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MVR to MA3 - Fixture Names


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First off I'm using VW22. I've been doing a lot of testing of the MVR export and importing into MA3. Overall the entire process is very easy and a huge improvement over the MA2 export plugin.

One thing I am struggling with is fixture naming in MA3 vs Vectorworks. When you import your MVR in to MA3, MA associates its fixture name column with the Load Name column from Vectorworks. By default, Vectorworks just copies the Instrument Type into the Load Name field for each lighting device.

 

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Typically when I first import my MVR into MA3, I go through and give all of my fixtures logical names, so they are easier to understand in my fixture sheet.

 

image.png.9224ff99cb8929ed5ce9943098eb45ef.png

 

Now my challenge here comes when I need to reimport an MVR to MA3 in order to update some 3D positions in my rig. In Vectorworks I move my fixtures in 3D space as needed, I export MVR but now the MVR is going to overwrite all my neatly named fixtures in MA3.

 

image.thumb.png.ae111265e8ce6622d6c25d5a3491de6a.png

 

Obviously, the solution here is to update my Load Names in Vectorworks so they import the way I want them named in MA3. But I can't seem to easily apply bulk naming to this field via Spotlight numbering tool or via lightwright or worksheet. The only available field is called Load Information. But I need to edit Load Name.

 

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Does anyone have any tricks to easily bulk edit the Load Name field? I really don't want to update this field 800 times manually.

 

In the long term it doesn't seem like the Load Name field is really the best field to use for the MVR export tool, I wonder if VW needs to consider adding a Fixture Name Field to the Lighting Device record.

Edited by Daniel Dickman
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Ahh okay. So what I didn't realize is when you change Load Name it immediately changes the Instrument Type field to match, That's what made me think it was load name because I could see the name change when I would export new MVRs.

 

Okay... so MA Name = VW Instrument type. Does that really make sense? I could easily change my instrument type fields to match what I want my MA naming to look like, but now that will break all of my instrument type columns in worksheets/lightwright.

 

It really feels like we need a new Fixture Name field in future versions.

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