[Vision Update Issue]

@AlexSawaya Your existing Vision dongle can be updated.
You will need to contact customer service to switch back to the dongle and update the dongle information.
Once that's done then run the dongle updater on your machine with he dongle inserted and connected to the internet.

[Vision 2021 Conventional Color Inaccuracy]

Also, remember Vectorworks does have white balance setting. View>Set Lighting Options...

By default Vectorworks is white balanced at Indoor (3400K), I think Vision is set for something closer to 5500K.

 

By default, the 3200K light will look "whiter" leaning toward blue in Vectorworks than it does in Vision but if you adjust the white balance in Vectorowks to 5500K it will look more amber. If you want to experiment in Vectorworks, Viewports have their own individual White Color Temperature setting and it's rather sticking to see the difference changing the white balance makes.

[DMX Camera Troubles]

We did not make the fixture profiles for EOS. Not sure who did.

I pulled up the profile, it looks like an old profile because there is not "Dead" space at the bottom or middle of the range.

The ETC profile lists only 3 ranges from 0-31794 (0 to -270), 31795-64886 (0 to 270)  and 64886-65535 (Off)

(Zoom looks right but all the other ones look incorrect.)

 

There should be 5 ranges:

0-0288h

0289h-7C32h (0 to -270)

7C33h-83CCh

83CDh-FD78h (0 to 270)

FD77h-FFFFh;

If you edit the profile you should be able to use the relative camera.

(You should be able to copy the range values from the zoom parameter.)

 

EOS is limited to a 16bit parameter. It's more work but to get the control you need you can just use 3-8bit parameters or 1-8bit and 1-16bit. This will give you full control. Depending on the size of your scene and the level of control you need may determine if the 16bit parameters need the be the MSB or the LSB.

[GetCurrentMode() Does not work at all]

Try this:

 

Procedure ASDF;

Var
vwMode : LongInt;
ModeCheck : Boolean;


FUNCTION BitCheck(largeNum, smallNum :LONGINT) :BOOLEAN;
{Returns true if smallNum is a power of 2 present in largeNum.}

VAR
bit :INTEGER;
BEGIN
BitCheck := FALSE;
bit := 15;
while bit > -1 do BEGIN
if largeNum >= (2 ^ bit) then BEGIN
largeNum := largeNum - (2 ^ bit);
IF (2 ^ bit) = smallNum THEN BEGIN
BitCheck := TRUE;
bit := 0;
END;
END;
bit := bit - 1;
END;
END;

Begin
vwMode := GetCurrentMode;
{vwMode := 456;}
ModeCheck := (BitCheck(vwMode, 4)) | (BitCheck(vwMode, 8));
{ModeCheck := (BitCheck(vwMode,1));}
AlrtDialog(Concat(vwMode,':',ModeCheck));
End;

Run(ASDF);

 

[Identifying Spotlight Label Legends]

Look for the "Legends Rec" record attached to a symbol.

[Filtering the resource list]

The symbols must be in the active document in order for VS to get any info about them other than than the name, so you will have to import them into the document in order to get any record information form the symbol. You should also look at using BeginContext() and EndContext() rather than just deleting the objects, it works better with the undo system and project sharing.

[Lighting Devices no longer have a name. ???]

We no longer require lighting devices to be named and the field is now editable by the user. We used to use the name for tracking and detecting duplicated lighting devices but that is no longer necessary.

The name shown in the Visualization palette is the name of the internal light object inside of the lighting device. It must be unique and is automatically assigned by the lighting device as Channel Purpose Instrument Type #.NNA-#. The user can edit the name if desired but each light must be assigned a unique name.

[Setting Record Format to Read Only - Or Not]

It doesn't look like there VS or SDK access to allow the record to writable.

 

[Symbol rotation]

Check your Spotlight Preferences.

IN the Lighting Device: Parameters pane check the value of Default Insertion Angle. The default for new documents is 0 and your setting may be different.

[Moving Accessories using VS]

The UniversalName required by the function is the Universal Parameter name field, in this case "Symbol Name".

We use the same filed names as the lighting device for accessories and cells.

SymbolName  := LDevice_GetParamStr(handle, cellIndex, accessoryIndex, 'Symbol Name')

[MVR Export to Capture 2021]

@Rob Lloyd For reference here is how the Vectorworks data is mapped to the fields in the MVR.
Visualizer data mapping
As MVR is expanded and more applications are updated to use MVR we will update this table in the Vectorworks documentation.

[VW 2021 sp 3: moving multiple fixtures - lost Z values]

@e26Design_marc j Can you post your file? I tried a simplified example with only a few lights and I could not reproduce the issue in SP3.

It's likely that the lights on the ladder were not properly associated with the ladder and when it was moved the lights found the truss and were automatically associated with the truss.

You can control this in the Spotlight Preferences. In your situation you may want to turn off the option "Enable auto positioning when moved" and/or make the pick radius smaller.

[Chauvet Rogue R1 Wash Zoom inverted on Vision]

@Jasmine We checked the fixture profile in Vision and it looks like like that parameter is inverted. Look for the fix in the next fixture update from Vision.

[VWX 2020 Label Legend Manager Attributes Will Not Apply]

If you can't upgrade to 2021, the first thing to do is to try deleting your user folder since others are not having the same problem.

Reset Vectorworks User Preferences Folder

 

Also, make sure you are starting with a new blank file and not a template.

Check your templates folder for a default.sta file. If it's there delete otherwise a new document will use this template file rather than a true blank file.

[Vision 2021 SP2.2 Download location]

The latest versions of Visions can be downloaded here:

Vision 2021 Mac

Vision 2021 Windows

[Get Device Parameters with LDevice_GetParam]

@tbexon You can not add parameters with Vectorscript or Python. It can be done with the C++ SDK.

[Accessory Problem]

LW should only require the unit number and position for a static accessory. The channel number is not needed for a static accessory e.g. barndoor.

For an accessory e.g. scroller you should manually enter a channel number in the accessory as it should be a different channel than the light.

 

[Change symbols orientation]

This depends on your seating section layout. When you create the seating section you define the direction the seats should face. You can change the "Angle of Seating" parameter to make the seats face a different direction.

Depending on your layout you may be able to change the direction but if that does not solve your problem you will probably need to modify or duplicate and modify the symbol.

All default content for use with the seating section is supplied with the seat facing to top of the page.

 

[Creating Multiple Configurations for a Theaters Inventory]

If you also need to control the data in Lightwright you can use layer and class filters in Lightwright to include or exclude the lights when viewing and reporting.

[Site Modeling Tools - Spotlight Version?]

There are some site modeling tools available in Spotlight but you need Landamrk or Designer to access all of the site modeling features.

Comparison of commands and tools by product for Vectorworks 2021

[Problems with Lightwright Data Exchange]

At this point I would contact tech support directly. There are some other things to try but too involved to describe in this forum.

[Problems with Lightwright Data Exchange]

Start with the basics.

Make sure the file is saved to your local machine that is not a shared folder like Dropbox. (Use a simple name for the Vectorworks file.)

Make sure there are lighting devices placed in the document with data.

In the Spotlight Preferences make sure "Use automatic Lightwright data exchange" is turned on.

File Path is "Same location as the file"

Check, "Perform a complete export on exit"

Make sure there are field shown in the "Export Fields" list.

Click OK.

Select a light and change one of the fields that you are exporting. (Should not be necessary but it's another way to make sure it exports.)

 

You should see an xml next to the Vectorworks file.

If you still don't see it it would be useful to know the full path and file name of the Vectorworks file.

[PDF Security Password]

@Tina Bowen Are you using an educational version? PDF exports from the educational version are locked to prevent the user from removing the watermark.

[Problems with Lightwright Data Exchange]

Make sure you have saved your Vectorworks file. Till the file has been saved the file does not have a name that Lightwright and Vectorworks can use.

[How to make a PIO Styled?]

@Pat Stanford This is the document we put together about adding styles to objects when styles were first implemented.

Plugin styles.docx