Another Student Light Plot

[rochem]

So I really liked midgetgreen11's idea of posting up a light plot for review and suggestions on how to make it better, and to not step in on his thread I made a new one. I'm a self-taught high school senior, planning on majoring in Theatre Design/Technology, and I'm basically looking for any feedback, positive or negative, on my plot.

This show is for a local community theatre, and was presented in a black box theatre in thrust. I couldn't figure out any logical way to number my instruments, so I eventually just used dimmer/channel numbers with a letter for individual units. If anyone has any better suggestions for numbering units in black box, I'd love to hear them. As it was, this technique worked out pretty well for me, as I memorized the plot/magic sheet prior to tech, so I could easily identify what each unit did from the Unit Number.

Attached:

[icewolf08]

ON first glance it is pretty clean, but you need to follow standard drafting conventions. The biggest issue that I see is that almost everything is the same line-weight. The theatre architecture should be the heaviest line-weight and it should be hatched. Your next most important item (the lights) should also be a heavier weight. Lighting positions should be drawn in scale (1.5" wide if you use 1.5" pipe). Your centerline should be a broken line alternating long and short (VW has a default for this). Also, where are your channel numbers.

Other than that, it looks pretty good. The big thing with line weights is that it helps for the information that is most important to "pop" and it makes the entire document easier to read.

[Grog12]

On quick glance (which is all I have time for) I agree with Alex.

As for unit numbers...since its a grid I typically have lettered pipes running SL to SR and numbered pipes running DS to US. Your 25 A (single instrument on the bottom of the page sits at the intersection of Pipe D and Pipe 6. So it would be Unit 1 on either Pipe D or Pipe 6 depending on how you wanted it hung. Personally I would have it be Unit 1 on Pipe 6 and the instrument just upstage of it would become Unit 2 on Pipe 6.

[rochem]

ON first glance it is pretty clean, but you need to follow standard drafting conventions. The biggest issue that I see is that almost everything is the same line-weight. The theatre architecture should be the heaviest line-weight and it should be hatched. Your next most important item (the lights) should also be a heavier weight. Lighting positions should be drawn in scale (1.5" wide if you use 1.5" pipe). Your centerline should be a broken line alternating long and short (VW has a default for this). Also, where are your channel numbers.

I've never really understood line weights all that much, probably because I never had to hand-draw plots and I've always been spoiled by software to do it for me. I've experimented with them after hearing people swear by them, but I've never really noticed any advantage gained by having them. For my next plot, I'll definitely try sticking with standardized line weights and seeing if I notice an increase in clarity.

I don't really have a CL or a PL in this drawing. The PL wasn't really necessary as the stage was subject to being moved up and down stage a little bit (making all the numbers off), and the CL was defined by the center pipe running US/DS. If I had used the standard CL line breaks, it would have just overlayed the center pipe, and I thought that would just create more confusion.

In this space, channel and dimmer numbers are the same because of limited number of dimmers and a hard patch system. The best way I came up with for numbering units was to use the channel/dimmer number with a letter following it. Since I had the plot memorized prior to hang/focus, and since I was my own ME, I could easily identify what "Unit 35a" was, where it was focused, and where it was hung. And I didn't see the sense in adding redundant information, so I eliminated the channel numbers. Although now that I look back on it, I definitely should have made it more clear that the Unit Numbers also referred to channel numbers.

As for unit numbers...since its a grid I typically have lettered pipes running SL to SR and numbered pipes running DS to US. Your 25 A (single instrument on the bottom of the page sits at the intersection of Pipe D and Pipe 6. So it would be Unit 1 on either Pipe D or Pipe 6 depending on how you wanted it hung. Personally I would have it be Unit 1 on Pipe 6 and the instrument just upstage of it would become Unit 2 on Pipe 6.

Prior to making the plot, I searched all my lighting texts for advice on numbering units using a grid system, and the best (and only) advice I found was in Gillette, where he uses a system similar to yours - each pipe (both horizontal and vertical) has a letter, and then units are numbered sequentially upwards on that pipe - so "Unit D4", "Unit D5", "Unit H14", and so on. But this just felt stupid to me, because every instrument that was on the intersection of two pipes could theoretically have two completely valid and completely different unit numbers. Unit C3 was next to Unit L7 which was next to Unit D1. It made no sense, and was impossible to figure out on the paperwork. Eventually I went with the "Dimmer-Number-With-Letter-At-The-End" system which I described earlier, as that worked the best for me, but if I had a separate ME hanging my plot, I don't think that would have worked.

Thanks for the advice, I'm trying to make my plots as close to professional as possible for colleges to look at, and every little bit helps a lot!

[Grog12]

Prior to making the plot, I searched all my lighting texts for advice on numbering units using a grid system, and the best (and only) advice I found was in Gillette, where he uses a system similar to yours - each pipe (both horizontal and vertical) has a letter, and then units are numbered sequentially upwards on that pipe - so "Unit D4", "Unit D5", "Unit H14", and so on. But this just felt stupid to me, because every instrument that was on the intersection of two pipes could theoretically have two completely valid and completely different unit numbers. Unit C3 was next to Unit L7 which was next to Unit D1. It made no sense, and was impossible to figure out on the paperwork. Eventually I went with the "Dimmer-Number-With-Letter-At-The-End" system which I described earlier, as that worked the best for me, but if I had a separate ME hanging my plot, I don't think that would have worked.

Thanks for the advice, I'm trying to make my plots as close to professional as possible for colleges to look at, and every little bit helps a lot!

I'll be bluntly honest with you...cause I'm a little tired. You're absolutly right, if you had someone else as ME they'd look at you like you were absolutley crazy for doing this and probably hang half the plot wrong.

I would rework you labels if you're going to put this in your portfollio for college, because most if not everyone looking at it will say "So...how exactly did you come up with these unit numbers?"

Yes it can be a little confusing, but that's where you as a designer come sin. The example I gave you earlier...I chose to put that light on that specific pipe because its a front light (I believe) and if it needs to move it'll need to move US or DS. Its a matter of putting some forethought into what might go wrong.

[icewolf08]

I've never really understood line weights all that much, probably because I never had to hand-draw plots and I've always been spoiled by software to do it for me. I've experimented with them after hearing people swear by them, but I've never really noticed any advantage gained by having them. For my next plot, I'll definitely try sticking with standardized line weights and seeing if I notice an increase in clarity.

Line weight is not just a hold-over from hand drafting. When all of your lines on the drawing are the same thickness/density/weight then everything blends together. You have no real sense of what the important aspects of the drawing are. On your plot it is hard to distinguish between the architecture, pipe grid, and seating. The purpose of line weights is to make it very quick and easy to discern what the important information is on the drawing.

Also of note in terms of line weight is that scenery should be either the lightest weight line or grey. You don't need scenery information to really be able to hang a plot. Since you usually need it to draw a plot the convention has been to make it grey when printing a plot for hang because it is easy to turn a layer grey in most CAD programs.

I don't really have a CL or a PL in this drawing. The PL wasn't really necessary as the stage was subject to being moved up and down stage a little bit (making all the numbers off), and the CL was defined by the center pipe running US/DS. If I had used the standard CL line breaks, it would have just overlayed the center pipe, and I thought that would just create more confusion.

If you are not going to draw a real center line, then don't indicate it with only a "CL." Why? Well, someone who doesn't know your spcae may assume that the line that is there is just a center line, not a pipe. There is no reason that if you draw a center line it can't go behind other item on the drawing, and if you draw your pipes with thickness, then the CL should go right up the center of the pipe and not be hidden anyway. However, for clarity, if you don't draw a centerline on the drawing then don't indicate it at all.