ericjames

Thanks Michael! (again!) That took care of the problem Eric

I started this thread years ago and following the advice of MichaelK, I was able to take care of the problem. However... since upgrading to 2014... the problem has returned. I have opened my custom file and imported the info records from a stock library, but it doesn't seem to help. is there something new I should try? Thanks!

Thanks guys!

I just did my first lightplot since upgrading to 2014. I love the new "instrument summary" tool for making the instrument key. However, I would love to know where this tools get the "name" information for each symbol. I was getting some very strange names and I couldn't figure out how to fix them. Ultimately, I ungrouped the object and manual altered the text, but there has to be an easiere way.... right? Thanks!

Does anyone have a symbol for the new Source 4 Fresnel? I downloaded the DWG from ETC, and so I can use that to make the symbol if necessary, but if someone already has it, I would appreciate the help Thanks Eric

I have had this happen to me on many occasions as well. It typically happens if I have recently saved a plot under a new name and then try to create the data exchange link to a new LW file. It would only export the fixtures that had been changed recently. I found that if I ran the "refresh instruments" command and then went back to export the xml that always solved the problem for me. I hope that helps Eric

hello Matthew, welcome to the forum. Please add your version of Vectorworks and computer details. Thanks

I played around with viewports for a bit last night. Those links were very helpful. THANK YOU EVERYONE! Eric

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all help. I'm crazy busy at the moment, but once I have time to play around I will repost if I have additional questions. Thanks again! Eric

I have been using Vectorworks for quite a few years now. However, when printing, I have always chosen the page size and then simply placed the page indicator over my drawing and hit print. I know that using viewports can give you many more options when printing, but I am having a hard time understanding them using the Vectorworks help file. Can anyone offer advice on getting more information with viewports Thanks! Eric

hey Sam, Thank you for the information and the offer to help. However, I have already gone through and made everything work. Its great to know what is going on though. Thanks again Eric

In an ideal world, I would be able to keep the position, unit #, dimmer, weight, etc information. I will be changing the channel and color info for my plot. Yes, I did notice the flipping of the instruments and having to adjust all of the label legends... I guess that is the part I was trying to avoid doing. Thanks for your help! Eric

I just received a repertory light plot for a theatre that my tour will be going to in the coming weeks. The rep plot was made in vectorworks, but its an old version of vectorworks (they thought it was 2009, it has the .mcd extension). Of course, I opened it in my copy of 2010 and it asked me to save a file name, etc, etc, etc. The file opened and everything looks like it worked, except the instruments are not "lighting fixtures", just symbols. If I choose the 'data' field on the object info pallete, I find that there is a "fixture data" record attached to all of the lights with the channel, dimmer, etc info in the record. I can click on each light and choose "convert to instrument" which fills out the channel, dimmer, wattage, position info for the newly created fixtures, but not the rest of the data. Depending on the orientation of the fixtures, it also screws up the placement of the label legend info and the orientation of the fixtures. Is the "fixture data" record an old format that has been replaced the "light info" record in newer versions? Is there an easy to upgrade the drawing so that it behaves correctly and with proper information in version 2010? Is there simply a way to merge the 2 records into one? Please help! The original file and the ver. 2010 file is attached if you would like to see what I mean. Thanks Eric

I have not seen libraries for them yet, but I would try Steve Shelley either on these forums or google softsymbols Eric

Thanks Josh!