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 31]

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 31]

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 45]

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 169]

@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 69]

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 86]

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 69]

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 !