Plan checks
FlexViz checks the plan while you draw it. A counter in the toolbar is always up to date, and the Problems panel lists every finding with the object it is about, one click away.
The counter
The counter sits in the toolbar, left of the view switches. It recounts with every change, so there is nothing to run.
It has three states: No errors in green, a number of warnings in amber, and errors and warnings in red.
⚠ It says "No errors", not "No problems". The counter only names what it counted. A green counter means none of the checks below found anything. It does not mean the rig is fine.
The Problems panel
Click the counter to open the panel. Errors come first, warnings after them. Each row names the object and says what is wrong, with the values: which address, which fixture is in the way, how many centimetres.
Click a row and the object it is about is selected, in the plan, in 3D and in the inspector. The list itself does not take you anywhere; the row does.
Errors and warnings
An error means the plan is wrong or incomplete: a console, or the preview, would not do what the drawing says. A warning means the plan works, but something deserves a look before it is built.
- Patch errors (error)
- Not patched, address conflict, address out of range, patch mode that no longer matches the fixture. See Patch errors
- Universe not declared (error)
- A fixture patched in a universe the project does not list. See Universes
- Floating fixture (warning)
- A fixture in the air with nothing carrying it. See Floating fixtures
- Movement clearance (warning)
- Two heads close enough to hit each other when they tilt. See Movement clearance
- Fixture body (warning)
- A fixture's GDTF names a 3D body FlexViz could not find or convert. See Fixture bodies
What it does not check
The panel says it in its footer: Checks the plan only: patching, addresses and mounting. Says nothing about loads or whether a rig can be built as drawn.
No loads, weights or structure. FlexViz does not know what a truss can carry, and it does not draw clamps, safeties or chain hoists. Whether a rig holds is the rigger's call, as it always was.
No "outside the stage". A scene has no stage boundary to check against. The venue size is a setting on each computer, so a warning built on it would differ between two people looking at the same rig.
No DMX per fixture. Whether a desk is talking to FlexViz at all is shown by the console indicator in the header. Whether each fixture gets its channels is not checked.
Everyone sees the same problems
The thresholds the checks use are project settings, shared with everyone on the project and applied to every scene in it. Two people looking at one rig get the same list. See Settings and where they live.
In this section
Patch errors — conflicts, missing patches, and how to repatch.
Universes — declaring the universes your show has.
Floating fixtures — fixtures nothing is carrying.
Movement clearance — heads that would hit each other.
Fixture bodies — when a fixture is drawn as a plain shape, and why.
Settings and where they live — project, scene and this computer.
Before you send a file to a console — the order to work in.