Installation
Download our plug-in to get started

Installation is done using the plug-in manager. Click the "Tools" menu, then "Plug-ins", then select the "Plug-In Manager" option.


In the plug-in manager, click the tab labelled "Third Party Plug-Ins"


Click the install button, and select the zip file you downloaded earlier, named "pws_vwplugin.zip"
Once the plug-ins have been installed, you'll be asked to relaunch Vectorworks.


Next you'll need to add the plug-in to your workspace.
From the "Tools" menu, select "Workspaces" then "Edit Current Workspace"


Here we'll create a new menu to store our commands. Drag the "New Menu" item in the left hand column to the right hand column.
You can place the new menu anywhere in the list that makes sense to you. Make sure you are dropping the new menu where you want, as it's quite simple to accidently drop a new menu item INSIDE an existing menu instead of after it.
Rename the new menu by double clicking on it. You can rename the menu however you choose, but we recommend "pws".


Scroll down the left hand column until you find the "Cloud" category. Expand the "Cloud" category and find the three pws menu commands.
Drag "pws send", "pws get (Fixture Num)", and "pws get (VW_ID)" over to the right hand column, under your new "pws" menu.
Click on to save.


You should have a new menu, with your three paperwork.show options.

Usage

Inside Vectorworks
The first time you use the pws plugin, you'll be asked for a token. This is like a new password we use just for communication between vectorworks and paperwork.show
You'll find your token on paperwork.show, on the "vectorworks" page.

pws send
Send the data contained in your vectorworks drawing to paperwork.show. You'll need to accept the new data from paperwork.show, so don't worry about accidently overriding the wrong project at this stage.
Only visible Lighting Devices will be sent, make sure you have the desired Classes and Layers visible.
You can only have one "send" of vectorworks data waiting to be accepted at a time. If you haven't accepted the vectorworks data in paperwork.show and send another snapshot of your drawing, the old unaccepted data will be replaced.

pws get (Fixture Num)
Pull the information from paperwork.show and update your vectorworks drawing.
Vectorworks channel numbers will be matched to paperwork.show Fixture Numbers.
This style of matching is great for pulling in your project into a new drawing.

pws get (VW_ID)
Pull the information from paperwork.show and update your vectorworks drawing.
Matching will be done by vectorworks internal fixture ID. This means you must have already performed a "pws send" to match existing fixtures together.
This method of matching is included for those cases when you change fixture numbers but want to keep the original pairing.

Inside paperwork.show

Accept data from vectorworks
Navigate to the "vectorworks" page inside the "Projects" section.

If you have new data waiting, you'll see it here. Only visible Lighting Devices will be sent from vectorworks.
You'll need to match Vectorworks fixture types and modes to ones your have in your Inventory. These matches will be remembered to speed up the process in the future.

You can choose to ignore specific fixtures or entire types. There is an option to "Ignore types with no fixture numbers". This option automatically ignores any fixture type that had no instances with fixture numbers.