Soca Distro Labels

[CharlieJS]

Morning all

 

Does anyone have template for a hot soca distro?

 

i want something i can print in A4 with channel numbers with phase colours, to cut out and stick on each of the 6 breakers.

 

I would usually do this with a Dyno, but it's really time consuming

 

Thanks in advance 

[Jesse Cogswell]

I wrote a plug-in for soca distro labels last year.  It doesn't show phasing, but may work for your application regardless.  It creates a "module" between one and six circuits for the purpose of labeling distro breakers.  You can specify things like width and height, multicable name and description and starting breaker number.  There are options for vertical and horizontal orientation for both the module itself as well as the text.  The fill color of the object can be used to match color codes if your socas are color coded.  I should note that this plug-in must be used with a layer scale of 1:1.  It's best if used on a sheet layer.

 

 

Even better, there's a button in the Object Info Palette that will auto-fill the circuit data based on the Circuit Name and Circuit Number fields of the Lighting Device object.

 

 

VERY quick to generate.  I also wrote a menu command called Create Distro Template for when you've set up a bunch of modules for a particular distro.  Select the modules and run the command.  It will ask for a name and then it will build a "blue" symbol consisting of the modules with the show data stripped out.  Next time you use that particular distro, drop the symbol in, ungroup it, and you're ready to go to set up for your next show.

 

 

I'll typically print these out on the Avery full sheet water-resistant mailing labels (like these), cut them out, and apply them directly to the distro.

 

 

To install the plug-ins, follow the instructions below:

1. Download the attached JNC-Distro Module.zip file, but do not extract it.  Leave it as a .zip file.
2. In Vectorworks, go to Tools - Plug-ins - Plug-in Manager
3. Click on the Third-party plug-ins tab
4. Click on the Install button
5. Point VW to the downloaded .zip file
6. Restart Vectorworks.  A prompt should appear telling you to do it.
7. Add the tools to your workspace by going to Tools - Workspaces - Edit Current Workspace
8. Click on the Tools tab
9. In the box on the left, find and expand the JNC category
10. In the box on the right, open a toolset that you want the tool to appear in, such as Lighting or Event Design
11. Click and drag the JNC-Distro Module tool from the box on the left to the desired toolset on the right
12. Click on the Menus tab
13. In the box on the left, find and expand the JNC category
14. In the box on the right, find a menu to place the command in, such as Tools or Spotlight
15. Click and drag the Create Distro Template command from the box on the left to the desired menu on the right
16. Click OK to accept the changes and regenerate your workspace.

Please let me know if you seen anything weird or if the tool doesn't work as expected.  Based on asking about an A4 size sheet, I'm guessing that you are working in metric.  The tool was written with imperial in mind but should work the same way in metric.  I just haven't done thorough testing for it.

 

JNC-Distro Module.zip

[Cookie_NZ]

Hi Jesse,

 

Finally had a chance to take a look at the plug-in for soca distro labels you made.  Absolutely brilliant.  Thanks for sharing this.

 

Is there a way to Autofill circuits for multiple Disto Label Modules at the some time?  I'm looking at building a label for a 48 way dimmer rack with a hard patch in the top.  I can do this with 48 individual Disto Label Modules, but it would be great if they could all be updated at once when changes have been made to the patch.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Cookie

 

[Jesse Cogswell]

@Cookie_NZ I think that I could get this to work without too much fuss.  The one thing that you would lose is the preview.  I could do something like the Edit Lighting Device dialog with a list box off to one side to select the module you want to edit (in case the modules wanted different settings), but that would take a bit more time.  I'll add it to my List of Things to Do™.

[Cookie_NZ]

@Jesse Cogswell thanks! Really appreciate it. 
 

Cheers,

 

Cookie

[Sam Jones]

@Cookie_NZ if you can provide a worksheet, I can provide a way to print the worksheet cells onto Avery or Online labels.  Let me know if you want to Zoom.

[Cookie_NZ]

Hi @Sam Jones.  Thanks for the offer, but therein lies the rub!  I haven't got my head around how to make a worksheet to display a distro/dimmer rack in the way I would like.  The goals are:

 

1. Sorted by distro breaker number/dimmer

2. Concatenate channels that share a distro breaker.

3. Concatenate Multi/Ways (Circuit name/circuit number) that share a distro breaker/dimmer.

4. Concatenate fixture types.  Ignore duplicate types when patched to the same breaker.

5. Sum wattage load for each breaker

6. Add blanks for any dimmers not patched, so no gaps are left in the printout.

 

Bonus points for a list of all multi cables on each dimmer rack and phase loading on the rack!

 

Here's an example of the Excel sheet I normally use.  This is populated from a LW export, and far too many helper columns to complete the above tasks.  I'd love to wrap this all within VWX without exporting to an external solution.

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Cookie

 

 

[Sam Jones]

@Cookie_NZ Is the Excel sheet printed on label stock, or is it printed on regular paper, cut up, and taped below the breakers, or not cut up and taped to the rack?  Are the Excel sheets generated separately on a per rack basis, or is an Excel sheet generated that contains all racks?

[Cookie_NZ]

Hi @Sam Jones, all excellent questions!

 

The origins of this particular sheet are about 20 years ago.  So it's always been printed on standard paper, cut out and laboriously stuck to the front of the rack.  Now that all manor of esoteric label sizes are available, I'd go with printing on labels for the next iteration.  Probably 6 breakers wide. 

 

One Excel workbook generates all rack labels for the show.  A couple of examples are attached.  

 

Rack sheet examples

 

The idea was all patching would be done either on in the VWX file or LW.  A CSV would be exported from LW and imported into the Excel workbook.  In the workbook, with the aid of some very shabby formulas and VBA macros, the racks could be configured and the information would automatically be populated from the CSV data.  

 

It's done the job, but I've always felt it could be more elegant.  And the additional step of exporting/importing the data is annoying.  Keeping this all within the VWX file would be the goal for me.  Hence the appeal of what @Jesse Cogswell has built. 

 

I suspect what I'm asking for is beyond a worksheet without scripting.  But I'm happy to be proven wrong!  If it can be condensed into a worksheet, then it would be a perfect task for your label module.  

 

Cheers,

 

Cookie

 

 

[Sam Jones]

The worksheet cannot be created without a script, but the script is pretty straight forward data collection.  Such a script should collect all the data that one might want to list under a breaker in a worksheet row.  Different people would use different data for different racks.  It would not matter what cell held which information, because those cells would be assigned to label fields, just like the truss tape worksheet.  The same worksheet could be used for differently formatted racks that use differently organized breakers; just pick the appropriate label for the appropriate rack.  Save the different labels by rack name.

The big trick would be the rack header that is at the top of your example.  I would be tempted to make a worksheet/label combination that just printed rack headers, but there may be alternatives to that.

I retired, and I don't generate labels for anything; I just help people do it with plug-ins.  Help with rack and distro labeling is often requested.  I'll do it, but it would require a significant input from users (you).  I need data specification, the data you want and how you want it, and specific rack breaker space dimensions and/or specific label choices and label formatting of the data.  If you want to do it,  I'll go there (also true for anybody else), but there will be some significant back and forth.  Usually, responses to me about this sort of thing die on the vine; nobody has the time.  The goal here is to create a script for creating the worksheet, and then creating the appropriate labels.  Of course, you wouldn't have to print on labels; you could print on regular paper and cut it up.  I can't even get riggers to give me simple examples of the labels they would need, and that is after I volunteered to create the labels and the appropriate worksheet creation commands.

 

[Cookie_NZ]

Hi @Sam Jones, well if you're game then I am!  I'll start prepping some demo files. 

 

Personally I'm fine to have the rack headers as a seperate worksheet.  

 

Cheers,

 

Cookie

[spettitt]

Just to add my 2p of something that I think might be relevant here. Not sure if you were thinking of this as part of your product, Sam, or just helping out Cookie. It sounds like would be in your plans anyway, though.

Traditionally, breaker width has been the traditional 18mm DIN module standard in the UK, or multiples thereof. But recently, StageSmarts distros have become popular, which use CBi QF17A devices that are 1.5 modules wide. Also, the grouping varies - INDU 72 Ways often have groups of three.

 

So, if there were parameters for Device Width (mm) and Device Grouping (integer) that would probably give it the broadest appeal.

[Sam Jones]

 

2 hours ago, Cookie_NZ said:

Hi @Sam Jones, well if you're game then I am!  I'll start prepping some demo files. 

 

Personally I'm fine to have the rack headers as a seperate worksheet. 

 

One, make a list of the data you want collected for each breaker.  Ideally,  it all comes from Lighting Device parameters or is computed from those parameters.  That will give us the worksheet

 

Two, carefully layout the data for each breaker, spaced to land under each breaker.  Each breaker will get a label, but it would be possible to define those labels to be printed as a group on one long label like OnLine 2530 or OnLine 8500.

 

"One" and "Two" can be done separately.  "One" will be needed for the script that makes the universal worksheet.  "Two" will tell us how to layout the label(s) that use the worksheet.

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, spettitt said:

So, if there were parameters for Device Width (mm) and Device Grouping (integer) that would probably give it the broadest appeal.

 

An interesting idea, but I think creating labels for the breaker row of a specific rack is a safer and probably easier way to go.  If you have another rack, with different spacing make a label for that rack.  One would not need to have more than one worksheet to service all the labels.  One label design per specified distro or dimmer rack allows all the measurements of module width, spacing, number per row and other groupings to be baked into the label.

 

 

 

[Jesse Cogswell]

@Cookie_NZ I know that you're working / planning on working with @Sam Jones on a solution, but I had some time this afternoon to implement the feature you requested for autofilling multiple modules at once.  If you select a single module and press the Autofill Circuits button, the dialog box will be the same as before (aside from making the description two lines in the preview so that you can see longer descriptions).  But if you have more than one module selected when you press the button, it will add a List Box on the left side and populate with selected modules (named using the convention <Multicable Name>: <Circuit Range>).  When you select the All Selected Modules option, it will clear out the preview and any changes you make in the dialog will be applied to all selected modules.  If you select one from the list, you will be able to make changes on how the just the one module will populate.  One other change made to the multiple selection dialog is that there is an Update button under the Empty Channel field.  You will need to press this to "push" the change to the selected module.

 

Oh, and the choices you make for the channel, description, and empty channel fields will be saved for the next time you run the Autofill.

 

Give it a shot and let me know if it breaks.

 

JNC-Distro Label Module.vso

[Cookie_NZ]

Hi @Jesse Cogswell thanks for implementing the update. I’ll take a look and let you know how I get on. 
 

Cheers,

 

cookie

[Cookie_NZ]

HI @Jesse Cogswell.  Works great!  Thanks for that.  Very tidy bit of work.

 

Cheers,

 

Cookie

[DylanHovey]

@Jesse Cogswell

Ive just given this a go, and you've saved me hours and hours of manual data entry and double handling. So thank you for that. 

 

I have noticed it seems to be a little buggy in Dark Mode with the Fill/Pen Colours. Might just be me going crazy though. 

Awesome Job though Mate.

Dylan

[JoelM97]

how does one use this tool, i installed it. I put in 1 - light and gave it info, linked to the sheet layer, but it populates as no lighting devices match distro.

 

Thanks! 

[Jesse Cogswell]

The tool uses the Circuit Name and Circuit Number fields of the Lighting Device object to match to a corresponding Distro Label.  So the Multicable Name field of the distro label must match the Circuit Name field of the lighting device, and the circuit number must be within the range of the label module (a label with Starting Number of 4 won't see a Lighting Device with a Circuit Number of 1, for example).

 

In this screen shot, we have a 26deg Source 4 at Channel "101", Circuit Name "Mult A", and Circuit Number "1".  Likewise, we have a Distro Label Module with the Multicable Name set also to "Mult A" and a Starting Number of "1".  When we press the Autofill Circuits button, the tool properly finds the matching fixture.