Exporting X: coordinates

[Pudge]

One of the things that i've never liked about LW is that you cannot export x coordinates from VW. This is a handy column I try to use in my instrument schedules to show distance from center. Does anyone know how to export this, without having to type in the distance for every instrument into a user field?

[Petri]

I have no idea what you are exactly referring to, but I'd imagine that x/y coordinates are quite easy to export with a worksheet: functions

=XCENTER

=YCENTER

yield the centre locations of anything.

Distance from center? Sorry, what center? Distances from a point are generally something else than just "x" - so obviously I have no idea of what you're trying to do and should just shut up...

Any kind of reporting from VW just happens to be one of my hobbies.

[SAR]

I was looking for the same thing a couple of years ago and

Joshua Benghiat of Autoplot tools for VW created one that will put all the x coordinates in the user 1 or 2 field. You might try to contact him.

[David Ormsby]

Petri

Generally when creating a stage plot all dimensions are based on a center line. Especially with a touring event, this is the only constant.

It would be nice if PIO Instrument tool had fields for position. I tried putting the =xcenter into one of the user fields, but VW just treats it as text whether or not I used the SL report or a custom report.

Pudge - one tool I use is included in the Autoplot for Spotlight tools (AutoplotVW.com) that will add an ordinate dimension to the drawing for every instrument. Mucks up the plot a bit, but can be very handy.

[Petri]

OK, I get it. Sort of.

If the Origin is at this centre line, =XCENTER (as a formula in a worksheet database/report!) should do the job.

If, however, one does a "database export" (ie dumps the PIO info just as it is) a script may indeed be needed.

Anyway, since this is the way the industry works, I'm surprised that the Instrument PIO does not write the coordinate value into a field. It is, after all, only two lines of code... Something like

GETSYMLOC(me, xCoord, yCoord);

SETRFIELD(me, myName, xCoordField, NUM2STR(xCoord));

[Ericoxer]

I've been trying to write a vectorscript that does this, but since this is my first try at writing one, i havent gotten very far.

My idea is to have the script select each instrument (based on either the UID or the LW unique id) and copy the x coordinate to a user field.

Any suggestions?

[Petri]

Actually, the above VS lines (appropriately fixed & modified) should do exactly that even in a separate script. "Me" is the handle to the object, "myName" is the name of the PIO, "xCoordField" is the field you want the data to be written to.

[Jim_Allen]

We already get those measurement

Since we all work from the CL & PL...

If you set the layer origin 0,0 at junction of the center line and plaster line, then in the OIP every instrument has an X, y and Z value. the X from the center line, the Y from the Plaster line.

[SAR]

The script that I currently use, obtained from Joshua Benghiat, inserts all of the instrument X coordinates into user field one.They show up as (-#) if they are SR of center. This is then exported to LW and matched to whatever text column desired. Since the script currently inserts the X coordinates for all intrumnent's, there are positions such as box booms,multi cir lamps,etc that are usually not needed in Lightwright. These of course can be edited out as desired.

[Ericoxer]

Jim-

I usually do set my x/y to 0,0 at the center and plaster, im just looking for a way to export the dynamic x,y of each instrument out to LW.

BTW, i've never really had a chance to thanky uo for all the help you've provided me with the past few issues i've had. I appreciate all the time you've put in (particularly the alst LW issue i had).

sross-

do you have the ability to maybe send me a copy of this script?

[Petri]

eboxhead,

Have you tried a report?

[Ericoxer]

Petri-

I just tried creating a report in spotlight, unfortunately the x,y parameters are not an option.

[Petri]

Eric,

Add a column, put the formula =XCENTER to the "header row" in that column and see what happens.

[Petri]

Had a spare 5 minutes. As expected, the formulae work.

[David Ormsby]

I gave this a shot as well, and using the "create report" command it does indeed work.

The thing I can't see how to do is get the "=xcenter" data back into the OIP and connected to each fixture, so that it can travel to Lightwright through the Spotlight "export instrument data" command, as well as being available in the Lable Legend manager for printing on the finished plot.

Perhaps the rumoured script sross has.....

[Petri]

This is getting totally ridiculous! We have Instrument Objects with x/y locations. We can report the locations - but we can't export them? For goodness sake...

Please tell me HOW these locations need to be exported. (And what the heck is Lightwright?)

Never mind. I tried. If neither graphical export (eg. DXF) nor text-only (like a text report that can contain every detail, location, dimension etc of these precious Instruments) works, I have no idea what would. There are no options left. Hey - why don't you try to get this Lightwright to accept data in

- graphical format (a.k.a. drawing);

- data format (a.k.a. report); or, if neither can be done

- spatial database format (a.k.a. GIS).

There ARE no more options that I know of. VW can provide any and all of them.

Sorry that I got involved.

[Petri]

Goodness me... The above is out of line...

However, if what is needed is a text file, that can be created with a worksheet report, then exported as text.

[Ericoxer]

Wow . . . i just had a minute to try what you suggested . . . i have no idea what just happened here . . .

anycase, the =xcenter thing does work to a useful state.

[Petri]

Glad to hear it worked. What happened is that you used the functionality of VW as it should be used...

This approach is much safer than a script that puts the location into a "user field", because one may forget to run the script.

[Sam Jones]

Actually, SROSS got the script from me Sam Jones, the developer of AutoPlot Tools for SpotLight (APSL) and AutoPlotVW, www.autoplotvw.com. Joshua Benghiat is a lighting designer and talented vectorscript programmer who wrote Beam Draw and Plot Tools; more on those later. The macro I sent put the X coordinate in a user field. Petri is correct about the possibility of forgetting to use the macro before exporting. However, exporting a worksheet to Lightwright(LW) is of limited value, because LW and SpotLight(SL) handle accessories and devices in completely different manners. Special processing is needed to correctly go to LW. SL provides a special export function for LW, but it does not include the X coordinate as an option. APSL has an export function to LW that exports the X coordinate without using up a user field. This does not display on the plot at all. In APSL, there are dimensioning tools and tools for cleaning up fixture placement (avoiding dimensions like 5'-4 5/8") for placing dimensions on the plot.

By the way, Josh Benghiat's "Beam Draw" tool is very cool and can display par beams with their correct shape. You can use this tool with or without SL, www.benghiatlighting.com

Josh's "Plot Tools" and my "AutoPlotVW" are systems for making light plots that are completely separate from SpotLight.