Creating event drawings

Planning an event in Vivien involves creating a drawing of the venue, complete with all the staging, furniture, decor, A/V equipment, and so on required for the event.

Drawing in Vivien is like drawing in a CAD program, so many of the concepts will be familiar to those who have used a computer-aided drafting program before. Vivien has a comprehensive 3D library containing furniture, equipment, decor items and various human figures—everything you need to plan your event.

In this section

The drawing environment 

Defining the venue

Importing floorplans

Drawing objects

Adding Library objects to your drawing

Using truss from Library

Editing objects

Customizing object properties

Using the Image Manager

Using the Video Manager

Drawing tools

The drawing environment

In Vivien, you do all your drawing in the Drawing Wireframe tab or in the wireframe panes of the Drawing Quad tab.

Drawing scale

Vivien drawings use a 1:1, or real scale. When you create a drawing in Vivien, you are generating a virtual representation of your real setup. If you were to do this on paper by hand, you would need to draw a scaled-down version of your space. Because there are no paper size limitations in the drawing wireframe views, you can draw your venue, tables, chairs, trusses, lighting fixtures, and so on in real scale.

You scale your drawing for printing purposes during print set-up and when creating Layouts for printing. The print settings allow you to print your drawings in whatever scales are necessary without having to redraw anything.

Units of measure

You can use either metric or imperial units for measurements.

You can also indicate whether you want:

• Imperial units measured in whole numbers or inch fractions (to the sixteenth of a inch). For example, you can specify a measurement of 1’6”3/16, which translates to 1 foot, 6 and 3/16 inches.
• Metric units measured in centimeters or millimeters.

To set the default unit

1. In the Drawing Wireframe tab, from the Options menu, choose Document Options.

Result: The Document Options window appears.

2. On the Document Options window, click the Draw Defaults tab.
3. In the Measurement Unit section, select Metric or Imperial.
4. In the Precision, select Whole or Fraction.

Whole: The measurements are rounded and displayed to the nearest whole number.

Fraction: The measurements are displayed to the nearest sixteenths of an inch, for Imperial, the nearest millimeter, for Metric.

To change the drawing measurement units

You can change the measurement units on the fly by using the measurement units indicator on the Status bar.

While in any of the tabs, double-click the measurement units indicator (either Metric or Imperial) on the Status bar.

Result: The units instantly change to Metric or Imperial.

3D coordinate system 

When drawing in Vivien Virtual Event Designer you are working in a 3D environment. Objects are drawn as 3D objects, with width, depth and height values based on the Cartesian coordinate system of 3 working axes—X, Y, and Z. The point where the 3 axes meet is called the origin and the values of X, Y, and Z are 0, expressed (0,0,0).

View types

All objects in Vivien Virtual Event Designer occupy three-dimensional space. Different view types allow you to see and work with your drawing from different perspectives.   

In Vivien Virtual View Event Designer, there are six types of wireframe views, each accessible from the View Type toolbar. Each of these views displays the working axes in different ways, as described below.

To switch to a different view type 

From the View menu, choose View Type and then select one of the following views:

Plan view

Plan views display the drawing from above looking down. This is similar to a plan view drawing on paper. In plan views, the working axes are X and Y and the Height value is Z.

Left view

Left views display the drawing looking from the left side through the venue. This is similar to a section on paper. In left views the working axes are Y and Z.

Right view

Right views display the drawing looking from the right side through the venue. This is similar to a section on paper. In right views the working axes are Y and Z.

Front view

Front views display the drawing looking from the front side through the venue. This is similar to an elevation on paper. In front views the working axes are X and Z.

Back view

Back views display the drawing looking from the back side through the venue. This is similar to an elevation on paper. In back views, the working axes are X and Z.

3D view 

A 3D view is a 3D perspective drawing. Although you view the drawing in the 3D perspective while in 3D view, you can only work in two axes. In 3D views, the working axes are dependent on the workplane selected.

To switch to a different workplane in a 3D view

The workplane selected determines the direction in which you can move your cursor in a 3D view. From the View menu, choose Workplane and then select one of the following workplanes:

Workplane Plan: The working axes are X and Y.

 Workplane Section: The working axes are Y and Z.

 Workplane Elevation: The working axes are X and Z.

The crosshairs of your cursor change to reflect the selected workplane.

3D view angle

You can rotate the 3D view angle of the 3D view using your keyboard CTRL and arrow keys or CTRL keys and the third mouse button.

When using your mouse, you can also change the rotation speed when you increase or decrease the amount of pixels your mouse needs to travel to rotate the view on the screen using the CTRL keyboard and + or - keys in the keypad.

To rotate the 3D view angle

Hold down the CTRL key and tap the arrow keys on your keyboard.

OR

Hold down the CTRL key, and then click and drag the third mouse button (scroll wheel) towards the direction of the angle change.

Result: The 3D view angle of the 3D view changes according to the direction of the mouse movement.

Tip: If you add SHIFT to either method, the rotation slows down for both keyboard and mouse movement.

Notes:

• Rotation direction is determined by the dominant direction of mouse movement. For example, the view rotates in the left - right angle if the mouse is dragged towards the left and slightly up. The view rotates in the up-down angle if the mouse is dragged upwards and slightly left.
• Once the rotation direction has been determined and the rotation has started, the rotation cannot “switch” to the other direction. You have to release the mouse button and then click and drag again.

To change the mouse cursor speed and travel distance

Press and hold CTRL + SHIFT and tap the + keypad key (i.e. not the + at the top of the keyboard, by the DELETE key) to increase the number of pixels your mouse cursor needs to travel to rotate the view on your screen and slow down the view rotation.

OR

Press and hold CTRL + SHIFT and tap the - keypad key (i.e. not the - at the top of the keyboard, by the DELETE key) to decrease the number of pixels your mouse cursor needs to travel to rotate the view on your screen and speed up the view rotation.

Result:

• The number of pixels value is displayed on the Status Bar as you increase or decrease with your keyboard keys.
• It is faster for your mouse cursor to rotate the view when the travel distance is shorter because of the lesser number of pixels set.
• It is slower for your mouse cursor to rotate the view when the travel distance is longer because of the greater number of pixels set.

Note: 20 pixels is the default number of mouse cursor travel distance.

Navigating views

Use your keyboard and mouse to control the point of view for any of the Vivien views and use the Zoom tools to shrink or enlarge the view on the screen.

Zooming views

Zoom tools allow you to view smaller or larger sections of a drawing. There are seven zoom tools available in Vivien.

To access the Zoom tools

From the View menu, choose one of the Zoom tools.

or

Use the Zoom tools on the View or Layouts View toolbars.

Result: The viewpoint is adjusted accordingly.

The available Zoom tools are listed in the following table:

Zoom tool	Description
Zoom In	Moves your viewpoint closer to the center of the view.
Zoom Out	Moves your viewpoint farther away from the center of the view.
Zoom Fit	Adjusts the viewpoint so that the extremities of the drawing fit into the current view.
Zoom Fit All	For Quad views, adjusts the viewpoint so that the extremities of the drawing fit into the three wireframe views simultaneously.
Undo View Change	Adjusts the viewpoint so the most current changes to the view are undone
Redo View Change	Adjusts the viewpoint so that any changes to the view caused by Undo View
Zoom Window	Allows you to specify the area of the drawing to be viewed. For more information on using this tool, refer to the procedure below.

To use the Zoom Window tool

1. From the View menu, choose the Zoom Window tool.
2. Click the left mouse button and drag a window around the area into which you want to zoom.
3. Click the left mouse button again to capture the second point of the window.

Result: The view changes to amplify the area you selected.

Rotating views

Rotate tools allow you to shift 3D and Virtual Views left, right, up, or down.

To access the Rotate tools

In Vivien Designer, while in a 3D or Virtual View, from the View menu, choose Rotate View, and then choose one of the Rotate commands.

or

Use the Rotate tools on the View or Layouts View toolbars.

Result: The viewpoint is adjusted accordingly.

The available Rotate tools are listed in the following table.

Rotate tool	Description
Rotate View Left	Moves your viewpoint to the left.
Rotate View Right	Moves your viewpoint to the right.
Rotate View Up	Moves your viewpoint up.
Rotate View Down	Moves your viewpoint down.

Keyboard and mouse control

To modify the point of view

• At any time you can press SHIFT in combination with any of the movement keys to move in smaller increments.
• In Virtual Views, you can use the mouse instead of the aforementioned key strokes. Click and drag to pan around and use the mouse wheel for zooming.

Camera control in Virtual View

By default, Traditional Vivien is the camera control setting in the Virtual View where the mouse and keyboard action commands are standard Vivien commands used in all version of Vivien.

In the Application Options window, you can choose the Other 3D Applications on the Virtual View Camera Control drop-down list if you want to use camera control that comply with other 3D applications. See “Camera Control” for alternative mouse and keyboard action commands.