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Global Lighting Device edit issue


mjm

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I wish that when I make a selection of all of a set of lighting fixtures in a 2018 Spotlight document, I could choose "Edit Light…" in the right click menu and enter an intensity value for all selected. The menu options are there, but when the action is performed nothing happens except to the fixture listed in the name field.

Perhaps I am doing it wrong. Please see the attached movie to better understand my question. All solutions gratefully received.

 

 

WHY.mp4

Edited by mjm
compressed the video file
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Guest Yordan Kostadinov

It seems that this dialog doesn't support multiple selection. For multiple objects you can use the Visualization Palette, but you have to manually select each of the lights.

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3 hours ago, Yordan Kostadinov said:

It seems that this dialog doesn't support multiple selection. For multiple objects you can use the Visualization Palette, but you have to manually select each of the lights.

Yes, exactly. You have to manually select each of the lights and enter a value in a field. Tedious in the extreme. And why does the "Edit Light…" sheet not retain it's last position/dimension set by user? Having to scroll down a semi-hidden sheet to find the relevant field is not workflow-positive. Carpal Tunnel here we come!

Oy. Why?

This is not the first time I and others have discussed that question:

 

I use Spotlight to generate renders for my Dance, Theater and Event clients. The renders I generate serve a few purposes, one of which is to say 'what you see is what I can deliver'. In service of this notion, I do not use photoshop to enhance renders, except to use the lens correction tool. 

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This has been an ongoing request. The same applies to the "lit fog" toggle and probably every other parameter in that window. Very frustrating. My workaround is simply to get one light set up the way I want and then duplicate. Once duplicated you can add gobos, change color and focus points. 

 

There re is a thread running in the wishlist section about major improvements needed for Spotlight and it goes way beyond this. Spotlight needs a serious overhaul. 

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19 hours ago, scottmoore said:

This has been an ongoing request. The same applies to the "lit fog" toggle and probably every other parameter in that window. Very frustrating. My workaround is simply to get one light set up the way I want and then duplicate. Once duplicated you can add gobos, change color and focus points. 

 

There re is a thread running in the wishlist section about major improvements needed for Spotlight and it goes way beyond this. Spotlight needs a serious overhaul. 

++++++++++++++++++

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Two things that need to be addressed immediately (IMO of course) is the desire to make changes to multiple fixtures as the OP is suggesting and the ability to add pan and tilt values manually without always having to use focus points. Good lord that gets so tedious. I also tend to think it slows down re-draws and may have something to do with the need to often refresh instruments. I have no way to prove this, but if I create a generic lighting symbol without turning it into a lighting device, redraws are much, much faster. 

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Hello mjm,

I agree with your observations and likely request that in the Lighting Device Edit dialogue>Light Information pane it would be good to have the following:

 

Light 'on'

Light 'off'

Light intensity slider and field.

 

Then with multiple instruments selected the user could make their choice and click the 'Apply to All" button at the bottom of the dialogue. Much nicer than the somewhat fiddly Visualisation Palette plus it allows users to make the selection separately.

 

Scott - out of interest do you have many viewports showing lighting devices? This could be one reason for slowness as the instruments get redrawn in the viewports I think.

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Often I do have multiple design layer viewports and I am sure that this is an issue with redraw. I accept that as the nature of using DLVPs. Good call by the way. 

 

I do do a lot of extremely large scale renders for stadiums and occasionally larger venues. When doing these it requires a lot of lighting fixtures to look like anything worthwhile. In those instances I have generally not needed DLVPs as the goal was to see the entire site as opposed to some complicated stage rig. When changing views I can often watch the processor draw out each lighting fixture. My solution for these renders is to create "dumb" lighting symbols. These are simply hybrid symbols with a pre determined focus angle and color. I drop them in the drawing and rotate as required. Much faster when you are needing dozens of active lights in a rendering. Not ideal but WAY faster. 

Edited by scottmoore
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20 hours ago, Peter Neufeld said:

Hello mjm,

I agree with your observations and likely request that in the Lighting Device Edit dialogue>Light Information pane it would be good to have the following:

 

Light 'on'

Light 'off'

Light intensity slider and field.

 

Then with multiple instruments selected the user could make their choice and click the 'Apply to All" button at the bottom of the dialogue. Much nicer than the somewhat fiddly Visualisation Palette plus it allows users to make the selection separately.

 

Scott - out of interest do you have many viewports showing lighting devices? This could be one reason for slowness as the instruments get redrawn in the viewports I think.

Scott and Peter: Thanks, I completely agree with your points on this topic.

 

Edited by mjm
removed snark
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5 hours ago, Sam Jones said:

I have found that I can enter values in the OIP while multiple units are selected and have what I type applied to all selected Lighting Devices.  You might try the same thing in any applicable dialog.

Sam; In the OIP itself, there is nowhere to set an intensity value for spotlight fixtures (unless I am missing something, which is entirely possible).

I urge you to attempt that process with the "Edit Light…" context menu  choice. I think you'll find it does not work.

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On 10/2/2017 at 10:25 AM, Sam Jones said:

I have found that I can enter values in the OIP while multiple units are selected and have what I type applied to all selected Lighting Devices.  You might try the same thing in any applicable dialog.

Sam,

That is indeed true and works for a lot of parameters, but not for turning lights on and off (which, of course one can do from the visualization palette), enabling lit fog or adjusting intensity. It seems a quite tedious that these functions are only available one light at a time. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Yordan Kostadinov

Hello all,

 

This issue is fixed for the upcoming Vectorworks 2018 SP2. The Edit Light.. context menu will apply for all selected Lighting Devices. For multiple selection in the dialog you will have visualized the selection toggle buttons. It works like multiple edit from the Visualization palette.

 

Regards,

Yordan Kostadinov

Edited by Yordan Kostadinov
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/13/2017 at 0:45 PM, Yordan Kostadinov said:

Hello all,

 

This issue is fixed for the upcoming Vectorworks 2018 SP2. The Edit Light.. context menu will apply for all selected Lighting Devices. For multiple selection in the dialog you will have visualized the selection toggle buttons. It works like multiple edit from the Visualization palette.

 

Regards,

Yordan Kostadinov

That sound like marvelous news!  

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