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Par64 rotation notation in label legend


jomer

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I generally just drop a symbol on top of each PAR, often attaching them as an accessory so that they stay with the PAR. However this can create a problem when moving data between LW and VW.

The other solution that I have tried with some success is using Unicode characters. It can take a little bit of work to set it up, but it allows you to use the field of your choice, and you can treat it like any other label legend field.

Here's what I did: Go to Microsoft Word and in any document, go to the Insert Symbol menu command. This will bring up a symbol dialogue box. I use 'Monotype Sorts' characters 214 and 215, also known as Unicode characters 61654 and 61655. This gives you a up/down and a left/right arrow. (If you want a diagonal arrow, there are some other choices)

Once you find a character you like, go ahead and insert it into the Word document. Then copy this symbol from Word into a text block in Vectorworks.

You will then need to put your label legend field of choice (I use User Field 1) into the label legend you use for your PAR cans. Then edit your label legend, place the field where you want it on your lighting symbol, and change the font to be Monotype Sorts (or whatever font will correctly display your arrows).

After exiting you will need to copy the appropriate arrow into the field for each PAR can on the Object Info palette. (Or you can set up a keyboard shortcut to make it quicker) It will display as something different on the palette, but should display correctly on your PAR can.

There are other ways of achieving the same end result (like creating separate PAR symbols for each lamp axis, or creating different label legends with an added graphical element for each lamp axis variation), but this puts the arrow in the label legend and doesn't clutter your file with lots of unnecessary symbols.

hope this helps

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When I use just an arrow and drop it onto the PAR symbol, I usually have to play with the arrowhead and line settings to make it look right. Try making the line longer and the arrowhead smaller.

Once I have what I want, I turn it into a symbol so I can drop and rotate it however it needs to be.

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