Universe Assignment in Vectorworks Spotlight

Command

Path

Spotlight Preferences

File > Document Settings

At the beginning of a project (and at any other time), the Vectorworks Spotlight product can be set to automatically handle the assignment of DMX universe and dimmer combinations. As instruments are added to the light plot, the Universe and U Address instrument parameters are determined based on the dimmer numbers specified in the Spotlight Preferences dialog box.

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To specify the dimmer and universe assignment:

Select the command.

The Spotlight Preferences dialog box opens. Click the Universe tab.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

To enable automatic universe assignment, click Automatically assign Universe.

Select a universe system and then for each universe in the system, provide a name (optional) and a starting and ending value. Click Next Page to continue entering universe break values.

Click Save as default to use this universe assignment and other Spotlight preferences for other files created with the Vectorworks Spotlight product.

The addresses of inserted instruments are automatically assigned to a universe. The U Address parameter from the Object Info palette displays the automatically assigned address when automatic assignment is enabled.

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Parameter	Description
Manually assign the Dimmer and Universe	Disables automatic universe assignment by the Vectorworks Spotlight product; dimmer and universe values need to be assigned manually for each instrument
Automatically assign Universe	As addresses are entered for instruments, the universe is automatically assigned by the Vectorworks Spotlight product
System	Specifies the universe system; up to six systems, A through F, are available. Each system can contain up to 64 DMX universes.
Univ #, Label, Start #, End #	Specifies where the universe breaks occur. For each universe, enter the dimmer range with a Start and End value; divisions of 512 are typical, but non-uniform divisions are also accepted. The universe name (label) is not required.
< Previous Page/Next Page >	When defining more than eight universes, navigate to additional universe entries with Previous Page and Next Page. Up to 64 DMX universes can be specified per system.
Save as default	Saves the current Spotlight preferences as the default; the default settings saved include those on the Universe and Lightwright tab