I.T. Tools For Lighting Design - Kit Lane - January 2007

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I.T. Tools for Lighting Design -1
Kit Lane January 2007
I.T Tools for Lighting Design

There are many different types of computer
based tools available to todays lighting
designer
2D draughting
3D Modelling
Visualisation / Pre-visualisation
Storyboarding
Design Aids
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I.T Tools for Lighting Design
Paperwork management
Off Line Editors
PC controlled lighting controllers
Media Servers
2D Draughting
Computer Aided Draughting/Drawing
Computer is self explanatory
Aided - the system helps you but it
wont do it for you. The computer can
improve accuracy and make drawings
clearer but they are only techniques to
apply in drawing your design
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2D Draughting
Draughting or Drawing not Design.
The system will not design for you. That
happens in your head. But the system
will help you transfer those thoughts into
a coherent design on your monitor,
thence to paper and ultimately to the
stage.
2D Draughting
Traditionally, the set designer produced
paper scale plans and elevations of the
stage design, along with a scale model
of the set.
The lighting designer would use these
to produce paper plans of the lighting
design along with other necessary
paperwork.
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2D Draughting
Some set designers now use CAD to produce
drawings, but many still draw straight to
paper.
However, probably the majority of lighting
designers use CAD to produce their plans.
Ideally the set designers CAD drawings can
be used directly by the lighting designer as
the basis for his/her work.
2D Draughting
The sorts of plan the lighting designer
produces are ideally suited to CAD as
they repeatedly use the same symbols
to represent different types of luminaire.
Plastic stencils were used by lighting
designers before CAD was widely
available.
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2D Draughting
2D Draughting
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2D Draughting
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2D Draughting
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2D Draughting
There are many 2D CAD systems.
The best known is AutoCAD. Used in all
types of industries.
Lighting symbols and plug-ins are available to
assist lighting designers.
AutoCAD is very expensive but a useful skill
to possess.
It is on the PCs in T012 & T013
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2D Draughting
Other systems include: TurboCAD (a good all round CAD system)
Vectorworks (used by many set designers.
Plug-in available for lighting design and
rendering)
WYSIWYG (the system we will be using)
Lots of others, some free or shareware
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3D Modelling
All of the 2D CAD systems I have mentioned have 3D
modelling capabilities (sometimes depending on the
version used)
In addition, there are many specialised 3D modelling
packages such as
3D Studio
Lightwave
Cinema 4D
Maya
Blender (Open Source)
Google Sketchup (Free version available)
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3D Modelling
To create an accurate 3D view of a design by
traditional hand drawing techniques is
considerably more difficult than simple 2D
draughting.
The set designer would often create a scale
model. The lighting designer could then use
small lights or a torch to get a very rough idea
of lighting possibilities.
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3D Modelling
Whilst it still takes a considerable
amount of effort to create a 3D model in
the computer, once it has been done it
can easily be manipulated and viewed
from any angle
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3D Modelling
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3D Modelling
Most 3D modelling packages can
produce a shaded image, with some
control over lighting.
However, to accurately model lighting
requires specialised software.
Especially when there may be hundreds
of light sources.
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Visualisation
Visualisation or Pre-vis is the creation of realistic
images of the final design to aid the creative and
technical processes.
The level of realism required depends on the use of
the image. A set designer will be more concerned
about the precise colour finishes and textures. A
lighting designer will want accurate photometric data
to be used. A director may wish to see an animated
sequence.
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Visualisation
Before the advent of realistic computer
graphics systems, visualisation was
limited to hand painted images.
It is possible to create highly photorealistic images using software such as
Maya.
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Visualisation
However, in visualisation for lighting design,
photometric accuracy and speed of rendering are
more important than, say, highly realistic textures,
bump mapping or deformable geometry.
Therefore, specialised software has been developed
for this such as: WYSIWYG
ESP-Vision
Capture
Many others
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Visualisation
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Visualisation
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Visualisation
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Design Aids
Virtual Light Lab
A virtual light studio
Experiment with light and colour in a simple
environment.
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Design Aids
Beamwright
Calculates beam angles
Bundled with Lightwright (paperwork software)
Photometric analysis
Photometric and colour databases
LD Calculator
General calculations and reference
Free Lite version available
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Paperwork
A lighting design creates a lot of
paperwork as well as the plan
Lists of equipment
Circuit and DMX patches
Colour Call
Costs
etc.
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Paperwork
As well as paper based systems or the
use of, for example, Excel, there are a
number of specialised packages to
manage the LDs paperwork
Lightwright is a good example
www.mckernon.com
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Paperwork
However, most CAD packages can attach parametric
data to objects. For example, a luminaire object may
include data about its weight, type of lamp, the circuit
and gel chosen by the designer etc.
This data can be extracted automatically to produce
most of the paperwork
WYSIWYG has this functionality built in.
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Off Line Editors

Many modern lighting control desks
contain standard PC hardware.
Even for those that dont, it is a
relatively simple task for the
manufacturer to produce an emulator of
their control desk that will run on a
standard PC or Mac
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Off Line Editors

By using an Off Line Editor, the show can be
programmed or modified without being in the venue
or even having the lighting desk, let alone the rest of
the equipment.
One can also use them to help learn how to use a
new desk.
Free OLEs are available for many desks including,
the Avolites Pearl, the ETC Expression and the
Jands Vista!
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Off Line Editors

It is possible to link an OLE or even a
console to visualisation software
(WYSIWYG for example) and see a
representation of what you are
programming in real time.
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PC Controlled Lighting
It has been possible to use a standard computer to
control lighting for many years. There used to be a
system based on a BBC Micro for example. However,
expensive proprietary hardware was generally
required.
It is now possible to buy very cheaply, or construct
your own USB-DMX interface, turning your PC, Mac
or Laptop into a lighting desk.
There are many programs available, including open
source (OpenDMX).
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Media Servers
Media servers are computer systems
designed specifically to handle images
for projection or display technologies.
Products such as High End Catalyst or
Hippotizer can integrate with the lighting
system to provide sophisticated realtime manipulation of still and moving
images.
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References
AutoCad - A Handbook for Theatre Users

David Ripley,Entertainment Technology Press
ISBN 9781904031314
Computer Visualisation for the Theatre
Gavin Carver & Christine White, Focal Press
ISBN 0240516176
Scenery Construction & Draughting
John Blurton, A&C Black
ISBN 0713656840
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Web Links
http://www.cad4theatre.org.uk/
http://users.pandora.be/desi-iii/index.html - DESI-III Freeware 2D CAD
http://www.stardraw.com/products/stardrawlighting2d/
http://www.agi32.com/
http://www.ldassistant.com
http://www.paul-pelletier.com/ - LD Calculator
http://www.lifact.com/index.html Light Factory
http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=showdesigner
http://www.capturesweden.com/
http://www.showmagic.com/
http://www.chamsys.co.uk
http://www.lxdesigns.co.uk/
http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=proscenium
http://www.photometricspro.com/index.html
http://www.showcad.com/
http://www.visualdmx.com/
http://www.castlighting.com
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I.T. Tools For Lighting Design - Kit Lane - January 2007

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21/12/2015

I.T. Tools for Lighting Design -1

Kit Lane January 2007