Hybrid Cables in for cable planning

[APadget]

I am trying to use the cable planning toolset to draw cables between fixtures. As we mostly use hybrid cables with True1 AND DMX in one cable, I would like to be able to draw this in Vectorworks. Is it possible to create a cable part with both a DMX and True1 connection at each end, but combined in one single cable? And how would I go about doing it in Vectorworks?

[jcogdell]

Although the cable tools arn't really set up for this you can do it.
First step is to create a custom connector to represent the combined cable

Once you have the connector you can configure your lights to use it and create custom cable parts for your library.

The cable tools learning path on the Vectorworks University covers all the steps in dedicated videos.
 

[Stefan B.]

How would this work if sometimes one uses hybrid and sometimes one uses truecon and DMX cable?

[jcogdell]

The easiest way would be to edit the compatible with parameter of the connector definitions in the cable connector xml. This way you could set the truecon to be able to use both the standard truecon and the custom connector.
 

[APadget]

Thank you for the reply!

 

I have started customising the cable connector XML. I noticed the XLR cables doesn't have any pin description. Should this be added in the new hybrid cable connector? And should it be made compatible with both a True1 connector and a DMX 5p XLR connector?

[jcogdell]

You could if you wish to but personally I'd only fill in the pins used for truecon part, as only the power calculation makes use of the pin description/configuration, and you can always update the connector later if it becomes necessary.