symbol was broken. Can anyone suggest a simple method to accomplish this? I don't want to generate 2D symbols from 3D symbols, I just want to use 2D symbols I already have. Thank you, Derrick