Can an Incandescent Fixture be edited?

[Mr.D]

Being that work has s l o w e d in the office, I thought it would be a perfect time to really explore the capabilities of VW_2008. I am a little disappointed with how complicated some of the more advanced interfaces can be (although they seem to be improving). One of the ones I am struggling with is editing PIO's. The electrical PIO's (i.e. switches, receptacles, & fixtures) are great with the exception of their graphical appearance.

Is there any way to edit the graphics of a PIO for a switch or receptacle or fixture?

IE: If I place an incandescent fixture and designate it as a wall sconce, the "arm" of the symbol extends too far from the wall. I do not want to scale it, because the other shapes are just right.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Tim,

No. The graphics for the electrical symbol PIOs are "hard-coded"; that is, they are actually drawn by the code, rather than being symbol-based. This code is not readily available to users. But, I'm happy to get input from our users to pass it along to our engineers.

How far is "too far"? I ask because I'm interested in aligning the 2D graphics for objects like electrical symbols with the ANSI/ISO/NECA standards. While the standards don't actually specify distances/sizes, they indicate relative scale of all parts/lines/shapes to each other.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jeffrey W Ouellette

[gmm18]

Maybe should have an option in the PIO, something like:

"Use custom graphics"

Then you can pick a symbol from your resource browser to be used in-place of the hard-coded PIO for that type of object (switch, receptacle, etc.)

The benefit would be that it looks exactly how you want it to look,

but it still has all of the appropriate record data and options available

in the PIO, so it is still BIM in that sense.

[Mr.D]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply.

Our office works with custom residential in Austin, TX. Our drawing standards do not need the specificity of the organizations you mentioned. In fact, I like to actually draft a symbol of the fixture that is spec'd (i.e. a Modern Fan Co. ceiling fan to its exact dims...). It is great to have the ANSI/ISO/NECA standards as presets, but it would be even better if there was a custom symbol feature similar to the one "gmm18" describes in this thread.

Also, an "electrical legend" tool would be a fantastic time-saver! It could be similar to a worksheet that incorporated symbols or images.

[billtheia]

Also, an "electrical legend" tool would be a fantastic time-saver! It could be similar to a worksheet that incorporated symbols or images.

Now THAT is a great idea!

BTW - windows (and doors?) already let you do what you're talking about - swapping in a symbol for PIO display.

[TimG]

I know this is an old topic... and I am assuming things have not changed much for VW2011... i guess I am going to make our office standard not use the incandescent tool just because of this reason, but rather use symbols with attached records to get the graphical look we want... but it would be very helpful if you could choose a custom symbol graphic for the fixtures similar to how window object work...

[Tom Klaber]

I would like to second this. It would be a hugely useful tool if it could be customized to allow the use of office made symbols. I am trying to push our office to use more of the automated scheduling features of VW - and a lighting schedule along with a workable light fixture tool would be a HUGE addition.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Tom Klaber

[Taproot]

An old topic ... but still relevant.

 

Even without custom symbols, this tool could be dramatically improved just by centering the label text.

Currently, the "Config Label" is hard coded to a left hand alignment.  Please change Ior offer the option) to center alignment.

 

Since they are circles, the text looks best in the center.  Every time we tweak one of these or change the scale of the text, etc, we have to manually re-center each one.

 

Example image showing the '"R" recessed option by default (above)

and the "RD" (recessed directional) applied via the Config. Label.

 

Thanks