grandMA 3D/ grandMA onPC as a summer project?

[kalevalaSage]

Hi guys,

Trying to avoid King/Queen of the Booth complex, but for some background, I happen to be the only person at my high school interested in lighting, or for that matter anything stagecraft-related besides stage management (probably because the way tech is set up people view SM as the "only" leadership position to aspire to). Our school brings in professional lighting designers to do all of the lighting work minus board operation for us, so I've never really had the opportunity to learn about or do any patching, hanging, etcetera-- the most I've done is design a few non-mainstage productions like dance recitals or, recently, the summer musical. But even then the only reason the powers that be are asking me to do that is because I'm the only student who can turn things on via channels as opposed to submasters, and the only one who even knows what a submaster is.

So to cut to the chase, I decided to learn me some pre-viz software to learn more about lighting this summer in as hands-on a fashion as I am capable (setting up plots, or reproducing paintings as I seem to recall being suggested for beginners).

I've managed to set up grandMA 3D and grandMA onPC and I promise I've searched this site and Google extensively (I like search functions! They've enabled me to have never needed to post here, among all of you legitimately skilled and VERY intimidating tech guys, until now). But I can never get a clear answer-- is grandMA the wrong solution for what I'm trying to achieve? I noticed something was amiss when I tried to add some S4 PARs or ERSs to the plot-- the first thing I want to do is replicate my school's stage and "default" plot-- but all the fixtures listed are intelligent ones, and I'm totally lost!

I'm really wordy and I apologise, so here are my questions:
1. Is grandMA 3D traditionally used to pre-viz only moving lights, or would I have to upgrade to WSIWYG or ESP (neither of which I can afford) to incorporate conventional lighting, too?
2. If grandMA is only for moving heads, what should I use first? Might as well turn this into a learning experience for some fixtures that are industry-standard enough that familiarization with them would be useful...

(The only name on the fixtures list I even recognize/know how to use is the Morpheus ColorFader!)

Thanks so much in advance!
Sage

EDIT: I don't have any grandMA experience, at all; that's just the only free option that I know of. My school has a Strand 300 and I've used an ETC Expression 1 once and that's about it. But I have many months/the rest of the future to learn if grandMA would be useful!

 

[Pie4Weebl]

You'll find MA 3D best for moving lights and big flashy things. If you're looking to do subtle theatre lighting its not really the right choice, but its free, so have fun.

If your just starting out I would suggest using a mix of simple moving wash and spot fixtures. The two I'd suggest you play with are the VL3000 Spot, and VL3000 Wash under "Vari-Lite". Another option are Mac 2K wash and spots, these would be under Martin.

I had a job that was really unfulfilling, so during the weekends I make projects like these to keep my brain going:

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If you have any questions about MA3D, first RTFM, and then if that doesn't work feel free to PM me, or post questions here. Its a steep learning curve, so good luck!

One of our members had a website with some ready made plots you could play around with, I just can't seem to find a link for it now, that might be an easy way to start out.

 

[kalevalaSage]

Yeah, that kind of project is exactly what I was hoping to learn to do by the end of the summer. Thanks so much for recommending those fixtures to me; another question though (and hopefully it makes sense): are there any movers you would consider similar in visual output to your run-of-the-mill ETC PARs, PARnels, or ERS?

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Yeah, that kind of project is exactly what I was hoping to learn to do by the end of the summer. Thanks so much for recommending those fixtures to me; another question though (and hopefully it makes sense): are there any movers you would consider similar in visual output to your run-of-the-mill ETC PARs, PARnels, or ERS?

Any wash fixture would do to match a par can. I'd probably go for a Mac700 Wash.

 

[douglasheriot]

I can’t remember exactly (it’s been a while since I last played with MA 3D), but I think you can just add a generic dimmer channel to get a regular fixture in 3D. There might be an option somewhere to set it’s colour as if there was a gel on it (or did I just imagine that?)

 

[Techfiend]

Douglas is correct. If you add to your patch "From Library: Generic: Dimmer" it will add a parcan-like fixture to 3D. Just like any other fixture you can position and rotate it in your 3D space until it is to your liking. The gel option does exist for conventional, I believe it is somewhere in the patch screen, scroll to the right, perhaps? (Let me know if you are having trouble) Also as said before, feel free to post questions here, or PM, others may try to do this too and might have the same questions!

 

[kalevalaSage]

I have found the gels, thanks for the dimmer advice!
...So I guess adding dimmers to 3D isn't just like, well, putting in phase-control dimmer packs (that I'd subsequently have to plug fixtures into)? It's puzzling; they're like lamps in themselves...

 

[cbrandt]

Yes, adding "dimmers" means that you are adding a single channel, and placing a fixture where it would go on the plot. The board doesn't care whether it is a par or an ERS. I'm still new at GrandMA programming, can you differentiate on the previs between a par and an ERS?