Design Making my plots look more professional and just better in general.

[RickR]

The circuits were drawn, just like all the other outlets in the school. The electrical drawings were hard to read, but he/they (big crew) ignored many of the finer points in the rush to get it done. "Spacing and labeling don't matter if it's on the ceiling, right?"

I think we agree that drawing quality is not what it should be. It's just that I don't blame CAD.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I think we agree that drawing quality is not what it should be. It's just that I don't blame CAD.

Thank you - we do agree. And I agree its not CAD per se, but I do believe CAD is a factor in leading to the decline in the quality of a set of drawings. Whether it's the change in skill set required to operate CAD, the pressure to do it faster and for lower cost because of CAD hype, or another of a myriad of changes, its for sure a decline. And it's not CAD so much as specifically REVIT and bim and all that goes with that.

 

[MikeJ]

Basically, If you suck at hand drafting and have poor practices, CAD will not fix your problems; It will probably make those practices worse.
If you are good at hand drafting and have a good foundation, CAD can make your drawings easier to read, faster, and allow for more flexibility when changes to a project need to happen.
Of coarse, you can always learn good practices the first time, using CAD, with the right training, and never picking up a pencil.

OR...you can be a grumpy old guy who refuses to learn new things, because "Back in my day we didn't need any fancy plumbing, we were real men who just crapped in a bucket and threw it out the window. Now you got all these kids these days, with there new-fangled soaps, and hand sanitizes, and "tooth brushes", everyone expecting running water, and toilet paper; It makes me sick. Why DO YOU NEED ALL THAT STUFF?!...Ungrateful youth...

....Get OFF MY LAWN!"

 

[DavidNorth]

Wow. That post seems a little personal without some of those smiley emojis the young people use to take edges off.

 

[MikeJ]

I don't know where to find those smiles.

 

[MikeJ]

Darn kids these days, with all there crazy smiley-unicorn-pizza-icon-faces. Why cant they just use Words?! We didn't need all that stuff in my day...Get off my Lawn!

 

[derekleffew]

...Get off my Lawn!

Here ya go, @MikeJ.

 

[MikeJ]

 

[TheTheaterGeek]

This is where I ended up.

With a lot of help from Steve Shelly and Kevin Allen.

 

[derekleffew]

Where's the Title Block? Should be in lower, right hand corner.
Where's the Instrument Key?
That's not how onstage booms are designated/numbered. #1BmRight, #2BmLeft, etc.
Downstage booms are confusing.
Need heights for all boom units.
Is there really no FOH position in use at the venue?

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Not bad. I think some of the issues Derek mentions are needed - title block (most I see today are vertically along right had edge - full height of sheet); key; some dimensions or scaling help; and a sheet border is a good thing. I was not sure that a part of the drawing was not cut off and a border helps that. I'm a little more lenient on naming positions than Derek perhaps - as long as it's consistent. I'd say any house with three fore stage booms is unusual to begin with. And I need a section to know if this is a"good design" or not - but a very credible presentation.

 

[Amiers]

Minus the legend and the title block I think it looks clean. If I was hanging would just have to ask general focus questions and I would be set. You got a lot of audience blinders though, then again it is Ave Q.

 

[SteveB]

No scale bar is a huge no-no.

 

[ScottT]

No scale bar is a huge no-no.

I haven't seen a plot with a scale bar in at least a year...

 

[SteveB]

I haven't seen a plot with a scale bar in at least a year...

Yeah, I can see that. I also see plots with no color and no contaner/spot to make a dimmer notation. Pretty plots sometimes, but on occasion, useless as well.

Possibly the reason is the designer/ALD assumes the plot and paperwork is going to the electrician as a data send and the elec. will then figures out spacing and does hang cards//sheets/tape/whatever.

Not always though and when I get a plot for a tour that they want me to hang, with no scale bar (which is such a simple insertion from a Shelly symbol set), and have to go to the hookup to find color, we'll all this curmudgeon thinks is the young 'uns aren't being taught correctly.

 

[soundman]

Tons of improvement. Great job!

 

[petercav17]

Question: Is it customary to leave out parts of the theater's architecture or to move lighting positions out of their true placements to make the plotting area smaller? My school's theater is a pretty big 3/4 thrust that is basically an arena, and I drew the whole theater off of the original (hand drafted ) architectural drawings (which included the lighting install). As a result, there are side lighting positions that are pretty far from the stage on both sides, almost against the walls of the theater. The plots are in 1/4" = 1' scale and (and too small to see from a moderate distance). They have to be plotted on Arch E sheets even in 1/4" scale. I already had to cut off the theater walls past the last lighting positions just to get it to fit in 1/4"! I'd love to have it in 1/2" but I don't want to move around the positions out of their true placements. Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[derekleffew]

Question: Is it customary to leave out parts of the theater's architecture or to move lighting positions out of their true placements to make the plotting area smaller?

Quite customary, particularly with FOH positions that are far from the stage, else one is left with a lot of useless empty blank area near the center of the drawing. Of course, any position not drawn in actual location should have a note attached: "Not drawn in actual location."

 

[petercav17]

Quite customary, particularly with FOH positions that are far from the stage, else one is left with a lot of useless empty blank area near the center of the drawing. Of course, any position not drawn in actual location should have a note attached: "Not drawn in actual location."

I'd seen that before, but had been avoiding that since I use VW to visualize beam angles and such, which I need the true locations for. I guess it would be pretty easy to just save a new file and move them around for plotting once I'm happy with the plot.

 

[Mike R]

Rather than creating a new file, you could just use different viewports on your sheet layer for those outlying positions. That way, they stay in the correct location for photometrics and viz, but you page could be plotted more concisely.