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Label Legend position bug


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Hi,

 

I wanted to create a set of 12 label legends. Each with an offset of 30 degrees to create a label legend for each hourly direction so to say. I checked the"non-Rotating" box on all of them as I wanted alle labels to be horizontally readable.

 

And so I did and I was happy with it until I tried my label Legend on other types of instruments. The positions of all the labels shifted. If I then go back to the label legend manager and change the instrument in the label legend layout with the one that is faulty, then the positions will become correct again, however then the previously correct instrument will become faulty again. So for some reason the label position will only be correct if the instrument is the sam as the one in the label legends layout. That should be the case should it?

 

I added screenshots of the correct situation, the faulty situation and of the label legend layout corresponding to the label legend at 4 o'clock. Anyone has any ideas here? Or is this a bug?

Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 15.39.30.png

Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 15.39.22.png

Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 15.43.17.png

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The rule with label legends as I understand it is this.....

  1. Labels outside the perimeter of the symbol are meant to "hug" the perimeter of whatever symbol they are used with at the same distance they are set up with in the label legend symbol. These will expand either in the X direction if they are set up to the side of the instrument symbol, or in the Y direction if they are set up at either the Top or the Bottom of the instrument symbol.
  2. Labels inside the symbol move in fixed or absolute X,Y measurements from the insertion point of the symbol.

 

What you are trying to achieve is partly possible. You have used a container and locked it to the insertion point of the symbol using a user field. That's a good idea. However it does not take into account rule 1. The text will move according to the symbol type you are using the legend with so you will never get the container to work with every type of instrument. The text will also not align properly either as you have stacked it in a rectangular fashion with some fields side by side and some above or below. If you can manage to make them all stack underneath one an other, then that might be easier.

 

This is just the way that label legends have been coded I'm afraid. You could make it work with 12, 3, 6 and 9 O'clock but the other numbers may be more problematic. Would it be easier to use your label format but allow the text to not be right reading and move around with the rotation of the lighting instrument?

 

I guess you have found a limitation with label legends. I don't think you have discovered a bug though.

Edited by markdd
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6 hours ago, markdd said:

The rule with label legends as I understand it is this.....

  1. Labels outside the perimeter of the symbol are meant to "hug" the Radial perimeter of whatever symbol they are used with at the same distance they are set up with in the label legend symbol. So think of it like a clock face around the insertion point.
  2. Labels inside the symbol move in fixed or absolute radial measurements from the insertion point of the symbol.

 

Thanks Mark,

 

I understand the rules. But I am wondering why there is a need for rule 1? Rule 2 could be sufficient for labels outside of symbol perimiters couldn't it?

 

And if so then I feel a request topic coming up soon. Perhaps two checkboxes could be added to the "edit fields" window, whether you want rule 1 or 2 applied or both

 

I have made the rotating legends also. However I don't want crew to be turning their heads and plots when they are building the project. I think the labels should be straight regardless of the focus of the instrument. 

 

I used the example of a circle, but I think the same count's for straight trusses with focussed instruments. I added two screenshots of how I think it should and shouldn't be. Straight is easier ofcourse, but in complicated and busy designs more label layouts are needed to achieve a readable plot. 

 

And as for stacking and rowing the labels it is very commonplace for universe and adress to be concatenated just as for Circuitnumber and name. So if label legend coding does not allow the precise positioning of label next to and above each other, then maybe another piece of code could allow us to concatenate two intrument record fields into one label?

 

What do you think? If vwx can come up with something, the we would all be saved countless of click and drags a year......

Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 20.28.00.png

Edited by Sebastiaan
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The problems you have are partly because you have labels side by side as well as above and below. However, try this as a start.

 

image.thumb.png.f99d87dbb646441a0e693167009f1ede.png

You just need to come up with a LL to take care of the instruments "North" of the centre line.

Label legends.vwx

 

I understand your frustration and there is probably a need for the capability of label legends to be updated. 

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5 minutes ago, markdd said:

The problems you have are partly because you have labels side by side as well as above and below. However, try this as a start.

 

 

You just need to come up with a LL to take care of the instruments "North" of the centre line.

Label legends.vwx

 

I understand your frustration and there is probably a need for the capability of label legends to be updated. 

Hey Mark,

 

When there are only 12 instruments in a circle then there is usually no hassle. Just sometimes these designers (yeah me too) need lights on all 4 cords of the truss and more, and that's when the frustration comes up.

 

I had already previously made a wishlist topic on Lable legends. Perhaps I should make that request more generic. The idea for that topic came from the "interpolated Surface" When editing an interpolated surface you can select and move multiple handles at once, like in the screenshot below. It would help so much if you could do that with the handles of instrument labels!

 

Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 21.04.37.png

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You have your understanding of the non-rotating setting a bit backwards.  What this setting means, is that the LL should always be in the same relationship to the light no matter what the light's orientation is.  (Looking at your examples, though, you may not have actually set the legend to non-rotating.  That WOULD be the solution for the units on the straight truss.)

 

What you want is to have the LL itself be rotating but to mark all the fields as right-reading, which means that the text will always rotate so it is horizontal.  Your label legend for the fixture at 6:00 is the easiest to configure.  As you may have found with trial and error, what you want is for the entire block to be right reading, but because each individual label rotates about its insertion point, the text blocks no longer line up.  Other than solving this with a script that tweaks label legend locations, you'll need three more label legends.

 

First, set all the legend text to have a center / center insertion point.

 

Duplicate the label legend three times.  You can do this in the resource browser.  You'll need one for 30, 60, and 90 degrees from vertical.  For each of the new legends, group the legends and container and rotate in the opposite direction of the legend designation (rotate around the center of the group, not the origin of the instrument / legend).  You should now be able to use the Flip options in each Lighting Devices Object Info to achieve all your orientations.

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2 hours ago, JBenghiat said:

You have your understanding of the non-rotating setting a bit backwards.  What this setting means, is that the LL should always be in the same relationship to the light no matter what the light's orientation is.  (Looking at your examples, though, you may not have actually set the legend to non-rotating.  That WOULD be the solution for the units on the straight truss.)

 

What you want is to have the LL itself be rotating but to mark all the fields as right-reading, which means that the text will always rotate so it is horizontal.  Your label legend for the fixture at 6:00 is the easiest to configure.  As you may have found with trial and error, what you want is for the entire block to be right reading, but because each individual label rotates about its insertion point, the text blocks no longer line up.  Other than solving this with a script that tweaks label legend locations, you'll need three more label legends.

 

First, set all the legend text to have a center / center insertion point.

 

Duplicate the label legend three times.  You can do this in the resource browser.  You'll need one for 30, 60, and 90 degrees from vertical.  For each of the new legends, group the legends and container and rotate in the opposite direction of the legend designation (rotate around the center of the group, not the origin of the instrument / legend).  You should now be able to use the Flip options in each Lighting Devices Object Info to achieve all your orientations.

Hi, I had made 12 non rotating Label Legends. One for each hourly direction.  Which is want I wanted to have.  

 

The example on the straight truss truss was just to explain why I don’t want labels to rotate with the focus of an instrument. 

 

I do do not want labels to rotate depending on focus. Is what you are explaining a different way to create a fixed label legend Position? What would happen if the focus of the instrument is 45 degrees? Instead of 30 or 60? 

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