Jump to content

Focus ETC Source 4 in Vision. Left the "Beam" behind - Vision 2023 SP1


Recommended Posts

I have been mucking around today with vision, and I tilted two ETC Source 4 26 degrees in vision.

 

The fixtures imported pointing straight up, so navigated down to the tilt object in the scene graph, angled them, but it has left the beam emitter in the original location. I believe I am using the correct symbols and such in vectorworks. Not GDTF.

Screen shot and both a vision and Vectorworks file attached, if anyone knows what might have gone wrong.

2 Lights Test.png

2 Lights Test.vsn 2 Lights Test.vwx

Link to comment
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hmm... that does seem odd! When I opened your VSN file, the fixture geometry and the beam were all pointed up:

Screen Shot 2022-11-21 at 9.15.51 AM.png

 

I wanted to make sure that they rotated correct, both beam and geometry, when I modified the rotational values in the Properties Window. It worked as I expected:

Screen Shot 2022-11-21 at 9.15.57 AM.png

 

My only suggestion is that you try to ensure that you have the proper item selected in the Scene Graph when modifying the rotational values in the Properties Window. It is okay to modify a Fixture Group, as I have done in my screenshots above. And, it is okay to modify an individual fixture. But, the rotational stuff will break if you go inside of the fixture and start rotating its internal parts (you could think of this like modifying the symbol in VW).

 

I hope you figure out what is going on or what steps we might take to reproduce the issue so we can investigate further.

Link to comment
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 11/19/2022 at 10:39 PM, ALHP said:

navigated down to the tilt object in the scene graph

Ahhh, yea this was the issue! Sorry I didn't see this the first time around. You should never go inside of a fixture like that and modify things in Vision. We've deeply considered removing the expansion arrow so that this just isn't possible even if you try.

 

The three options you have are:

  1. Set up a Focus Point in VW. This should come over to Vision whether you use ESC or MVR.
  2. Rotate the entire fixture to get the beam / surface light pointed where you'd like.
  3. Use the arrow keys and or the Focus Selected Lights Here context menu to get the beam / surface light pointed where you'd like.

Note: I'm not a fan of our Focus Selected Lights Here implementation. So, I'd recommend the arrow keys in that approach. And, if you decide to use the arrow keys to focus the lighting device, make sure that the "mouse focus" is in the viewport. I usually do this by right clicking in the viewport and then clicking somewhere to "cancel" the context menu.

Link to comment

Hi @bbudzon

Thanks for responding, Genuinely appreciate it. I've gone back and realized where I went wrong.

On the above file, I had navigated one step to far down the "Root Tree" and adjusted the Y Rotation of Tilt at the "MeshShape" if you alter it here, it does leave the beam behind. If you stop at the word Tilt like I have in the screen shot of the tree, everything is fine.

 

Very handy to know for my "learning" 🙂

What I did wrong.png

Link to comment
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

No problem!

 

But, be very careful adjust "tilt" that way. I do not believe it saves into the document and so it will "reset" the next time you open the file.

 

Just to reiterate, you should never really modify anything inside of the fixture's scene graph like that in Vision. So much so, that we've had many internal discussions about disabling the expansion arrow.

 

If you want to pan or tilt a fixture, you should use a Focus Point in VW before sending to Vision, the arrow keys inside of Vision, or rotate the entire fixture at the top most level.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Interesting about reducing how far into the scene graph a person can go.... I sometimes feel that i can go unnecessarily deep into the objects.

While i was mucking around with this topic, i realized i can alter the size and shape of the lighting fixtures. In theory, i hope i have drawn everything to scale within VW to begin with, so i kind of feel that there are allot of elements that I shouldn't ever need to alter.

I feel it only need go as far as being able to select individual fixtures within the file and be able to alter the same level of information I would within the object info pallet or the lighting device properties. so as to make small adjustments easy without needing to export and import again.

But that's my 2c if it helps

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...