mjm Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 So, it appears that the virtual shutters in Spotlight 2015 are not ready for prime time. I find that when moving the focussed, shuttered fixture (sometimes) crashes VW 2015. Or when moving the Focus Point the same behavior occurs. I (want to) use the shutters for proof-of-concept renders, very useful tool when it works, but the downtime and frustration I have experienced with this feature has been heartbreaking. I have attached a file (foo3) containing a light, a focus point object and that's it. I have found that it crashes as reliably as the full blown stage sets and lighting I design. If I am doing something which promotes the bad behavior above, I'd love to know, because this feature is important to me. Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 I'm able to edit the shutters, move the fixture, move the focus point. No crashes. Strange. mk Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 Hmm. That's cool. But: Just for fun I just downloaded the file above and opened VW 2015 SP2 and moved the focus point and BAM! Crash-Ola. For those who are interested, I have attached the crash report (Foo3_crashreport.txt) Any thoughts? thx & happy holidays Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted December 26, 2014 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted December 26, 2014 They have already caught this one and it will be fixed ASAP. Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 Jim: that's actually one of the better holiday gifts I have received this year. Thank you and the engineers! Quote Link to comment
JBenghiat Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 A non-answer answer, but you may be interested in Beam Draw 4. It will show you any cuts and focus you can imagine, and doesn't require pre-defined focus points. It properly visualizes elliptical PAR beams as well. http://www.benghiatlighting.com/software/products/beam-draw-4 -Josh Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Josh, yes it does and I am enjoying the use for planning purposes already. But for rendering, I am out in the cold (or do I mean dark or both), unless/until you provide configurable light emitting sources to go with your wonderful shuttering tools. Can't wait! Quote Link to comment
JBenghiat Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Beam Draw 4 includes an option to show a rendering light (BD3 did as well, but it didn't work as smoothly). Beam draw masks the light with any shutter cuts. As with Spotlight, the light appears in the Visualization palette, and you need to render in a Renderworks mode to see the shutters. BD4 also transfers and (optionally) synchronizes shutter cuts when you convert a Beam object to a Lighting Device. Unfortunately, certain combinations of parameters will still crash Spotlight when the Lighting Device's beam is turned on. -Josh Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Josh—I did not know that. Thanks and am eager to try it. Have to get through a show first... I'll let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment
Daniel B. Chapman Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Is there an ETA on this fix? And does this occur in 2014 (not that I want to back-save the work at the office). I'm teaching this module to my students in three weeks and I am hoping it works. I've posted a stack-trace here if you're still trying to figure it out. http://pastebin.com/rXN3kmn8 -Daniel B. Chapman Quote Link to comment
Ethan R. Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Having the issue BIG TIME today March 4th - is there a fix ????? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted March 5, 2015 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 5, 2015 No ETA yet, patches like these have to come in the service packs, which need to go through testing and QA approval first, so it takes awhile. I have not seen reports of this issue in 2014. Quote Link to comment
Chris Gentry Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 (edited) May be tied into this same issue... this morning, I'm using a light with a custom gobo and when I change brightness of the light I get a crash. Edit: I just crashed changing brightness on a basic spotlight in the same file. :cry: Edited March 5, 2015 by Chris Gentry Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee klinzey Posted March 5, 2015 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 5, 2015 The crashing when editing the light brightness is a separate issue and being investigated, I don't know if it has been fixed yet. The problem affects all lights (not just lighting devices) on the Mac only. Quote Link to comment
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