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What others are saying
When I started using Vectorworks some 16 years ago I was fortunate to come across the Field Template SoftSymbol range not long after. They are the absolute benchmark for high quality, detailed and most of all clearly drawn symbols. They are the first ones I reach for when starting a new design and as a side by side comparison with the stock supplied VW symbols…well there is no comparison.
Max Conwell
Lighting Designer, Naked Eye Lighting Ltd., www.nakedeyelighting.com
Some [lighting designers] have always drawn their own symbols. If that’s the path you choose, that’s fine. For everyone else, there’s Steve Shelley and his SoftSymbols™. The range of products covered is remarkable. The price, given the amount of work that must be involved, remarkably low. Which is perhaps why they’re so widely used, particularly by lighting designers and their associates in America - a country that really does care about beautiful light plots. If you do too, check them out: this is a working classic, still in use daily...
Rob Halliday
Lighting Designer and Author for Light and Sound International, February 2020
What makes SoftSymbols so useful is that they are thoroughly researched, well made and above all, stick to some rigorous drafting standards that are maintained across the whole catalog.
Mark Doubleday
Lighting Designer, UK
Soft Symbols are my Vectorworks symbol library of choice, and have been since my tenure as Hubbard Street’s Lighting Director. Steve has created a product that is incredibly thorough, thoughtful, and well-organized. It looks great at any scale, is appropriate for every type of lighting gig, and could only have come from someone with his level of experience and attention to detail. It is an invaluable resource to me and will continue to be my go to library for the foreseeable future.
Matt Miller, Freelance Lighting Designer/Director
Chicago, IL
SoftSymbols are the symbol library of choice for the Lincoln Center Festival, and for all my other professional activities. They are cleanly built, graphically sophisticated, and the libraries are by far the most complete. There’s no other choice as far as I’m concerned.
Aaron Copp, Lighting Coordinator, Lincoln Center Festival, and freelance lighting designer
New York, NY
I did the Lab Rep Plot revisions with SoftSymbols. LOVE IT! So does the crew and the union House Elec. We also think the twenty-or-so production teams coming into the Lab this spring (who’ll receive print copies of this drawing) will love it too. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have SoftSymbols™ - I trust my layouts again, since your symbols are the same size as the objects they represent (DUH!), and my drawings look more like my drawings again. Woo hoo!
Martha Mountain, Freelance Lighting Designer
Washington DC

Tips & Tricks

Here's some tips garnered over the years that can come in handy while wrestling with Vectorworks. It's a wonderful program, aye Laddie, but it must be tamed. Either that, or we need to remember that we are actually it's servant....

Where Did It Go?

Sometimes an object suddenly disappears. It was there, and then after working for some amount of time, it's gone! How to find it? Turn on layer by layer, and class by class, and eventually the object will be found. But now, how do you get back to the state you were in before the search began?

In "Saved Views" create two special views: I call them "Whole Enchilada" and "Now". Whole Enchilada often needs updating, so as the drawing bulks up, it will always turn on every layer and class. When I'm drafting and can't find an object, I'll save the current state of the document as "Now." That way I'll always be able to get back to this combination of visible layers and classes. Once "Now" is saved, I'll switch to "Whole Enchilada." With everything turned on, whatever was lost will now [hopefully] be visible. It can be selected, and then re-classed or re-layered to a find-able state. Then I'll switch back to "Now" and return to drafting.

Change the Default "Instrument Type" in the OIP Data Field

Edit the 2D or 3D component. Make certain you have deselected everything by clicking your cursor in open space. Click on the "Data" tab in the Object Info Palette. Select the "instrument Type" field. Change the text to your desire. Click your cursor in open space, then click on "Exit Symbol." Refresh the symbols. All of the symbols will now contain that new text in the "instrument Type' field.

Create a PDF Allowing Folks Without Vectorworks to Turn On/Off Classes & Layers

Instead of selecting File > Print... and then creating a pdf, select File > Export > Export PDF... In the "Export PDF" Dialogue Box, select the PDF format, and check "Export Design Layers as PDF Layers," and "Export Classes as PDF Layers." Press "Export," decide where you want the document to end up, and press "Save." When you open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat [and not Mac Preview!] a new icon [resembling the "Layers" icon in the top Vectorworks menu bar" will appear, under the paper clip. Click on the icon, revealing "Layers" and "Classes" with disclosure triangles. Click on the trianges to reveal the Layers and Classes.

Change the Shape of a Focus Point

Draw the shape that you want to use. Create a 2D symbol; name it "Hokey Focus," for example. Open the Focus Point document, residing in: Your Vectorworks Application folder > Libraries > Defaults > Focus Points. Import the Hokey resource into the Focus Point document. Quit and restart Vectorworks, and open the light plot document. Double click on the Spotlight Focus Point Insertion Tool. In the Preferences Dialog Box, choose Hokey as the default.

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