Vectorworks Legends

[Corbettlight]

I am relatively new to Vectorworks, and I may be submitting it for portfolio review (as opposed to my personal use), so I want to make it more professional looking. Aside from adding a legend, what should I do to make it look more professional? Also, what specific things should I include in the legend, and where should I put it? There doesn't seem to be very much room on the page :/

Thanks!

 

[shiben]

I assume your talkign about a light plot. As for the size, then change the scale? Also, Most professional plots I see have: A title block (VW has a piece you can insert for this where you just fill in boxes), a Notes section (they got this too), giving any general notes about the production and hanging, IE, should all the units be roostered or straight hung, A liability disclaimer (you might not need this), a border (they got one of these as well), and a key, showing what is what on each instrument. For example, they will have a light symbol, and then at the gel frame end it will say what indicates the color, the focus, what a scroller looks like and how the address is shown, and maybe a top hat (it all depends on the needs of the show for that bit), and then it will show how a gobo is shown, where the template number is written down, how the unit number is shown, where the channel information is, where the circuit/dimmer information is shown, and any other bits and pieces that you might need to know to accurately hang the plot. Also critical to include would be a full set of paperwork, any any other major bits and pieces that are needed to hang the show. Again, thats just what I have seen. I dont work on broadway, so that might hace some baring on this.

 

[erosing]

What size paper are you printing on?

 

[Corbettlight]

Thanks, shiben, I'll take all of that into account.

I'm printing on 8.5x11, but I suppose I could get my hands on some larger stuff at school.

 

[JChenault]

Who are you presenting the portfolio to? What is the purpose for the review?

What you are trying to do accomplish will greatly affect what is most important in the paperwork.

 

[shiben]

Thanks, shiben, I'll take all of that into account.

I'm printing on 8.5x11, but I suppose I could get my hands on some larger stuff at school.

Any reason for that paper size? I have printed mine in 1/2 inch scale on a very much larger piece of paper, I cant recall what size the plotter at work does. Out of curiosity, what size do you need to print in to get it on a piece of letter sized paper? I have been told that 11x17 is fairly common for this type of thing (being that you can fold it in half and fit it in a 3 ring binder), but am not really familiar with it. If there is no way to print on a large paper, but 11x17 is an option, I would go with that. If you need to use letter size, you might want to consider what you really need, seeing as youll need a dissecting microscope to read it unless its a small plot...

 

[SteveB]

If you need to use letter size, you might want to consider what you really need, seeing as youll need a dissecting microscope to read it unless its a small plot...

Yup.

8-1/2x11 is minuscule scale (1/8" depending on venue size) and it will be nearly impossible to read any plot detail in that size as well as being a huge struggle to fit the important stuff on the drawing

We work roughly 1/4" scale and use 11x17 and I had to really work the font sizes to make a 50' x 70 space readable. Here is a link to a plot I do in 11x17. It has truncated title block with very little info in it. There is no drawing border. The keys and legend are scaled down in a 2nd layer, etc... lot's of work to get it to fit, but ours is a working drawing, not used for presenting.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts - Tech - Whitman Theater Tech Info Downloads

One option is to work in 1/2" scale with a paper size of 24" x36". You can then save the drawing to Adobe pdf and print it at staples or Kinkos. A drawing this size runs about $5.

In general, the larger sizes look more impressive and I've been impressed by the qyuality of a print from Kinkos.

Also look here for add'l info as to Lighting Graphics Standards - RP-2

List of Standards - USITT

 

[rochem]

Yeah I definitely agree, use either a 1/2" or 1/4" scale, it will make your plot stand out much more and look much more professional. You also won't have to crowd everything onto a tiny page. I don't have a Kinko's near me, so I get all my plots printed at Staples for a pretty reasonable price.

The amount of information you put on a plot largely depends on the scale of the show and the experience of the hanging electricians. On enourmus broadway plots, often the only notation on the plot is instrument type and unit number - then the electrician will have to refer to the paperwork to find out color, template, channel/dimmer, and anything else. The main reason for this is that trying to fit all that information onto one document would just be overwhelming, and it's much easier to just use the plot and paperwork together. For a portfolio plot, I would recommend trying to put as much info onto the plot as you can without making it look cluttered.

Attached is the plot for a show I designed last year in a black box space. Note the legend, title block, and notes section, as well as all the notations on the plot for anything that was out of the ordinary (set mount unit, US boom, etc.). Also note that I did not put specific template information on the plot, but I did indicate the presence of a gobo with a little black circle. How much info you include is largely up to you and the neds of the show. Mine is not a perfect plot by any means, but it got the job done.

 

[shiben]

On an earlier thread someone posted up plots from the touring production of Wicked. No idea if those are legit for looking at, but you might get some ideas of what pros might put on a plot from them. Dont remember where they were tho.

 

[rochem]

On an earlier thread someone posted up plots from the touring production of Wicked. No idea if those are legit for looking at, but you might get some ideas of what pros might put on a plot from them. Dont remember where they were tho.

I intentionally avoided posting any large-scale broadway or touring plots because many of them don't include any color/template/channel/focus information at all, and that's probably not what you'd want to include for a portfolio plot. However, on second thought, they can provide some useful information about drafting conventions, so why not.

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting/8826-broadway-light-plots.html#post103115
http://livedesignonline.com/masterclasses/9To5PlotBMLC.pdf

 

[derekleffew]

... Attached is the plot for a show I designed ...

Offer a drawing as an example, and one immediately opens oneself up to (constructive) criticism.

My only nitpick would be that, for an arena or blackbox design, the pipes running SR-SL should be numbered (1,2,3,...) and the pipes running DS-US should be lettered (A,B,C,...). Neither Shelley's A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting nor Warfel's Handbook of Stage Lighting Graphics appear to mention this, but I know it's in one of the more popular texts. That fact notwithstanding, I would recommend either or both of the books above (or better, their most recent editions) to Corbettlight.

EDIT: Also, on any drawing that will be distributed electronically (ALL of them in today's PDF age), I would include X and Y-axis scale rules, and include the phrase "Scale: 1/2"=1'-0" UNLESS reproduced," as one loses control of printing ratio.

 

[rochem]

Offer a drawing as an example, and one immediately opens oneself up to (constructive) criticism.

My only nitpick would be that, for an arena or blackbox design, the pipes running SR-SL should be numbered (1,2,3,...) and the pipes running DS-US should be lettered (A,B,C,...). Neither Shelley's A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting nor Warfel's Handbook of Stage Lighting Graphics appear to mention this, but I know it's in one of the more popular texts. That fact notwithstanding, I would recommend either or both of the books above (or better, their most recent editions) to Corbettlight.

EDIT: Also, on any drawing that will be distributed electronically (ALL of them in today's PDF age), I would include X and Y-axis scale rules, and include the phrase "Scale: 1/2"=1'-0" UNLESS reproduced," as one loses control of printing ratio.

Not to get too off-topic, but thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it. When I first drafted the plot, I searched through all my texts and online to find a standard for identifying pipes in a grid, but couldn't find any definitive source. The only source I was able to find was in Gillette's book, where his example of The Glass Menagerie in thrust identifies pipes by letters in the same way I have done here. When I first posted my plot up for review (http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting/15429-another-student-light-plot.html), I got a similar recommendation, but I ended up going with all letters to reduce confusion - I didn't want to be dealing with Unit 1 in Dimmer 2 in Channel 3 on Pipe 4, and using letters just gave me one less number to potentially switch around.

Does anyone know where this "letters US/DS and numbers SL/SR" system came from? As I said, the only text I've been able to find that referenced this topic at all was Gillette's, and yet two people have now independently suggested the system you mentioned. Any idea where this originated?

 

[SteveB]

I didn't want to be dealing with Unit 1 in Dimmer 2 in Channel 3 on Pipe 4, and using letters just gave me one less number to potentially switch around.

?

You mean you can't remember 1 Electric, Unit 4, Circuit 30, Dimmer 5, Channel 18, with an R312 plus R132 and a R77770 template ?, at 4 ft 6 in L of C/L ?.

To me, that's tons easier to remember then how to add 1/16 to 3/8 minus 1/8, then account for saw kerf (or whatever it's called).

Grin

SB

 

[Corbettlight]

All this information is very helpful! One tiny question - where does one set the scale in VW?

 

[derekleffew]

... Does anyone know where this "letters US/DS and numbers SL/SR" system came from? As I said, the only text I've been able to find that referenced this topic at all was Gillette's, and yet two people have now independently suggested the system you mentioned. Any idea where this originated?

Since when is "because I said so" not a valid enough reason?

It's what I was taught in Stage Lighting 101 in 1979, and if not in Parker & Smith or Bellman, then the professor must have made it up, but others were also doing it that way at the time.

 

[SteveB]

All this information is very helpful! One tiny question - where does one set the scale in VW?

Depends on the version and OS.

On my 2009 Pro version, you right click on the drawing and select layer Scale.

I don't know if any Mac OS allows right clicking. In 12.5 Windows it was somewhere else.

SB

 

[erosing]

All this information is very helpful! One tiny question - where does one set the scale in VW?

You can also set the scale by hitting the layers button and double clicking on the layer you want to change the scale of.

 

[erosing]

Depends on the version and OS.

On my 2009 Pro version, you right click on the drawing and select layer Scale.

I don't know if any Mac OS allows right clicking. In 12.5 Windows it was somewhere else.

SB

Yep, it works just the same for OS X, right-click and select Active Layer Scale.

 

[NevilleLighting]

If you want to look professional, go 1/2" scale. Also, I love Vectorworks but i hate the symbols. There are better ways to conform with USITT standards. One way is to use Steve Shelley's Soft Symbols, available on his website. Another way would be to use Autoplot, a Vectorworks plug in.

 

[shiben]

If you want to look professional, go 1/2" scale. Also, I love Vectorworks but i hate the symbols. There are better ways to conform with USITT standards. One way is to use Steve Shelley's Soft Symbols, available on his website. Another way would be to use Autoplot, a Vectorworks plug in.

He does have nice symbols. However, they do cost money, and at this point dropping money on some symbols when VW already has many that we might use would be fine for a student...