ToolsWalk and Chalk

Walk and Chalk

Import a rigging point list, see it as a plot, and take a markers sheet to the floor. Coordinates come in from Vectorworks, Hyperlay, AutoCAD or a spreadsheet, in metric or imperial.

Overview

Walk and Chalk turns a list of rigging coordinates into something you can mark a floor from. You import the points, set a datum, and export a markers sheet with distances measured from where you actually stand.

The markout lives in the show file, so it travels with the project rather than sitting on one machine.

When to Use

  • A production designer has sent a hoist plot and you need to chalk it
  • You want to check point loads and hoist types against the rig before the truck lands
  • You need a distance sheet from a datum rather than a drawing

Importing points

Download a sample

The fastest way to get the shape right is to start from a file that already works:

The same templates are available inside the app: Import → Start from a template, which saves them into your project’s exports folder.

The three formats

Which one you get is decided by the header row, not by a setting:

FormatTriggered byColumns
Metrica header containing coordinateHoist Type, Point Name, X_Coordinate, Y_Coordinate, Load
Imperiala header containing imperialHoist Type, Point, Imperial-X, Imperial-Y, Point Load
Genericanything elseName, Type, X, Y, Load

⚠️ The column order is not the same in all three. Metric and imperial put the hoist type first and the point name second. Generic puts the name first. Get these the wrong way round and your points import named after their hoists.

Metric vs imperial

The difference is only in the two coordinate columns.

Metric — plain numbers, in millimetres from the datum:

Hoist Type,Point Name,X_Coordinate,Y_Coordinate,Load
1T,SL1,-8889,4331,600
1T,SR1,8889,4331,600
0.5T,FOH1,0,-6200,250

Imperial — feet and inches as feet'-inches", quoted, because the inch mark would otherwise break the CSV:

Hoist Type,Point,Imperial-X,Imperial-Y,Point Load
1t,SL1,"-29'-2""","14'-2""",1160
1t,SR1,"29'-2""","14'-2""",1160

The doubled quotes are ordinary CSV escaping — a spreadsheet writes them for you when a value contains a ". Typing -29'-2" into a cell and saving as CSV produces exactly this.

Either way the points are stored internally in millimetres, so you can switch the display between metric and imperial after importing. Load is whatever unit your file uses — kilograms alongside metric coordinates, pounds alongside imperial — and is carried through as text without conversion.

Signs and the datum

  • Negative X is stage left, positive X is stage right
  • Negative Y is downstage, positive Y is upstage
  • 0,0 is the datum

A row named Datum at 0,0 is fine and is what Hyperlay exports; it imports as a point like any other.

Things a real export contains

Exports from Hyperlay and Vectorworks carry a few things worth knowing about, all handled:

  • Blank separator rows (,,,,) between groups of points — skipped
  • Old Mac line endings (CR only) — read correctly
  • Rows with no load — the hoist type is used instead
  • Comment lines starting with # — skipped

ℹ️ Hyperlay’s own metric export labels its first column Name, but that column holds the hoist type (1T, 0.5T), not the point name — the point name is in PT-NAME. Prismatik reads it correctly; just do not let the header talk you into reordering your columns.

Step-by-Step

  1. Import your point list, or start from a sample above.
  2. Check the plot. Points are categorised automatically by name — SL is stage left, SR stage right, FOH front of house, US/DS up and down stage.
  3. Set the datum to whatever you are actually measuring from.
  4. Switch units if the floor crew works in the other system.
  5. Save to store the markout in the show file.
  6. Export the markers sheet from Reports & Documentation.

Troubleshooting

Points imported with the wrong names

Your names and hoist types are swapped. Metric and imperial expect the hoist type in column one; generic expects the name there. Start from a sample file.

Nothing imports

Coordinates that will not parse cause a row to be skipped. In imperial they must read as 12'-6" — a bare number is not enough. Check the header too: without coordinate or imperial in it, the file is read as generic and the columns are interpreted in a different order.

Everything landed on top of the datum

An older build turned unreadable coordinates into 0. Points now skip instead. If you are on a build from before 2026-08-27, re-import.

Related Tools

  • Cable Wrangler — reads this markout’s points to plan cable runs
  • Reports & Documentation — produces the markers sheet with distance banding

Source

src/renderer/src/components/tools/WalkAndChalk.tsx

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