Gear Patrol introduced us to the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar ($189,000 in rose gold, $213,000 in platinum) won’t need to be corrected until the year 2100 (only one in four century years is a leap year — 2100 is not).

Just a beautiful mechanism.

Why 1815 you might ask? I did. 1815 is the year Ferdinand A. Lange was born.

Tweet

Referencing Vectorworks files for collaboration.

Referencing is a great way for a team of designers/associates/assistants to work on one project..

To be specific, Vectorworks allows the sharing and referencing of symbols, So, for example, if one assistant is drafting the venue, even in progress, that model can be saved as a symbol and then the symbol can be referenced into other documents. As the referenced symbols are edited, instances placed in other files are updated.

So, as a practical example, one team member can model the venue. another can reference the venue and create the light plot, others can develop, design, and spec custom practicals. This scenario has at least three people working on the same project. All of their elements can be brought together in one master file.

This can be done on a LAN or a WAN whether a traditional WAN or via a service like Dropbox. Although when working with a cloud service, it is best to copy the file you’re working on to your system, edit, and then return the file to the cloud, overwriting the older version. Keep track of who’s working where and when.

Cloud services copy files to and from back-up. This copying can affect saving to the cloud; saving a file that’s partially returned from back-up can result in unpleasant, unexpected results.

That said, I do like to keep my referenced files in the same directory.

Referencing symbols is simple. Open File A and File B. To reference a symbol from File A into File B, select File A from the Resource Browser from the File B window. Right click on the desired symbol and select Reference from the contextual menu.

Ok, that’s done. See you next week.

Optionally, you can also make File A a favorite in the Resource Browser. You can choose to Import rather than Reference a symbol, but then any updates or revisions are not communicated.

The Organization Palette (Tools>Organization), References Tab helps to control and update referenced symbols. Any alerts that symbols have been updated will be here. You can use this dialogue to automatically update symbols.

Similarly, set designers can provide models of scenic elements, plans, and details to lighting designers for reference. Sound designers can create a plot as a symbol to be referenced into the light plot and set designs.

You want accuracy, this is a way to make sure everyone on the team has the met up to date information.

Tweet

Classes, You Can Never Have Too Many Vectorworks Classes

Some of my friends and colleagues will disagree with me here. Oh, well. To each, his or her own method of working, that’s part of the joy of Vectorworks.

Now, there’s a funny title for a post; The Joy of Vectorworks. But I digress.

I all seriousness, I use a lot of Vectorworks classes and some of my colleagues argue that I use too many. You’ll have to decide for yourself and come up with your own strategy. Classes allow the specification of attributes to objects, and visibility of objects in different views. In the latter case, Classes have some functionality similar to Layers.

Let’s start with the basics. Any new VWX doc gives you two classes; None, and Dimension. As soon as you cut a section VWX creates the Section Style class, which is a horrible reminder that you need to edit that class. For good basic drafting practise, I adjust the line weights so that I have the standard thin, medium, and thick lines. So, I’ll adjust the Dimensions Class to have a line weight of about .05 or .06mm, I set the fill to none, and I like to color my dimensions as a dark blue to further differentiate them from objects. I’ll also add a prefix changing the class name to D-Dimension.

I color many classes, BUT I keep those colors dark so they print in a readable manner.

I set the weight of the None class to .15-.20mm and set the fill to solid. The solid fill allows objects created in the class to show a texture when rendered. This is my standard medium line weight. VWX will default to the None class, BUT you can rename that Class to something like Medium Line Weight, if that helps.

When created, the Section Style class has a line weight of .7mm which I generally find too heavy. This depends on the scale of the output. The default Section Style also fills the sections with a red fill. I’ll redefine this class to have a line of about .35mm and set the fill to a diagonal Hatch or Pattern.

I then have standard classes for various annotations:

1. D-Plaster Line
2. D-Center Line
3. D-Drawing Labels
4. D-Reference Markers
5. D-Scale Bar
6. D-End Seats
7. D-Construction Lines
8. D-Loci

Each of these classes is defined with color and with one of the three line weights.

The use of the Prefix keeps the Classes together and lets me expand or collapse the Class list as needed.

I have a similar set-up for Lighting;

1. Lighting-VWX Light Objects
2. Lighting-Spotlight Lighting Devices
3. Lighting-Lighting Positions
4. Lighting-Focus Point Objects
5. Lighting-Photometer
6. Lighting-Clamps
7. Lighting-LL-Color
8. Lighting-LL-Focus
9. Lighting-LL-Channel
10. Lighting-LL-Circuit

The LL designation indicates that class is for use in defining Label Legends.

Of course, Audio requires similar attention…

1. Audio-Array
2. Audio-Rigging
3. Audio-Deck
4. Audio-Monitor
5. Audio-Stage Mikes
6. Audio-Air Mikes

I have a similar set of classes for defining 2D and 3D symbols for people used in creating an entourage in a rendering, or for placing figures in elevations, and sections for scale. I always include a human figure and a Scale Bar in elevations, and sections. A figure doesn’t always appear in plans, but a scale bar is always present.

I have a stand alone class for my Renderworks Cameras, and I have classes and Text Styles for my title blocks.

I generally define Wall Styles and classes for each venue’s architecture specific to a project. So they’re not standard, but I do keep a library of Wall Styles.

Then the scenery. This is where it gets complicated. I use classes to assign attributes to object, like colors, textures and line colors to differentiate between parts. I can over ride the line color choices in Viewports to create a standard black line for drafting on my Sheet Layers, but in complex geometry, it helps to see objects if they have different line colors.

So, I might have a class for all objects in a show that are purple or I might have a class like Portal-Purple, and another like Deck-Purple depending on how and where I expect to use the class for visibility. Alternately, I might have a class called Show-Purple if I’m just trying to manage the color/texture. How I make these decisions often depends on the scale of the production.

I will also generally make the individual elements into symbols for easier editing. The symbol may be assigned a class and the instances of symbols may be assigned a class allowing me to show a wagon (for instance) in different positions for different scenes.

Don’t forget the softgoods; Legs, Borders… And always have a good Black Velour texture in your stationery docx.

All of these classes are stored in a stationery document, there is no need to re-invent the wheel every time you start a new project. In addition to the classes, I keep settings for all of my tools in the stationery document.

Of course, I go through the development of classes at length in Entertainment Design; Scenic, Lighting, and Sound, with Vectorworks…

Tweet

Layers, I do like me some Vectorworks Layers

Layers are like sheets of tracing paper on a drawing board. They are useful in organizing and presenting information.
Specifically, right now, I am referring to Design Layers. Later on, I make some comments about Sheet Layers. Design Layers are for Designing, Sheet layers are for presenting. Sheet layers are like desktop publishing for blueprints.

In my stationery file, I have a basic layer structure. I’ll pretty much always need to begin with these layers:

1. Light Plot
2. Sound Plot
3. Scenery
4. Masking
5. Audience Seating
6. Theatre (or venue) Architecture
7. Trace

The trace layer is where I’ll usually start. This assumes I’m brining in an image file or a PDF. I’ve already discussed working with DWG/DXF files here.

Each of these layers should make sense.

I like to be able to readily turn off any audience seating as that generally involves complex geometry that I’ll want to publish on a Sheet layer, but generally will not want to have to wait for it to redraw as I work.

For multi-set shows, I’ll have as many Scenic layers as required.

I then use the options of showing, snapping, hiding, and greying layers as I need to best see and complete my work.

One reason I separate items using layers is to control snapping and selecting.

Every object is, of course Classed, but that’s another post.

If I’m building a venue where I’ll be doing a number of projects, I’ll add some basic Sheet Layers to the file. These will likely include:

1. A General Plan, usually without the light plot
2. Sections
3. Plan with the audience
4. Light Plot, probably with the Sound Plot grayed out, but present

Once these various Viewports are created and basic annotations added, it helps when drawing new shows. I’ll often use Class overrides in the Viewports to focus the drawing. For instance, the theatre architecture is likely to be more visible in set plans and suggested on the Light Plot.

Tweet

Your World, Reimagined, a design competition using Vectorworks

One of the things I have always valued about my theatrical training and experience is the ability to find creative solutions to many different types of problems. Some call it thinking outside the box. We just don’t believe there is a box.

That training and experience was accentuated when I assisted designer Peter Wexler. His work knew few boundaries as to what constituted theatre: museum exhibits, interiors, public space, performance facilities, the list goes on. Peter taught me that there is theatre everywhere, and that real life was theatre. Especially if it was well designed.

This really reinforced the many lessons of Professor Don Sobolik from Montclair State.

All of this is to introduce the Your World, Reimagined Competition sponsored by Nemetschek Vectorworks, Maxon, and others.

Your World, Reimagined is a global design competition that asks professional and student designers to tackle an old, dilapidated, or run-down locale and redesign it for a new, improved use. Entries can range in focus from adaptive reuse to landscape reclamation or object redesign.

Cash and software awards will be presented to overall and category winners. Plus, the overall winner will be featured in a prominent, online design magazine.

So, what would you do with this theme? Restaurants or retail using theatrical light? A new kind of theatre lobby space? Themed interiors or exteriors?.

Hope you enter and post links to your ideas.

Click on the links for the particulars, you have until August 16th.

Tweet

What’s inside a Spotlight Lighting Device-Part 1

Well, a lot really, but here’s one thing. A light. Here I have a stock symbol for an ETC Source 4 19° degree instrument and a Vectorworks Light Object-Spotlight. The Vectorworks Light is selected, so the OIP shows options available for that type of device. One thing to notice is that VWX refers to Spread and Beam which theatrical light designers typically call Field and Beam. There are many options for ‘focusing’ a Vectorworks Lighting Object, both manually and through the OIP. You can select the Spotlight Lighting Device for yourself and see the myriad of options available. I expect everyone reading this has probably done that at least once. Both lights show up in the Visualization palette as well. By default, the Vectorworks Light Object is turned on and the Spotlight lighting device is turned off. You can turn that Device on here or by right clicking and selecting Turn On from the contextual menu. Right clicking on the Spotlight Lighting Device also allows you the option of Editing the Light. Let’s look there. The resulting dialogue shows you a bit of the Vectorworks Lighting Object that is imbedded in the Spotlight Lighting Device. Most of the options are greyed out. We’ll get to those details in another post. This dialogue does allow you to do a number of things, You can assign a color, or if you have assigned a color in the OIP, it will show up here. This is where you can assign a level when visualizing and it is also where you can tell the Device to light up any fog you have specified in your Renderworks Background. Unfortunately, the Device does not really differ from Fog and Haze. Perhaps one day. One key thing you can learn here are the specific Field and Beam settings for a particular unit. It is then possible to use those settings to adjust a Vectorworks Light Object, or to use that information to create your own custom Spotlight Lighting Device Symbol. I like to use Vectorworks Light Objects for pre-visualization, that is before I’ve decided where to where to put each specific light. I can easily and very quickly lay down a blue wash with few Vectorworks Light Objects, set to a wide beam and possibly at more than 100%. You can do this with a Spotlight Lighting Device, but that’s not going to help you in the long run. So, if you know that you want an R80 wash and a narrow beam of L104, you can assign those colors to the Vectorworks Light Objects and you can create a Vectorworks Light Object with the same Beam and Spread or Beam and Field to get a quick look. Also, you can assign the Fog option as you like, perhaps only to the narrow beam so it really shows!

Tweet

Paper Free? Vectorworks Nomad 2.0 takes us a step closer

I really do believe that one day we’ll all be paper free and that iPads will be ubiquitous. Who hasn’t had outdated paper cause an issue somewhere in some production process.

Vectorworks Nomad is available to Service Select subscribers and lets users view, share, measure and annotate files. Version 2.0, released last week includes enhancements that allow new redline drawing shapes, a sheet layer sidebar palette, angle and path measurement modes, improved download and upload performance and improved annotation text objects. The app is now available for both iOS and Android devices and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. There is also a web based interface and desktop applications for Windows and MacOS. The desktop app allows for the use of the mobile apps.

Here’s the simple beauty, upload a VWX doc or and alias with Sheet layers and viewports. Nomad does not work without sheet layers and viewports. Nomad does automatically generate PDF files from your Sheet Layers. It adds a step, but also saves a step. This is great with revisions.

Just in case your ME or head carp doesn’t have Nomad, you can send them a link to the PDF file. The PDF file is automatically updated as any changes are made to the VWX document.

Everybody, go buy an iPad…

Read and see more about Vectorworks Cloud Services here. We are all moving to the cloud.

Tweet

I went to the website, ordered the pup corn and went about my business. About 15 minutes after I placed the order, I received this email:

Kathleen / Kevin,

The internet order that you submitted for PupCorn, PEANUT BUTTER - 2 / 30 ounce has been received.  However, our records indicate that you have never ordered Peanut Butter before, you’ve been ordering Cheese since 2008.  Did you intend to order Peanut Butter?  Please confirm by email or call me at:  800-705-2111, ext.4114.  I am in the office, M – F, from 7:00 am until 3:30 pm CST.

Upon confirmation of flavor, your order will be shipped

Thank you,

Cynthia Daniel

Customer Service

In my haste and crazed multi tasking attempt, I ordered the wrong flavor. I picked up the phone and called Cynthia. I could not believe how on top of this she was, given that she probably processes lots and lots of orders throughout her day. I was so grateful that she took the time to notice that we had always ordered the cheese flavor, and took the time to email me to make sure I had ordered what I actually wanted.

I thanked her profusely for noticing my mistake. She said she was happy to help, that a quick look back at my order history and a short email was certainly easier than having to deal with a return of two barrels of treats.

Bravo Cynthia! You saved me a lot of time and energy, and made sure that Sophia would be happy.

Tweet

Vectorworks Template or Stationery Files

Not to be confused with Stationary files. They don’t exist, or move.

I have several, generally for different sheet sizes, or specific venues, but it is certainly easy to make that change in any one Template or Stationery file.

When you create a new document in Vectorworks you’re given the choice of using a blank document or any of a number of stock (or custom) Template files. These are generally architecture based and contain many standard architectural classes.

The stock Spotlight Template contains layers for the Theatre Architecture, Soft Goods, and Scenery. The template also includes classes for Clamps, and Label Legend components.

I want more, of course. I use a lot of different classes and I store them in Stationery files. I create and set line weights in stationery files. I set all the tool preferences to my liking in stationery files. I can keep different venues in stationery files.

It’s not possible to move those tool setting around easily, that kind of choice might limit the number of Templates you want to create. You can easily mass import layers and classes from one file to another in the Tools>Organization dialogue.

Of course, I discuss template files and how they might grow and change with your experience in Entertainment Design; Scenery, Lighting and Sound, with Vectorworks…, but that’s no surprise.

Here’s one really important reason to have a stationery file. When you create a section Viewport, Vectorworks automatically creates a class called SectionStyle. It has a really, really, really heavy outline, and a red fill. Most users will want to reference that class. If you re-define in a Template file, you only have to make that change once.

When you File>Save as Template… Vectorworks saves you template in your defaults and you can then access the template anytime you create a new file. Just write over the original anytime you want to change some of the settings.

Bit by bit, I go over some of my choices for stationery file settings.

Tweet

Matt Novak of the Smithsonian Magazine Blog Paleo Future writes about the rise and dominance of the car in Los Angeles. It is a fascinating read that includes concepts for futuristic monorails and oil wells at Venice Beach.

Aside from Detroit there’s no American city more identified with the automobile than Los Angeles. In the 20th century, the Motor City rose to prominence as the home of the Big Three automakers, but the City of Angels is known to outsiders and locals alike for its confusing mess of freeways and cars that crisscross the city — or perhaps as writer Dorothy Parker put it, crisscross the “72 suburbs in search of a city.”

Los Angeles is notorious for being hostile to pedestrians. I know plenty of Angelenos who couldn’t in their wildest dreams imagine navigating America’s second largest city without a car. But I’ve spent the past year doing just that.

Artist’s conception of a future monorail for Los Angeles, California in 1954 (Source: Novak Archive)

Oil wells at Venice Beach on January 26, 1931 (Source: Paradise Promoted by Tom Zimmerman)

 

Tweet

Crime scene photos taken by city detectives are dark, almost Weege like, a shot of The Great Bambino in the stands for game one of the 1936 World Series is an amazing moment in another time, when fans could get the autograph of a living legend by simply handing him a program.

I’ve chosen a few shots from Mail Online to get you started, if you’re an urban visual history fanatic like me, go to the Department of Records  and lose

yourself for a few hours. It’s worth every minute.

Moment in history: The headline of the newspaper the man in this May 18, 1940 photo reads: ‘Nazi Army Now 75 Miles From Paris.’ This picture shows the corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street in Manhattan

A bridge too far? Painters hang from suspended wires on the Brooklyn Bridge October 7, 1914 — 31 years after it first opened

The Great Bambino: In this September 30, 1936, Works Progress Administration, Federal Writerís Project, photo provided by the New York City Municipal Archives, a man hands a program to baseball legend Babe Ruth, center, as he is joined by his second wife Clare, center left, and singer Kate Smith, front left, in the grandstand during Game One of the 1936 World Series at the Polo Grounds in New York

Dead men can tell tales: When the New York Times wrote about elevator operator Robert Green, left, and Jacob Jagendorf, a building engineer, right, it reported that their bodies found lying at the bottom of an elevator shaft November 24, 1915, told the story of the pair’s failed robbery attempt

 

Murder most foul: A detective took this crime scene photo in 1918 after children found the body of Gaspare Candella stuffed in a drum and dumped in a field in Brooklyn, New York

 

The main concourse of Grand Central Terminal, in New York, is seen from the Campbell apartment in this 1937 photo. The posh apartment, in one of America’s grandest train stations, was the playground of financier John Campbell in the Roaring 20′s

 

New Yorkers cool off in the Astoria public pool with the Hell’s Gate railroad bridge looming in the background in the summer of 1940.

Tweet

“Of the below-ground obstacles, Arup director of construction David Caiden says: ‘It’s a spaghetti of tunnels, utilities, pipes and cables—I’ve never seen anything like it.’ Additionally, the project must go over, or under, subway lines, Amtrak railway lines, and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel linking Manhattan and Queens.” It’s woven through the city like a carpet.

Photo by Patrick Cashin

Photo by Patrick Cashin

Photo by Patrick Cashin

Tweet

The brewery creates 60% of its own electricity. Add to that with a slew of energy efficient strategies, greenhouse gas emissions reductions programs, an on-site wastewater treatment facility, and a 97% diversion program and composting system that keeps waste out of the landfill.

They have a number of energy efficient strategies in place lik, motion sensors and more energy-efficient chiller and freezers. Their spent grain is given to local farmers rather than sent to the landfill and brewery waste water is treated on site.

For more on these breweries, and the others on the list, visit Inhabitat

Tweet

First presented at the Design Indaba Conference in March, 2013, the firm will begin testing later this year in the Netherlands.

The light emitted from the photoluminescent paint is gorgeous, and the smart highway’s beauty is much more than skin deep. When the temperature drops, snow flakes appear on the road,
a warning to drivers that ice may be ahead. Interactive street lamps light up as a vehicle approaches, wind lights use pinwheels to generate energy, ad an induction lane is built in to recharge electric cars as they move along the highway.

The future certainly can be beautiful, easy on the planet, and practical.

The Smart Highway Project

Tweet

Justin Lange, editor at Projection Lights and Staging News invited Kevin to blog at Pro Lighting Space, Justin’s go to site for professional lighting designers, and lighting technicians. Thanks to Justin, and Pro Lighting Space, I am cross posting Kevin’s blog entries here.

Putting the pieces together

Tweet

Justin Lange, editor at Projection Lights and Staging News invited Kevin to blog at Pro Lighting Space, Justin’s go to site for professional lighting designers, and lighting technicians. Thanks to Justin, and Pro Lighting Space, I am cross posting Kevin’s blog entries here.

Here’s a Goody — CameraMatch Plug-in for Vectorworks 2013

One of the great things about Vectorworks is that the program is scriptable and extensible. If you have a mindset for programming, you can make the application do things it maybe shouldn’t do, that’s always fun, right?

Tweet

Lightwright was developed by John McKernon and not by Nemetschek Vectorworks. The
two work together to ensure a smooth workflow, but they are not one product, like the Vectorworks Designer Suite.This is explained again below, but as a critical point, it need emphasis.

You need to keep your VWX, LW5, and XML files in the same folder or directory. That’s for good record keeping and so you can easily “see” the relationships.

You will have the files like these:

1. Show-LightPlot.vwx
2. Show-Data.xml (in reality Vectorworks will name this the same as your LightPlot, but with the XML file extension)
3. Show-Paperwork.lw5

If you Save As or rename the VWX, that file will create a new XML so you may end up with

1. Show-LightPlot-2.vwx
2. Show-Data-2.xml

However,the Lightwright file will still be looking at the original Show-Data.xml file. The Lightwright file will still be linked to Show-Data.xml.

Any changes you make in Show-LightPlot-2.vwx will not appear in your Lightwright file unless you now link the Lightwright file to the new XML file.

Some things to bear in mind:

• Save the Vectorworks XML file in the same location as the VWX file.
• Keep the VWX, XML, and LW5 files in the same folder. I know, this is redundant, but it bears repeating.
• If you set up a collaborative environment using a service such as Dropbox, do not work on your files while they are on the server. Instead move them to your desktop for work. The server may be copying parts of your files at any time. When this happens, the file is likely to be locked and cannot be written to by either Vectorworks or Lightwright. Whatever changes are made when the file(s) are locked will not show up in the XML file.
• Do not use degree symbols anywhere in your Vectorworks symbols—in the name of the symbol, in the default data/information for the Lighting Device, or in the OIP data. For detailed information on the reasons behind this restriction, search the Lightwright Reference Manual for “degree symbol.”
• Use Lightwright 5′s Save a Backup command to make copies of the LW5 file, but do not Save As. The Save a Backup command automatically turns off Data Exchange in the backup copy, so it will not interfere with Data Exchange on the original VWX file.
• Do not change the name of your VWX file. If you need to make a backup, make a duplicate of the file in the OS using a different name rather than renaming the original. This way the XML file that Lightwright is looking for will not change, and you won’t have to do a full export on exit and re-link Lightwright to the XML file. When you open the duplicate copy, it will automatically export a new XML file. The new XML will not be linked to Lightwright. I usually turn off the XML export (Use automatic Lightwright Data Exchange in the Lightwright Tab of the Spotlight Preferences) in the new file.

Once your VWX file is linked to your LW5 file via the XML file, as you add lights and information to your plot, that information will be added to the Lightwright file. Similarly, if you prefer to add information, even lights in Lightwright, that information will be added tot he Vectorworks Light Plot. Here is one caveat, if you add an instrument in Lightwright, a symbol for that instrument must already exist in the Light Plot VWX file. Lightwright is incapable of searching your hard drive or contacting Steve Shelley to download a symbol.

Sorry, no pictures.

Tweet

Justin Lange, editor at Projection Lights and Staging News invited Kevin to blog at Pro Lighting Space, Justin’s go to site for professional lighting designers, and lighting technicians. Thanks to Justin, and Pro Lighting Space, I am cross posting Kevin’s blog entries here.

Vectorworks Spotlight Lighting Device Preferences

Tweet

Justin Lange, editor at Projection Lights and Staging News invited Kevin to blog at Pro Lighting Space, Justin’s go to site for professional lighting designers, and lighting technicians. Thanks to Justin, and Pro Lighting Space, I am cross posting Kevin’s blog entries here.

Oh, How I Hate DXF files and How To Make Them Suck Less

I am convinced that DXF files exist to frustrate users. I dislike the AutoCAD Interface, so I have little experience with DXF files and AutoCAD, but still. 

Tweet

Tweet