The iPad Revolution Begins!

January 27, 2010 is a day that will live in history as the day apple revolutionized how we produce theatre and maybe revolutionized the world. Ok that’s a big statement that the apple fan boy side of me is shouting at the top of his lungs in the back of my head. For those who did not hear the announcement a couple of days ago Apple announced its new ipad, which is an ipod touch with a nine and half inch screen at a starting price of $499. Now is this a revolution? Not yet but I see some potential uses for designers and technicians. I posted one of my ideas on Twitter and Facebook and got some great responses here are those ideas and some of mine.

General Tech Design:

1. Rendering Presentation: The screen size is large enough to show off  costume renderings as well as some scenic renderings.
2. Portfolio Presentation: For a one on one with a director or producer the screen size and wow factor make this a good device for showing off your work.
3. Drafting:The ability to view drafting on the go is always a help. I have looked at light plots in the past on my ipod touch but i really need a bigger screen. I don’t need to draft on this device, the screen is much too small. As Andrea Bilkey points out the processor in this device would not be big enough for a complete drafting program. A dream application would be a VectorWorks or AutoCad viewer that let me view the document with a wide array of measurement tools.
4. Sketching or just doodling on this device could increase productivity and help organize all those doodles and sketch in one place in a digital format. I recently tired the free version of SketckBook Mobile by Auto Desk on my ipod touch and it worked ok but it could be really useful on a bigger screen. Apple showed off at its address some sort of painting program that will come with the device.
5. Research: I like the idea of putting much of my library on a single device. My book self is full and the ability to have those books with me all the time is would be helpful.

Lighting:

1. Paperwork: The ability to paperwork at my finger tips and not clutter up the tech table is a must have applicatoin. As it ships it will have the ability to read paperwork in the form of a pdf through free programs like Evernote or Drop Box. I would like the ability to edit that paperwork an in an ideal situation have it linked to Lightwright. Now if you use a spread sheet to do paperwork, Apple is bringing there iWork software to the ipad which has a built in spreadsheet program.
2.Control: Lighting Control over the iPad will all ready be possible using great apps like iRfr, Luminair, and the GrandMa remote. Josh Williamson suggested that this could also come in the form of a magic sheet that you could touch or gesture to control the lighting.
3. Builds on Current Apps: The ipad can expand on the ever growing lighting apps available for the ipod touch and iphone. Now a gel cutting app could more easily show a new electrician the best way to get the most cuts out of a sheet. Programs like Moire the gobo app or Gel Swatch Library from Wybron would be more useful on a bigger screen and I would like the ability to compare more than two colors at once.
4. Light Lab: I use a program called Virtual Light Lab to pre-visualize basic color and lighting angles and I want this ability on a tablet device. I would use it during rehearsals and show directors what i am thinking.

Conclusion:

Will this replace my main computer, no it can’t draft on it and it doesn’t have the horse power I need for 3d renderings. It may replace my laptop or netbook for all my mobile computing. I do think this device, or other tablets like it, will change the way we work in the entertainment industry. I use my ipod touch every day for basic office work or lighting using the apps currently available for the iPhone which should work day one on the iPad.  It has made me more efficient and have given me more tools at my fingertips and the iPad will only improve how I work.

Free Software

Stephen Dean a technician from Australia recently posted on his blog “Ramblings of a Techie” a great article on a couple of free software programs for Lighting and Sound designers.  Lighting Design by theatre-freeware.peartreeuk.com and Multi Play by audiovisualdevices.com.au are both avaible free and for the windows operating system. For a full look at the at this software check out Stephen’s Post

For those on the Macintosh Platform I recently found LX Tools by Claude Heintz Design. Claude was the creator of Mac Lux Pro, which was the first light plot software I had ever used.  LX Tools is a free program that gives you a basic drafting and paperwork program.  I installed it and found it fairly easy to use, and if you get stuck there is a great online help page.  LX free also has a professional version LX series pro, pricing is yet to be posted.  Site license pricing is not set.  It will probably be in the neighborhood of $299 for any number of computers at a site per year.”.

Once i downloaded the program it did not take long to get a light plot up below is the work of about 15 minutes on the program.

Review-Show Tool LD 2.0

Features:
Beam Calculator- with two modes: simple mode (by throw distance) or accurate (exact beam size by the instrument height and distance)
Gel Calc- Choose the instrument and sheet size from a large library to figure out how may cuts you need.
Dip Calc-put in the address to convert it to the proper dip switch settings
DMX Calc- Set the, local DMX, Universe, or Global DMX to calculate the correct DMX settings. It also lets you set the amount of DMX attributes used by a fixture then shows you what DMX information for the next 12 fixtures.
Power- Input current and voltage to figure total power, then input lamp wattage to figure how may units fit on that circuit. Has a 1 and 3phase mode.

Pros
*Great price at $4.99(usd) for its functionality
*Once you put settings in the DMX calc click on the fixtures at the bottom and it show you the Dip Switch Settings
*Power Calculator has lots of options with quick buttons for easy use.
*Interface is clean and moves around very quickly
*5 apps for the price of one.

Cons
*Beam Calculator lacks a instrument inventory so you need to know the beam angles of your instruments. This can get a bit difficult with pars, Fresnel and other instruments that don’t have the beam angle in there name.
*Beam Calculator does not give foot candle measurements like other beam programs.
*Some stand alone apps offer more functionality.

How does it stack up against other apps that only do one function?
Beam Calc by Westside Systems- Has a beautiful graphical interface that shows you up to 3 instruments at a time. It also has a large instrument/lamp inventory which allows it to calculate foot-candles. Its cost is $15

Gel Calc by Zinman Company-Does not have a fixture and sheet size library but does figure the cost of your gel order. Cost: $4.99

Power Calc by Westside Systems- The functionality is almost exactly the same as Ld Show tools except Power Calc as a 2phase mode. I do prefer Power Calc’s interface better its buttons are bigger and has larger fonts. Cost $1.99

DMX Calc by Westside Systems- Has much of the same functionality as Show Tool Ld as its DMX Calculator and Dip Switch modes. DMX Calc does have an audio function that gives you a sound for on of off for each dip switch that could be handy in the dark. Both programs let you configure multiple fixtures at once but Show Tool Ld presents information all at once without hitting any more buttons. Cost:1.99

Conclusion:
Show Tool Ld has lots of functionality with the right amount of flexibility to adapt to your situation or way of working. My only hesitation is in the beam calculator, the ability too look up beam angles is needed and if it could then figure foot candles it would only add to its functionality. If you are looking for an inexpensive lighting application with lots of functionality Show Tool Ld is the right app for you. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

Be a Contributor

Want to share a tip, trick, or tool to this site or write an article to be published? Found a You Tube video with a great tip? Do you have a blog post you have all ready written that has a great tip or tool I will publish part of it with a link to your post for the rest of the article? Just send an email with your idea and to digital.tools4pa at gmail.com and it will be reviewed by our editorial staff for publishing.

Beam Calc Updated

Major upgrade to the Beam Calc by Westside systems. itunes link

1. Now has a good size fixture library with Altman, Etc, Strand and Selecon
2. Can choose different lamp for each instrument
3. Gives foot candle information as well as beam size
4. Can look at up to three lights at once.
5. Give the ability to move the light manually or input coordinates
6. Can move the focus area for each light and see how beams overlap.
7. Once you set your beam height you can choose a different instrument. When you go into the library it shows you what the new beam size and the new foot candles right in the library

 

It’s currently priced at 9.99, and according the the Apple app store is an LDI special price and will go to to its regular price on Monday November 23 2009

Review: Moire Gobo Library v1.2

Lamps:4/5

Pros:

• More than just a gobo catalog.
• Large Library which includes Apollo, GAM, InLight and Lee Gobos.
• Great search feature allows you to search multiple companies at once. Find the exact gobo you want quickly.
• Ability to bring gobo image in and out of focus
• Twin Spin-add two of your favorite gobos on top of each other and spin in the same or opposite directions. Great way to come up with new rotator effects.
• Recent list that can be loaded with current show gobos.
• Works with ISwatch to add color to the gobo
• High resolution black and white gobos included

Cons:

• No way to compare two gobos
• The focus feature is great but it would be better if it could replicate the optics of the instrument.
• Twin Spin feature lacks the ability to change the focus of the gobo, flip the image or choose which one is on top.
• Missing Rosco Gobos-Rosco has not participated in this application and has launched their own iphone application.
• Color gobos and dichroic glass gobos not in the library

Suggestions:

• Favorites list for show specific  gobos
• Inventory-ability to keep up on what is in stock with a visual reverence would be a great feature.

Listen to the Full Review:

Listen!

Review: iSwatch

4/5 Lamps

Pros: Quick and easy way to find or compare color filter media. Gives CMY and RGB values which could be used in other for other software applications.

Cons: Still missing the Apollo color line. 9.99 is still a bit high for this application. The wavelength data needs the wavelength numbers across the bottom and transmission listed on the side for reference.

Tip:Compare a color to Rosco 00, then take your swatch book and place a swatch of the first color over the clear side to see how close the program gets.

Full Review:  I purchased this application in the heat of the moment. I was in tech and needed a cut of R97 natural density.  I checked my stock and didn’t have any. I thought I mights have some in GAM or possibly Lee. I needed to know quickly what the equivalents were in those other companies, so I decided to bite the bullet and purchase iSwatch by Wybron Inc. I have found this program to be a very useful product and a very compact way to get gel information quickly. It eliminates the need to carry three or four swatch books around.  It will never get rid of the swatch book, as in most lighting visualization software the rendering of the color is never 100percent the exact gel color and it does not take into account color temperature of the lamp of the instrument.

It is an easy to use, you can search using a simple search function or choose a gel company and browse by gel number. Once you find the gel iSwatch offers a wealth of data. It gives you gel transmission, wavelength data, CMY percentages, RGB percentages and similar colors. If you tap a similar color it will compare it to your choice in both color and wavelength data. iSwatch will also pick a the best complement to that color and compare both colors wavelength data. There is also a button to compare your color to any other color in the library.

Many of the cons of the program were fixed with the latest update, but a few still remain. There are many lighting designers that use Apollo Gel and as such it should be included in the program. The wavelength data needs the wavelength numbers across the bottom and transmission listed on the side for reference.  After a few spot checks, the wave length data is slightly different than those in the gel books, to me this is a minor flaw. The final con is the price, it is a  a valuable program but 9.99 is a bit much for this  iphone application.

If you don’t mind spending the 9.99 its a must have for the iphone. It wont replace your swatchbooks but its got a lot of great information in one place.

Update: Version 1.4.1 added Apollo Gel to the application.