Flowcharts for Speakers

[Gert Sanner 0]

Hi there,

I am in the process of getting Vectorworks for myself. I am a Sound-engineer and wonder if I can use the Cable Tool in VW Spotlight to do Speaker cable Flowcharts.

In an Ideal world I would like to run it like the lampies. I am not deep enough into it yet to figure that out myself. 

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Edited December 27, 2016 by Gert Sanner

[Sam Jones 162]

I'm a lighting designer, so I am unfamiliar with Speaker cable flow charts and lampies.  Can you send me file and/or a description of what you want to do?  I am quite familiar with the cable tools.

 

Sam

 

Samuel L. Jones
Developer of AutoPlot Tools for SpotLight
E-mail: sjones@autoplotvw.com

[Gert Sanner 0]

Hi Sam,

Thank you for looking into this. I would like to generate plans that look like the picture. Obviously a lot more accurate and detailed.

I hope the Idea is obvious?

[Sam Jones 162]

The quick answer is yes.  The long answer is a bunch of questions

You will have to draw the paths yourself, but you can get a lot of information from them.  Given that you have to draw the paths yourself, what information would you want?  Typically,  stage electricians doing lighting want:

 

How long is the cable path?

What cable inventory is needed?

        How much of what needs to pulled from the  shop or rented?

What is the voltage drop?

 

As for drawing the paths, Vectorworks has a lot of good tools to make this easy and accurate.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

HTH,

Sam

 

Samuel L. Jones
Developer of AutoPlot Tools for SpotLight
E-mail: sjones@autoplotvw.com

 

 

[Gert Sanner 0]

Thank you very much Sam,

I think I will go ahead and buy the software now. That was the last open question. 

Cheers for now and I am sure more questions will come up.

 

 

 

 

[RickR 57]

One of my first thoughts when seeing how Marionette works, that it would be a great flow charting tool. The way the mesh lines connect and stay connected as you move stuff around is ideal.

 

I believe that there are some good electrical tools in Architect, but I've never really investigated. Might be suitable for schematics.

[michaelk 468]

@Gert SannerDepending on how complicated your systems are you may find http://connectcad.com helpful.  It's overkill for simple systems, but indispensable for larger systems.

 

mk

[Gert Sanner 0]

Thank you everyone. Very kind and and very useful answers. Will start investigating this. It seems that VW has more options then others on this specific issue. Thats great news.

 

cheers and happy new year

[Peter Neufeld 231]

Here's a little hidden secret that you might enjoy.

 

In fact it's my no 1 Vectorworks 'Easter egg".

 

Go to the Workspace Editor>Tools>Text and add the Flowchart Node and Flowchart Link to your workspace. It's ideal for schematics!

 

The great thing is that you can use symbols as the nodes or just use the shapes supplied. Easy-peasy to use. Move one node and the links all 'rubber band' with it, all editable. You can add text etc etc.

 

In my rather pathetic attempt in the image I enclose, (sorry I'm a LD) the pictures are symbols and I've just linked them into the flowchart. So Vectorworks is Definitely the way to go, you'll never get bored only amazed!

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

[Gert Sanner 0]

Thanks Peter, That is ace.!

[Andrew Davies 141]

Oh my days - how long has this been in Vectorworks?  I do flowcharts / schematics often - this is going to be a life saver.  Why didn't I know about this before?!  Only been using VWX for 10 years!

Seriously - does anyone know when it was introduced?

Thanks so much @Peter Neufeld !

 

 

[Peter Neufeld 231]

Andrew,

I can only get back as far as version 12 (not 2012 - version 12 released 2005!).

They are available in that version and if I recall even earlier versions.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[jmellars 0]

Holy cow!! How have I never heard of this before!!

 

Thanks @Peter Neufeld !

[nakedeye 5]

I've used ConnectCad for a few years now and use it for designing a control & data layout in all my lighting plots. It would certainly work for audio.

[scottmoore 317]

Great tip Peter!!

 

Quick tip for drawing connecting lines as I end up doing this kind of thing all the time.  I used to draw horizontal and vertical lines that overlapped and used the Trim Tool to slice the lines to the specific length. The problem is, you end up with all kinds of bits to delete assuming your intersecting lines are intersecting more than just themselves. Now I use the Fillet tool and set the Fillet radius pretty small so as to be unnoticeable. Now when you connect two lines this way, there are no additional lines to delete. You can also connect lines that don’t even come close to intersecting. It makes these kinds of drawings go very quickly. 

 

 

[halfcoupler 37]

Wow ! using VW for 15 years now, never found that tool !

Great way to make "quick&dirty" cable plans for smaller jobs...

[Sam Jones 162]

The flow charting tools are cool, but for even "quick&dirty" cable plans, I don't think there as convenient or as powerful as Spotlight's cable objects.