kmoore1

quote: Originally posted by jtallen: I have been having a problem with 9.5 crashing. I have a current 9.5 plot open. I go and open an older version plot. I get the dialogue box that says "the files is being converted and a new file will be opened with a new name".All I am doing is looking at the older plo,t not making any changes. When I go to switch to the other plot or close the older plot VW crashes ??? Jim, Could you send me copies of the files you're working with as well as specs on your machine environment. I'll see if I can duplicate the problem here. TIA kmoore@nemetschek.net

quote: Originally posted by TH: I've noticed that Nunge is no longer a menu item with Move. I've also noticed that the keyboard shortcut on my 9.5 (installed from disk--Windows) doesn't work. Shift+arrow key up or down only changes the active layer. Is this just me? Why was the Move Menu modified? Since I cannot find Nudge in the workspace editor, I cannot re- establish the key-board short cut. Ctrl+ Arrow key up and down should change the active layer. Is it possible you have some keyboard mapping or keyboard macros that might be switching your mapping around? The nudge command used to be an external plug-in to VectorWorks and for VW 9 was changed to be a built in natively supported operation. It is hard wired to the shift arrow keys and is not currently re-assignable.

quote: Originally posted by grantvz: To accomodate a revolving scenic unit, I've duplicated the scenic element and placed each on in a class to denote it's scene position. ... Sounds like hell to me. Wondering if anyone has a better solution. Both of Kevin's solutions are dead on. I think I would recommend using the symbol approach over using the layer links. The symbol allows you to have hybrid geometry more easily than the layer link and I think the symbol will be a little faster and easier to work with overall. Even when I'm just working with a static set with no moving pieces I'll often drop the whole thing into a symbol so that I can have seperate 2-d and 3-d geometry. I'll get a nice plan view drawing of the scene in top/plan view and I'll add in the necessary 3-d Info for my section work and for checking coverages etc. HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: When using the Scale Bar tool in Spotlight, is it possible to create a complete scale that goes across the drawing with "0" being at CL. I seem to only be able to place 1 from CL to SL and then Mirror it to SR. This cause a multiple "0" at CL I hope I am just missing something. Let me know Thanks Lonnie Currently the scale bar doesn't have a way to generate a scale from center as you'd like to see. I'll add this to the ever growing wish list. As a work around for now, if you change the preference for decimal places to 1 the zeros on your two mirrored scales will perfectly overlap and will look like a single value. You can also ungroup the scale bar object which will turn it into a plain un-smart group of objects. You could delete the extraneous zero and group this with the other scale bar or create your own symbol from there. HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: When exporting from Vectorworks Spotlight to Lightwright, Vectorworks puts information information in the following columns:1. Text 1 = Symbol Name2. Text 2 = Label Legend Name3. Mark = Not sure -- things like CERST, AFPR, AEFPRT, APRT, APRS, ETC. My question is, how important is this information. Can I delete it in LW and will it still Import back into Vectorworks. The main column that I use a lot is the Mark column and would like to use that column. I am using the VW automated Export, Import and Merge files that it has for Lightwright. I realize I can change where the information is put but my main question, is whether or not that Information is necessary going from Lightwright back to Vectorworks Thanks Lonnie It is not necessary to export or map the Symbol Name or label legend field in Lightwright. All this means is that you will not be able to edit this data in Lightwright. Just be careful that you don't export the data out of Lightwright. Here's an example of how you can get into trouble. Lets say that you don't need to edit your channel information in Lightwright so you don't map the channel field coming from SpotLight to any of Lightwright's fields. Lightwright still has a column for Channel and all the values are now empty. You merrily edit your information and then perform an export. You accidentally choose to export the channel field from Lightwright. When you automap your fields in SpotLight it will match up Channel to Channel and if you import will import the blank channel values into the channel fields in SpotLight thus wiping out all of your hard work. The same thing can happen with any field that doesn't make the full round trip between SpotLight and Lightwright if you accidentally send it only one way. So if you don't map your symbol name field to text 1 going into lightwright but then do map text 1 back to your symbol name field in SpotLight it will wipe all the symbol names from your instruments and they will all turn into rectangles!

quote: Originally posted by Jason Byron Teague: I have built a new plot, creating positions then adding all my fixtures. I just realized that the symbols, although filled, will not cover over a light position object. The symbols cover normal lines and polygons just fine, but there's an annoying line (the batten) right throught the center of all my fixtures. How do I fix this? Thanks Jason Teague If the lighting positions are on a different layer from your lighting instruments then you'll need to make sure the lighting position layer is below the lighting instrument layer in the layer stacking order. If they're on the same layer then select your lighting position and choose the "Send To Back" command from the "send" group on the tool menu.(shortcut is either cmd B (mac) or ctrl B(win)) HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: Katie I already knew about that but given that I was able to export and import multiple times successfully, that cannot be the cause. Given the other problems with aligning and renumbering, I think something else has happened I would love to email this file to someone and have them look at it Thanks Lonnie You can e-mail your Lightwright and SpotLight files to me at kmoore@nemetschek.net. I recommend that you either zip or stuff the files to make sure they don't get mangled en-route.

quote: Originally posted by Dave Barnes: OK, I think I'm moving pretty well in Spotlight. Got 9.5 up and running and not having too many Now I want to add Renderworks stuff. Got the program installed, but can't get it into Vectorworks/Spotlight. I know it must be something small. Somebody wanna walk me through it? ThanksDave Barnes You'll know that renderworks is there when the initial SpotLight splash screen includes the "Renderworks Installed" banner at the top and you will have a third, texture, pane in the object info palette. If these things are there then renderworks was installed correctly. If you can't render or can't export renderings then you need to check your quicktime install and make sure you install the quicktime authoring component of the package. This is not installed by default and is only choosable through a custom install. HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: I am attempting to render Gobo Projections using the Gobo Projection tool and I am using Custom Renderworks set to all of the settings that the Spotlight Manual tell me to set but still am not seeing the Gobos Any ideas? Thanks Which version of SpotLight are you running? In SpotLight 9 try using the final quality renderworks mode and see if that works correctly.

quote: Originally posted by n2lights: In the editable worksheet I try to edit the color of several instruments in a row. On other spreadsheet programs I simply hold down the mouse and drag down to select all the cells that I wish to enter this new info into. In Vectorworks this method does not work,even though a multiple of cells is selected only the top most cell displays and retains the information.I have a Mac OS 8.6 running VWS 9. Enter your color value into a cell. Select the cell and hit command-c to copy the value. Select the range of cells you wish to apply the value to and press command-v to paste.

quote: Originally posted by Michael J. Beyer: Some of the twofers on my plot are hiding the pipes that the instruments they are twoferring are placed on. I have tried sending them to back, I have tried sending the pipes to front, I tried making the attributes of the twofer to be none rather than solid... alas nothing seems to solve the issue. Any other ideas? Michael J Beyer It sounds like maybe your pipes aren't on the same layer as your lighting instruments / two-fers? If the two-fer label container is doing the obscuring then you'll need to edit the container symbol and change its attributes there.

quote: Originally posted by daisymurray: since installing 9.5.0 patch from the downloads page on a mac running OS 9.1 and spotlight v9.5, I'm unable to update instrument info on an existing plot. suspect the 'lighting device vso' is the problem but have overwritten the previous version. I haven't heard other reports of people having problems. You might try re-downloading the patch to make sure you have a good copy of the file. It should come down as binhexed stuffit archive and should expand as Archive.sit. The lighting device plug-in should have a time stamp of Dec 20, 2001 10:02am and should be about 60k If this doesn't work, e-mail me and I'll be glad to send you a copy of the original lighting instrument. kmoore@nemetschek.net

N-fering instruments is on the wish list.

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: So, now the problem is, is that this is the 2nd time while working on this plot and editing Label Legend Info (ie. Color, Template, Unit or Channel) that the Label Legends themselves has removed themselves from the drawing. I won't say it is impossible, but it is highly inconceivable that SpotLight is deleting the label legends. Once the legends are created the only thing that edits them is the label legend manager and you the user. Everything else performs read-only operations to get information out of the legend. Could you please answer as many of the following questions as you can so I can narrow down exactly what "diappear" means. Are the actual label legend symbols no longer in the document or do they just not appear in the label legend manager? Have you renamed the label legends symbol folder? Have you used the "purge resources" command? (This will expunge all of the label legends) Have you deleted or re-named the label legend record format? Do the legends appear in the label legend manager but if you try to edit layout they are empty? What are your class visiblity options set to? Are your label classes turned on? TIA

quote: Originally posted by JMiller: Am I going to cause any major operational problems by getting rid of some off the fields in the "Light Info Record". Specificly the "3D Symbol Name" and "Model Name" fields. I findd it kind of redundant to name the symbol 3 times. Does Spotlight access these records for anything I am not thinking about and moreover what was the intended difference between the three fields that essentially all name the symbol?Thanks,Jason You won't cause any problems by removing the fields. They were put there with future expansion in mind where instruments like moving lights might be composed of multiple symbols to allow independant rotation of the head or mirror of the light.

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: Is it possible to get VW to alphabatize and nermerically list all things in these pull down menus. Thanks Yes it is, I'll add it to the wishlist.

The release version of SpotLight 9.5 introduced a problem for Windows users whose Instrument or Accessory symbol names contained the degree symbol or other high ASCII value characters. A patch to SpotLight is available at the URL below which addresses this and one other known issue with SpotLight. http://www.nemetschek.net/downloads/spotlight/index.html

The release version of SpotLight 9.5 introduced a problem for Windows users whose Instrument or Accessory symbol names contained the degree symbol or other high ASCII value characters. A patch to SpotLight is available at the URL below which addresses this and one other known issue with SpotLight. http://www.nemetschek.net/downloads/spotlight/index.html

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: Kevin I dropped each type that I created into a corner of the drawing, after importing a light record, and then selected them 1 at a time and went to the data tab, selected light record, and put in the info. I tried placing a new light after this was done but it did not come in with the info. The symbols on your plot are "instances" of the master symbol definition which is a resource in your file. You need to edit the master symbol definition to have the record information and to have the correct data values. Go to the resources palette and choose your symbol from the list. Click the edit button in the resources palette. You'll be asked what part of the symbol you wish to edit. Choose either "3d Component" or "2d Component". Now you are editing the master definition of the symbol. Make sure you have nothing selected and go to the data pane of the Object info palette. Select the check box next to the Light info record and fill out the data as you have been doing to the symbols in the drawing. The importanrt part here is that you have nothing in the symbol selected when you do this so that it attaches the record to the symbol itself and not to some component inside your symbol. Once you've done this you can use the replace symbol command to update your existing instruments with the new data information. HTH [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: kmoore1 ]

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: I used the Replace Instrument Command and changed a bunch of lights from 36dgr to 50dgr. The symbols are my own and perform well but, even though the symbol changes, the Properties for the light did not The Instrument Type still says it is a 36dgr, even though the symbol is now a 50dgr and I did a 'refresh instruments' Any thoughts? It sounds like your 50deg unit might not have data attached to it. If you create a new 50deg unit using your symbol does all of its data come in correctly? (Wattage, inst type, frame size, etc)

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: I have successfully Exported out of VW and then imported into Lightwright and then dumped back to VW However when I try to Update the plot and then Export it and then re-import to LW, I have problems. Help! I would recommend not using the automated action files that came with SpotLight. We've had a lot of users have problems with them and haven't been able to reliably pin down why they work here and not with some people's configurations. Appendix D of the SpotLight manual provides a step by step explanation of the exact process for exporting, importing, and merging data with Lightwright. It also includes instructions for creating your own automated actions, which will work. On page D-7 of the manual in step 2 it reads "... Select the import first record checkbox." this is incorrect and should read "DeSelect the import first record checkbox" Other than this one error, the appendix should help get you through the round trip with no problems. HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: I am using VW 9.5.0 on a Windows machine I have a drawing that in which I numbered all the pipes and everything works well but now I am trying to renumber sections and I am getting this error:"Error: _48 _50 - Index outside array limits." Does anyone know what this is from? And how to fix it. Thanks Lonnie Are you using the number instruments menu command, or are you seeing this error when a lighting position is renumbering its instruments? If the lighting position is generating the error then I would check to make sure that you don't accidentally have all of your instruments assigned to one position. This is really easy to do if you're using duplicate array to create systems of lights. I believe both the lighting position and the numbering command are limited to numbering 500 instruments at a time so if you are working with a large plot you might need to break your selection up into smaller chunks. HTH

quote: Originally posted by lalcaraz: Kevin I just created a symbol and then inserted it as a Light, I did not do anything to asociate with its attributes When I select the light the Properties box comes up like it is a light but I am not sure how to permanently associate things like Wattage and Type How do I do that? Thanks Lonnie lrafaela@aol.com You can import the light info record format from one of the SpotLight Symbol libraries. If you check out chapter 15 (pg 15-24) of the VectorWorks manual it will explain how to attach record data to a symbol. Once you've attached the record to your symbol, edit the symbol and fill out the defaults. Voila. Anytime you insert that symbol as an instrument it will have the correct attributes.

quote: Originally posted by Michael J. Beyer: I just ran into this problem last night, and was actually logging on to ask the same question. Here is what I did... I have about 8 different labels on my plot currently. I messed around with the classes and layer options for a few minutes to try and speed the progrm up a little, after that, the label legends in the edit symbol screen have all disappeared in any label legend I try to create. I am still able to edit my other ones, but cannot create any new ones. I still have a few legends I need to create as well. I tried to change classes to all visable, I tried to make all layers visable, etc... nothing seems to work. Any thoughts? Michael J. BeyerHilberry Repertory Theatre @ Wayne State University If you can't create new label legends then chances are your class visibility option is not set to show/snap/modify. In order to work with the label legend you'll need to change your class visibilty option to this mode. If you aren't in this mode, SL 9.5 should warn you of this when you try to do edit layout. HTH

quote: Originally posted by Eric Chenault: Just found the ErrorLog entry from selecting a unit, going over to the OI palette and typing a unit number into the field and pressing return. Eric, Can you please e-mail me a copy of your original 9.0 file that is exhibiting these problems. I'm fairly stumped at this point as to why you're seeing these problems. kmoore@nemetschek.net