Truss Lighting Positions

[E221b]

The 1st Electric in my college's theater is basically a triangular truss on which we can hang instruments on all three pipes. When I create a triangular truss in VW it displays correctly. My questions are 1) Can a place instruments on each of the three pipes in the truss and how do I select which pipe an instrument goes on? (is it as simple as placing the instrument over the correct pipe?) 2) When I convert the truss into an lighting position (before placing instruments), will I still be able to use all three pipes and will it only show as one position on the plot? 3) Can I convert the truss into three seperate lighting positions that I can hang instruments on so my paperwork is clearer? Any help would be appreciated.

[bruce johansen]

in my experience it's

1- no/ you can't

2-yes but of no practical use/yes in the paperwork

3-no

make life easier on yourself. the reason for a 2d plot is to see the work that has to be done on stage. (represent an organized view of the objective: hanging it right)

with this in mind, make a 3d symbol of a pipe of the lenght of the truss, make 2 duplicates of that symbol in the object info palette . each will represent a side of the triangular truss. then rename them: trusstop d/s, trusstop up/s and truss bot.

now if you edit each one in the following manner, you will have a 2d plot that is readable and fairly clear and a 3d plot which is still usable to do a sideview for trim and other purpose.

edit trusstop d/s 2d symbol and move the pipe y=-3'

edit trusstop up/s 2d symbol and move the pipe y=3'

insert the symbols with the light position tool at the place were they are really.they will show 3' off in 2 cases , 3' should be enough to display the lamp + lamp info without interfering with each other . but in 3d will be in right place. good luck

[Swift]

Bruce's response is absolutely correct...but if you don't need to do 3D, you can do what I do. If I have to create a plot with a single truss that has lamps off both chords, I draw the truss using the truss tool (on the Lighting Positions Layer), then draw lines following the chords and convert the lines to Lighting Positions (e.g. US chord & DS chord). I draw on all the lights I need, then when I'm done, I edit the Lighting Symbol positions and make the lines white, then move them to the back so they vanish. The line is still there, just white, but the lights have correct position info, and the lighting position label and info displays and prints correctly.

[Jackmine11]

Thanks