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Really struggling with cable tools...


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Hi all, I'm really struggling with the new cable tools. Everything worked fine for my needs previously but this added complexity has just thrown me. The current project is an illuminated trail through a park, I have somewhere like 300+ ground based fixtures and there is no way to make an exact cable plan given the nature of the terrain in the park but getting an idea of rough cable numbers would be great. 

 

A few things:

 

  • Is there a tutorial somewhere that explains consumer/inputs and outputs in fixture symbols? Some of the fixtures I'm using don't have them built in so I need to learn how to add them.
  • When I create a cable work sheet, it wont recalculate like other sheets from the drop down menu "File - Recalculate current worksheet", I need to close it and start a new one to get an update.
  • Cable lengths... so if I have a cable of 8.8m then rather than suggesting a 10m it places a 5m, a 2.5m and a 1m. This is with "fewest parts" selected. Given that its all outside and I'd rather have 1.2m slack rather than use three separate cables, what do I do to make this work better?
  • When I add a new cable, I'm always asked to assign an output and even though I select "Always use next free" I keep getting asked, even when there is only one output. Very annoying
  • What is "insert distributor before each lighting device"?
  • If I create just one 10m cable between two fixtures and then create a cable parts list, I see one x 10m and 2 x 1m. I can't see the 2 x 1m on the drawing. Any idea where these are coming from?

 

Cheers, Matt.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
22 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

When I create a cable work sheet, it wont recalculate like other sheets from the drop down menu "File - Recalculate current worksheet", I need to close it and start a new one to get an update.

There are 2 options for creating cable worksheets,

  1. the create cable report which is a static reports designed to give you an inventory of needed cables for a specific part of your design or the whole thing. from you comment above this is what you have already found
  2. the second option is to use the Spotlight report command to create loom lists and more detailed paperwork about your cable runs, there are 2 criteria/column parameters in the cable object that will display the physical cables needed for a cable run, 'used part ordered' and 'used parts sum'. Used parts ordered displays the cables needed to create the cable run in the order the should be used in and used parts sum displays the total number of each cable part needed to create the cable run.

the cable tools learning path on the university has a complete video going through how to use the commands in detail

 

22 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

Cable lengths... so if I have a cable of 8.8m then rather than suggesting a 10m it places a 5m, a 2.5m and a 1m. This is with "fewest parts" selected. Given that its all outside and I'd rather have 1.2m slack rather than use three separate cables, what do I do to make this work better?

for the fewest parts setting to work you need to adjust the threshold setting, I find that the bestoption is to set this to the most common length increment used in the cable set you are working with. Since you're in the UK and probably using the metric cable set use 10m, this should ensure that the cable tool will correctly jump up to the next longest available cable length.

 

22 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

When I add a new cable, I'm always asked to assign an output and even though I select "Always use next free" I keep getting asked, even when there is only one output. Very annoying

This is a known issue and is on the list of area's to be improved. currently in most cases you can ignore the dialogue as the tool will automatically select the next available output, hitting the enter key to close the dialogue is probably the quickest option (not ideal I know but faster than using the mouse)

 

 

22 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

What is "insert distributor before each lighting device"?

This is meant to be used to insert a 2fer or 3fer (grelco or trelco), but is another area that needs some work at this point. Personally I find it better to manaully insert 2fers and 3fers since I get more control over the autonumbering that way. This is coveed in the cable tools skill videos

 

 

22 hours ago, Monkeypuzzle said:

If I create just one 10m cable between two fixtures and then create a cable parts list, I see one x 10m and 2 x 1m. I can't see the 2 x 1m on the drawing. Any idea where these are coming from?

Most likely the cable tool is calculating that you need more than exactly 10m to connect the 2 lights,
open the cable configuration dialogue (button in the cable object OIP) the lower right hand pane displays how the cable tool has calculated the needed cable length including an modifiers like spare length and swag (percentage added to any part of the cable object not fully supported from underneath or hanging perfectly vertical).
The spare and swag settings can be changed in the cable preferences,
There are separate video for the cable tool preferences and the cable object including how to use the configuration dialogue in the learning path.

If you need a visual prompt for the cables inside a cable object ou can change how the end of the individual cable parts are displayed using the the cable style settings, either as a loci or a sphere. You can also tell the cable style to automatically add a data tag label to each individual part inside the cable object using the style settings.
The cable styles video covers this in more detail.

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