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Changing Scales in VectorWorks® 2010 versus SoftSymbols™ This page is included as a pdf in the SoftSymbols™ 2010 package.
This technical brief discusses what was changed in the symbol resources for Vectorworks® 2010 -- and specifically the philosophy and technique Vectorworks® 2010 uses to provide accurate written data while changing between imperial (feet and inch) and metric (meter) scales. If you don’t think you’ll ever need to change the Vectorworks® drafting environment (and the symbols) from one scale type to another, you probably don’t need to read much more of this document. On the other hand, if you may change lighting symbols from imperial to metric or back again, keep reading.
First things first. When you create a "New" Vectorworks document, it appears as a blank document in a default scale with default units. While there are many ways to view the scale, one rapid method is to contextual-click in an open portion of the drawing (right-click on Windows, control-click on a Mac), and select "Active Layer Scale". This takes you directly to the Layer Scale Dialogue Box, which displays the current scale for that layer of the drawing. In North America, that default scale is often 1/2". The primary function of this dialogue box allows you to change the scale for the active layer. In addition to that, the two checkboxes in the lower right-hand corner allow you to apply a selected scale to all layers, or to apply any scale change to all text as well. In Vectorworks, it’s possible to change the scale of any layer at any time [remember what layer is which scale, though. Otherwise objects may suddenly refuse to be selected.] Regardless of that checkbox, however, I **always** check the lower "Scale Text" box. If I don’t, after I change scale and click "ok", I find that pre-existing text can turn into weird sizes or completely shift their location within the drawing. The other default measurement function in a new drawing is "Units," which is accessed by clicking on "File > Document Settings". After selecting "Units", a dialogue box appears with a plethora of choices. The primary one in the upper left-hand corner is the "Units" selection tab. Clicking on the selection bar reveals a lot of choices; for theatrical work, the two typical units that are used is either "Feet and Inches" or "Meter". After clicking the OK button, the dialogue disappears, and any unit change is then reflected in the rulers along the top and left-hand side of the document window. Scale and Units can be chosen independently of one another. If you’re not careful, you can suddenly discover that you’re drafting in 1/2" scale, but in metric units. While you can draft a document in this manner, you may suddenly discover that distances and drawn sizes no longer make any sense. Now, if you’re not trying to produce a drawing that will be used to provide measured information, then who cares? If you are producing a document that will be used to provide scaled measurements, though, watch out. If your scale and units don’t match, the drawing may turn into a big gooey mess. Yep, that’s the voice of sad experience talking. So, if you open a new document and want to change to an alternate drafting scale, select the new scale and (if need be) the matching unit and you’re done. Be on your merry way, and don’t worry about reading the rest of this document. If you think the drawing may need to change back and forth between imperial and metric scales however, read on.
Since Spotlight was introduced, the toolkit shipped with two sets of object libraries. One folder was labeled "imperial", while the other folder contained documents labeled "metric". In reality, the **only** difference between the two sets of symbols was the contents of two data fields in the Light Info Record (LIR), "cut color" and "weight". The imperial symbols listed cut color in feet & inches, and weight in pounds. The metric symbols (which consisted of the exact same 2D and 3D components), listed the cut color in millimeters and the weight in kilos. While this system provided accurate information, it always seemed to me like a huge loss of hard drive space: Two identical sets of symbols, and the only difference between the two sets was the written information contained in these two data fields. So, say, you decided you only needed to draft in imperial, you might take the rash action of just deleting the metric folder in order to save room on your hard drive. And then, say, you realized that you had to draft a metric light plot, but you no longer had the metric folder any more. Then you would be screwed. Yep, same voice. In 2006 Sam Jones and I had several discussions about how to address this issue. The result was Sam's Data Conversion macros, which shipped as part of SoftSymbols v3. These two plug-in macros are named:
(While Sam wrote the macros, I edited the two data fields for every symbol to make certain they all contained the same punctuation. That way they would all work perfectly with the macros.) When either of these powerful macros are invoked, the cut color and weight data for every SoftSymbol, every Spotlight lighting device, and every resource that has a Lighting Info Record attached to it, in the active document, is changed from one scale type to the other. These macros can be used at any time in the life of a drawing--when the document is created, half-way through the drafting process, even after the document is completed. Regardless of which scale type the drawing is currently in, Sam's macros will change the data. Select the macro, and an alert box then informs you that the conversion to the alternate scale has been completed. Pretty simple, and effective at any time. To install these macros, please read "Data Conversion vw2010.pdf" located in the Data Conversion folder of the SoftSymbols V3-VW2010 folder.  Spotlight 2010 and the Universal Spotlight Object Libraries:
With the release of Vectorworks 2010, Nemetschek has addressed this same issue, but uses an alternate method and philosophy. Instead of two matching symbol folders, Vw2010 ships with only one; the Universal Spotlight Object Library. All of the lighting resources have the same Light Info Record as previous versions of the program, but each symbol also has an additional "M" Light Info Record. This new record contains only three fields; the symbol’s name, its cut color size in millimeters, and its metric weight in kilos. In addition to that, Vw2010 also ships with some new programming code, hidden out of view. When you change scales from imperial to metric in Vw2010, nothing happens to the symbols. But when you change units from imperial to metric, the unseen programming code swaps out the imperial cut color and weight data in the LIR and replaces it with the metric cut color and weight data from the "M" LIR instead. While this change takes place out of sight, it also only changes the resources in the Resource Browser. Any lighting devices that are already inserted in the document remain unchanged in the previous unit type. If you draft a portion of a light plot using imperial scale and units, for example, and then change to metric units, every lighting device created after that point will be metric. But the lighting devices that had been inserted before the unit change will retain the imperial data. Nemetschek's philosophy for this approach is "the user could have changed the data once the instrument was inserted, and we don’t want to change anything that is already in the document." Spotlight 2010 Rules and Workarounds:
So what does this philosophy mean in the Vectorworks 2010 environment? When "File > Document Settings > Units" are changed from imperial to metric:
So what happens if you have a finished Vw2010 Spotlight plot (drafted in imperial units), that needs to change to metric units? Re-insert each lighting device in the drawing? Ugh. Here's one known workaround:
But Wait...
So that's it? Either "Replace with Active Symbol" or re-insert every lighting device? Not quite. There's also Sam's Conversion Macros. What you must remember, though, is that Sam’s macros don’t depend on the "M" LIR. As a matter of fact, they have nothing to do with the "M" LIR. Sam’s macros rely on, and only convert, the data in the regular LIR. And they convert anything that has a Light Info Record--Spotlight lighting devices, hybrid symbols, or resources. So take the finished Vw2010 Spotlight plot (drafted in imperial units), change the units and scale to metric (no change), and then invoke Sam’s "Convert Lights to Metric" macro. Ta-da! All of the Spotlight lighting devices (along with everything else that contains a LIR) is converted to metric data. If you want, you can convert it back to imperial using Sam’s "Convert Lights to Imperial". These scale-type changes all seamlessly take place without touching the "M" LIR. BUT! If you have a light plot that is half-way drafted in imperial, and you want to change the existing lighting devices to metric, common sense would then say: use Sam’s conversion macro. Which is correct, but--HEADS UP. Once you start using Sam’s macros, you must then always use his macros to match each scale type and unit change in that drawing. Why? If you change the units to metric, that automatically inserts the "M" LIR into the resource's data fields. When you then run Sam’s "Convert Lights to Metric" macro, that converts the regular LIR to metric as well. So if you later change the units back to feet and inches, the post-inserted symbols will still be inserted as metric, until you run Sam’s "Convert Lights to Imperial" macro. In short, because Sam’s macros change the regular Light Info Record, and Spotlight’s automatic programming doesn’t, then only Sam’s macros will work to reverse changes made by Sam’s macros. Spotlight Change Scale Tactical Review:
Bottom line tactics: If you want to draw a light plot in an alternate scale type using Vectorworks 2010 tools (like metric instead of imperial), change the scale before you start drafting. No need to use Sam’s macros.
SoftSymbols™ Change Scale Tactical Review:
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