John Bishop Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 Hi, I have inserted the Light Instr High End Systems Solaframe 1500 into my lighting plan. It has something very weird showing in Top/Plan view and I cant't figure out why... The symbol has strange "wings" which are obscuring the Lighting Pipe. Top/Plan view with Data Visualisation "None": Top/Plan view with Data Visualisation set to a custom one called "Grey Lights" which shows the problem more clearly: The symbol looks fine in 3d. I just can't find what's causing the problem when editing the 2d layout for the symbol. I'd be grateful for a solutionn. Thanks. John Quote Link to comment
C. Andrew Dunning Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 7 minutes ago, John Bishop said: Hi, I have inserted the Light Instr High End Systems Solaframe 1500 into my lighting plan. It has something very weird showing in Top/Plan view and I can't figure out why... The symbol has strange "wings" which are obscuring the Lighting Pipe. Would you mind posting a sample VW file containing a placed instance of the fixture...with the Label Legend you're using? The stock Symbol, itself, seems to be OK so the issue might be in your LL...perhaps, in a container shape. Quote Link to comment
John Bishop Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 The weirdness only shows if I have Document Settings > Spotlight Preferences > Modify Lighting Color = On; > Set by Color Field = On > Use Color Field for the Fill Color = On All the symbols look fine including the Solaframe 1500 if I deselect this option entirely or if I switch it to just: > Use Color Field for the Pen Color = On Quote Link to comment
Jesse Cogswell Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 (edited) @John Bishop The issue is that the symbol uses standard arc objects to do the sides of the head. Arcs in VW will draw back to their center when they have fills applied. I've had issues using the Use Color Field for Fill Color options because it will override the fill for objects you don't want filled, such as the moving head radius on movers, so I almost never use the option. That being said, a workaround in your current symbol would be to convert the arcs to polylines (will still fill between the outside vertices but at least won't produce giant murder spikes), or, better yet, make sure that the 2D geometry is made up of entirely closed polylines so this kind of thing doesn't happen at all. If I'm being honest, the library SolaFrame 1500 symbol is more than a little rough with a relatively high amount of loose lines, polylines, and arcs that could make data vis a total mess. I would spend a little time with the Polygon tool in Paint Bucket mode and get it down to a handful of closed polylines and remove the loose lines. I should also clarify that this is looking at the stock library symbol from VW2022, there's every chance that the VW2023 is better, I just don't have 2023 open right now and I'm too lazy to check. Edited November 3, 2022 by Jesse Cogswell 2 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee jcogdell Posted November 3, 2022 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 3, 2022 I've opened a bug report for this as it shouldn't be happening 2 Quote Link to comment
John Bishop Posted November 3, 2022 Author Share Posted November 3, 2022 Hi Rob, I agree that having the entire moving light's Movement Radius filled entirely obscures the shape of the fixture itself. This is a Top/Plan view in Wireframe, no fill colour or Data Visualisation applied: Using colour field for the fill colour: I find it difficult to see and select the 3d symbols when they are in their default nearly black colour / default texture in 3d views with the ambient light level turned down low, so I often use this Data Visualisation > Grey Lights which makes the 3d symbols appear grey in 3d views and much easier for me to see. So this is using the colour field for the fill colour, but also with a custom Data Visualisation > Grey Lights applied: (it's basically useless in Top/Plan view...) The symbols would be much more legible if only the fixture itself was filled and not the Movement Radius: However, since many (perhaps all?) moving lights are able to change colour, what colour would the fixture be filled with? For moving lights, I find it useful to have each type of moving light filled with one particular colour, so for instance I can see all the Mac Encore Performance fixtures filled in Blue, all the Arollas filled in Pink, and so on and so forth: Maybe this might be easy to apply by applying a specific Label Legend to each Instrument Type, a different one for each Type, or setting the Fill Colour of the class to blue or pink etc. I have tried, but haven't got this to work so far. I have my Spotlight Preferences set to automatically place Lighting Devices into Classes by Instrument Type. Thanks Rob. John Quote Link to comment
John Bishop Posted November 3, 2022 Author Share Posted November 3, 2022 11 hours ago, Jesse Cogswell said: @John Bishop The issue is that the symbol uses standard arc objects to do the sides of the head. Arcs in VW will draw back to their center when they have fills applied. I've had issues using the Use Color Field for Fill Color options because it will override the fill for objects you don't want filled, such as the moving head radius on movers, so I almost never use the option. That being said, a workaround in your current symbol would be to convert the arcs to polylines (will still fill between the outside vertices but at least won't produce giant murder spikes), or, better yet, make sure that the 2D geometry is made up of entirely closed polylines so this kind of thing doesn't happen at all. If I'm being honest, the library SolaFrame 1500 symbol is more than a little rough with a relatively high amount of loose lines, polylines, and arcs that could make data vis a total mess. I would spend a little time with the Polygon tool in Paint Bucket mode and get it down to a handful of closed polylines and remove the loose lines. I should also clarify that this is looking at the stock library symbol from VW2022, there's every chance that the VW2023 is better, I just don't have 2023 open right now and I'm too lazy to check. Hi Jesse, Thank you for your very clear and detailed explanation. That solves the immediate problem for me and now I understand what is going on with that particular symbol. I guess I was unlucky using that one because I don't think the other SolaFrame and SolaWash symbols have tis problem. Thanks also for the good advice regarding drawing or modifying the 2d Layout of Lighting Device Symbols using closed polylines and not using arcs. John Quote Link to comment
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