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Light C-Clamp Attach to Truss


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Using the inset Lighting Instrument from the top down tool and attaching to a grid is really straight forward, but what happens when all of your lights aren't actually attached to the truss and C-Clamp is offset? 

 

What's the easiest solve for that? Obviously don't want to delete all the lights and start over. 

 

 

Screen Shot 2020-04-09 at 10.02.44 AM.png

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What height is the Truss at? If the truss is at say 1000mm then the instrument should inherit that height. Just tried it here and all works perfectly.

 

The bottom chord of the truss should be at 1000mm as well. I have a sneaky suspicion that some of the truss symbols are centered on the origin of the symbol as opposed to the bottom chord... Could this be the case for you?

 

Also, is the truss inserted using the Truss tool or is it a symbol converted to a hanging position?

 

 

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The Straight Truss tool is a parametric object tool. This means that it creates the geometry "on the fly" according to the criteria you specify before or after you place the object. It is different from the more recent Insert Truss tool which uses manufacturer specific library symbols.

 

Once you have converted it to a hanging position, you should double-click the hanging position and go to a side view where you should see the truss object from a left or right view along with the X and Y axis markers. You may need to turn these on from the Grid category of your Smart Cursor settings (Show 3D Grid Axis).

 

Then all you need to do is align the centre of the bottom chord with the origin of the hanging position edit window. This generally means a adjustment of about -24mm. The Straight Truss object is designed to lay on the floor so this adjustment is necessary if you want lights to attach perfectly around the chord.

 

 

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I realize now how silly this question is, but I think the root of my problem was something else: There was something odd happening with my truss in conjunction with my Label Legend (this was happening). If I adjusted the Z or Y position of the lighting instruments, it would delete the truss. 

 

If I deleted the label legend, deleted all my truss / lighting classes (or moved plugin objects to the None class) and started over, I could properly the Z and Y positions of the lighting instruments. As soon as I assign a Label Legend to the lighting instruments and adjust the Z or Y position of the lights (or any rotation), the truss disappears and "No Valid Symbol Selected" appears. Similarly, if I move the truss at all it disappears and "No Valid Symbol Selected" appears.

 

So it has something to do with the label legend. Barring starting over on truss and lighting positions, do you have any ideas? 

Screen Shot 2020-04-09 at 11.37.55 AM.png

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There seems to be something coded into the lighting device tool that makes it jump an inch down when it touches a straight truss object. I think I understand the reasoning, but its a real pain.

 

What I think you experienced was the insert lighting device tool picking up the Braceworks middle of the truss. This will happen when you see the thick red highlight with a diamond shape in the middle. If this appears then you can pretty much be assured that the lighting instrument will attach itself to the Middle of the truss object. This is all to do will load calculations - (which is fine but not helpful for seeing how the lights will look in real life!)

 

I think I'm right here, but to be honest, since braceworks has been added, all my little workarounds have been thwarted!!

 

Edited by markdd
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