Some of the more modern set design books have chapters on using AutoCadd.
Even earlier texts from the mid 90's will
cover it and though a different version, most of the primary techniques will be the same. Amongst them is Dennis Dorn's "Drafting for the Theater", otherwise Payne's Scenographic Imagination has a good chapter on it and what gear you need in setting up your design studio.
Two other books, one by Payne again would be "Computer Scenographics" , the other by Rose "AutoCAD Onstage" would be useful in learning Cadd - no matter the program of it, given a specific theater
base to the training. These books are designed to take you step by step in learning Auto Cadd from scratch, but with a theater slant to that training.
Once you get used to and
templates for say drafting rear elevations of the scenery, it will go really quick. Hardest part on using AutoCadd is getting used to it - the how you do it, setting it up to do what you need and techniques for speeding you up. Many theaters also have their stages already on the net for free download in quickly drafting to them. Believe the website is "stagespecs."
Need to place a
keystone or
corner block, you don't have to draft it each time, you just click on your respective
template for each and place it. With time, most
stock scenery will already be in
template form. Otherwise once drafted, new scenery in the inventory is just a few
mouse clicks away in copying.
"Architectural Graphics Standards" John Wiley & Sons, Inc. if by way of disk would have such AutoCadd
templates to it for anything from a toaster to a structured MicroLam beam. This would be an extremely expensive
template package but well worth the investment.
Might be a good project for the summer vacation to sit down in learning the program and doing some initial steps such as
templates and the theater itself.
Otherwise in high school as part of the drafting/architecture program we had Cadd drafting where we were to draft a garage on the Cadd Cam. Not as easy as it might seem in the days of the Apple IIe without a
mouse thus using XYZ polar coordinates. Later in college, before the theater started it's own Cadd program, I went to the IT section of the school to learn. Not similar stuff drafted but once you learn the basic steps, it's easy to adapt to theater.
Now I have both
Vectorworks and Autocadd, but no time twelve years later to sit down with them and re-learn. One of these days type of thing.
Various architectural
template programs are also on the market at a price or available from the manufacturers for free. At one
point early in the Cadd industry, I had both an Anderson Windows
template program and one from Morgan for their Mortrim foam
molding Custom Decorative Moulding, CDM
templates; - Greenwood, DL. (800)543-0553. Both were useful especially the
molding template book. I'm sure most architectural gear at this
point is downloadable.
I highly recommend that if you go Cadd that you get a tablet. This side
mouse like board will speed up your drafting and add much more
ease in accuracy especially once your
hand gets used to the
template and you no longer really have to look at it for it's quick picks
etc. Get at least a 16" wide one if not larger. All the more room for a wider
screen area and quick picks. Beyond the
template, having a dual
screen monitor might be of use. One huge
screen to draft with that has a very high DPI count, the other to have your
template page open on in mousing over to pick the various ones (if possible in doing this.) At that
point you have tablit,
mouse, and two monitors in flexibility and
ease of use.
Some sources I have or am aware of (many would have updated editions by now.)
-3rd Edition, AutoCAD Quick Refrence, by Craig Sharp; Que Corporation - Carmel IN. 1992 ISBN: 1-56529-024-0
-AutoCAD Onstage, by Rich Rose; Betterway Publications, Inc. - White
Hall, VA. 1990 ISBN: 1-55870-164-8
-AutoCAD 2000 Basics, Construction Savvy - Dist. #AF3905
-AutoCAD 2000 for Architecture, by Alan Jefferis and Michael Jokes; Construction Savvy - dist. #AF3903
-The AutoCAD 2000 Tutor for Engineering Graphics, by alan J Kalameja; Construction Savvy - Dist #AF3904
-Building Interactive Worlds in 3D: Virtual Sets and Pre-visualization for Games, Film and the Web, by Jean-Marc Gauthier.
-The Complete
Book of Drawing for the Theater, by Harvey Sweet; Allyn & Bacon - DesMoines 1995
-Computer Scenographics, by Darwin Ried Payne; Southern Illinois University Press - Carbondale, Il. 1994 ISBN: 0-8093-1905-5
-Drafting for the Theater, by Dennis Dorn &
Mark Shanda; Southern Illinois University Press - Carbondale, Il.1992 ISBN: 0-8093-1508-4
-Learning
CAD with AutoCad, by Mihir Dumar Das; Prentice
Hall - Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1988 ISBN: 0-13-527599-7
-Scene Technology, 3rd. ed. by Richard L. Arnold (372pp);
Stage Step - Dist. #TE709
-Scenographic Imagination, 3rd Ed. by Darwin Reid Payne; Southern Illinois University Press Carbondale, Il. 1993 ISBN: 0-8093-1850-4
Other books (lighting) known to have Auto Cadd info sections in them:
-Concert Lighting: Techniques, Art and Business 2nd Ed, by James L. Moody; Focal Press ISBN: 0-240-82934
-EC&M’s Step-by-Step Guide to Lighting, by John Paschal 1998; ISBN: 0-87288-695-6
-Lighting and the Design Idea, 2nd ed. by Wadsworth/Thomson
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