Lightwright Touch update is available

I recently purchased Lightwright touch for the iPad and found today in the App Store that the new update is available. It’s a version 1.1.2 and fixes several bugs and addresses the issue of importing a new file into  Lightwright touch.  I just got this app am currently doing my first show with it. After the show closes I’ll post a full review. So far it’s pretty amazing, the ability to sync between my iPad, desktop and the light plot is seamless. There has been a glitch or 2 Along the Way but overall I’m extremely satisfied with the program and see it  reducing the amount of time I spend updating paperwork.

Screencast-O-Matic

Here is a quick video showing off Screencast-O-Matic. A great new service that takes a video of whats on your screen. You can get a 15 minute video for free and 1hr for just $9 a year. They can be found at http://www.screencast-o-matic.com

A special thanks to Rob Sayer (@onstagelighting on twitter) for turning me on to this product check out his Screencast-O-Matic Vectorworks tutorials here.

VectorWorks 2011 sneak peak

New apps

So is spent some time in the app store last night and cam across some new apps that are worth mentioning.

White Light Reference Guide is a FREE app for a production company in the UK with lots of great info. The have there standard marketing materials, like news, portfolio, contacts and history. But they also have a gel conversion chart and some basic weights of equipment.  The gel chart is text only and the weights are in Kg, but for FREE its a must have reference app.

DMX Switch by Sound Source Pro Audio and Lighting.  I can’t believe someone actually made a DMX switch app this has to be the best and most original idea on the internet. (insert sarcasm sign here). Yes there are a ton of these in the app store and all is does is give you the address for your dmx switch settings. The good news is it is free, the bad news I can’t tell you how well it works it crashes on my 2nd generation ipod touch. Oops just went to there support site and its blank.

iTruss is a 4.99 app that according to the manufacturer “Determine load, span or truss needed for your job in the field with this exciting new iPhone® application from XSF.”  I have not downloaded it yet to give it a test run.

USITT break

Ill be on a small break this week so I can attend the USITT2010 confrence. I am getting great stuff for the blog and will post a wrap up next week. As I write this I just finished day one and it was great.  See you next week.

Tracking Multiple Budgets in Excel

One of my favorite jobs in theatre is as a production manager. I enjoy scheduling, solving problems and yes tracking budgets. One way to track multiple budgets is to use and excel spread sheet. Here are some tips on how to make a budget sheet but also how to make that information available in an easy to read format.

First let’s start with tracking a single budget line and ask information do we want to track as we enter expenditures. I like to make a single budget line for each department and for each production or maintenance line.

Lighting Budget R&J

Date	Purchase #	Purchased From	Item Purchased	Cost	Budget Spent	Budget left
		Starting Budget				$300.00
4-Mar	1	BMI Supply	Gel	$78.50	$78.50	$221.50
10-Apr	2	Limelight	gobos	$50.00	$128.50	$171.50
11-Apr	3	APG	instrument rental	$100.00	$228.50	$71.50
15-May	4	home depot	practices	$60.00	$288.50	$11.50
					$288.50	$11.50
					$288.50	$11.50
					$288.50	$11.50
			Totals		$288.50	$11.50

To start set up the columns you want to track leaving the last two columns for what was spent and what was left. Excel makes the math easy and quick. To get Excel to do any math start the cell with =. So if in the example above it we want to add the cost of the item to what we have spent so far type in equals then click the cost cell then the cell above to get the new total spent. To figure the budget left column, take the cell above and subtract the cost of the item. This will give you a running total of this line. You don’t need to enter the formula for every cell. You can copy the first cell then highlight the rest in that column and paste. Excel will recognize the pattern and shift the cells appropriately. The other method create the formula is to highlight the cell or cells you want to copy then put your cursor on the bottom right corner and wait for it to turn into a +, then drag

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
1	Date	Purchase #	Purchased From	Item Purchased	Cost	Budget Spent	Budget left
2			Starting Budget				$300.00
3						=E3+F2	=G2-E3
4						=E4+F3	=G3-E4
5
6
40				Totals
41

*Tip- Highlight ever other row it make it easier to read the rows.

Once you get the budget line for the first show or budget line you can then copy and paste it on the sheet for multiple budgets or you can crest a worksheet for each one. To see a different worksheet go to the bottom of the page in Excel and there will be one to three tabs labeled Sheet 1, Sheet 2 and Sheet3. If you click the taps you move to a new work sheet.  You can right click the tab in order to rename it or create a new sheet. Once you create a new sheet just copy and paste the cells from the previous budget line.

Once you have each individual budget I like to make a cover sheet that gives me easy access to all the budget numbers.

Budget Breakdown
	Spent	Left	Budget
Lighting and Sound
Odd Couple	$0.00	$100.00	$100.00
Christmas Carol	$298.25	$1.75	$300.00
Dance Ensemble	$0.00	$250.00	$250.00
Rent	$2,333.51	-$2,287.24	$46.27
Hamlet	$0.00	$400.00	$400.00
Supplies/Rental Equipment	$1,202.83	$2,447.17	$3,650.00
	$3,834.59	$911.68	$4,746.27
Projections	$0.00	$1,000.00	$1,000.00

*tip-Highlight all the cells that deal with money and right click and choose format. Change the format to currency.

In order to get the numbers from the previous sheets, select the cell where you want the information, put in the = then click the tab of the sheet where the info is stored. Once on that sheet double click the cell you want to reference and you will return to the cover sheet. Once you do this anytime you add a new purchase it will be updated on the cover page. Once you have all the individual numbers you will need to total them in order to get a sense of the overall budget. To total a column or row you need to enter the formula =sum(first cell:last cell) or you can hit the S symbol on the toolbar and it will add this formula for you.

	A	B	C	D
		Spent	Left	Budget
4	Lighting and Sound
5	Odd Couple	=Lighting!E34	=Lighting!F34	=C5+B5
6	Christmas Carol	=Lighting!L34	=Lighting!M34	=C6+B6
7	Dance Ensemble	=Lighting!S34	=Lighting!T34	=C7+B7
8	Rent	=Lighting!Z34	=Lighting!AA34	=C8+B8
9	Hamlet	=Lighting!AG34	=Lighting!AH34	=C9+B9
10	Supplies/Rental Equipment	=Lighting!AN34	=Lighting!AO34	=C10+B10
		=SUM(B5:B10)	=SUM(C5:C1)	=SUM(D5:D10)

Once you get the file set up its always good to go back and make it look pretty, bold the sections you need to and then pint a report to see what it looks like. Another way to get new ideas is to ask how others use excel and copy and paste the code they use. Here is a sheet I use with fake numbers for the year.

Virtual Light Lab Gets an Update and Video

Virtual Light Lab has been in my lighting tool box for over 15 years. I only know its been this long because I started using it before I was married. Virtual Light Lab is a tool used in the early stages of design to work out basic color, angle and intensities for your lighting design and can be used to story board your design to communicate your thoughts to a director or other members of the production team. Without taking time to hang a lot of lights, you can quickly hang a light then move it to over 50 positions in order to get the angle you want. At the same time you can choose from over 1000 different color filters or us a color mixing system to choose the perfect color. Before I used light lab I tended to stick with colors I knew or at least one companies colors. Since light lab I now regularly use three or for filter manufacturers. Once you create a look you can put your model into a stage scene and record that look to play back in a slide show. Each look you save you can have the looks fade in time and create a storyboard for the show.  Another feature I like when teaching lighting is the draw beam function. It shows the beams and gives some basic information about the beam angles. Below are the list of features for the Westside Systems Website:

• Over 70 lighting positions including footlights
• 1,100 standard filter colors
• CMY and RGB color mixing
• CIE chromaticity map
• Breakup gobo
• Display beam angle and direction
• Face lighting detail view
• Place multiple models on the stage, each lighted differently
• Select from over two dozen model poses and orientations
• Five backdrops, plus import any image as a custom backdrop
• Four-circuit color mixing on backdrops, top and bottom
• Record scenes, then play them back with timed fades
• Create QuickTime movies
• Print or export stage images
• Easy to learn and use
• Fast image rendering

Some of the new features in this update include better backdrop management, color names were added to the program, insert blackouts  and in a lighting look you can see the CIE chromaticity of your color palate.  The drawbacks are the program could use one or two gobo choices  and it needs ability to paint the model and keep the skin tones a different color from the model. On of the best new features was you can now record a video of your slide show with several different video output options. Here is on I created in just minutes of downloading the upgrade.

This application is a must have for a designers toolbox. The prices are reasonable $149 and $239 for an individual license. The upgrade is$ 20 for the individual and $50 for a site license. It saves me time in my early design phase by giving me lighting angles at my finger tips and saves me time looking through thousands of gel swatches. It also is a great way to show off your preliminary work to your fellow designers and directors. Its easy to use and a great teaching tool. Each year I do a lighting workshop for high school students and with in five minutes of turning on the program they are creating lighting looks. I have argued with some over the years who say Virtual Light Lab is not 100% accurate. I say find me a visualization program that is that accurate. It is hard to represent on a 2d screen what light that is emitted from a source, bounces off an object, absorbs some light and then is reflected into the eye.  If you want a program that will show off how the lights will work in the space another program like WYSIWYG or Vectorworks, but the set up time in those programs is 10-20 time longer.  Virtual Light Lab is fast, easy to learn, and can help you narrow your choices in order to start to do some real world tests.I highly recommend this product and suggest downloading the demo today.

Can a Portfolio Fit in Your Pocket? Review-Portfolio

I had been wanting to get the Portfolio app on the iPhone by Michael Zinman for some time. Michael makes a number of apps geared for the theatre professional and I wanted explore the concept of having a digital portfolio on the same device you make call.

Review

Portfolio costs $4.99 and is available on the iPhone/iPod touch. The app is designed to turn that device into a small version of your portfolio. It takes the photo albums you have stored on a Google Picasa Web albums account and loads them on the iphone. You can then delete the albums you don’t want and turn on or off  captions.  Then its ready to show and the user chooses an album and the program tiles the photos to create an attractive front page to the album. The user can click on a picture to enlarge then scroll through the album or start a slide show.  The interface is easy to use and creates an attractive slide show. There are several problems with Portfolio, it assumes you have a Google account and everything you need to upload to that account. Its not hard to do and is free to make it useful you need to take the time to learn the Picasa application or on the Mac get a plug-in for  iPhoto to easily upload the photos. Now if you read the reviews in the iTunes store several people complain about the app crashing and not working. This happened to me several times after I bought the application. I was at work on a wireless network that is a broadband connection but not the fastest. I was trying to sync with my personal Picasa account that had several albums and hundreds of pictures stored on it. After an hour I gave up and wrote Michael for some support. Once I got home I thought I would give it another try and it worked on my slightly faster connection at home. It took a long time an at one point I just shut off the sync because I didn’t need a hundred photos of my kids in my portfolio. Michael did respond later that evening and suggested not letting the device go to sleep while it syncs. If you have a large album you could be a while constantly touching the device so it does not go to sleep.  He also asked for my Google user name and password to see if he could help by trying my album on his device. I did not and will not send that information to anyone, that account is tied to all my other Google services, which I use several. To make it work better for me I used a secondary Google account that I had not loaded any pictures and after a half an hour I had three shows loaded and did a quick sync that was fast and worked well.  The $4.99 is too much for this application, after a quick search I found several applications that sync with Picasa web albums many of them $.99 and seem to have similar or the same functionality like Web Albums Picasa or iPicasa. If you want a completely free way to get the same functions sign up for Photobucket and download the Photobucket app. Its stores the photos on the device and has a slide show. At this point the price is too high for what this app does and there are too many cheaper alternatives for me to recommend getting the Portfolio app.

Mobile Digital Portfolio

What I discovered in all of this is the iPhone and most mobile devices are just too small to show off most peoples work.  To make it work you would need to really zoom in and crop the photos to get them to work on a smaller platform. For a regular portfolio I recommend to my students to rarely use photos smaller that 5×7. For lighting designers especially, it hard to show detail even on closeups in smaller photos. The iPhone screen is just too small to show off that detail. I also discovered you can get your own personal portfolio app made by Folio for $699. Now if there were a larger device that had the functionality and interface as the Portfolio app I may be able to recommend that after it is released.

Light Plot Tipping

I grew up on a farm and never tipped a single cow, it didn’t seem fun or sporting. What I do enjoy is giving tips on how to make your light plot look good or ways you can be more productive when drafting in Vectorworks. These tips are based on fifteen years of drafting light plots on the computer using several different programs including WYSIWYG and Mac Lux Pro and are not limited to using them in Vectorworks.

1. Line weight line weight line weight! The best way to make your plot look good and be read more easily is to vary your line weights. The important parts of the plot like the lights and lighting positions should have a larger line weight than the set. A great way to manage line weights is by creating classes with there own distinct line properties.

Same Line Weight

Varied Line Weight

2. Use Classes. I use classes to manage my line weights but also to organize my plot for several different uses. I create a file that contains not only the plot but section and magic sheet. I have found its easier to have all the data in one location. I don’t have to take lots of time jumping from one file to the next. By turning on and off classes I can get to the information quickly. In the case of the magic sheet I can reuse the set and space drafting I did for the plot and when the set gets an update I make one change that updates my plot and magic sheet.

3. Don’t use the standard Vectorworks lighting symbols. First the basic symbols in Vectorworks have a very thin line and they tend to get lost in a light plot. I recommend .5mm line weight but have used anywhere form .3mn-.7mm for my lighting symbols. The other change I make to the symbols has to do with the instrument field angle degree. I work in a lot of houses with the ETC Source 4 instrument and Vectorworks uses small gray letters to show the difference between a 36degree and 50degree. Once you get a couple feet away from the plot its hard to tell the difference in symbols. I do two things to the symbol, I add a mark in the barrel of the symbol and use the USITT recommended practices to denote the field angle. I then that mark and shade it or fill it in, which makes it really easy to see the difference from further away from the plot. I saw this first on a hand drafted plot by Donald Thomas and adapted it to cad.

4. Use color as you would line weight. I have rigorously debated this topic for several years now and know I am still in the minority. Now that color printing has come down in price it is not unusual to have access to a large format color printer. Color can be used to help emphasize or recede an object in the drawing just as line weight does. Use it just as you would and in conjunction with line weight, a brighter color is used to highlight something important and lighter colors can be used on things like the set to pull it into the background.  It works best for a multi-set show where just using black or gray would only confuse the issue.  Color should be used conservatively, avoid colors like yellow that don’t print well or pink that just looks unprofessional. Red should only used when something is really important, it tends to draw the eye to it first. I use as very tight color palette because I don’t want it to end up looking like a rainbow. (I did that once on a Christmas Carol Plot)

Christmas Carol Plot 2006 too many colors

5. Design your title block. Don’t be satisfied with the standard block title block or the one provided by your lighting program. The title block can really make the plot look good, take a look at architectural drawings, architects take great pride in designing a unique title block that can easy be recognized. This can be achieved simply by adding a graphic or having and irregular side. I tent to take that style and add it to my legend for consistency.

6. Create a base file or resource file. If you work in a space more than once don’t re invent the wheel. After that first plot delete your instruments and save it as a base file with all your edited symbols, classes and new title blocks. If you work in multiple spaces create a file with all your favorite symbols, title blocks and legends then add that file to your resource browser so you can easily retrieve them. Another trick is to save your base file as a template in the Standards folder which is in the Default folder that is in the Libraries folder in Vectorworks. That file will show up as a standards option next time you go to create a new class and will bring that information into your new file.

7. Edit your workspace. Keyboard shortcuts save you time and make you money, learn them. There are tons of them that make your life much easier when drafting but when you move into the spotlight workspace many of the common light plot functions like, insert an instrument and label legend manager don’t have a shortcut.  To solve this I just use  a copy of the the spotlight workspace and create shortcuts for those things I use the most.

8. Vectorworks and Lightwright. When you can upgrade to at least Vectorworks 2009 and Lightwright 5. Starting with these versions you can now automatically transfer data back and forth between the programs. I have used this on several shows and found it had not only increased the speed in which I get out the paperwork but the accuracy of both documents.

9. Viewports and Sheet Layers. Viewports were first introduced somewhere version 11 of the Vectorworks software. I can say I really did not adopt them until the  2009 version. They are simply a way to define a “view” on the design layer and put it into its own sheet layer for printing. What they have allowed me to do is keep all the information for design on one file and then just do a viewport of the sections I need to print. I will create one or two for the plot depending on the size of the house, one for the section and one for the magic sheet. Once I created on for the line set schedule to give to the the ATD who needed one. I can make a magic sheet much faster with the plot as a base just by turning off several classes and creating a new view port in a new scale. On the last show I did, viewports fixed a long standing problem I had in Vectorworks. I would change the scale of the layer to print a 1/4″ or 1/8″ plot but when I did the line weights would print too heavy. When you create a viewport you can reduce the scale and line weight at the same time and I was able to print smaller plots that looked good.

Magic Sheet, Sheet layer (click to enlarge)

10 Numbering Tool/Find and Replace. The numbering tool was new to 2009 and allows you to quickly number, instruments channels or other data in a sequential order any by clicking on the instruments. I found this to be a great time saver in imputing the data and to change the data quickly the Find and Replace is a powerful tool to make those changes. If you need to switch out the front light color to R86 find and replace can do it in a few clicks.

Ok I could easily do ten more but this is a good place to start. The examples I used were from my plot for La Boheme feel free to download the VW2010 version of the plot or a pdf of the onstage plot or section. Some of these tips can make you faster at what you do which will give you more time for fun or even take on another job. The rest will help you make that plot look unique and show off your style. Please leave a comment on your favorite tip.

ps. If you are using VW2010 update to service pack 2. I opened my plot to start to do screen shots and made one minor change and half my symbols disappeared.

Dear Mobile Developer

A few weeks ago I posted a poll on the site What do you want out of a mobile lighting app? There were not very any responses but I think the results have some merit.

Function	#Votes	%
Edit Paperwork	8	9%
Read Paperwork	8	9%
Power calculation	6	7%
DMX address calculations	5	6%
Gel catalog	5	6%
Remote console control	5	6%
Cable check (electrical, xlr, dmx)	5	6%
Beam size calculations	5	6%
Gobo catalog	5	6%
Lighting control	5	6%
Foot Candle calculation	5	6%
Time cues	4	5%
Equipment manuals or information	4	5%
Flashlight	3	3%
Gel cut calculations	3	3%
Other (see below)	3	3%
Analyze color	3	3%
Lighting Blog	2	2%
Find a rental house	1	1%
Pre-visualization	1	1%
Draft	1	1%
Other
I just want something to tell me what cue I am in and what cue I am lined up for
not just a flashlight, but one that has a different display setting!
Lightwrigh

I’ve had my iPod touch for about a year and a half. When I first got it there were only a couple of theatrical applications available for the platform at the time. My count is now over 50 applications for the iPhone (scroll down this page for my list) with a wide range of functionality. The apps and my tastes have become more sophisticated as new and better apps are released.

Poll Results

The top two choices are clear, people want to see a way to read and edit paperwork. Reading paperwork can be done now through a couple free non lighting apps. If you can convert your paperwork or plot into a pdf you can then sign up for Dropbox (itunes link) (my post on) or Evernote (itunes link) (my post on)and easily get them to not only the iPhone/iPod Touch but many other platforms like Android.  Editing paperwork is still something that needs to be addressed. You could do it in a spreadsheet, there are several mobile spreadsheet programs available but the only way it is going to be useful is if it links with a paperwork program on the desktop.  Editing on a mobile device would be a useful time saver but it would take to long to have to create paperwork on such a small platform.  If its going to sync with the desktop a mobile or cloud solution is preferred over a wired sync. Will Lightwright ever come to a mobile platform? Well that’s up to John McKernon and we can always hope.  The ability to intact with the plot would be a great feature but again the mobile platform is too small to create a plot. I would like the ability to not only read but take measurements from a plot in on a mobile device.

There are may tools that got 4to 6 votes each, most of these are already available and many of  the new apps coming out are doing things like, power, dmx, color and beam calculations. For an app to stand out in these areas it needs to offer me more than I already have. Now that development for the mobile lighting platform is starting to mature, I think the multi-function apps will rise to the top if the have an affordable price. I tend to go to the app that will give me the most information the fastest. For exapmle, I tend to go to Wybron’s Moire Gobo app before Rosco’s iGobo app because I get a larger selection in Morie and can see what it looks like softened.

The items at the bottom of the list like gel calculations and draft are there because they can be done better on another platform. For gel calculation I think most of us do it in our head, its not that hard. Drafting is hard enough on a 15″ screen, and would be challenging on a 3″ screen. The only one I disagree with is the lighting blog, I have such an app and find it easier to read news from this blog on the app that reading it on any browser. There are hundreds of flashlight apps available and I think most people just turn on there phone, or iPod and use it as flashlight.

Dear Developer

So developers here are some things to keep in mind when you make a lighting app for the mobile market. And for the consumer here are some questions to ask before you buy.

1. Always ask is this app the most useful in a mobile situation, just because you can do it on the mobile app does not mean you should.

2. Does it lighten the users load? If they don’t always have to carry a flashlight or leave that laptop at the tech table.

3. Is the price worth how much I use it? Many lighting professionals and lighting students are on a budget and a $30 dollar app will have have a function that saves time or make me more productive. Always ask could I make more money if I drop the price can I make more on volume. If you have a chance read Free the Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson, you may be able to make more by offering a free solution.

4. How easy is the app to use? An app that I don’t need a manual and don’t have to search through pages for functions.

5. Beta test- Get it in the hands of users who are not your friends and get some good feedback. Recently I bought and app and I don’t think anyone outside the developer had ever used it before it was put in the store. If you need a list of testers contact me, I know advanced and beginning users that can help get you a variety of feedback.

6. Listen to the reviews and update. Even with testing you can’t  find all the bugs or a user may suggest a feature you did not think about.

7. Develop for as many platforms as you can. The Google Andriod Phones are selling more and more each year and since there are fewer developers for this platform there are greater sales opportunities.

8. Know your competition, I’m not saying copy them or steal ideas but it will help you make informed decisions on things like price an features. If you make a beam calculator and your app shows beam size and foot candles with a limited inventory and your competitor does that with a larger library and allow you to look at three lights at a time you may not want to charge three dollar more.

As more people buy mobile devices the market is only going to grow. For the end user development in these mobile apps will only help out productivity and make our work easier.