It may not be as feature-packed as the aforementioned programs, but seeing as it is a free program, I am not one to complain.Ī detail drawing of how Jules Fisher wanted strobe lights sunk into the deck, from the collection of his Hair paperwork available at the Theatrical Lighting Database LXFree is a Mac-based program that has the ability to create light plots and produce all of the necessary paperwork for a design. A less-expensive option is a free drafting program called LXFree from Claudie Heintz Design. These are all powerful, professional-grade programs, and their price tag reflects this. The latest version of Lightwright, from John McKernon and distributed by City Theatrical, will interface with Vectorworks for real-time updates back and forth between each of the programs as well as handle practically every conceivable lighting paperwork need. For others, like Vectorworks, you’ll need to purchase additional software. Each of these programs produces high quality light plots.īut what about the numbers we need to track and organize the overwhelming amounts of information associated with hook-ups, patch and so forth? Well, in addition to CAD capabilities, some lighting design software programs, including WYSIWYG, contain lighting paperwork functions within the program itself. Some of them include: Capture Polar (Windows- and Mac-based), Cast Software’s WYSIWYG (Windows-based), LD Assistant (Windows-based, available as a stand-alone program or as an AutoCAD plug-in), Light Converse, (Windows-based) and the cross-platform CAD program, Vectorworks. There are a number of applications that produce, track and organize information for us in the lighting industry. Keeping track of fixture counts, channel assignments, hook-ups and all of the other vital information that is required to operate your lighting can quickly and easily be tracked, edited, updated, saved, distributed and printed out as many times as we need. No longer do we need to draft a plot, or create a simple magic sheet or any other piece of paperwork we might need by hand-that is, unless want to. As cues came up, rather than breaking out a blank piece of paper and ruler, a designer could simply pencil in the channel levels on a reproduced copy of the typed cue sheet.Īnd now computers have changed the way we work and deal with paperwork and communicate our ideas. Creating a master cue sheet with channels numbers, the show name, and the designer’s information allowed for a cleaner and more efficient design process. Need to make multiple copies for hang and focus? Get that pad of paper back out and make more copies. Before the modern era channel hook-ups, cue sheets, shop orders and all the associated paperwork, were completed by hand. Laying out a lighting plot consisted of putting a pencil to paper and drafting simple lighting symbols that referenced where lights should be hung in the space. In the beginning, paperwork was simple only because sophisticated lighting and control systems just didn’t exist. Lighting designers have been using paperwork to convey how things are laid out, connected and executed on stage since the first light was focused. A Cue Sheet from the 1968 production of Hair
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