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Hello, I'm trying to make a Prolyte H30V top plate 30x30cm. I already made a base version, and that works fine. Now i'm trying to make a upside down version which not work properly. When trying to connect to the truss, the plate automaticly rotates with the pins facing up. I was already playing with starting / endpoints but unfortunately it doesn't work out. Has anybody a solution or experiences on this subject?

I updated to vectorworks 2020, and I can't find the Spotlight Numbering tool. I've done some searches online, but there is nothing about it. The AutoNumber tool is there, but when I select it nothing happens. I read somewhere about it being part of the legacy tool set, but I don't know how to find that either. Attached is a screenshot of my dropdown menu.

I'm currently working on a couple of plug ins that need to interact with Spotlight Hanging Positions. The first thing i'm trying to do is get the total length of a hanging position. Thanks to some excellent topics and replies from @Sam Jones and @JBenghiat I've got my head around accessing the objects within the hanging position group, and the different kinds of objects I may expect to find within, and iterating through the objects to get the total length. My question is: For HP's containing Truss PIOs is it better practice to use the TrussItem parametric record or the Truss Record for getting the length? From what I can gather the TrussItem Length field is affected by the units of the active documents units, whereas Truss Record appears to always be in metric mm. I think using the Truss Record probably makes more sense as then I have a consistent set of units and don't need to worry about logic to work out the units of measurement. I just wanted to try and get some confirmation if my thinking was in fact true or if i've missed something. Secondly for HP made up of individual symbols (so no truss record) is there a way to get either the symbols total length or the even more directly the HPs total length? For bonus points are there any good resources floating around that deal with the inner mechanics of Spotlight? Pretty much everything I've managed to do with spotlight so far has had to be learnt through trail and error! Thank you in advance

Higher education graduates are eligible for a 40 percent discount on award-winning design software licenses up to twelve months after graduation To help graduating students transition into their professional careers, global design and BIM software provider, Vectorworks, Inc. is offering recent graduates 40 percent off perpetual licenses as part of its student2PRO program. This deal is applicable to any Vectorworks product. “Starting a career after graduation is a momentous milestone for any graduate, and the student2PRO program is the perfect initiative in helping graduates take that first step toward career success without having a huge financial burden setting them back,” said Alice Lowy Marketing Programs Director. “This option is to help ensure up-and-coming professionals have the necessary 2D drawing, 3D modeling, and BIM tools to bring their designs to life.” student2PRO is a gateway program helping recent graduates jumpstart their professional careers more easily by offering discounts on the standard price. Additionally, those who take advantage of student2PRO are eligible for a 40 percent discounted membership to Vectorworks Service Select — the maintenance program that includes upgrades to product, priority technical support, exclusive training opportunities and early release of new content libraries. Service Select members also receive member-only features in Vectorworks Cloud Services. “Going the student2PRO route was such a valuable option for me and now as a full-time lighting designer, I use the features in Vision and Spotlight in my day-to-day work on theatre productions,” said Chloe Clark, a San Diego State University alumna. “Not only is the program an economical option for graduating students, but it’s also beneficial that Vectorworks updates and enhances its software regularly in conjunction with my industry constantly changing. It’s an easy way for me to always stay up to date.” To qualify for student2PRO, graduates must have completed a degree at a university, college, post-secondary vocational or poly-technical school within the past 365 days and submit transcripts or a diploma showing degree completion and graduation date. Alternatively, graduates can take advantage of the current monthly or yearly subscription license offerings on Vectorworks products, where available. For more information or to submit your transcripts or diploma, visit vectorworks.net/education/student2pro.

Edit: Thank you for your responses, our immediate need has been fulfilled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We are a design build audio, video, lighting and acoustics (AVL) company located in the mid-west but currently working on project nation wide. We specialize in houses of worship and partner with architects, consultants, MEP engineers and general contractors to create better experiences and buildings to meet our clients needs and help them communicate effectively. We currently have many projects with concurrent deadlines for drawings and deliverables over the next couple months and are searching for some resources to help us flex to meet the needs. We are looking for someone who: has experience and understands installed large venue AVL systems has worked with commercial construction and construction drawing requirements. has access to and is fluent with VW2020 Spotlight or Designer can adapt to our standards and styles quickly to help create accurate, cohesive drawing sets can work independently and meet tight deadlines, has the capacity for this work currently. is available during part of the day 9am-5pm central US time for team coordination and communication we will contract per project on a fixed scope of work with the right person or firm who can act as a freelance contractor. please PM me with your details or questions thank you Jeff

Hello, Although I have been using Vectorworks for many years I have never had cause to venture in to the world of Marionette and am looking for a little guidance. I have an imported DWG file that has a number of focus positions denoted by a circle and a text numerical reference. I would like to try to write a Marionette script that will take the centre point of these text objects and create focus points at those coordinates, and ideally take the text and use it as the focus point name. Id be grateful for any pointers to set me in the right direction. Cheers. Keith

Hi All, I have a VWX file that is north of one gig in size, mainly due to imported bitmaps of hand drafted scans. Does anyone know of a way that I can reduce the DPI / resolution / file size of these images in order to improve my file's responsiveness? Thanks, Nick

Hello all, I am running vectorworks designer 2019 educational version, SP4, Build 490894 Here's my problem. If you go to (file>Document settings>Spotlight preferences>Lighting Device Parameters ) You will get a dialogue box which allows me to sort all the parameters how I like them. Yay! but when I go to save those settings... nothing happens. I click save, I get a dialogue box asking for a name for the settings, I enter something like Conner, and then I click save. The dialogue box goes away, but there is nothing in the settings drop down or the manage screen, both are just plain blank. So why is it not saving my settings? or am I missing something? I googled my issue and could not find anyone with my same problem. Does it matter that I am running student edition? Any help is much appreciated!

Hello. I am working on a plan which has been around since 2007 or earlier. At some point in its history the stage right ladders were created by mirroring the stage left ones. As a result the top hats, half hats to be exact, are the wrong way round (upstage when the should be downstage). However, when I started converting the plan to use spotlight and data exchange with lightwright I didn't spot this. So now I have made the top hats accessories and neatly connected to the lighting instrument I can't turn them so the upstage is down stage. When you rotate it just rotates round but not to the needed position or flip horizontal or vertical it doesn't move it, well it sort of jiggles. If you do it with the symbol you can flip or mirror move it but as soon as it's an accessory then I can't. I have attached a screen shot. All the half hats show be downstage. This is only the prosc boom, I have 4 ladders to do as well so would rather not delete the accessories and start again and then try to sort the resulting lightwright issues. Anyone have any thoughts?

Hi Found a few bugs in spotlight numbering. 1. Can't number records formats that are not in the route directory. For example if i have created folders to tidy up the resource manager i then can't use spotlight numbering tool to number those items with record formats in a folder. If i move the record format to the root directory i can then use it in spotlight numbering. In the screen shot the only record format that appears in "plant Record". I have as you can see lots of record formats. 2. Numbering generation with spotlight numbering. It seems there is a small bug or i've missed something in the way you number if you use a complex numbering system, for example if i wanted to number 24 units S0001 to S0024 i would put the S in the Prefix box and then add 0001 to the start number. However VW strips out the 0's from the units numbered after the first unit. I found this out when using spotlight numbering to number other things that require complex numbering.

Hello all, On multiple projects I'm working on, I have lighting devices and 3D objects which are colored/shaded improperly when the Lighting class is visible. I created a new, blank document to demonstrate this behavior. In this document is a Lighting Device and a 2D white filled rectangle that I extruded. Whenever the Lighting class is invisible, the color/shading of other objects appears normal. Whenever the Lighting class is enabled, the color/shading of other objects is affected. The rectangle's color now appears gray even though the attributes panel shows that it is set to white. Any idea why this is happening and how I can prevent it? Thanks, Zack Lighting Class Visibility Color.vwx

Hello! I have been having this issue lately in 2020 where whenever I export my lighting fixtures to grandMA2 Setup (XML) none of the fixtures will export their X or Y rotation but will take their Z rotation. I have tried a couple of things since this has been happening: - reinstalled the plug-in - reinstalled 2020 - exported to 2019 and tried it there (this worked) - changed the symbols that the lighting devices were referencing - started a new file in 2020 with default VWX lighting symbols, converted to lighting devices, rotated them, still no dice - e-mail support at ACT and they said that they were able to get it to work by reasserting the rotation for fixtures that already had it Out of ideas and any help and or ideas would be greatly appreciated, thank you! -Nick

Hello! Does somebody know if VWX will update their Speaker tool of Landru? Or will make VWX their own? Hope to hear!

Running into an issue where the X/Y values on the hoists only updates when we have "Relative X, Y On Plot" checked. This shows the little arrows on the hoist, however, we do not wish to display those and only show the X/Y in the hoist data display. Why will the X/Y only show when the arrows are turned on?

Overview: The CAD Drafter is responsible for creating detailed CAD drawings to be utilized in the set up of staging and structures. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Read and interpret drawings and blueprints to obtain specifications Draft components used in staging structures such as; truss arches, truss grids, and stage deck designs. Revise and update existing drawings reflecting design changes Update the standard deck and truss arch library Work and communicate with all departments involved in production to meet client’s requests and project requirements in a timely manner Other duties as assigned Qualification Standards: Minimum 2 years’ related work experience; Ability to analyze and interpret designs to apply proper assembly Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work with different personalities Proficient in computer programs including Google Suite products, and must be proficient in Vectorworks Must be a self-starter and motivated to work with minimal guidance Excellent communication skills both verbal and written Excellent organizational skills with the ability to work on multiple projects in a fast-paced environment Flexible schedule with the ability to work some evenings, weekends and holidays as required Please send your resume to hr@gallagherstaging.com No phone calls please

I have not been able to edit a label legend in Spotlight 2020. I can add a field, but when I click Edit 2D layout, I get an error message: Script Error - Error on Lin-1: 2418_2421 - Index outside array limits. Any ideas on this?

With the introduction of Schematic Views, utilizing CPMV and DLVPs as means to communicate details in a 3D and 2D environment have become obsolete. This is a pretty big bummer as that's really the best way to efficiently create vertical lighting positions. Users who have updated to and adopted 2020 really have no recourse. Yes, DLVPs still function as means of getting the 3D representation of the position into its proper location. However, the fixtures will not point accurately at any focus point they have been assigned, regardless of manipulating the rotation along its cardinal axis'. That ability has been removed from the software as a means to further support the MVR functionality. I understand thats its work in progress, as with most new features of VW, but this really needs to take priority over any introduction of a new features in future releases or service pack updates until the functionality of this feature has been ironed out. So, I'm asking for Vectorworks to reinstate the full functionality DLVPs until the Schematic View workflow is improved and truly is a valid replacement. I've been beating my head against this for about a week and came up with a small wishlist of features for Schematic Views that I feel would greatly improve the workflow: - Allow 2D label legends to translate to the Schematic View. - Allow user the option to create a "backwards" Schematic View by drawing elements in a 2D form first and then create the Schematic View. Ideally, the result would be a "2D/3D symbol" that would be a footprint of the position in Top/Plan View and would show actual geometry when viewed in any of the 3D views. - Navigate away from using Hidden Line rendering to create the Schematic View. This utilizes GPU resources over CPU and can lead to longer, more taxing manipulation of the model. Many thanks to those involved.

Could be usefull to have a tool that allow to build a strip LED with some parameters like brand of LED, kind of LED (white, multichip etc...), size of the strip, distance between LEDs and soo on

Hey there. So I'm working in VW2019, SP2 and I've had this crazy glitch happen. It seems now that while I've built all my lights correctly (I did this years ago and they've always worked fine before), with Light Info Records, etc. now when I click on the data tab in the OIP the Light Info Record isn't listed there anymore. Is that something that I'm just noticing now, or has that always been the case? When I look at a symbol that isn't a light the data tab shows the Light Info Record. Am I crazy? Have they just always folded themselves into the Lighting Instrument Data on the Shape tab?

It's been years since I did this... but my ellips shutter cuts aren't rendering to match the wireframe beams. The cuts show, but nowhere near where they should. I've since adjusted them in rendering mode, but how does this @%^$%^ happen?

Hi all I have being experiencing a great deal of crashes with VWX 2020. On its own, the programme seems fine but whenever I open an existing show file from an earlier version it tends to have a major stroke and then crashes. The crashes have occurred with plans created/modified in vwx2019. The plans are all "simple" geometry and are all venue based drawings with some being Autocad, Vectorworks, PDF hybrids etc. The crash seems to specifically happen when I open the earlier version file in 2020. The program will run fine for 5-30mins and then the screen will crash and the fans go into overdrive. At this point, a force re-start is the only option. I was teaching a class and the computer crashed at least 3 times in the space of 20mins. At the moment, vwx 2020 is unusable for the mixtures of venue files I possess. I have not narrowed it down to a particular file but have found it seems to have across any file edited/created in vwx2019. I have a great deal of work on an upcoming tour with older version plans and need to do an updated lighting plan for each. I will have to revert to 2019 to play it safe. I am on a macbook pro 2011 c/w SSD & 16 RAM. I am currently running High Sierra. I will upgrade to Mojave but not really wanting till December. Too much work on etc. If Mojave is required to cure this ill, I will take the chance! I am on the latest version of VWX 2020 SP1 Does anyone have any pointers or would this be classified as a bug report? Eamon

Tonight I discovered that my 3D Label legends were not appearing on my elevations. I attempted to select the data I wanted to appear in the Label Legend Manager, but after clicking done and exiting out of the LL Manager my data was still not showing up. I would then re-enter the LL Manager, I would select the data I wanted to"Use in 3D", and then edit the layout. However, each time the data would not appear on a Design layer or Sheet Layer after I exit the editing mode. Is anyone else having this problem?

Tonight I discovered that my 3D Label legends were not appearing on my elevations. I attempted to select the data I wanted to appear in the Label Legend Manager, but after clicking done and exiting out of the LL Manager my data was still not showing up. I would then re-enter the LL Manager, I would select the data I wanted to"Use in 3D", and then edit the layout. However, each time the data would not appear on a Design layer or Sheet Layer after I exit the editing mode. Is anyone else having this problem?

Hi Everyone, I am having an issue where my sheet layer shows a plot which is coloured based on the Universe of the fixtures, which works really well. However when i publish that sheet layer it looses the colours for the fixture and shows them all as grey. The data visualisation key that it produces in the annotation, does however output with the correct colours. Any thoughts on a simple setting i might be missing? Worth mentioning its 2020.

Entertainment Industry Specialist Vectorworks Inc. is a global software product company targeting entertainment, architecture and landscape industries with enterprising and intuitive solutions that allow users to create unique designs and 3D visualizations. We are looking for an Entertainment Product Specialist that will be responsible for establishing rapport with potential and actual customers as well as other industry influencers. The goal of this position is to provide consultation, industry expertise, and training services for customers, prospects, and our internal teams. What’s in it for you? The Entertainment Product Specialist will liaise regularly with members of our sales and marketing teams, the R&D department, as well as senior company managers. You will interact daily with entertainment industry professionals and impact the future of 3D modeling CAD software. Work with the Vectorworks product suite on a range of projects in a collaborative team environment. Our company encourages work life balance and idea generation as we continue to leverage technology to advance our products for our users’ needs. In this role, you should expect to: Maintain an advanced understanding of the Vectorworks products and competitors in the Lighting, Scenic, AV, and Event industries. Discover and act upon speaking, sponsorship, and networking opportunities with industry organizations, trade shows, and academic institutions. Create and deliver marketing presentations and product demonstrations for users and prospects at various user group meetings, trade shows, and other events. Cultivate and provide customized online and one-on-one training and detailed product demonstrations for prospects. Work closely with the sales and customer success teams to understand the customer’s needs, desires, and complaints. Identify and supporting business development opportunities. Contribute to internal staff and channel education about the entertainment industry. Other duties as assigned. Why do you want this job? Because you are: A designer looking for the opportunity to do something more with your subject matter expertise A technologist with a passion for how software can impact the entertainment industry. Naturally training or teaching others how to leverage tools and workflows to improve their design goals. Why do we want you? Because you have: A Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree or equivalent work experience. 4+ years related work experience. Experience working in a company environment on live events and performances. (strongly desired) High proficiency in CAD and Pre-viz software. Vectorworks Spotlight and Vision preferred. Strong organizational skills for thorough planning and project execution. Comfort with speaking to large audiences. Ability to show initiative, multi-task, prioritize, and meet deadlines. A positive attitude and willingness to work with the team to achieve departmental goals. Vectorworks Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Please email recruiting@vectorworks.net if you have any questions about this position!