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Export Lighting Devices to DWG


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Hi, 

 

I have problem with export my project to DWG. All my Lighting Devices hunging down in DWG file even if they are rotated at -180 in X direction.

 

How can I export to DWG with correct rotation?

 

Convert to group and DLVP do not works 😉

vwx.png

dwg.png

Edited by Robert Janiak
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@Rob Books is there any chance that this issue Will be addressed in the near future.It is very commonplace to have to provide DWG exports to other party’s that are not Vectorworks users. 

 

It is a real problem that we cannot export our designs to others accurately! 

 

Would it be an idea if the export DWG function would create a 3D duplicate symbol of each POI and then export that with the appropriate rotation values? 

 

We really need this! 

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3 hours ago, klinzey said:

I'll put in an enhancement request with out DWG team. I can't comment on when or if it will be implemented.

 

This issue also exists when exporting to Cinema 4D.  If you export lighting instruments to Cinema you get the correct rotation, but then the Symbol/instance relationship is broken i.e. each light is it's own piece of raw geometry as if using Groups, instead of Symbols.  If you Command + K the Lighting instrument back into just symbols - you get the correct symbol/instance parent child relationship you expect (and need) - but rotation is lost.  It's maddening! 

 

Anything that can be done to improve this - not just for DWG export - would be amazing.  Thank you.

 

CC: @Dave Donley

 

 

Edited by EAlexander
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While this ship has sailed as far as VW provided Spotlight fixtures is concerned, whenever my team make lighting device symbols, we always make a floor, hang and yoked out version to avoid those kinds of issues. The yoked out version is especially helpful as it displays the fixture correctly in 2D as well. Also very helpful when building ladders for design layer viewports as you can populate them with yoked out fixtures while the ladder is lying flat and have it look correct. 

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40 minutes ago, scottmoore said:

While this ship has sailed as far as VW provided Spotlight fixtures is concerned, whenever my team make lighting device symbols, we always make a floor, hang and yoked out version to avoid those kinds of issues. The yoked out version is especially helpful as it displays the fixture correctly in 2D as well. Also very helpful when building ladders for design layer viewports as you can populate them with yoked out fixtures while the ladder is lying flat and have it look correct. 

 

This will be helpfull in a few cases. But not sufficiënt for all possible rotations that we hang fixtures in. We shouldn’t have to make a separate symbol for each rotation. 

 

Especially since now we can make the 3D portion of the instrument rotate any way we like using the standard rotation tools. 

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6 minutes ago, Sebastiaan said:

 

This will be helpfull in a few cases. But not sufficiënt for all possible rotations that we hang fixtures in. We shouldn’t have to make a separate symbol for each rotation. 

 

Especially since now we can make the 3D portion of the instrument rotate any way we like using the standard rotation tools. 

Agreed - sidearmed units aren't the issue.  For me it's more like X-bars along pipes in a radial array pattern or strips along the curved edge of a round pasarelle catwalk.  This is where it gets you.  Fortunely, Cinema lets you select a group of objects and rotate them around their own center, but I'd like it to import correctly instead.

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12 hours ago, Robert Janiak said:

@EAlexander This is annoying.First look for VW is great but if you need something more you get a lot of bugs and problems with basic things. Sometimes i thing that VW waste my time and not help me in my works :( Every day I finds something that does not work as it should.

 

I don't know that this is a bug - I'm not upset about it, I just think it isn't something that it was engineered to do.  Our job as users to is raise these case points with the developers and have a discussion.  Hopefully, some of these these things can improve moving forward.

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12 hours ago, Robert Janiak said:

@EAlexander This is annoying.First look for VW is great but if you need something more you get a lot of bugs and problems with basic things. Sometimes i thing that VW waste my time and not help me in my works :( Every day I finds something that does not work as it should.

 

I think that’s a bit of a bold statement. It don’t think there are many programs that offer such versatility as VWX and I love doing al my work with it. I do have a lot of wishes for improvement however. 

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@Sebastiaan You are right. I love VW too. This is the versalite software. Always when I get nervous, it turns out that I forgot something or do not know something 😉 Thanks the forum for help me better understanding of the software. 

 

For resolve my problem I have just prepared Python script. It changes All Lighting Devices to Group with corrected rotation. I like automatization. Is there somebody who can tell me if is done correctly? For me works, but I do not know if it is maked according to programming art.

 

import vs

def ConvertToGroup(h):
	x,y,z = vs.GetSymLoc3D(h)
	x_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','xRot')
	y_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','yRot')
	z_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','zRot')
	prev_object = vs.PrevObj(h)
	vs.SymbolToGroup(h, 1)
	h_group = vs.NextObj(prev_object)
	vs.Set3DRot(h_group, x_rot, y_rot, z_rot, x, y, z)
	
vs.ForEachObject(ConvertToGroup, "PON='Lighting Device'")
	

 

Zrzut ekranu (89).png

Zrzut ekranu (90).png

Edited by Robert Janiak
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1 hour ago, Robert Janiak said:

@Sebastiaan You are right. I love VW too. This is the versalite software. Always when I get nervous, it turns out that I forgot something or do not know something 😉 Thanks the forum for help me better understanding of the software. 

 

For resolve my problem I have just prepared Python script. It changes All Lighting Devices to Group with corrected rotation. I like automatization. Is there somebody who can tell me if is done correctly? For me works, but I do not know if it is maked according to programming art.

 


import vs

def ConvertToGroup(h):
	x,y,z = vs.GetSymLoc3D(h)
	x_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','xRot')
	y_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','yRot')
	z_rot = vs.GetRField(h,'Lighting Device','zRot')
	prev_object = vs.PrevObj(h)
	vs.SymbolToGroup(h, 1)
	h_group = vs.NextObj(prev_object)
	vs.Set3DRot(h_group, x_rot, y_rot, z_rot, x, y, z)
	
vs.ForEachObject(ConvertToGroup, "PON='Lighting Device'")
	

 

Thank you so much! I tried your script, but I get the following error:

File "<String>", Line 2

 

^

 

Syntax Error: Invalid character in identifier

 

Do you have an idea what this might be? I would love to try this script!

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Robert Janiak said:

@Sebastiaan I am not expert. Did you change language to Python?

 

Here is my test file.

DWG rotation.vwx

 

Thank you, it works in your file indeed!

 

This is a great start. I'm not an expert either, but maybe someone on this forum could help us out and alter the script so the output will be 3d symbols in stead of just groups?

 

And then if we get ready, maybe someone could make it work for other POI too? Like trusses for instance?

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Vectorworks as a founding memeber of the GDTF Group, is currently working on establishing a new set of file and data transfer standards and protocols for the entertainment industry. Similar to how IFC and BIM have been established for the Architectural and Engineering industries.

 

GDTF is a universal file type and protocol for the control of lighting fixtures and any other dmx controllable device that will function for any participating Lighting console, Previs application or CAD package. Effectively it is hoped that this will replace the need for each individual console type, CAD package or PreVis application to use a separate unique personality file or symbol.

 

MVR is designed as a universal standard and file type for 2 way communications between CAD software, Lighting consoles and PreVis packages. It will establish a base standard/protocol for how each participating application stores and references data. This in turn will mean that any participating application will be able to correctly import from and export to any other participating application. An example of the potential of this is exporting an MVR from Spotlight that will automatically patch your lighting console and include all relevant fixture personality files needed by the console (in the form of GDTF's). You can then make a change to the patch in the console and export an MVR back to Spotlight with the changes to keep everything up to date. This can be repeated as many times as needed to finish your design!

 

For more info about both GDTF and MVR, check out the GDTF share website

 

https://gdtf-share.com/

 

On the website you can find a list of companies that are involved. If you use software from a company not yet involved, I recommend getting in contact with the developers and making the case that you would like to see them take part. The more users such as yourselves that get involved and use the new standards the quicker we can establish GDTF and MVR as the standards for our industry.

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50 minutes ago, jcogdell said:

Vectorworks as a founding memeber of the GDTF Group, is currently working on establishing a new set of file and data transfer standards and protocols for the entertainment industry. Similar to how IFC and BIM have been established for the Architectural and Engineering industries.

 

GDTF is a universal file type and protocol for the control of lighting fixtures and any other dmx controllable device that will function for any participating Lighting console, Previs application or CAD package. Effectively it is hoped that this will replace the need for each individual console type, CAD package or PreVis application to use a separate unique personality file or symbol.

 

MVR is designed as a universal standard and file type for 2 way communications between CAD software, Lighting consoles and PreVis packages. It will establish a base standard/protocol for how each participating application stores and references data. This in turn will mean that any participating application will be able to correctly import from and export to any other participating application. An example of the potential of this is exporting an MVR from Spotlight that will automatically patch your lighting console and include all relevant fixture personality files needed by the console (in the form of GDTF's). You can then make a change to the patch in the console and export an MVR back to Spotlight with the changes to keep everything up to date. This can be repeated as many times as needed to finish your design!

 

For more info about both GDTF and MVR, check out the GDTF share website

 

https://gdtf-share.com/

 

On the website you can find a list of companies that are involved. If you use software from a company not yet involved, I recommend getting in contact with the developers and making the case that you would like to see them take part. The more users such as yourselves that get involved and use the new standards the quicker we can establish GDTF and MVR as the standards for our industry.

 

Great, but we will still need DWG export for many years to come. And it is quite silly that we can not easily share our designs with other stakeholders that are not in the vwx mvr gtdf bubble. 

 

This issue has been there for years an needs to be addressed. 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Just a quick clarification

 

As Nina ha said we are working on the DWG/DXF issue and will continue to do so.

 

However we are hoping that other CAD developers will adopt the MVR and GDTF standards. We have had several DWG based CAD Developers express an interest and have started conversations with them.

We hope that our competitors involved with developing event planning applications will get involved, as it will benefit our industry as a whole and specifically you our users.

 

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