Design Lighting Plot Software Solution Needed

[Nick Caburis]

I'm the techie(designer?) at my high school. My predecessor used to plot our lights on one or a few diagrams like attached below. For our spring musicals, we'd have four, one for conventional areas and wash, one for our LED fixtures and any movers, and one for our DMX wiring paths. I'm looking for a way to digitize it and make it interactive. I hope to have some sort of interactive legend where I hide and show certain fixtures that fit in to certain categories.

So far the solutions I've tried are imapbuilder and iicreator. The former allows a custom background but no custom points. The latter allows me both but only up to 8 markers and no interactive legend with trial version(full is in excess of $180). Obviously these aren't lighting-oriented solutions but all of the solutions I found are very CAD-esque. They provide abilities to make 3D models of the stage and show where the light is and how it interacts but I don't need nor want that.

Thanks in advance,
Nick C

 

[Amiers]

There really isn't a digital paperless solution that I have found yet.

There is this
Lighting Designer by Clayton Combe
https://appsto.re/us/-pTEE.i

But no reviews and seems like it was just made.

 

[AxlD1234]

Draft-app.com

It has some issues with it and not the best but it's a start in the right direction.

 

[Nick Caburis]

Draft-app.com

It has some issues with it and not the best but it's a start in the right direction.

Hey I don't know if it was a type or not but I can't open the link correctly nor can I find it on google.
Thanks,
-Nick C

 

[derekleffew]

I think @AxlD1234 meant
https://drafty-app.com/ .

See also the thread https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/introducing-drafty.39337/ .

 

[AxlD1234]

@derekleffew that is what i meant. Thank you.

 

[kicknargel]

Vectorworks, [arguably] the industry standard for creating light plots, offers free student licenses. A learning curve to be sure, but one you will have to climb sooner or later.

http://www.vectorworks.net/education

 

[fbrault]

Hi Nick Caburis,

Just to confirm what Nick Kargel stated above, Vectorworks provides the educational version to all students free of charge. The link that he provided in his message is correct. Just go the educational program box in the page that displays named Free software for you, and click on the link in that box labeled "Learn more". Or if you like, just click on the link below to go directly to our Free lighting software page:

https://student.myvectorworks.net

Just fill out an email address where we can send you a link to where you can download a fully functional version of Spotlight Professional Entertainment Industry software. You can use a phone of your student ID card to show that you are in school to qualify for the software. There is a watermark when you print and files created with the educational version cannot be opened by the professional version, but otherwise, this is the complete Spotlight software.

It comes with everything that you need to create and print Light Plots for your Spring Musical. You can import that picture of the space that you have in your message to get started. Then, you can document where each of all of the different types of lighting fixtures that you have all in the same layer. You can add classes the different types of fixtures the way that you want in order to control the visibilities and also insert a legend that interactively creates a list of each type of fixture in the plot. And, you can add the DMX and circuiting information with our cable tools which will list what type and how long each cable is and where it goes. You can class these as well so you can hide the cables when you don't want to see them too.

Please let let us know here if you have any questions about how to get started. Use the word 'Vectorworks' somewhere in your message to hail me.

FRANK BRAULT
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER
SPOTLIGHT + VISION
D: 443.542.0718 | E: [email protected]

 

[Dionysus]

Free AutoCAD like DraftSight works well, but obviously is a lot more work than vectorworks spotlight but its free and you can do all sorts of other stuff as well

 

[Drafty App]

I'm the techie(designer?) at my high school. … They provide abilities to make 3D models of the stage and show where the light is and how it interacts but I don't need nor want that.…

View attachment 14225

You might like our product (https://drafty-app.com/) as we are intentionally simple to use and avoid unnecessary complexity like 3D by design. While we do not offer a free student version, we do have a free 30 day trial, and as a monthly subscription based cloud solution you can easily unsubscribe whenever you are not using it so you only pay for what you need.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have here, or in email, or on our user forum at the above URL.

 

[OBXDavid]

I'm new to this forum so I don't know if I'm in the right place for this question. I just signed up for Drafty and I imported a PDF of the groundplan but the image is sideways and I need to rotate it 90 degrees before I start. Is this option in the software? Thanks!

 

[MNicolai]

I'm new to this forum so I don't know if I'm in the right place for this question. I just signed up for Drafty and I imported a PDF of the groundplan but the image is sideways and I need to rotate it 90 degrees before I start. Is this option in the software? Thanks!

Sending up the bat signal to @Drafty App!

 

[SteveB]

Vectorworks Educational.

If you stay in the business and in lighting, now is a good time to learn it.

 

[SS Minnow]

 

[Nick Caburis]

Well this thread got necro’d but I have some insight three years after my original post.Since this post I graduated HS, did some designing in college, and am now transferring to get a degree in lighting design.

What ended up happening in college was I eventually bit down and learned Vectorworks and it has been an irreplacible tool in my workflow, design, and organization. I’d be lying if I said the learning curve wasn’t steep but it is very do-able and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

 

[Drafty App]

I'm new to this forum so I don't know if I'm in the right place for this question. I just signed up for Drafty and I imported a PDF of the groundplan but the image is sideways and I need to rotate it 90 degrees before I start. Is this option in the software? Thanks!

Of course! Either grab the control handle on the selected PDF and pull with your mouse or select the PDF and hold down shift while pressing the Left and Right arrow keys to rotate in 45° increments.

For fastest support, use the in-app Feedback button to send an email directly to our support staff.

 

[DNT]

Vectorworks is the best around but steep learning curve and expensive. LXFree is quirky but quite good and as the name suggests, it’s free.
DNT

 

[SteveB]

Vectorworks is the best around but steep learning curve and expensive. LXFree is quirky but quite good and as the name suggests, it’s free.
DNT

In theory, the OP might qualify as a teacher and can get the free educational edition. Of course and as you state, it's a complicated program to learn and with that time invested you'll want to stay with it. Then the Pro version is suddenly expensive.

 

[TimMc]

Submitted for your approval:

Vectorworks Plugins & Best Practices with Landru Design – PST #013 — Practical Show Tech

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