 |
| |
| LD Assistant's DMX Patch Editor by Stephen Ellison |
| The most important reason to have this program over regular AutoCad is the ability to control the lighting fixtures in your design. You can test your design through pre-visualization, and even write cues into a console to reduce time in the theater. In order to accomplish this you have to not only add fixtures to a space but connect them thru DMX to a console. |
 |
|
The most important reason to have this program over regular AutoCad is the ability to control the lighting fixtures in your design. You can test your design through pre-visualization, and even write cues into a console to reduce time in the theater. In order to accomplish this you have to not only add fixtures to a space but connect them thru DMX to a console.
The process of setting this up starts with adding fixtures to the light plot. As you add fixtures to your design that have a DMX profile they are automatically added to the DMX Patch. However they are all hooked up to Universe 1 Channel 1. After you have all of the fixtures in the light plot you need to go into data for each fixture and assign it a DMX address. This can be accomplished in several ways.
The first way is to select a fixture and right clicking will bring up a pop up window where under LD assistant is the option to Attach Data. This brings up a window that allows you to change a vast amount of information about the fixture sorted by tabs. Under the Control tab is where you can input the information about where this fixture is in the DMX world.
The second way would be by updating a spreadsheet. The program comes preloaded with a large quantity of already prepared excel like spreadsheets. When you choose the Control Schedule it opens with information already filled in for the fixtures. Here it has the information sorted for you by DMX. If you have not added any information to the fixtures it may not be helpful yet. So for this article we will assume that you have already assigned each fixture a Position and Unit Number. Now when you look at the Control Schedule it will have the fixtures in order by Position so that you can make sense of which Mac 300 is where and you can update the DMX. Now if you are like me you may not want to have to calculate all of the DMX addresses for the rig.
|
 |
|
Here is where the Patch Editor can help.
Assign each type of fixture to a different universe for the moment and let them all start with 1. Open the Patch Editor which can be found in the Visualization Tab. When you open it up at the top you will see buttons for all 64 universes. Under the universe buttons are the 512 possible addresses for that universe. Occupying address 1 thru however many channels are in the profile for that particular fixture are boxes with a red x indicating that an error exists. Now is when you can figure out the proper addresses by left clicking on the row and dragging it to a new address. A quick suggestion is to spread them out until you have them all separated then hover over each one and right click to see the floating window which will identify the fixture and provide all of the data associated with the fixture. Now you can arrange the fixtures in each universe. If you wish to have them in one universe then start at 1 in the first universe, then start with the next universe with the last number in the first. Select all the fixtures in the second after you have arranged them and click the Move to Universe button and when prompted enter the new number. Once you have done this close the Patch Editor and refresh the Control Schedule and all of the DMX Start Channels will be updated ready to load into fixtures.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Featured Rendering - by G. B. Stephens USF School of Theater and Dance |
 |
|
| LD Assistant Quick Tip From User - Mike Prince of TERRAMAR Creative |
| When you're zoomed in on part of the drawing and you want to zoom all the way out, just double click on the mouse wheel to zoom out. |
|
| CAD Articles |
Fundamentals of Parametric Constraints. In a parametric drawing, you can add constraints to geometry to ensure that your design conforms to specified requirements. Parametric drawing can be defined as a technology that is used for designing with constraints. Constraints are defined as restrictions and associations that are applied to 2D geometry. They provide a way to enforce requirements when looking at different designs or when making changes in the design phase of a project.
There are two types of constraints: geometric and dimensional. Geometric constraints are used to control the relationships of objects in respect to each other. Dimensional constraints are used to control the distance, angle, radius, and length values of objects.
With constraints you can Click here to keep reading |
|
Dynamic Loading and Unloading Of Raster Images Depending On Zoom Scale by Gopinath Taget
Lets say you want to control the loading and unloading of the Raster images when the user is zooming or panning. The Images should load or unload on two factors:
1) The zoom scale.
2) The Image is in visible area or not. This can be achieved by adding an editor reactor that checks for the command “ZOOM” and “PAN”. If the user has invoked either of the command then do the following: 1) Scan for all the Raster Images in the drawing.
2) Check if a Raster Image is fully, partially or non visible in the current view.
3) If the Raster Image is fully or partially visible, check for ratio (Image diagonal /View diagonal). If this ratio lies with in the specified limit, then load the Image otherwise unload it. Also unload the image if it does not lie in the current view Click here to keep reading |
|
Don't Overlook the Settings By Maria Tzanetakou
Get more out of your AutoCAD command by checking the settings options.
Tipster Maria Tzanetakou reminds us that many AutoCAD commands have more options available to us after we start the command.
"Old-fashioned leaders are still useful and full of options. We sometimes forget the settings options for many commands, both new and old.
"The settings for the Leader command for example, can be a lifesaver. There are three tabs in the Leader Settings dialog box, each with different information. Let's look at the Leader Line and Arrow tab.
"In this tab we can choose whether the leader line will be straight or spline; the type of arrowhead we will use; the angle of the constraints; and the number of points the leader will have. The preset number of points is three, allowing us to do three clicks (which makes two segments), but if we tick the No Limit box, we can make as many segments as we need to complete the leader. Click here to keep reading |
|
Why you should use AutoCAD blocks by Edwin Prakoso
AutoCAD block holds important role in productivity. However, it’s often overlooked by many users. Remember, creating a drawing is not just how fast you can finish it. You need to be able to modify it easily in the design process. And it should be able to give information that you need.
Let’s see some reasons why you should use blocks.
Reduce repetitive tasks
The basic use of block is as reusable contents. You can define a block once, then use it repeatedly without redraw it in new drawings or in the same drawing. You can choose to copy the objects. But when the drawing gets complicated, this can be a difficult task. If you draw it more than once, you may want to consider create a block from it.
When you need to do modification, block definition will make it easy. There are two possible cases here.
Imagine you placed a door in elevation view. When you want to change the door, you may want to replace the model with an other model. It means the door name and type are different. You can do it easily by replace that door with other door type from your library. There is a replace block tool in express tools.
Another possibility is the door model itself needs to change. The door type and name in bill of quantity remain the same, but you need to change the drawing. You can modify the block in block editor. When you finished, all block instances will be updated.
This is much more faster than copying objects. If they are not blocks, when you need to modify it, you need to change them all.
Click here to keep reading |
|
|
| NVIDIA Partner Certified Video Drivers - Looking for LD Assistant or AutoCAD video drivers? Click here |
| NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Manually find drivers for my NVIDIA products. Click here |
|
| LD Assistant Ac System Requirements |
LD Assistant Ac 2013 will install on Win 7 32 bit or 64 bit OS. When installed on WIN 7 64 Bit OS LD Assistant will take full advantage of all the RAM you have on your computer.
Requirements for 2D Drafting • Microsoft® Windows® 7 Enterprise, Ultimate, Professional, or Home Premium or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP3 or later)
• For Windows 7: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ dual-core processor, 3.0 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology
• For Windows XP: Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon dual-core processor, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology
• 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended) • 6 GB free disk space for installation
• 1,024 x 768 display resolution with true color (1,600 x 1,050 with true color recommended) • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 or later web browser.
Requirements for 3D Modeling • Pentium 4 or Athlon processor, 3 GHz or greater or Intel or AMD dual-core processor, 2 GHz or greater
• 4 GB RAM or more • 1,280 x 1,024 true color video display adapter 256 MB or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, OpenGL, Microsoft® Direct3D®-capable workstation-class graphics card.
Standard Rendering Requirements • 4 to 6 GB RAM
High-End Rendering Requirements • Depending on the size of drawing, 12 to 16 GB RAM may be needed. |
|
| Thank You! |
| Design & Drafting appreciates your interest in our products. Please forward this newsletter to your friends and associates,
however, NO part of this newsletter may be used without permission. © Copyright 2013 by Chicago Stage Equipment Company Inc. D.B.A. Design & Drafting. Autodesk, AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, DWF, DWG, DXF, ObjectARX are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Rufus Warren Editor |
|
|
|