Why do fixture requests take over a year now?

[sbarnett]

I submitted a request over a year ago. The request is CD-4733.

 

Add 68 channel mode to an existing symbol.

 

The reply I received when asking for an update after a month, Last March,

 

Unfortunately, I cannot offer a timeframe because the request has been sent to the Vision team and they have quite the backlog of requests. If you reach out to Tech Support, they may be able to elevate the request to get production started sooner as they can add urgency to the ticket.

 

Guess the Answer is more than a Year.... and going up.....

 

[jcogdell]

Sorry i can't help with the Vision fixture request directly but here's the GDTF file for the Color Strike M, which includes the 68ch mode. It should work in both Vision and Showcase.
 

Chauvet_Professional@Color_Strike_M@Rev_1.0.8.gdtf

[sbarnett]

1 hour ago, jcogdell said:

Sorry i can't help with the Vision fixture request directly but here's the GDTF file for the Color Strike M, which includes the 68ch mode. It should work in both Vision and Showcase.
 

Chauvet_Professional@Color_Strike_M@Rev_1.0.8.gdtf 779.92 kB · 0 downloads

I do not need Vision or Showcase.

 

I want to use the DMX patching tool to Patch the fixtures in the correct mode with out setting the fixture type to none and set 68ch manually.

and waiting a year for this for something that used to only take a few days to week is a bit much.

 

GDTF is still broken for my workflow. Is screws up more than it tries to fix when trying to patch fixtures.

GDTF is the highest order over the default footprint. and if you apply GDTF you can have a fixture with 2 setting that do not match and will not auto update. All reporting worksheets and data pull from fixture data that does not get auto updated when you apply a GDTF profile.

 

I will not be holding my breath for this fix.

 

 

Edited March 4 by sbarnett
more context

[sbarnett]

I would also point out the avoidance of a meaningful response to the question asked.

 

Why does it take over a year now?

 

And what is the expected timeline for the requests?

[JustinVanHassel]

Vectorworks Fixture Requests and Vision/Showcase modes are two different request pools that go to two different teams. If you choose a Vectorworks Fixture Request that team will make a Spotlight symbol and link it to a GDTF device if available at the time of release and then deploy that fixture into an update of the English International version of the current version of Vectorworks. There are no fixture modes created for Vectorworks Fixture Requests. Some users simply want a 2D fixture because they are making a plot for a Broadway show and have no desire for previz. If a Vision/Showcase mode is requested then the fixture will be released with a Vision content update and include the mode that is requested. If a Spotlight Fixture Request is received and the user is asking for a Vision mode the request is forwarded to the Vision team once the Spotlight Fixture Request portion is completed so they can use the Spotlight symbol as a starter for geometry when making the modes. The two teams do not stay in sync on modes vs. symbols because our releases take place on different schedules with different internal architecture for deployment.

 

As far as a timeframe, we cannot offer any timeframe or even a guarantee of development. All content that is released in the English International version of the software must have a signed agreement from the manufacturer in order to be developed through our Content Partnership Program. Sometimes, the manufacturer is not interested and never return our emails or phone calls and they do not attend any trade shows so we cannot get ahold of someone to begin the discussion of a partnership. Without the agreement the request will not be fulfilled and will be closed. Before we close the request though we exhaust all possibilities, even sometimes asking the requestor to give us their sales rep's information to get our foot in the door. Other times the data is not ready and finalized by the manufacturer and they ask us to hold off on releasing until they finalize the data and then provide us approval for release.

 

Expanding on the timeframe further all requests are put into a queue for development once agreements are in place. The queue is more like a pool than a traditional queue because there is no FIFO model being used. It is instead an ever evolving flexible pool whose priorities change weekly and sometimes daily depending what is happening in the engineering department or the marketing department and what data we are able to get from the manufacturer. There is also the product development cycle which begins in early fall to determine what is going to be done for the next major release of the software which really ramps up in the middle of spring. This product cycle plays a heavy part on changes to the queue as there are many teams and departments involved in it. The priorities are an ever moving target throughout the year even though content is scheduled 4-6 months out. Something that is scheduled for release in Update 3 may need to shift to Update 4 or even Update 5 because of a pressing priority or major bug that is discovered that requires the shifting of teams and resources. Once a ticket for content/requests has been marked resolved in our internal system that means work is complete and the version that is stated is when it will get released. Tech support is able to see this information if they know the ticket number.

 

I know that this is not what you would like to hear but that is the reasoning behind not being able to offer any timeframe. There are many moving targets happening all at once and factors beyond our control that change the schedule and the order of things in the queue. I know that the Vision portion of the service used to offer a three business day timeframe but that is no longer feasible and that language has been removed from the form. There are going to be some changes to the Fixture Request form to more clearly state the purpose of the form and to state that if you need Previz/Vision/Showcase/Fixture Modes that you must choose the Vision/Previz dropdown and not the Vectorworks Symbol so that it is more clear to the user which they need to choose for their type of request.

 

Apologies for the lengthy response without a resolution.

[mjm]

@JustinVanHassel I do appreciate your lengthy reply as it fills in many data holes & clarifies the many moving parts , individuals & groups with input on the VWX side alone

[JustinVanHassel]

I just updated my Vision libraries and the 68 channel mode is available. 

[sbarnett]

1 hour ago, JustinVanHassel said:

I just updated my Vision libraries and the 68 channel mode is available. 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I am confused now....

 

I have checked this file on another device my Desktop PC when I got home. I open the file and it does reflect the fixture with the 68 mode.

I did not have to refresh the library on the PC to have the correct modes listed.

 

feeling stupid

 

I went back to my MacBook Pro and updated the libraries with refresh in the drop down. I replaced the fixtures in the file with the symbol from the refreshed resource manager and still no 68mode.

 

I then open a new empty file insert the symbol from the vectorworks lib and I get no 68 mode.

 

 

I can open this new file created on the Mac that shows no 68 mode and when on PC it has the mode.

what would cause the same file to display different modes on PC v Mac if symbol is saved in file?

 

If it is an old symbol or a wrong version, should I not get the same result on either platform?

 

Both PC and Mac are v3.1 2025

I refreshed the resource mgr only on the Mac and I get the same result after update.

The refresh command on the mac did not give any indication the it failed or did not update.

 

Is there another step I am missing in this loop?

 

 

 

 

[klinzey]

The available fixture modes are not stored with the file or the symbol, they are part of the application.
This data is common between Vectorworks and Vision so it's stored in a common location that can be accessed by both applications.
The Vision library updater is in control of updating the information as these files are critical to the operation of Vision and updates are done between releases.
The updated data you are looking for is not yet included with the default installation of Vectorworks but it is available as a library update in Vision.
It looks like you have updated Vision library on Windows but not on the Mac. 

[sbarnett]

15 minutes ago, klinzey said:

The available fixture modes are not stored with the file or the symbol, they are part of the application.
This data is common between Vectorworks and Vision so it's stored in a common location that can be accessed by both applications.
The Vision library updater is in control of updating the information as these files are critical to the operation of Vision and updates are done between releases.
The updated data you are looking for is not yet included with the default installation of Vectorworks but it is available as a library update in Vision.
It looks like you have updated Vision library on Windows but not on the Mac. 

 

This resolved the issue.

I have to install a program that I am not using, to get a program I am using to function as expected.

Not an intuitive workflow but I guess it's a workflow.

 

Thanks for the quick answer.

 

Is this documented somewhere?