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Posts posted by djobbins

  1. Good to know.  Another thing I use is to set the "increment' field in the number instrument tools to "0".  This is good for when you are editing multiple attributes at the same time (if a bunch of LEDs are all on the same circuit, but have different addresses or channels, etc)

  2. Hey,


    Is there a tool or function I can use to calculate how many instances of a given symbol I have in a drawing? or even better in a given area.  Basically the same idea as the instrument key in Spotlight, but to work with all types of symbols (speakers, truss symbols, etc).



  3. Hey,


    This is awesome.  I have also been looking for something similar!  Next question, is it possible to accurately render a specific pixel pitch?  I think this would be really helpful for showing to clients.  Especially as they have a hard time conceptualizing what different pitches will look like/mean.



  4. Hey Gang,


    I saw this question posted a while ago but never saw the final conclusion.


    I am working on building a model with a number of theatrical fixtures (using spotlight 2017) lighting a car.  As it is now when I am render using Lit Fog the beam of light appears to cut through any objects that it hits instead of creating shadows or a visible pool of light.  All the textures are set to both cast and receive shadows.


    I'm not sure if it is an issue with the lighting settings, the RW attributes of the lights, or the RW attributes of the texture of the objects I'm lighting.  Any help is appreciated!



    Screen Shot 2017-06-16 at 9.45.00 AM.png

  5. Hey,


    Is it possible to export to webview in rw format?  I'm primarily rendering event lighting, and would love to be able to show clients what it looks like in a 3d interactive space.  Things like lit fog, and lighting effect are kind of key for what i'm trying to present.



  6. Hey guys!


    This is probably a really easy answer but I can't figure it out for the life of me.


    I have a drawing which is based around a design layer viewport that is referenced from another drawing, with a bunch of my layers and classes drawn in on top.  It's a floor plan from a designer in the referenced file, and then my file has all my cable paths, fixtures etc.


    My question is that I want to make multiple sheet layer view ports with certain layers/classes turned off within the design layer viewport.  So, for instance within the design layer VP there is a 1st flr, and 2nd flr layer.  I need to make 2 sheet layer viewports one showing the design layer viewport w/ the 1st flr layer, and one showing it with the 2nd flr layer.



  7. Hey,


    I'm trying to render gobo break ups thru lit fog and having some trouble.  The gobo shows up at the focus point, but I can can't get the fog to be broken up into beams as it would in real life.  I feel like I didn't have this problem in 2016.  Maybe I'm just mis-remembering?  I'm in VW 2017 w/ spotlight and renderworks.

  8. Hey guys,

    Ever since I added the RW module to my vectorworks I haven't been able to render in hidden line. I just get the beach ball and nothing happens, until I force quit and re-open. I've been doing Artistic RW as a workaround, but it's not quite the same.


  9. Hey guys,

    I've been digging deeper and deeper into some of the weird and wonderful abilities of spotlight and renderworks. One of the things I am struggling with is the way projection screen images seem to be handled. I'd like to be able to play with a more realistic version of projections that will behave more like a light. The example that brought this up to me was trying to render and example of an effect with projecting onto a scrim, so the image would appear both on the scrim (a drape object set to scrim) and the wall behind it. I worked around this by making my screen image into a custom gobo texture and sticking it in a source four. However, I would like to be able to do it all with an actual projector object to express the aspect ratio etc, plus eliminate the need for confusing imaginary lights in the drawing that wouldn't exist in real time.

  10. Hey,

    I am working on rendering out some lighting looks for an event. The room has entirely white walls. Is there a way to have a surface bounce light the way a white wall would. I played with adjusting the reflectivity of texture but it only seems to make the surface reflect like a mirror, but didn't reflect light.


  11. Hey,

    I am working on drawing/rendering an installation of multiple plasma screens. Our plan is to have one image mapped across all of them. Is there a way to do that in spotlight/RW? meaning each screen would show a piece of a larger image, as opposed to having the image repeated over and over.


  12. On a similar vein, I have a problem with certain lights not behaving correctly when I set the 3d rotation. I'd have to dig up which symbols it is exactly, but when I set the 3D rotation they seem to "explode" in 3d, with the yoke, body of the fixture, and clamp all coming detached from each other.

  13. Hey guys,

    Is there a way to merge a file into an existing template file? I have a template file that has all my stock symbols, classes etc that helps my workflow tremendously. Whenever I get a drawing from a client though it is a pain in the ass to access all my favorite symbols and such. Is there a way to take an existing file and open it into a template?


  14. Thanks MK. That's a big help to know about the vis palette.

    For the gobos, inserting gobos wasn't the problem. I was trying to find a way to not have them render super sharp, but with the edges blurred out, so it would look more like how we would actually focus a gobo wash in real life. The best I came up with is to download a gobo image and blur it out in a photo editing program, then create a new texture from the blurred image. It's a little time consuming so I'll probably spend some of my downtime just making a library of fuzzy gobo textures.


  15. Thanks Jim.

    Is there a way for me to use the visualization palette better? Right now each lighting fixture is listed as a string of numbers. Can I rename them so they make sense (Down Center Sharpy) or will that screw up Lightwright integration?

    Also, any advice on the gobos?






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