Instrument Summary Tool-So Slow

[Bill_Rios]

The instrument summary tool is so slow.  I finally got it to stop crashing by purging unused symbols in my file.  However it still takes 30 seconds plus to open the build list. This makes me not want to use this tool. 

 

Can someone help me with strategies to speed up this tool and the resources involved?

 

Thank you!

[JBenghiat]

The Summary needs to traverse the entire symbol library and check if A. it has Spotlight data attached (the Light Info Record), and B. it's used by a Lighting Device in the drawing. How many symbols did you have before the purge?

 

Part of the intent of the Summary is that you can see all your symbols in use and not miss adding something to the key that you use in the drawing. There's not really a way to do that without checking every symbol.

[Sam Jones]

While I understand the frustration, how long would it take you to build the instrument summary without the tool?

[TomWhiteLight]

This came up in tech support recently.

 

the culprit was inadequate light info record data from the users own symbol collection. Some symbols had dropped the light info record or it had been inadvertently removed.

 

so please contact tech support.

 

interestingly @Sam Jones We have a number of users using the instrument summary tool to create the legend then they convert to group to then edit it to show the appearance they want. a good workaround if you don’t like what the instrument summary creates, you do unfortunately loose the connection with the inventory at the point.

 

all the best

 

tom w

[Sam Jones]

Tom,

I think most people do this.  Those that do a lot of editing duplicate it before converting to a group.  The duplication gets assigned to a "garage" layer or class to be recalled with its new totals.  Sometimes the it gets duped and edited again; other times the new info is copied by hand into the group.  It's difficult to program a graphic we all like or provide an expansive enough user interface for manipulation. 

[Bill_Rios]

Thank you all for your responses.  I'll contact Tech support and appreciate the work around.

 

@JBenghiat I'm unsure how many objects the file had.  I know the purge removed a couple hundred of items. 

 

@Sam Jones I totally could of made a functional key with the time I spent watching VW spin. I'll probably utilize the group method moving forward. 

 

I'll also be moving the venue drawing into a separate file and referencing it as a DLVP to reduce the number of objects the file needs to check against.

 

Thanks all!  Really appreciate your input!

 

[TomWhiteLight]

Thanks Sam, I think we agree the instrument summary tool should be more flexible in its appearance.It would certainly be good to avoid the 'copied by hand' part.

[JBenghiat]

@TomWhiteLight what configurations are you looking for?

[TomWhiteLight]

OK so a wishlist for my design work would be....

 

1. Ability to choose what view is shown within the legend (Front,Right,2D).

2. Ability to display any instrument data from the light info record into the legend (I am thinking about DMX footprint)

3. Greater freedom of text layouts (Would be great if it could be more like the edit title block layout dialogue)

4. Data Visualisation integration.

 

It would be good to start to put together a wishlist of what you also think it should do?

[pgreen]

I'm having the same trouble @wrios. A handful of 2021 project files are taking 3-5 minutes to open the "Build Summary List" dialog box but a few smaller files seem pretty responsive. Is there a good way to optimize a file or maybe my lighting symbols to work with the summary tool?

[TomWhiteLight]

On 12/16/2020 at 9:57 PM, TomWhiteLight said:

This came up in tech support recently.

 

the culprit was inadequate light info record data from the users own symbol collection. Some symbols had dropped the light info record or it had been inadvertently removed.

 

so please contact tech support.

 

interestingly @Sam Jones We have a number of users using the instrument summary tool to create the legend then they convert to group to then edit it to show the appearance they want. a good workaround if you don’t like what the instrument summary creates, you do unfortunately loose the connection with the inventory at the point.

 

all the best

 

tom w

@pgreen

 

Use Spotlight Symbol Maintenance and the resource manager to look for errors.

 

 

[JBenghiat]

Please file a bug report and include the file https://www.vectorworks.net/support/bugsubmit. The summary hasn't received an update in a while, and there are some faster ways to do things.

 

Generally, purging will make a huge difference. The setup dialog looks through your resources for symbols with Light Info attached, and then looks to see if they are in use by any Lighting Devices. If you have thousands of symbols, that could take a while.

 

The lack of a Light Info Record will prevent the symbol from showing up on the list of candidates or from having any data in the Summary, however, a missing LIR shouldn't slow the process down. In theory it would speed it up.

 

[DCLD]

On 12/17/2020 at 7:05 AM, JBenghiat said:

The Summary needs to traverse the entire symbol library and check if A. it has Spotlight data attached (the Light Info Record), and B. it's used by a Lighting Device in the drawing. How many symbols did you have before the purge?

 

Part of the intent of the Summary is that you can see all your symbols in use and not miss adding something to the key that you use in the drawing. There's not really a way to do that without checking every symbol.

Josh having just upgraded from 2020 to 2021 two days ago, the delay in the instrument summary is disconcerting. In VW 2020 it would take about five seconds to load and edit the summary, now it's closer to two minutes with VW 2021. Has there been a change to symbols that I am unaware of? Do I need to upgrade all my heritage symbols? I saw Tom's reference to inadequate lighting records. All my symbols have records. 

 

Is there a way to reload the instrument summary plug in like when it used to be your third party plug in?

 

Hoping you can help

D

 

Just to add to this feed. Any new instrument summary made in 2021 is super fast. Any 2020 instrument summary is unbelievably slow. I guess I have to re-build my templates.

Edited March 18, 2021 by DCLD

[JBenghiat]

The only significant change that would affect 2021 is the way accessories work. Parsing the drawing to flag used vs unused accessories and get counts is going to take a bit longer. I can't speak for what specifically did or did not get updated in the code.

 

To reiterate, missing Light Info will actually speed things up, not slow them down. Purging unused symbols will cause the biggest efficiency improvement.

 

The only other issue would be anything that slows down accessing the resource list. If you are using references or workgroups, and either the reference is broken or the network is being slugging, that could slow things down.

 

Your best resolution is to submit a bug report with the slow file attached.