J Monroe Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Having a little problem. Light plot drawn and finished in Spotlight 2021, mostly conventional lighting units. All units have been defined with correct fixture type for Vision 2021 transfer. All colors and templates entered both in the Spotlight color and template data field and also entered via the edit pop up window from the object info palette. Exporting to MVR did not transfer everything I needed, so I made sure to run updates on Vision and Vectorworks. The export to MVR still did not work, so I tried the send to vision menu option. This transferred all the fixtures and 3D elements I needed for visualization into Vision. None of the color or template info transferred, and none of the focus information. Next I allocated all color and templates to each fixture within Vision. I adjusted the focus of the entire plot in Vision as well. No worries. I saved the vision file and it created a file with the .v3s file extension. Everything was working and I was all set to begin programming. When I opened Vision the next day and loaded the .v3s file, none of the colors or templates are still attached to any conventional fixture. The focus remains but no color or template textures. Have I done something wrong? I am entering color for each fixture by selecting the light by its name within the scene graph window. Then using the properties window to adjust Color Wheel 1 > Slot 1 field. This data does not carry over from 1 session to the next. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bbudzon Posted November 6, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 6, 2020 MVR, unfortunately, does not yet support transferring of custom gobo/color/animation data; whether using Vision's native fixture content (litfiles) or GDTF. If you want custom data in a GDTF, the GDTF Fixture Builder should be used to generate a new GDTF. However, I think you were on the right track with the use of ESC as the workflow is a little simpler. Let me just start by saying, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. It seems you're filling out the Fixture Mode properly, which allows you to properly assign custom colors Vectorworks-side as you have done. If this is not working, it seems like it is a bug and I can start to investigate. Similarly, it is odd that the focus is saving for your conventionals in Vision but not the colors. Using the V3S format is even harder to "screw up" from an end user standpoint, and should always "just work". It seems like this may also be a bug. I will look to reproduce and start investigations. We made some rounds of major reworkings for performance improvements with 2021. So, it may be that this is somehow a result of that. There may be a (fairly elaborate) workaround, if needed. But, my hope is that we can find out what is going on and either resolve things in the code or relay some information that should help resolve the issue. My apologies and I hope to be able to provide an update sooner than later! Quote Link to comment
J Monroe Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Thanks for the fast response. I can share my V3S file with you if it helps you see what I am seeing. One other thing I am seeing.. I think its network related.. I am sending sACN signal from a laptop over my home wired LAN to my desktop Vision workstation. I am seeing a lot of flickering from both LED and conventionals in Vision. Is that a network latency thing? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bbudzon Posted November 12, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) So, in my tests, I was able to send an ESC to Vision and the colors came over as expected. I was, however, able to confirm that it seems like custom colors are not properly saving to V3S. Hopefully, we can get ESC's working for you and you can manage with those until we can investigate/fix the V3S issue. My apologies for the issues you're experiencing and my delay in response! Untitled.esc Untitled.vwx Edited November 12, 2020 by bbudzon Adding screenshot of ESC working and uploading VWX/ESC files. Quote Link to comment
J Monroe Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 Do you consider the gel equivalents chosen within the Vision color picker to be "custom colors"? Working in Vision. I have been using the "..." button next to the color slot data field in the properties palette. This opens the color picker dialog box. I then assign colors from either Rosco or Lee exclusively. I have not been assigning colors by clicking the rainbow color selection box, or adjusting any RGB fields. What was the workflow you used to assign colors in Spotlight prior to sending the ESC file to vision? I was playing around with your files and part of my problem might be this... I cant resize this window to see the entire menu and the OK button. I wonder if I was closing this with the X and not actually assigning the colors by being able to hit the OK button? I tried changing to a different workspace in the hopes of resetting this. I am using the default Spotlight workspace. I will keep looking at this. Quote Link to comment
J Monroe Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 Update on what I am seeing here. When I select multiple fixtures in the vectorworks drawing and hit "Edit" in the object info palette, the lighting device window is larger/wider to display every tab and the lighting devices selection list appears on the left side of the window. However it seems you have to then click each individual unit on the device list one at a time and select colors that way. Highlighting multiple lines of fixtures and then changing the color does not assert the new color choice in any but the first unit selected. The <all selected> line at the top does not write color info to more than first unit either. Colors I am selecting 1 by 1 this way are arriving correctly in vision via the ESC. Thats good news. 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bbudzon Posted November 12, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 12, 2020 23 minutes ago, J Monroe said: Do you consider the gel equivalents chosen within the Vision color picker to be "custom colors"? Any data assigned to the Gobo/Color/Animation Wheels tabs VW-side I would consider to be "custom data". This data only works with ESC, not MVR. If using GDTF with MVR, you can customize the GDTF using the GDTF Fixture Builder. 25 minutes ago, J Monroe said: What was the workflow you used to assign colors in Spotlight prior to sending the ESC file to vision? Simply insert fixtures in VW using the insertion tool, assign ETC Source4 19 deg Fixture Mode, click Edit, click Color Wheels, assign a custom color, export ESC, open ESC in Vision, select Fixture, verify custom colors appear in Vision Properties Palette under Color Wheels section. 13 minutes ago, J Monroe said: Colors I am selecting 1 by 1 this way are arriving correctly in vision via the ESC. Thats good news. I think you have the current workflow figured out. I thought that multiple selections worked with Gobo/Color/Animation Wheels, however I'd have to verify this as I vaguely remember this deficit being pointed out before. Quote Link to comment
J Monroe Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 Thanks for your help and answers. I think this gives me a working solution. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bbudzon Posted November 13, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted November 13, 2020 I've found the issue and the code and am working on getting it resolved. I'll try to post here when we are able to get the fix into a public release. 1 Quote Link to comment
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