Modular type device - really not clear

[ryanww]

Hey All,

 

I'm honestly really lost on how to correctly use a modular device. I'm trying to draw a Crestron DMF-CI-8 and DM-NVX-351C devices - 8 of which fit within a DMF chassis. Is there instructions on how to do this? I'm unable to find really anything about it.

[Conrad Preen]

Hey Ryan

 

This is simpler than it seems. Get the Rack Frame tool (Layout tool set) and click in the drawing to create a frame. Head over to the Object Info Palette and configure it. For the DMF-CI-8 you would set the frame to be 2U with 2 slots horizontally and 4 slots vertically. For the codec card just set the device as modular and when you create equipment using Update Rack Elevation, the corresponding Equipment Item will be set modular - you can just drag and drop it into the frame slots and it will size to fit (you may want to set the text size smaller - Text menu). Here's two screenshots to get you on your way.

 

Hope that helps

 

Conrad

[ryanww]

This is great. Is there a way to expose that device within schematics for the power supply?

[Conrad Preen]

Hey Ryan,

 

Glad to help. That's a darn good question you raise. In the old Vectorscript version you used to be able to create a device with the same name as the rack frame and it would "know" where is was (room, rack, rackU). What I'm seeing is that in our current version now upgraded to SDK we have lost this. So thanks for asking - I'll have that put back right away it shouldn't be a huge challenge.

 

Anyway the workflow is just create a device on your schematic for the frame and add the power sockets.

 

Conrad

[ryanww]

Got it. In the interim - if I create a virtual device of the same name, will that break it? Or I suppose I can just tag the power port for now. 

[Conrad Preen]

 That will work fine - the device just won't get location info. That's what we're fixing now.

[CHA]

May I add a question regarding modular devices here, as well?

 

Is there a way to add sockets to a modular frame?

For example: I have modular frames with genlock and network connections. 

At the moment adding another slot to the frame that carries a device with the needed connections seem to be the only workaround.

 

I realised that modular frames in VW20 (file converted from VW19) can't be edited anymore. Devices in slots stay there, but using "update rack elevation" puts them a second time on the rack elevation layer. Didn't find a workaround, but erasing and redrawing.

Similar behaviour of room elements: old rooms are still there, but can't be edited in size or name. New devices placed in "old" rooms don't pick up the location. Creating new rooms of the same name and size fixes this quickly. Is there a more elegant way of fixing this problem? 

 

 

 

[Conrad Preen]

Hi Christian,

Can you send me PM a file that shows this misbehaviour? Sounds like a translation issue to me.

23 hours ago, CHA said:

I realised that modular frames in VW20 (file converted from VW19) can't be edited anymore. Devices in slots stay there, but using "update rack elevation" puts them a second time on the rack elevation layer. Didn't find a workaround, but erasing and redrawing.

Similar behaviour of room elements: old rooms are still there, but can't be edited in size or name. New devices placed in "old" rooms don't pick up the location. Creating new rooms of the same name and size fixes this quickly. Is there a more elegant way of fixing this problem? 

 

Regarding genlock and network ports on frames, this is what we were discussing above. You create a device on your schematic with the same name as the rack frame and add the genlock and network sockets to it.

 

Best

 

Conrad

[CHA]

6 minutes ago, Conrad Preen said:

Hi Christian,

Can you send me PM a file that shows this misbehaviour? Sounds like a translation issue to me.

Hi Conrad, 

will check in my backups to find a version with that behaviour. I replaced them already...

 

9 minutes ago, Conrad Preen said:

Regarding genlock and network ports on frames, this is what we were discussing above. You create a device on your schematic with the same name as the rack frame and add the genlock and network sockets to it.

That sounds like a perfect solution to me!

 

Many thanks,

Christian