Editing objects in CAD mode

CAD mode is where you edit your show drawings. This includes editing your venue, set pieces, lighting positions, focus positions, and lighting fixtures. Editing in CAD mode is similar to many other CAD programs, so many of the concepts will be familiar to those who have used a computer-aided drafting program before. WYSIWYG adds features that are specific to the entertainment industry, such as a comprehensive 3D library containing truss, lighting equipment, lighting accessories, props, musical instruments, and various human figures.

In this section

Editing Objects in CAD mode

Object Properties

Layers

Scenes

CAD tools

Selecting

Before you can manipulate objects, you must select them. Selected objects are easily identifiable: a white box appears at the insertion point and the lines of the object become dotted. Fixtures that are selected are filled in green and their beams can be set to either on or off.

Use the following table to identify the selection method for objects.

To select various fixtures in your file, right-click in a wireframe, click Select All, and then select the fixture type. This functionality is available in CAD, DESIGN, and LIVE modes.

Cycle selection

This feature is helpful when you need to select an object that shares an edge with another object. For example, if you need to select the roof of a building that shares its edges with the building’s walls. Left-to-right drag-selection in a side or elevation view works, of course, but there are many cases when this method cannot be used.

To use cycle selection

1. To activate Cycle Selection, simply press SHIFT before clicking to select. When Cycle Selection is active, Cycle On appears in the WYSIWYG Status bar.
2. To select the object, click in a spot where two or more lines overlap or intersect (“lines” do not necessarily mean Line objects, but rather lines that are part of anything drawn or inserted from the library).
3. To continue selecting, keep pressing SHIFT to continue cycling through all the items that share the coordinate where you have clicked (in the order in which they were added to the drawing).

Tips:

• If you also press CTRL at the same time as SHIFT, you can add items to an existing selection set when those items can only be selected by Cycle Selection.
• Hold down CTRL+SHIFT and click at a coordinate where something in the same “cycle set” was already selected to cycle through all items again, including the one already selected.
• Ensure that when cycling through the cycle set, you do not make a mistake by canceling the selection of an item that you need to have selected (although in order to do so, you would have to release CTRL+SHIFT when you cycle to this item instead of holding CTRL+SHIFT down as you “pass over it”).

Invert selection

This feature is helpful if you want to cancel the selection of all the currently selected editable objects (in CAD), and consequently select all objects that were previously not selected.

• From the Edit menu, choose Select Special > Invert Selection to activate invert selection, or press the INV button on the Selection toolbar, or press CTRL+I, which applies to all objects displayed in CAD Wireframe and Shaded views.
• Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+I    activates invert selection of fixtures and applies only to all the fixtures displayed in CAD Wireframe and Shaded views.

Note: Invert selection is also available in DESIGN and LIVE mode. See Using the design tools.

To use invert selection

For example, if your drawing has a total of 10 objects, and 4 objects out of the 10 are currently selected. Press CTRL+I to activate invert selection.

Result: The 4 selected objects will be deselected and the other 6 objects that were previously not selected, will be selected automatically.

Note: Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to select and deselect only fixtures in CAD.

Shaded view selection

You can select fixtures in Shaded view in CAD, DESIGN, and LIVE modes. This allows you to click on a fixture in the Shaded view, which will then activate the fixture for editing with the Designer tools. You can select multiple fixtures at one time by either drag-selecting or holding down CTRL while selecting fixtures.

Using shaded view selection

You can activate Shaded View Selection by pressing TAB while in CAD, DESIGN, or LIVE mode > Shaded View. Once you press TAB, you will notice a message in magenta on the top right-hand corner of the Shaded view window: “Shaded View Select ON”.

To activate shaded view selection

1. In a Shaded view in CAD, LIVE or DESIGN mode (meaning the amber outline appears around the Shaded view), press TAB once. You are now in Shaded View Selection mode.
2. To select a fixture in Shaded View Selection mode, click directly on a fixture’s image in the Shaded view:

3. To select multiple fixtures in Shaded View Selection, press CTRL and click each fixture that you want to select. You can also select multiple fixtures at once by drag-selecting with the mouse as you would in wireframe modes; Shaded View Selection disables the camera movement controls so you can drag a marquee box around fixtures to select them.

4. Once you are finished selecting fixtures, press TAB again to exit from Shaded View Selection mode. You will then regain control of the Shaded view camera.

Tips:

• It is helpful to keep your hand near the TAB key while selecting fixtures and maneuvering around with the camera; once you need to move around your view, press TAB to exit Shaded View Selection. Your fixture selection is maintained as you move in and out of the Shaded View Selection mode.
• Make sure while you navigate around in the Shaded View that you give yourself a good angle on the view in which you want to select fixtures. It may be difficult to select a fixture in the middle of a lighting position or truss while you’re looking at a side view of it.

To focus a fixture using shaded view selection

Shaded View Selection enables you to focus your fixture by clicking on the target in Shaded views.

1. Activate Shaded View Selection by pressing TAB while in DESIGN or LIVE mode > Shaded view.

Result: A message in magenta appears on the top right-hand corner of the Shaded view window: “Shaded View Select ON”.

2. Click to select the fixture that you want to focus. To select multiple fixtures, press CTRL and click to select them. Alternately, fixtures can be selected using the Fixture Selection toolbar.
3. Activate the focus feature by pressing F on your keyboard (or right-clicking and selecting Focus from the menu). Alternately, you can press L to activate the “Full and Focus” feature (or right-click and select Full and Focus from the menu). The Status bar will indicate when a focus operation is active.
4. Click in the Shaded view to select the focus target.
5. Press TAB to exit Shaded View Selection.

Using the fixture selection toolbar

The Fixture Selection toolbar offers three convenient methods to select fixtures in your file and a method to traverse your selection.

Fixture Selection by Spot number

The toolbar has a combo box in which you can type in Fixture spot numbers that you would like to select (as you would on most lighting consoles). For a consecutive range of fixtures, use a dash ( - ), or to enter a list use commas (,)

Note: This method will only work if fixtures have already been assigned Spot numbers.

Example: “1-10, 15, 20” will select 12 fixtures, with Spot numbers: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,15,20.

The combo box will remember previous selection strings and display them when you click on the down arrow.

Fixture Selection by Channel value

In the combo box, you can type the channel value, using “ch” to identify the channel. Use a dash for a consecutive range.

Note: This method will only work if fixtures have already been patched with Channel numbers.

Example: “ch1-10” will select all the fixture patched to channel numbers 1 to 10.

Select Fixtures By

The Fixture Selection toolbar offers a drop-down menu of all the “Select Fixture By” methods listed in the menus.

Use the Next button to traverse the fixtures selected one by one from first to last, or use the Previous button to traverse the fixtures selected one by one in the reverse order. Select the All button to select all fixtures in your current selection.

Highlight fixtures

The Highlight feature is available on the Fixture Selection toolbar in DESIGN mode only. In Shaded view, Highlight sets the currently selected fixture(s) to an open beam at 100% full intensity temporarily, without changes to the fixture’s saved settings. See Highlight fixtures in Design tools.

Undo/redo

If you discover that you have made an error while editing an object, you can easily reverse the error by using the Undo tool available in WYSIWYG. The name of the Undo tool changes based on what the last action was (for example, if the last action was a Paste operation, the Undo tool will be Undo Paste). You can use Undo to reverse the last series of actions until the tool is greyed out.

If you decide that you did not want to undo an action, use the Redo tool. Similar to the Undo tool, the name of the Redo tool changes based on what the last undo action was.

To use the undo tool

From the Edit menu, choose Undo.

Tip: You may also use the Undo tool on the Edit toolbar.

 The Undo button.

Result: The last action you performed is reversed.

To use the redo tool

From the Edit menu, choose Redo.

Tip: You may also use the Redo tool on the Edit toolbar.

 The Redo button.

Result: The last undo action you performed is reversed.

Grouping/ungrouping

Grouping objects together ensures that they will always be selected as one. For example, you may want to group an object and its corresponding focus position. If you relocate the object in the drawing, the focus position will automatically follow, as will all the light beams pointing at it, saving you time and work.

In order to use Groups effectively, it is important to understand how they operate in WYSIWYG (which may be different than in other software). To that end, ensure that you have read through the Groups in WYSIWYG section.

To group objects

1. Select the objects to be grouped.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Group.

Tip: You may also use the Group tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Group button.

Result: The Dynamic Group Outline appears to indicate that the selected objects have been Grouped.

Dynamic Group Outline is a dashed framing outline enclosing all the objects within a Group. The color of the outline is the same as the color of the Layer where the Group belongs. Dynamic Group Outline will continue to appear every time a Group is selected, until the Group is Ungrouped. For more information, see Dynamic group outline section.

To ungroup objects

1. Select the grouped objects.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Ungroup.

Tip: You may also use the Ungroup tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Ungroup button.

Result: The objects are ungrouped and the Dynamic Group Outline disappears.

Note: You can group together objects located on different layers, but the resulting group can only exist on one layer.

To change or view the layer of a group

1. Select the object(s) for which you want to view the grouping.
2. Right-click and select Properties.

Tip: At any time, to access an object’s properties, you can click the Properties tool on the Edit toolbar.

 The Properties button.

3. Click the Group tab.

Result: The layers for the objects in the group are listed with the layer for the group highlighted.

Note: By default, the group assumes the current layer when initially created.

4. To group the objects on a different layer, select the layer from the list.
5. Click OK.

Selection sets

You can group non-fixture objects and create Selection Sets shortcuts in the Selection Sets shortcut bar in CAD, DATA, DESIGN, and LIVE modes. Selection Sets apply to any and all drawn objects and objects inserted from the Library Browser, which include Groups, Truss and Assembled truss. Multiple Selection Sets can be created on an object.

Selection Sets are NOT the same as Groups because they only save which particular objects are selected, and the order in which they are selected.

To create a selection set

1. Select the objects you want to group and select with a shortcut.
2. On the shortcut bar, click Selection Sets.
3. Right-click on the open space on the Selection Sets shortcut bar, and choose New Selection Set from the pop-up menu.

Result: The Enter new selection set name dialog box appears.

4. Type a name for the new selection set.
5. Click OK.

Result: The new Selection Set shortcut appears on the Selection Sets shortcut bar.

Moving

WYSIWYG supports two types of move commands: relative and absolute.

Absolute coordinates are relative to the origin of the drawing. An absolute move is defined as moving an object from one specific point to another.

A relative move is defined as moving an object to a destination relative to its original position.

To move an object using the mouse

1. Select the objects to be moved.
2. Hover over the object until a grey box appears, and then click and hold.
3. Drag the object to the new position, and then release the mouse button to finish the move.

To move an object using absolute values

1. Select the objects to be moved.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Move.

Tip: You may also use the Move tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Move button.

3. Press ENTER on your keyboard to move the object from its insertion point, OR click to set the base point for the move, OR type the coordinates of the base point, and then press ENTER.

Note: When you start typing, a box appears at the bottom left-hand corner of the window, showing the value that you enter.

4. Type the new coordinate location for the base point, and then press ENTER.

Tip: You can change only one or two coordinates to an absolute location while keeping the other coordinates as they are.

Example: If you wish for an object to move to a height of Z=10, but you don’t know the X and Y coordinates. Start the Move command and type “x, y, 10” in the Command Line after picking the base point.

To move an object using relative values

1. Select the objects to be moved.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Move.

Tip: You may also use the Move tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Move button.

3. Type @, followed by the distances to move the object, and then press ENTER. For example, to move an object 2’-0” stage right (X axis) and 3’-0” off the floor (Z axis), type the following, and then press ENTER:

@2’,0,3’

To move an object using distance and direction

1. Select the objects to be moved.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Move.

Tip: You may also use the Move tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Move button.

3. Type @, the distance that you want to move the object, the < sign, and the direction (as an angle, positive or negative) to move the object, and then press ENTER. For example, to move an object 3’-6” to the left, type the following, and then press ENTER:

@3’6”<-180

Nudging

To save time and for added precision when working in your model, you can use the Nudge feature to nudge any object except fixtures. The amount of the nudge is equal to the size of the Grid. For information on changing the grid size, refer to Draw Defaults tab.

To nudge an object

1. In your model, click to select the object that you want to move.
2. Press and hold the SHIFT and ALT keys on your keyboard simultaneously, and then press the ARROW keys on your keyboard to nudge the object in the desired direction.    

Tip: To nudge objects in increments ten times larger than the size of the grid, do not hold down SHIFT.

Note: You can use the Position Tool to nudge selected object(s) by specifying new coordinate numbers for the X, Y, and Z axes. For more information, see Position Tool.

Sending to back/bringing to front

The feature is very useful for correcting draw order issues (among other things). WYSIWYG displays objects “on top of each other” in the order in which they were added to the drawing. For example, if you draw/insert a table after you draw/insert a piece of truss above it (i.e., at a different missing coordinate), the table will appear “above” the truss (in Plan View), even though the table is on the floor and the truss is up in the air.

You can use the Send to Back or Bring to Front commands to arrange the way the objects appear in your drawing. Note, however, that when you do so the physical location of the objects is unchanged; you are only changing the way in which they are displayed.

To send an object to the back / bring an object to the front

Notes:

• The Send to Back option will “place” the selected object “below” everything else in the drawing.
• The Bring to Front option will “place” the selected object “above” everything else in the drawing.
• You may note that sometimes the object will not move from its current position. This may be due to the Draw Order settings on the Draw Defaults tab of Document Options and View Options. These settings supersede any Send/Bring commands by essentially telling WYSIWYG to always draw fixtures, objects, and hang structures in the order shown.

1. In CAD mode, select the object that you want to send to back or bring to front.
2. Right-click and select Bring to Front or Send to Back.

Tip: Alternately, you can use hotkeys to send items to the back/bring them to the front:

• open curly bracket for Bring to Front (i.e., { or SHIFT+[ )
• closed curly bracket for Send to Back (i.e., } or SHIFT+] )

Rotating objects

You can rotate objects around a base point to place them on angles in your drawing.

To rotate an object

1. Select the object(s) to be rotated.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Rotate.

Note: You may also use the Rotate tool on the Tools toolbar.

• Press ENTER on your keyboard to rotate the object from its insertion point.

OR

• Click to set the center point for the rotation.

OR

• Type in the coordinates of the center point for the rotation, and then press ENTER.

3. Type the rotation angle, and then press ENTER, or drag the mouse and click to type the rotation angle. For example, to rotate an object 45 degrees, type 45, and then press ENTER.

Rotating objects in place

You can rotate multiple objects around their respective insertion points to place them all at the same angle in your drawing.

To rotate multiple objects in place

1. Select the objects to be rotated.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Rotate in Place.
3. Click to set the base point used for the rotation angle.

OR

• Type in the coordinates of the base point, and then press ENTER.

Note: The base point is only used to help determine the angle, as each object is rotated around its own insertion point.

3. Type the rotation angle, and then press ENTER, or move the mouse and click to set the rotation angle. For example, to rotate objects 45 degrees, type 45, and then press ENTER.

Resetting object orientation

Resetting the orientation of an object keeps the object at its insertion point. The object rotates around the insertion point to its original orientation.

To reset the rotation of objects

1. Select the objects whose rotation needs to be reset.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Reset Orientation.

Result: The object’s orientation resets to its default orientation.

Mirroring

The Mirror command duplicates and reverses an object, inserting it the same distance from an axis line as the original object.

Notes:

• After mirroring an object that was originally created through a merge operation, you cannot reliably perform another merge procedure on this object; therefore, it is recommended that you perform all merge operations on these objects before you mirror them.
• Pipes and Truss (including fixtures hanging on them) and fixtures inserted on the floor can be mirrored. See Mirroring pipes and Mirroring truss.
• When mirroring Text Label objects, the Text Label’s position/rotation, anchor position, callouts and arrows will be mirrored across the mirror plane, but the text will always face the screen and will not be reversed.

To insert a mirrored object

1. Select the object(s) to be mirrored.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Mirror.

Tip: You may also use the Mirror tool on the Tools toolbar.

The Mirror button.

3. Click on the drawing to enter the first axis point.
4. Click on the drawing to set the second axis point.

Result: The mirrored object is copied, reversed from the origin, based on the axis drawn.

Scaling

The Scale command changes the size of the object(s). The Scale command applies to a library object, an imported object, and some primitive objects.

When you use the Scale command menu on a selected 2D or 3D Primitive Object, it multiplies the scale factor specified, calculates a new dimension for the Primitive Object and updates the value in its properties. Whenever an object is scaled, the scale factor of the resulting scaled object in its new size will always be equal to 1 again.

When you use the Scale command menu and specify a scale factor equal to 1, the size of the selected object will not change.

If you want to reset the scaled object back to its original or normal size, select the object, and then choose Reset Scale from the Edit menu.

To use the Scale command on imported objects which did not import as single entities, we recommend for you to consolidate the selected objects first, using WYSIWYG’s Consolidate Mesh feature. If not consolidated, the relative position and size of such objects will not be preserved after the Scale operation is completed.

Notes:

• Fixtures, Truss and Groups cannot be scaled.
• You can enable the Show Bounding Box for CAD operation option in the Object Settings tab in the Document Options window to improve the operation performance when you scale complex objects. A bounding box appears as a placeholder to complex objects when scaling or rotating in CAD.

To scale one or more objects uniformly

1. Select the object(s) to scale.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Scale.

Tip: You may also click the Scale icon on the Tools toolbar.

3. In the Command Line toolbar, type the scale factor value (for example, “2” or “0.5” or “4”, etc) for a uniform and precise resize.

OR

Use the mouse wheel to increase or decrease the size of the objects for a uniform and experimental resize method; each notch of the mouse wheel will increase or decrease the object’s scale uniformly (i.e. on all three axes) by a factor of 0.5.

4. On your keyboard, press Enter.

Result: The size of the selected object changes according to the scale factor.

To scale one or more objects with different scale values in X, Y, Z

1. Select the object(s) to scale.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Scale.

Tip: You may also click the Scale icon on the Tools toolbar.

3. In the Command Line toolbar, type the three (3) values for X, Y, Z directions.

Example: Type “2,3,1” in the Command Line to make the selected object 2x wider in the X direction, 3x longer in the Y direction, and the height remains the same as 1x in the Z direction.

4. On your keyboard, press Enter.

Result: The size of the selected object changes according to the scale factor for X, Y and Z.

To scale an object by stretching it with click and drag

Note: To scale Library objects (e.g. Trees, Plants, Festive objects, etc.) by stretching, Library Snap must be enabled.

1. Select the object(s) to stretch.
2. Click and hold on one of its grips, then drag inwards or outwards.

Result: The mouse pointer becomes an arrow at the corner, and the selected object changes its size according to the movement of the mouse.

3. Release the mouse when you reach the desired size.

To reset the scaled object back to its original size

1. Select the scaled object(s).
2. From the Edit menu, choose Reset Scale.

Result: The size of the selected scaled object changes back to its original size.

Modifying object shapes

You can change the shape of certain objects after they are drawn. The objects that you can change include lines, risers, cameras, surfaces, spheres, and arcs. Modifying the shape changes one or more of the parameters of the object, such as its width, height, or radius.

Note: If you are changing the shape of a sphere, when you click and drag one of its vertices, it will be resized proportionately if the Lock Ratio checkbox is checked for the sphere’s properties. (Click Properties > Sphere tab, and then ensure the Lock Ratio checkbox is checked.) To resize the sphere in a disproportionate manner, clear this checkbox, and then click and drag one of its vertices.

To modify the shape of an object

1. Select the object whose shape you want to modify.

Result: Several white boxes appear at the vertices of the object. These boxes are referred to as “markers.”

2. Move your cursor to a vertex.

Result: The cursor changes to an arrow.

Note: If you see a grey dotted box beside your mouse cursor, the object will be moved instead of reshaped. Move your cursor so that only the arrow appears.

3. Left-click to “grip” one of the markers.
4. While holding down the left mouse button, click and drag the object until it reaches the desired shape.
5. Release the mouse button to set the shape.

Tip: As you move the mouse, the current coordinates appear at the bottom of the screen.