Layer Colors on Lighting Fixtures

[bryvzee]

Hi, I've been bumping my head into this issue for a couple hours, and decided to look for some help. I'm a very new user, like 8 hours in. I come from using Depence R3 & Sketchup, needed my plots to look a bit more pro and ended up trying vector for our summer projects at work.

 

  I cant figure out for my life how to get layer color applied on 3D views, to lighting fixtures. Like I can see it fine in a 2D (Plan Mode). This is how i want it to look:

(Some Diplo plots i saw recently at a festival)

 

 

This is my current project, I'd like each fixture to match it's layer color.But anything that goes in through the lighting tool doesnt pick up the color.

 

 

Any help is really appreciated. Thank you!

[spettitt]

I don't know how much you've come across Vectorworks terminology yet, but it would be more typical to colour by Class than Layer. In short - Classes in Vectorworks usually equate to Layers in other CAD platforms. Layers in VW mean something a little different. Classes are the 'what' (door, window, moving light, followspot) and layers are the 'where' (floor package, LX1, LX2, or however you want to structure it). It is possible to colour objects in the drawing by Layer, but colouring by Class (i.e. classification of object type) is the default that things are set up for, really.
 

However, all of my fixtures have hard-coded colours in our library, so I don't have a lot of experience with colouring fixtures specifically by class. I have a feeling that in the case of Lighting Devices from the standard library, colouring by class might be challenging, as I think most of the content is set to high-level classes, i.e. 'Moving Light', 'Conventional' etc, as opposed to specific types of fixture (strobe, beam, batten, profile etc).

 

I would have a go with data visualisation, which is a tool for dynamically recolouring objects based on whatever data you choose. In this case, you'll probably want to use the Instrument Type parameter to colour them.

 

- Make a new Data Vis

- Object Criteria will be Type = Lighting Device

- Display Criteria will be Parameter - Lighting Device - Instrument Type

- This should present you with a list of the fixture types in your show.

- Add fill colours as desired, and remember to tick 'Apply' to the rows you want it to affect.

 

(data vis is very powerful as you can make several of them and turn them on/off as needed - try making one that greys out patched fixtures and shows unpatched fixtures in red - very useful)

 

If you do use this, you'll need to select your 'Fixture Type Colours' Data Vis for any viewports you want it to print in as well.

 

I'm sure others will be along shortly to explain other ways of doing it. Personally, I just have hard coded colours in our library symbols, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for you.
 

 

Edited March 23 by spettitt

[bryvzee]

Hi Spettitt, ok I'l give it a go, after my flight and report back.

Thanks for clearing that up, I had no idea how classes work, and I've been letting vector drop stuff in however it recommends it.

 

You speak about libraries that are not standard. Is there a fixture share / library share type site for these?

Seems interesting, I have custom libraries in Depence with clamps, accessories, and other nice little extras. Would be cool to have that in Vector.

 

Thank you so much.

Edited March 23 by bryvzee

[bryvzee]

Hi Spettitt, this worked great. Thank you! I managed to do it by layer, so i didnt have to mess with the classes, since i dont really understand them yet.

 

Much appreciated.