Hi guys,
I just found a new piece of software offered by West Side Systems. This is a billed as a virtual magic sheet. I just download it (a free download for the demo) and decided to try it out. My review: (please keep in mind that I downloaded this piece of software about an hour ago, so this is a very quick look at it)
It seems to be a very good program. When you load it up you are greeted with a big, black screen with a menu running across the top of it. The menu has a channel button, row button, scroll button, lines and arrows, and yoke, scanners, RGB, CMY and Scroller options. I did not try any of the last 5 since my school does not have any.
It is easy to create a new channel where ever you want it. You can either drag and drop a new channel from the menu bar, or you can right click (or control click) and select a new channel or anything else you would want. The ovals, arrows, and labels are accessible the same way. When you create a new channel, it asks for a channel number, you fill it in and there it is. What took me a few minutes to figure out was how to select the color of the fixture. A few minutes looking at the PDF instruction booklet led me to realize (though didn't quite explain) that you need to right click and select inspect (or apple-I on a mac), then click on the space next to where it says 'Filter' and put in the color of your choice in the form of R02 or G870 or whatever it may be. The system then checks against its database for what to make the box-channel number.
I accidently put 270 instead of G270, and the system was smart enough to say "i don't know what that color is, what color is it similar to".
One thing I don't like is how you re-angle the arrows. Instead of being able to rotate it with the mouse, you need to 'inspect' and then enter either N, S, E, W, SW, NE, etc, or numbers like a clock (1,2,3,4 up to 12) or degrees (120d, 140d). While it is nice to have the 3 options, I personally like to rotate arrows with my mouse. However, after a minuet it was not an issue.
Some things:
I have not yet printed out this magic sheet, so I don't know how it prints. I turned it into a PDF (ALL mac's can do this, in the printer window its easy to turn ANYTHING into a PDF, I don't think it is part of the program though [just 1 more reason to get a mac]).
I shall assume the PDF is what would print. In the viewer on the computer the color you choose for a channel becomes the color of the circle behind the channel number as well as the box around the circle/channel number/ color number (and additional info that can be put in that window). For some reason, the PDF only has colored the box, nothing else. I have not looked to see if there is a setting to change this, I would hope there is though.
This program also has the ability to serve as a viewer if hooked up to a DMX out of the light-board. It is supposedly smart enough to see what level all channels are at, and display them on the screen. I believe it will do the same for scrollers and such, but I am not sure. I did not read that part of the manual in depth.
You can also use image files and make them the background of the magic sheet. So, if you have a plot of the theater or the set, you could use that as the background of your plot.
So, without further adu, here is my first magic sheet. This is the very basic rep plot in my main space (the gym).
EDIT: Whoops, you can get to the company's webpage for this software at http://www.westsidesystems.com/vms/vms.html
I just found a new piece of software offered by West Side Systems. This is a billed as a virtual magic sheet. I just download it (a free download for the demo) and decided to try it out. My review: (please keep in mind that I downloaded this piece of software about an hour ago, so this is a very quick look at it)
It seems to be a very good program. When you load it up you are greeted with a big, black screen with a menu running across the top of it. The menu has a channel button, row button, scroll button, lines and arrows, and yoke, scanners, RGB, CMY and Scroller options. I did not try any of the last 5 since my school does not have any.
It is easy to create a new channel where ever you want it. You can either drag and drop a new channel from the menu bar, or you can right click (or control click) and select a new channel or anything else you would want. The ovals, arrows, and labels are accessible the same way. When you create a new channel, it asks for a channel number, you fill it in and there it is. What took me a few minutes to figure out was how to select the color of the fixture. A few minutes looking at the PDF instruction booklet led me to realize (though didn't quite explain) that you need to right click and select inspect (or apple-I on a mac), then click on the space next to where it says 'Filter' and put in the color of your choice in the form of R02 or G870 or whatever it may be. The system then checks against its database for what to make the box-channel number.
I accidently put 270 instead of G270, and the system was smart enough to say "i don't know what that color is, what color is it similar to".
One thing I don't like is how you re-angle the arrows. Instead of being able to rotate it with the mouse, you need to 'inspect' and then enter either N, S, E, W, SW, NE, etc, or numbers like a clock (1,2,3,4 up to 12) or degrees (120d, 140d). While it is nice to have the 3 options, I personally like to rotate arrows with my mouse. However, after a minuet it was not an issue.
Some things:
I have not yet printed out this magic sheet, so I don't know how it prints. I turned it into a PDF (ALL mac's can do this, in the printer window its easy to turn ANYTHING into a PDF, I don't think it is part of the program though [just 1 more reason to get a mac]).
I shall assume the PDF is what would print. In the viewer on the computer the color you choose for a channel becomes the color of the circle behind the channel number as well as the box around the circle/channel number/ color number (and additional info that can be put in that window). For some reason, the PDF only has colored the box, nothing else. I have not looked to see if there is a setting to change this, I would hope there is though.
This program also has the ability to serve as a viewer if hooked up to a DMX out of the light-board. It is supposedly smart enough to see what level all channels are at, and display them on the screen. I believe it will do the same for scrollers and such, but I am not sure. I did not read that part of the manual in depth.
You can also use image files and make them the background of the magic sheet. So, if you have a plot of the theater or the set, you could use that as the background of your plot.
So, without further adu, here is my first magic sheet. This is the very basic rep plot in my main space (the gym).
EDIT: Whoops, you can get to the company's webpage for this software at http://www.westsidesystems.com/vms/vms.html