Height of lighting device

[mlkimmel]

If I remember correctly, in past versions, when I insert a lighting device and it snaps to a hanging position, the lighting device automatically takes the height of the hanging position.  That doesn't seem to be happening in 2022.  Am I remembering correctly that it did it in past versions?  Am I doing something wrong that it's no longer doing that in 2022?  Is there a setting for that somewhere?

[markdd]

Make sure you have Auto-Position Loads when created enabled in Spotlight Preferences. There are one or two new preferences there.

[mlkimmel]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Those were checked, so I don't think that's the problem.

[mlkimmel]

I just discovered the issue.  My hanging positions are on a different layer than the lighting devices.  I have show/snap others selected for layer options.  In that setting, the lighting device snaps to the hanging position, and the hanging position auto-fills in the OIP.  So I assumed it's snapping to the hanging position.  But, it still doesn't take the height.  When I change to show/snap/modify others, the hanging position turns red when hovering on it, and the lighting device takes the height of the hanging position.  I rarely work in show/snap/modify others mode.  Is there a way to have the lighting device take the height of the position without being in show/snap/modify others layer option?

[JBenghiat]

I'm not seeing this. The Lighting Device should take on the position and position name from any Rigging Object on another visible layer. The exception would be if the layer of your lights has a different elevation (e.g. if your lights layer is set at 20' to match the grid height, you will see a height of 0 in the Object Info Palette).

 

What you won't see is the visual feedback of the Lighting Device attaching to the Rigging Object. That's a limitation within Vectorworks: object highlighting won't work for unelectable objects. 

[Eli van Hooff]

Same issue here, lighting devices snap to the floor instead of the truss. Seems like something goes wrong with the trim height as well. When I change trim height of the system to 10m the Z value of the truss system will remain on 0m. Which indicates to me that there might be a bug here...

[jcogdell]

@mlkimmel & @Eli van Hooff
I've just done a quick test and found that there does seem to be a problem with snapping lights to a hanging position but it seems to depend on how th hanging position is created.
I can only duplicate the issue when the 'Use Geometry' option is selected while creating the hanging position, if I select the 'Create Symbol' option the hanging position behaves as expected
Is this what you are both seeing as well?
Also what service pack and build number are you both using? (need it for the bug report)

[Blackfaer]

I'm seeing this problem as well, haven't narrowed it down to symbol/geometry but I definitely have some hanging positions auto assigning both height and position, while others assign the position but leave the lighting instrument at 0" Z. 2022 Sp1 Build 627588. 

 

Don't have time today to figure out if I replace the lighting position with a symbol option or what might work there, so I can't confirm what the difference is between the ones that work and those that don't, but it's a consistent issue and I know the positions were built differently in prior versions of vectorworks as I just copy and paste from prior plots in the same venue, and there are minor differences in appearance in the 2d view.

[capital_Designs]

On 2/11/2022 at 6:22 AM, jcogdell said:

I can only duplicate the issue when the 'Use Geometry' option is selected while creating the hanging position, if I select the 'Create Symbol' option the hanging position behaves as expected

@jcogdell

Unfortunately, I am working from a file that I know had positions made with the "Create Symbol" option selected (since I can see those created symbols in the Resource Manager), and the behavior matches the above cases.

 

A Lighting Device is associated to the hanging position by being dragged close enough to it, the "Position" info auto-fills, but no Z change for the device. I've confirmed the Hanging position has a Z height.

 

VW 2022 SP2.1 Build 627588 / Macbook M1 Pro Apple Silicon

Any suggestions?

[jcogdell]

@capital_Designs
 Were the hanging position symbols created in a 2022 file or are they resources that you have forward ported from an older file or project?
Also are you in 2D top plan or a 3D view when inserting the light or dragging them on the hanging position?

I'm working on a win 10 machine which may be another factor in why it works for me (and is relevant for the bug report)

 

 

[capital_Designs]

@jcogdell

Those resources have been forward ported through several versions of VW, and so far have maintained their functionality (through 2019, 2020, 2021).

 

So this particular file was most recently a 2021 VWX file (where it was working as expected). Once I opened it in 2022 the issue appears.

 

I was working from 2D Top/Plan, inserting using the Lighting Device Tool.

 

Totally understand - let me know if you need any other info!

[Scott C. Parker]

@capital_Designs @mlkimmel @Blackfaer

Troubleshooting question and test.

Would you please copy and paste the offending hanging positions into a new blank drawing and try again? If you get the same issue happening, Would it be possible for us to obtain files to look at? If you're updating 2021 files, those are fine. If you can duplicate the issue in fresh 2022 files, even better.

You can DM them directly instead of posting here if you wish.

[Scott C. Parker]

Some questions:

When you're snapping your lights to the truss/hanging position, are you in:

1. Top/Plan view 2D
2. Top 3D view
3. An ISO view
4. Front/Side views?

Which ones worked? Which ones did not?

 

When you built your hanging position, was the truss/pipe:

1. Already at height?
2. On the floor and then you moved it to height after it became a hanging position?
3. Did you make it a symbol? or use just the geometry?

 

Thanks, Scott

[capital_Designs]

On 6/10/2022 at 6:53 PM, Scott C. Parker said:

Would you please copy and paste the offending hanging positions into a new blank drawing and try again?

@Scott C. Parker Hi Scott!

 

Thanks for following up on this. I actually had this issue resolved in Service Pack 3. I actually kind of assumed this was isolated and fixed, and was thrilled when I updated to see it functioning as expected. I didn't follow up since I figured it was fixed for others as well!

 

Just clarifying, in my above posts, it was all Service Pack 2.1. I'm now on SP3 (Build 636848)

 

I cannot replicate the height issue any further. I'll still answer the questions below in case it proves useful...

On 6/10/2022 at 7:03 PM, Scott C. Parker said:

When you're snapping your lights to the truss/hanging position, are you in:

 

Almost always Top/Plan 2D.

 

On 6/10/2022 at 7:03 PM, Scott C. Parker said:

When you built your hanging position, was the truss/pipe:

1. Already at height?
2. On the floor and then you moved it to height after it became a hanging position?
3. Did you make it a symbol? or use just the geometry?

 

2: On the floor (+0"). Then I move it to height after it becomes a hanging position. And the positions in question that were misbehaving were all made into symbols.

 

The remaining strange issue I have with placing lighting device objects is that the "active" (selected) Label Legend still isn't automatically being applied when I place a fixture. There is another post dedicated to this issue, and it was not resolved for me with SP3. Any insight on that would be great! [Here's the post:]

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by capital_Designs