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Importing Equipment


Chris_W

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Hello -- 

 

New to VWX here, sorry for an obvious question...

 

I've started drawing basic events, and I'd like to start incorporating specific equipment instead of using what comes stock. IE - Specific speakers, LED walls, furniture, etc... I see on manufacturer websites where I can download files, but it seems like these come in a verity of formats...

 

Can someone shoot me in the right direction of how to import these?

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If a manufacturer supplies a .vwx file for a symbol(s), you can import that directly into a drawing. Keep in mind that it might require some manipulation such as line weights fill colors and classing to work better in your drawing formats. 

 

Otherwise, you will need to spend a few minutes learning how to create hybrid symbols as you will probably have to import both 2D and 3D .dwg files. Again, adjusting pen widths, line and fill colors and classing to work into your particular style of drawing. 

 

While VW has become a more or less a “plug and play” drawing solution, there is no substitute for developing some decent drawing and modeling skills. If you do that, you can have any symbol you could ever want. 

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Thanks, Scott. 

 

Totally agree on developing drawing and modeling skills. It's a complicated enough software that it can be tough to figure out if the answer is somewhere in the file>import, the resource manager, or in some other place entirely. Creating custom hybrid symbols is something I can do research on. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

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If it is a dwg file or other file type, that is indeed a file > import scenario. If it’s a vwx symbol, it will come as an actual VectorWorks file. Then you can use the resource browser to import or drag the symbol into a drawing. I would edit the 2D/3D portions to your liking first however. 

 

Drawing and modeling of most simple objects is actually pretty quickly learned. It’s not as daunting a task as you may think. 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

@Chris_W If you are looking for specific lighting fixtures such as LED walls that are not in the stock libraries and you are a VSS subscriber you can request these specific lighting fixtures through the VSS support page.  If all of the necessary data is available on the manufacturer's website the Spotlight content team will create a hybrid symbol and send you a notification when it is complete so that it can be downloaded for use.

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I would add:  anytime you are importing objects from manufacturers CAD - be it VWX or DWG (or others) - I open/import it into a new blank file.  Inspect it and clean up anything first, before bringing it into my master drawing.  I think importing unknown documents right into your master file can create issues and headaches (I'm looking at you random  classes that I didn't want or need).

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Thanks for the responses everyone! Seriously awesome insight. 

 

Scott -- I ended up importing what I had and it worked great. Thanks again! 

 

JustinVH -- Good to know! 

 

EAlexander - That sounds like pretty solid advice... 😛 Good CYA policy. 

 

I'm curious how you guys manage your symbol library then? What I mean is, over time, you hopefully build up an expansive, ever-growing, set of objects you can use. Do you guys typically leave those in your own folders, outside of VW, and load them per drawing? Or do you use the Resource Manager to create folders that are available whenever you want?

 

 

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Actually yes to both. I see a lot of guys that have files for specific types of similar items. You might have a file of “lighting instruments” or a file of “Martin fixtures”. In my case, I have one file with everything. I find that it makes managing updates much simpler since more than one person uses and adds to these symbols.

 

When I open the file, the first thing I see is text that explains what updates have been made, when and by whom. In that file there are folders and sub-folders. In our master drawing template there are duplicates of all those folders (empty of course). When I import symbols from our library, they maintain their folder locations in the new drawing. If I have to grab a symbol from some other source or create one on the fly, then I still have the correct folders to use. 

 

I have recently become more focused on making sure any new symbol I create or snag from a third party gets placed where it belongs in my master symbol library. That way I can avoid the whole “now what project was it that I created __________ symbols?” nonsense. 

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Seconding @scottmoore method. 

 

I keep a master file of all symbols I've ever used so I never forget where that new symbol was created. Also, I tend to create folders in this file's resource library and categorise the fixtures by manufacturers, which then eliminates the need for multiple vectorworks files for Martin fixtures, for Varilite fixtures, for ROBE fixtures and the likes.

 

There's also a resource folder for truss symbols, scaffold parts, rigging gear and so on. Endless possibilities. 

 

Gabriel

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