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pytld

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I tried to insert an iris in a S4 instrument using the symbol insertion tool, but it doesn't get attached to the instrument.  When I move the instrument, it just stays there.  Same thing for other accessories.  They appear on the drawing, but not associated with the instrument.  I double-click on the iris to get the tool.  It does the same thing if I drag the iris from the Resources panel.  What am I doing wrong?

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I thought double clicking the accessory activated the tool.  When I do that and click the instrument it inserts the accessory.  I have to click a second time to set the orientation.  However, when I do that, the accessory doesn't seem to be associated with the instrument.  It's in the drawing, but not associated with the instrument.

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I find sometimes when inserting the accessory, that secondary click for its orientation messes up the insertion if you click anywhere inside the symbol.

 

When making the secondary click, I like to click outside the symbol to set the accessory's orientation, before clicking for a third time on the symbol itself to get it associated with the instrument. 

 

Gabriel

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Thanks.  I was clicking outside the instrument, but I forgot the third click for the association.  That fixed it!

 

Oops...  that fixed it for the iris.  I am trying to add an I-cue and it didn't fix that.  It didn't fix it for a template symbol either. 😞

 

Could it be that the instrument is a 2D/3D symbol and the accessory is 2D?  I see the iris is a 2D/3D symbol, but the Icue and template are 2D.

 

Edited by pytld
Add info on I-cue
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2 minutes ago, JBenghiat said:

I’m a big fan of using Sam Jones’ AutoPlot for adding accessories and devices. You can place accessories on multiple selected Lighting Devices with a menu command and avoid having to place and associate. 

Me too! I very rarely use the Accessory Insertion Tool

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Sorry for the really late reply.

 

Been busy getting my show to open. I've had a look at your file, and basically copied your I Cue symbol and one ETC S4 symbol to a new file.

If you refer to the snapshots I have attached:

 

You'll find that your existing I-Cue symbol Device Type = "Light" at the moment. This should be Accessory or Static Accessory for you to be able to associate the I Cue symbol with the lighting fixture.

 

Just change that to Static Accessory or Accessory and you shouldn't have any problem, as seen in the second snapshot.To do that, go to Spotlight > Reports > Lighting Symbol Maintenance.

 

Hope it wasn't too late!

 

Gabriel

 

Original I Cue Instrument Data.png

Accessory Snapshot.png

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It's never too late.  I learn something from every show.  I imported the I-cue for some earlier show, but I don't recall where I found it.  Next show it will be fixed... I hope.

 

Spotlight > Reports > Lighting Symbol Maintenance doesn't work for me.  Do you know what it is/was for 2012?  I found I can right-click on the instance of the I-cue > Edit, select "Light Information tab" and then change it to accessory, but that only works for the one instance, not the general case.  Right-clicking on the accessory in the resource browser doesn't get anywhere.  There is an "Edit" option, but that doesn't lead to the maintenance page.  It doesn't seem to be in the spotlight menu.  Google and Bing can't find it.  I'm sure it's blatantly obvious with five different ways to get there, but I just don't see it.

 

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The quick way to edit the symbol is to select it in the resource manager, Right-click on it and select "attach record". Select the Light Info Record and click edit values. There you can edit the device type and call it Accessory.

 

The Accessory Tool will HOPEFULLY see that now as an Accessory and do what you are expecting!

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3 hours ago, markdd said:

The quick way to edit the symbol is to select it in the resource manager, Right-click on it and select "attach record". Select the Light Info Record and click edit values. There you can edit the device type and call it Accessory.

 

The Accessory Tool will HOPEFULLY see that now as an Accessory and do what you are expecting!

 

@markdd is spot on. And I guess you're right @pytld it's never too late. There's always something to learn from this community!

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I selected the I-cue and right clicked.  There is no "attach record" but there is an "attach..."  that brings up a menu with "Light Info Record" as one of the options.  That option is already checked, but I select it and click "OK."  Nothing happens.  So I uncheck it.  Nothing happens.  I go back and check it again.  Nothing happens.  I'm back where I started and the I-cue is still not working.  When I select "Edit" I go to the 2D symbol (since I don't have a 3D) and under the "Data" tab, one of the Record Formats is "Light Info Record."  That seems promising so I check it and a bunch of empty "Record fields" appear below.  One of those is "Device Type"  I must be close on the trail!  But it won't let me fill in any device type.  This seems to be an output only field.  Clicking, double-clicking, right-clicking all have no effect. 

 

When I click the iris accessory and go to the edit, it shows object info with the type "Static Accessory."  It has some other fields filled in too.  I still can't edit from this menu, but I can see it has been updated.  I'm confident in one of the hundreds of menus there is a way to do it, but none of the obvious things that I would try do anything whatsoever.  Is this the one where you have to turn the monitor upside down and press the cntrl-shift-tab-esc-del simultaneously? 

 

I still don't see any way to access the Lighting Symbol Maintenance for the item in the Resource Browser.

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That’s why it looks a little different to what I described.

 

This is another way.

 

Find the symbol in the resource browser.

 

right click on it and select edit 2d or 3D it doesn’t matter which

 

when the edit window opens make sure you have NOTHING selected. Go to the object info palette and select the data tab. 

 

You should find  the light info record. Make sure it is selected and in the pane below, find the device type. Fill in the field with Accessory 

 

close the symbol edit window.

 

now your symbol will be an accessory and should work with the accessory tool.

 

I did this from memory so I hope it works!!

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That worked.  I went there before, but for some reason it wouldn't let me change it. 

Is there a difference between "Static Accessory" (which is the iris) and just plain old "Accessory?"

Now that I've inserted it, how do I set the channel/dimmer?  That is not in the Light Info Record. 

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The Light Info Record is only for default instrument data: type, wattage, etc. Data like channel or position is part of the Lighting Device data. 

 

An accessory is an item that would have its own data row in paperwork, usually something with power and / or DMX.  A static assory is a top hat,  barn door, iris, etc. A VW accessory = a LW Device and a VW static accessory = a LW accessory. 

 

FYI Lighting Symbol Maintenance was added for VW 2014. For versions prior

to 2014, you can find similarly functionality in my 3rd party Savvy Symbol Key plug-ins https://www.benghiatlighting.com/software/products/savvy-symbol-key

 

Editing data through the resource browser was added in 2017, I believe. Note that directly editing the Light Info Record in a symbol will not update existing Lighting Devices. You can always edit the data for each Lighting Device after it is placed, though attaching as accessories to other Lighting Devices isn’t as easy. 

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Is there a rectangle of sorts in place of where your I-Cue symbol is on your VWX file? I can't remember for sure but LW references the VWX symbol from one of the data fields - i.e. "3D Symbol Name", "Model Name" or "Inst Type". They need to tally so if you changed the name slightly in LW it syncs back to VWX and VWX would try to find the symbol to display on the drawing based on that new name. SO because it ca't find it, it displays a rectangle. If I'm not wrong, I think it references "Model Name".

 

Alternatively, you could just refresh your drawing and see if it works. I do remember markdd's way of editing symbols to get it to become an accessory back when I was on VWX2011, and it did work as intended with the then LW5.

 

Keep us posted!

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No rectangle.  I don't see it on the plot anywhere.  I didn't change anything, but did fill in some blank fields.  Maybe that caused the problem. 

I deleted it in LW and added it again.  This time I only put in a channel in LW and it seems ok.

 

Thanks

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