We just aqcuired the EOS at the theatre where I work and are still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles. I am trying to import my patch from Lightwright, but when I export the ASCII soft patch and try to import it into the EOS counsole, nothing happens. I've had success doing the same by exporting the file from VectorWorks, but no luck with Lightwright. Any suggestions?
Even though it's an ASCII file, you should import it using the Lightwright option from the browser, not the ASCII option. This tells Eos what type of ASCII file it is, to help read it. Is this what you tried? If yes, and the ASCII file looks like it has data in it, send it and the Eos version number (probably 1.3 or 1.3.1) that you are running to eos@etcconnect.com and we can take a look.
I just tried this on a console and was unsuccessful, so instead of actually saving the LW file onto a thumb drive--the workaround is to export the LW file to an ASCII file and then import the file into EOS/Ion
In LW4 click on File-->Export-->ASCII Soft Patch
Save the file to a thumb drive--Find the file on the drive and right click and change the file extension to .asc
When LW4 saves an ASCII file it does not add the .asc file type extension to the filename. In EOS/Ion you should now see the file name under Import-->ASCII. Hope that helps.
There are two ways to import Lightwright into Eos:
From Lightwright, select Export->Data and type in a filename only. Lightwright will add an extension of ".txt" when it creates the file. Now use the Import->Lightwright option in Eos and browse to that .txt file.
The other way is to select Export->ASCII Patch from Lightwright, and give it a filename. Lightwright doesn't add any extensions so you will have to type in ".asc" for file type. Now use the Import->USITT ASCII in Eos and browse to the .asc file.
These files are not interchangeable, and one method may work better for you than the other. The Lightwright documentation that I have indicates that the ASCII option may be preferable, but try them both and let me know what you think.
I just tried the export data in Lightwright as described above, and it doesnt work.
In export data, Lightwright asks you what you want to export, and it will export everything or nothing. I chose everything at first with the titles at the top, tab seperated, and when I tried to import it and selected patch, it didnt import anything. The same thing happened when I only exported the channel and dimmer information.
I have always had great success with the export ASCII softpatch. Both Express/expression and my Ion do that without any problems.
[edited by: Brian Webber at 1:11 PM (GMT -6) on Thu, Apr 17 2008]
Thanks! I was not aware that the file came without an extension... Applying the ".asc" worked like a charm! Does anyone know of any way to include in the import the "label" for the channel?
I am curious about doing the opposite of what all of you are discussing on this thread. I want to export an EOS patch to ASCII and import that into a program, such as Lightwright. I have successfully exported an ASCII file from EOS, but have had no luck what so ever importing that ASCII file into anything-Lightwright, VMS, or other ETC offline editors (other than EOS). I can open the Ascii file that came from EOS in a text editor and all the info is there, but is not in a format that can be imported to these other programs. Does anyone have any hints or suggestions? Has anyone had any success doing this.
My most current attempts have been using EOS Offline version 1.3.0.9.0.55
The problem with going back in to Lightwright or other database is that a channel can have multiple addresses, and there's no automated way to know which address goes to which unit. That is why importing an ASCII patch currently isn't part of LW.
That said, I've had success getting the one-address-per-channel part of the patch into LW through a combination of BBEdit and the VLookup function in Excel. I'm not aware of any off the shelf way to do this, though.
-Josh
P.S. I haven't attempted the other part of your question -- getting the Eos ASCII file into another offline editor.
this may prove to be helpful to me. Would you mind detailing a little more the steps and process you describe? What what steps do you use BBedit for? At what stage do you transfer this into Excel. I am on a Windows platform and a quick Google search indicates that BBEdit is a Mac only program. Are you aware of a Windows alternative?
I would greatly appreciate this. I mostly use the patch in a wonderful program, Virtual Magic Sheet. It is quite easy to get the patch from an ASCII file on almost any other product except the EOS. Since I'm usually entering the patch into this program sometime between hang/focus and cueing with directors breathing down my neck the more I can do to automate this the better.
this may prove to be helpful to me. Would you mind detailing a little more the steps and process you describe? What what steps do you use BBedit for? At what stage do you transfer this into Excel. I am on a Windows platform and a quick Google search indicates that BBEdit is a Mac only program. Are you aware of a Windows alternative?
I would greatly appreciate this. I mostly use the patch in a wonderful program, Virtual Magic Sheet. It is quite easy to get the patch from an ASCII file on almost any other product except the EOS. Since I'm usually entering the patch into this program sometime between hang/focus and cueing with directors breathing down my neck the more I can do to automate this the better.
