Copying or Sharing the Audio Tools' Library

[C. Andrew Dunning]

Greetings from Landru Design!

We've gotten several questions recently about the best way to share the speaker and bumper Library created by either Landru Design's Audio ToolSet 2 or the Spotlight Speaker and Speaker Array tools. Therefore, here is a little info that might be helpful:

1) The same Library is used by both the Landru Design and Spotlight versions of the tools - regardless of which tool and regardless of the Vectorworks version you're using. For example, the Library you created when running AudioArray 2 in Vectorworks 2009 is still usable when running AudioBox 2 in Vectorworks 2014.

2) The audio tools do not place any pre-built objects. All of the geometry you see is created by the tools on-the-fly based on the dimensions you enter in either the AudioBox 2/Speaker OIP or the AudioArray 2/Speaker Array "Configure Array?" dialog. Once you get speaker and bumper configurations that you like, you can then save them to the tools' Library using the appropriate buttons in the OIP and "Config?" dialog. Note, no actual geometry is being stored; only the data (dimensions and the like). That Library information is stored in "AudioToolSetData.xml" found in "?\Libraries\Defaults\Audio Tools" (in either your main application folder or your User folder). The speakers and bumpers in that file then show up in the appropriate "Type" pop-up menus for future use.

3) The easiest way to "bring forward" or to share speaker and bumper settings with your team is simply to copy the xml file - either to the same folder in the newer Vectorworks installation or to another computer. Just remember that doing so will over-write the "sharee's" library, which might contain his/her custom elements.

4) Another option is to create a drawing containing speaker and array instances configured the way you want them. Then, open that file in your newer Vectorworks version or share that file with your team, using the "Add To Library" functions in the tools to add your elements to your/his/her library.

3) The audio tools also have the ability to import speaker and bumper data from outside files. The tools are looking for files in "Libraries\Defaults\Audio Tools\Bumpers" and "Libraries\Defaults\Audio Tools\Speakers." These folders are where specially-formatted speaker and bumper Symbols reside. "Specially-formatted" has nothing to do with the Symbols' geometry. "Specially-formatted" has to do with the record (either "__ATS-SpkrModData" or "__ATS-BumpModData") attached to those Symbols. You bring those Symbols' data into your drawing by using the "Import?" item at the bottom of the "Type" pop-up lists in the OIP and "Config?" dialog. Note, that function is not doing anything at all with the Symbols' geometry. It is simply grabbing the data and adding it to your Library. None of the speakers or bumpers in the files in these folders will show up in your Type pop-ups until you "Import?"

I don't have any "how-to" information on creating those Symbols, yet. Your best bet is to open one of the files, edit one of the Symbols it contains, and look at how the fields of the attached record are populated.

I hope that some of this makes sense and is helpful to those of you trying to figure this out.