I'm using VW and I feel kinda dumb but I was wondering how to
plot if I could just get some basic tips I don't really have anyone here to teach me and I just not sure do I just show where the
fixture goes and what it hits or do I show the angle? If i could just get some insight on how to do it that would be wonderful. I can figure out how to use VW and I understand it for the most part. How many layers do I need on my
CAD file I am importing drawings from Auto
CAD. So yeah I feel a little dumb about this.
I would recommend picking up a
book on drafting for
theatre, as it seems what you really need is a lesson in the basics of drafting and not how to use VW.
There are a couple standards for orientation of instruments on a
plot.
•One standard is to have every
fixture drawn pointing upstage. This makes the
plot look very clean and usually leaves good space for accessories and
channel and
unit numbers.
•Another standard is to draw your fixtures at 90˚ angles to the lighting position. So fixtures will either be drawn pointing directly US, DS, SL, or SR. This can leave you less space to draw
unit information and accessories but it gives your electricians more of a sense of where units
point.
•The third "standard" is to draw your fixtures oriented relative to where they
point. This is the least clean looking way to daw your
plot but it gives the most information as to where units
point.
In general, the actual angle that the
fixture is at is not important on the
plot. While you might know it in theory, the final focused light will probably not be what you drew. Remember that the
plot is a tool to help get the show hung, so you don't want to crowd it with too much information. As an ME, I don't really like to get plots with things like lighting areas and area numbers attached to units. It is information that I don't need to hang the show.
To tell the truth, I usually use the paperwork more than the
plot to get information about each
fixture. Having all the info laid out in the paperwork makes is a lot easier for tasks like building hang tapes or walking down a positions and dropping color. In reality, I mostly use the
plot for position information and to keep
track of where we are working during focus.