Fixture bodies
When a fixture is drawn as a plain shape instead of its real body, the Problems panel says why — if there is a why. The fixture is still placed, patched and checked; only its looks are affected.
What is reported
A warning when the fixture's own GDTF declared a 3D body that FlexViz could not use. Each message ends in drawn as a plain shape. Before that it says which of two things went wrong, because they go to different people:
- … is not in its GDTF
- The file names a model the archive does not contain. That is a fault in the file. Ask whoever sent it, or get a newer version from GDTF Share.
- … would not convert
- The model is in the file, and FlexViz could not convert it. That one is ours: report it with Help › Report a bug….
- … could not be read from its GDTF
- Both happened, on different parts.
The start of the message says which parts are affected. Its body means all of them. Up to three parts are named as the GDTF names them, such as Its Head or Its Base, Yoke and Head. With more than three, the message counts them: 4 of its 6 body parts ….
A missing part is drawn as a plain box of the size the GDTF declares, in its place on the fixture, and it pans and tilts with the rest. A moving head whose head is missing still shows a head. Only when the whole body failed is the fixture drawn as its generic plain shape.
When you add such a fixture, FlexViz asks first: keep the partial body, or pick a stand-in. You can have it remember the answer for these fixtures, for the project or for all your projects. Either way the warning stays, because it is about the file, not about how the fixture is drawn.
A body that fails to load in the browser is reported the same way, ending in did not load. That warning clears once a reload succeeds.
When it stays quiet, on purpose
Fixtures from the Open Fixture Library. OFL carries no 3D data at all, so these fixtures are drawn from stock parts or a stand-in body you chose. That is how they are meant to look, and a warning on each of them would be noise.
A GDTF that asks for a plain shape. A model can be declared as a cylinder or a cube; then the shape is the body.
Fixtures imported before this check existed. Nothing can tell afterwards whether their plain body was intended or a failure. Re-import the GDTF, and FlexViz knows.
Does it change the checks?
No. The fixture keeps its channels, its patch and its place in the rig. The clearance check uses the sizes the GDTF declares, or a stand-in for the fixture type, so a plain shape is still checked.