Vectorworks and LightWright Questions

[jaamulberry]

A couple of questions here.

1. In vectorworks there is an easy way to have a two units share both dimmer and channel (two fer) Is there a way to accomplish this in lightwright that they are twofered together? This way when you select a number of channels and number them that it doesn't switch the channel to something different. Hope that makes sense.

2. Is there a way for vectorworks to only show part of a color? I have two gels in a light but I only need to see the first one. The second one is diffusion and only need to see that when I do counting for gels. See picture attached.

 

[SteveB]

VW does have a Two-Fer tool, though I never used it, finding it useless. They might have refined it since v2012, but I started simply using line objects to indicate two-fer'ing by address.

VW and LW easily allow you to indicate that 2 separate units having the same channel and dimmer. Is it possible you have an auto-assign channel function switched on in LW (and it's been so long I'm not even sure it does that, I've never used it), thus are getting unwanted assignments ?. Probably the easiest way to visualize which units are sharing a channel and dimmer is in VW, where you can select whatever units you want on sharing, then use the Object Information Palette to add the info. That'll then adjust LW.

The way I deal with added frost is two ways. If I want the frost in the same color frame as the color, I do it in LW, using the syntax "R12+R132", with LW knowing the + symbol means 2 separate cuts in the same frame. The other method is "R12,R1132" with a comma telling LW separate frames. LW will count separate cuts in either method, though it counts anything with the + symbol once in that it'll list it as "20 cuts R12+R132"

If I choose to not see the frost in VW, I don't put any frost info in LW, which keeps it off the VW print. An example is I don't indicate any frost for my FOH, simply putting a note in VW that all FOH gets R132 (it goes on the FOH hang sheet though). I'll then add it to the LW for counting purposes. I also have very refined label legends that usually allow the entire text of R12,R132 to be seen clearly. Takes time to refine a lot of legends (I have about 30) but they get reused document to document .




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[jglodeklights]

1. I'm not certain I understand the issue you are having. Unless you change the channel and dimmer, neither program should be reassigning it unless you execute some auto assign function manually.

2. This is where user fields can come in handy. While you can not reassign their name in Vectorworks, in Lightwright's Setup-Column names and definitions, you can change a User Field to whatever you wish. You can also change the data type to "Color". This will add another option to the counting menu. So label the column "Diffusion" and then you can do counts for it.

 

[jaamulberry]

Okay number 2 answered. Thanks. For number one I usually like to auto number my systems. So my first wash is 25 lights. 1+ then my second wash is 25 lights so 31+. If I need to twofer something I was hoping lightwright would be able to tell these are in the same dimmer therefore they are assigned the same channel. Or is this not possible.

Thanks,

JAAM

 

[SteveB]

Okay number 2 answered. Thanks. For number one I usually like to auto number my systems. So my first wash is 25 lights. 1+ then my second wash is 25 lights so 31+. If I need to twofer something I was hoping lightwright would be able to tell these are in the same dimmer therefore they are assigned the same channel. Or is this not possible.

Thanks,

JAAM

Okay number 2 answered. Thanks. For number one I usually like to auto number my systems. So my first wash is 25 lights. 1+ then my second wash is 25 lights so 31+. If I need to twofer something I was hoping lightwright would be able to tell these are in the same dimmer therefore they are assigned the same channel. Or is this not possible.

Thanks,

JAAM

I understand what you are saying that if you have multiple units on the same dimmer they CAN ONLY BE in the same channel. Wouldn't patch otherwise.

Maybe in a future version of LW.

I channel assign in 2 ways. If I've assigned purposes, I'll sort using the Purpose order and add channels. I'll then error check to make sure I don't have the same dimmer in 2 channels. Or if I'm assigning channels before purpose, I'll use VW's number tool - Spotlight - Number Instruments - Field name as channels. I find it easier to visualize on the plot and make less errors.

 

[johnmcsoft]

Okay number 2 answered. Thanks. For number one I usually like to auto number my systems. So my first wash is 25 lights. 1+ then my second wash is 25 lights so 31+. If I need to twofer something I was hoping lightwright would be able to tell these are in the same dimmer therefore they are assigned the same channel. Or is this not possible.

Thanks,

JAAM

It isn't currently possible in Lightwright, simply because usually the designer chooses the channels and then the electrician assigns dimmers to the lights in each channel. It's pretty rare to assign dimmers and then channels unless the designer is also serving as the electrician.

 

[SteveB]

. It's pretty rare to assign dimmers and then channels unless the designer is also serving as the electrician.

Wouldn't that describe about every rep. plot, whose hang is predetermined, dimmers assigned, etc.. ?. The designers may then choose different channeling based on that plot.

My plot has worked that way for the past 10 years, since we went dimmer-per-circuit.

Another example would be my MAC 700's and Aura's, whose addressing mostly stays the same on their universe, the channeling changes as per the designers preference. We move stuff in patch on the Ion all the time to keep the palettes and presets intact, but try to leave the addressing alone.

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[johnmcsoft]

Wouldn't that describe about every rep. plot, whose hang is predetermined, dimmers assigned, etc.. ?. The designers may then choose different channeling based on that plot.

My plot has worked that way for the past 10 years, since we went dimmer-per-circuit.

Another example would be my MAC 700's and Aura's, whose addressing mostly stays the same on their universe, the channeling changes as per the designers preference. We move stuff in patch on the Ion all the time to keep the palettes and presets intact, but try to leave the addressing alone.

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I hadn't thought about rep plots, and this is the first time anyone's asked! I'll add it to the "wish list", thanks!

 

[SteveB]

The ability to assign different channels to the same address is also something that has come up from time to time on the ETC Eos forum. Seems it would be useful to allow this for tours that have a truncated house system, with a show file with cues written for non-existent channels, the tour LD's want to be able assign multiple channels to the same dimmer. It makes it easier to adjust levels for a show with those adjusted levels being used in the next venue with a larger system, or so it was explained to me at one point.

So don't be surprised if ETC adds this capability to a future upgrade.


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[johnmcsoft]

The ability to assign different channels to the same address is also something that has come up from time to time on the ETC Eos forum. Seems it would be useful to allow this for tours that have a truncated house system, with a show file with cues written for non-existent channels, the tour LD's want to be able assign multiple channels to the same dimmer. It makes it easier to adjust levels for a show with those adjusted levels being used in the next venue with a larger system, or so it was explained to me at one point.

So don't be surprised if ETC adds this capability to a future upgrade.


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It strikes me that adding multiple channels to the same dimmer would create utter chaos - how on earth do you know which channel is the one turning the light on and off? Suppose one channel turns the dimmer off and another (patched to the same dimmer) turns it on? Road shows have been dealing with this for years, they just make a copy of their base show file and rematch as needed. When they leave the venue, they toss the show file they used and revert to their regular patch.

 

[SteveB]

It strikes me that adding multiple channels to the same dimmer would create utter chaos - how on earth do you know which channel is the one turning the light on and off? Suppose one channel turns the dimmer off and another (patched to the same dimmer) turns it on? Road shows have been dealing with this for years, they just make a copy of their base show file and rematch as needed. When they leave the venue, they toss the show file they used and revert to their regular patch.

I happen to agree with you, but there was a lot of posts asking for this, so we'll see where ETC goes with it.

 

[Footer]

Wouldn't that describe about every rep. plot, whose hang is predetermined, dimmers assigned, etc.. ?. The designers may then choose different channeling based on that plot.

My plot has worked that way for the past 10 years, since we went dimmer-per-circuit.

Another example would be my MAC 700's and Aura's, whose addressing mostly stays the same on their universe, the channeling changes as per the designers preference. We move stuff in patch on the Ion all the time to keep the palettes and presets intact, but try to leave the addressing alone.

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Same here. Any designer that deletes circuiting and dimmer information on our rep ppwk, fills in their own channeling, and sends it back gets the ppwk sent back to them to try again. I'll ask Stephanie if she wants to contribute to this... there are all kinds of things that drives her up the wall when dealing with rep plots in lightwright.... such as "only count color with channel numbers".

 

[SteveB]

Same here. Any designer that deletes circuiting and dimmer information on our rep ppwk, fills in their own channeling, and sends it back gets the ppwk sent back to them to try again. I'll ask Stephanie if she wants to contribute to this... there are all kinds of things that drives her up the wall when dealing with rep plots in lightwright.... such as "only count color with channel numbers".

This made me laugh. Oh if I counted the times.........

 

[Footer]

This made me laugh. Oh if I counted the times.........

Especially when they completely ignore both the circuiting and dimming limitations of our space...

 

[johnmcsoft]

Same here. Any designer that deletes circuiting and dimmer information on our rep ppwk, fills in their own channeling, and sends it back gets the ppwk sent back to them to try again. I'll ask Stephanie if she wants to contribute to this... there are all kinds of things that drives her up the wall when dealing with rep plots in lightwright.... such as "only count color with channel numbers".

You might try locking the circuit and dimmer columns in the LW file you send to the designer. They can always unlock them, if nothing else they'll have to make a real effort to bypass them.

As far as "only count color with channel numbers" goes, set a Limit to only include lights with channel numbers greater than zero. That should do it for you.