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.

Make a Custom Gobo for VectorWorks

Spring is almost here so it must be time for the Third Annual Design a Gobo Contest by Apollo.  This year I am entering three gobos and in there preparation I really needed to test them before I submitted them. This past fall our department did a production of Charlotte’s Web and the lighting designer needed a solution for clouds with very little throw distance. In the past I had put a boom right next to the cyc and had some success getting them to look good. This time I was not so lucky and went to find a skewed cloud gobo for just such a throw. Fast forward to last week when I saw Apollo’s recent contest announcement and quickly started designing. But if I was going to do this I needed to do some virtual tests to make sure my designs worked.

To create the gobos I used Photoshop, the contest called for a 2.6″ image and I used a 600 dpi resolution. I created what I wanted the clouds to look like then used the transform tool to skew the image on the template I had created. I then saved the files as a jpg.

Large Skewed Clouds From a Boom

Skewed Clouds from a Boom

In order to do the test I needed to use the gobo function that comes in spotlight. Here are the steps to create a custom gobo from my photoshoped images.

1. Create a surface to project the gobo on, in this case I created a 32′ line then extruded it to 18′ high.

2. Place a focus point in the middle of the cyc, make sure you change the standard 5′ high to the middle of the cyc @9′.

3. Insert the appropriate instrument for the throw you have chosen. For this test I used a 36 degree 6′ high three feet from the cyc. Make sure you put the name of your focus area in the instrument information. This will focus the beam of light.

4. To create a custom texture, go the the resource browser and right click. You will get a drop-down menu and first select new resource on (your file name) then select renderworks texture.

Right Click in the resource browser

5. Now you are in the texture screen fill in the name of your gobo and change the sizes to 2″ and the in obj size to 4″

6. In the transparency drop down menu select image  projector then find the file you saved in Photo shop. If its a color gobo you may want to also go to the color drop-down and select filtered image. Chose the use transparency resource. This will use the same file you chose earlier.  Then click ok on the dialoug box.

7. The easiest way to insert the gobo is to double click the lighting instrument then click on the light information tab. At the bottom you can select what gobo you want to use. Before you leave this dialog box make sure you select focus the light, by selecting the drop-down for the focus point you created.

8. The final step is to go to a view that best shows off your work like an isometric view. Then change your view to a final renderworks option. Make sure you don’t have the black background selected for some reason it does not work with this option on.

You will need to change your point of view to a 3d view or simply hit the #1 key on the keypad and you will now see your gobos. In this case I put both skewed gobos from the side and a Rachel’s sunset projected from the front.

The second part of this story is the Rachel’s Sunset Gobo, as the name may imply it was designed by my 9 year old daughter Rachel. She designed the pattern on my iPod touch on the way to school one morning and I liked it so much I decided to enter it into the gobo contest. She used SketckBook MobileX, the free version of a paid painting program by Autodesk. She put the finishing touches on by importing her texture into Light by Digital Film Tools, which uses pre selected textures to enhance photos. I then took the rectangular image and transformed it into a square then cropped it into a circle.

Rachel's Sunset Gobo

So that was a couple ways to create your own gobo and test it out in VectorWorks. All three gobos were uploaed to the Third Annual Design a Gobo Contest this morning.  Voting will begin May 5th and go until June 2 so make sure you take the time to check out all the contest entries and vote.

The App That Saves My Ears.

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch my daughter in what can be described as a recital for her ice skating class. There are several solos mixed in between class demonstrations. As the first song played you could tell something was wrong. You could see across the rink the head of the program putting the intercom up to a CD player and holding the button down.  As the first song played it got louder and louder as the mic got closer to the speaker.  By the third song most of the audience was holding there ears. I knew the music was loud but was curious how loud, so that is were SPL Meter by Studio Six Digital came into play. I did a quick reading to find the sound was anywhere from 88 to 95dB.

SPL Meter is a simple sound pressure level meter at works on the iPhone and iPod touch that only costs 99 cents.  It has a simple retro interface that lets you choose a range, response, and weighting to get the best measurement. If you press the info button you can get a digital readout and a great dB chart to compare your level to some standard sounds. This summer when I bought the app to check monitor levels backstage.  I used my professional dB meter to check its accuracy and it was perfect.  One thing it doesn’t do is keep a record of the highest readings but if you need that feature its available in many more expensive spl apps. If you want to use it on the ipod touch you need to get a mic. I use one by Phillips that I got at Target for under  $10. Just do a Google search for iPhone mic to find several more choices to add a mic to a 2nd or 3rd generation iPod touch. There are a couple free SPL meters out there like Sound Level Free which only give you an needle reading of the sound.  If you have the iPhone or iPod touch get an spl meter if you work onstage or backstage and  because of its features and price I recommend  SPL Meter.

Now when ever I use my sound meter I usually tend to check out a couple more apps since I have the mic out.  Sound Hound by Melodis Corporation ($4.99) and Shazam by Shazam Entertainment Ltd. (free) Both apps allow you to take a sample of  a song and will tell you the title and artist. Both do a pretty good job finding the song, even some more obscure songs. Each app allows you to find a Youtube version of the song and has a buy button for a quick iTunes Purchase. Sound Hound even lets you sing a portion of the song which comes in handy at parties, but it doesn’t work well with my off key/pitch singing. Yes you could find a way to use these apps for productions but lets face it they are just fun so enjoy.

Quick Tip-Upload Pictures Fast and Easily To Flickr

Save from Email

I was recently editing and formatting the first guest contributor Steve Smith’s three part series on lighting visualization. Working at home I needed to get several photos Steve had emailed me up on the blogs Flickr site.  At work I have several plug-ins for iPhoto and Picasa which makes this process really quick.  To speed this up at home I went to my iPod Touch and downloaded the pictures to its photo library then used the Flickr mobile app to upload them to the site. It was as quick or quicker than on the desktop and in many ways easier.

Select a set

Upload

You don’t need to be a programmer to have a website.

Back in the late 90′s when I build my first website it was necessary to know some basic html code in order to get a page on the web. Now it has become extremely easy and there are several services that can help create a site. Its become so easy I manage a personal blog for family, professional site with portfolio and this site. In this day and age it is expected that designers and technicians have some digital presence on the web so employers can quickly and easily look at their work. Here are some things to know and some services to get you started. In later posts I will discuss some of the services in greater detail.

Three things you need for a site

1. Code: A web page can be as simple as some basic text on a page that with the right code can be published to the web.  This code tells a web browser how to treat the text  that is placed inside it. You can create a site with little or no knowledge of this code but the more the know the better you may be able to fix problems or add features to your site. After a quick search on the web here is a site tutorial by EchoEcho.com or video tutorials on You Tube posted by EdzJohnson.  You can create text in a simple text editor, on MS Word or an html editor like Adobe’s Dream Weaver that is then saved as an html file. Below I will show you programs and services that are easy to use and they create the code for you.

2. Hosting Space: Creating an html file is the fist step, you then need to store that file or files on a server that is connected to the web. There are several companies that do this I use GoDaddy to host my site for about $4o a year.

3. Web Address: Last you need a way to point people to your site this is through your web address. The site address is really a standard ip address made up of a bunch of numbers, so you can purchase the right to an address that forwards to your site. Again I went to GoDaddy and pay around 10 dollars a year for the right to toddproffitt.com.

I do not recommend creating a site from scratch here are some free and paid services that can help make and maintain the site.

Recommended Applications and Services

WordPress.org- is  a free blogging platform that is used to create a site or blog. It’s an application that is run from a web browser and allows you to create several pages as well as one page that can be used for  a blog or news for your site. I like to use the blog posts to separate each production I want to highlight. This version of WordPress requires you have storage from a hosting service from someone like GoDaddy.

Advantages: I use this for my professional site, and its very flexible, gives you limitless themes for free or paid, and plugins that make it much more useful. It allows you to paste in code from other services like Flickr and other photo services, which allows you to easily import a slide show of your work.(see Put Those Photos Online-A Review of Photo Sharing Sites)

Disadvantage: The disadvantage is it has a learning curve and you may need help from your hosting service to get it started.  You need to have a little geek in you to use this service and it is not easy to get a resume to format to a page.

Examples: http://www.toddproffitt.com

Quick tip 1: Like something you see on a site or can’t figure out how that made that link send you and email? Look at the source code. Most browsers under the view menu let you look at the source code, simple adapt the code to fit your situation. If you are having trouble finding the code use the find option in your browser copy the text you are looking for, switch to the source code and find that text.

WordPress.com is the same software as wordpress.org but hosts the site for you with some limitations.

Advantages: It gives you a powerful service for free. It limits the themes you have access to but there are lots of themes that are beautiful. Because there is less to customize the learning curve is smaller.  I use it for this site and this is a site

Disadvantages: You can’t use a slide show from any photo service. You need to upload your photos to WordPress.com directly or use there approved slide show service Rockyou.

Examples: Colin Chauche Jessica Bertollo and Julie Shelton

Quick tip 2: Don’t pay full price for your web hosting or web address. Services like GoDaddy sponsor popular tech podcasts and have offer codes up to 20% off.  Here are several from the internet podcast network Revision 3

Google Sites: is yet another free service from Google that hosts and creates a site for you in a matter of minutes.If you use Google products this is a good choice.

Advantages: It works seamlessly with other Google products like Picassa for your photo slide show or Docs for an easy upload of the resume.

Disadvantages: There is a learning curve and some things should be easier, like creating multiple pages. I took a couple of hours to create a quick site as an example was frustrated how many menus are hard to find. I never found a great solution for links to my multiple pages. The themes look ok but are not nearly as attractive as all the other services.

Examples:  http://sites.google.com/site/toddproffitt/ and Kate Stack

Quick tip 3: Look at your site in more than one browser and on more than one operating system. Don’t assume everyone uses the same web browser as you. Once your site is up check your site on, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome. If you have access to different computers check it on a mac, pc, iPhone or other mobile platform. Then have your friends and family check to make sure it works on their computer.

iWeb: is an application that only runs on the Mac os. I include it because it is easy to use and the sites it creates are beautiful. Once you create a site on iWeb it easily uploads to any hosting program. It has the most functionality when you use Apple’s Mobile Me service that costs $99 a year. That is a bit high for a hosting account but you get a ton of services most hosing programs don’t offer.

Advantages: It is very easy to use and has a small but very attractive group of themes. It integrates well with other Apple products, including iPhoto. Simply make a gallery of your work in iPhoto and drag it to the page you want to show off those pictures.

Disadvantages: It’s only on the Mac is the biggest disadvantage for those who don’t own a mac. Of the services we are looking at its is expensive. iWeb comes in the iLife suite which costs $79 but again you get a lot more that a web creator for that price.

Examples: Greg Kaye and Curtis Phillips (both scenic designers?)

Quick tip 4: What a professional site should include: resume, contact information and pictures/portfolio. Don’t forget to when you create the text for your email to use at for the @ symbol or use a picture of your web address. Spammers have bots that troll sites looking for your web address, this hides it from those bots.

Deviant Art: Ron Grimshaw recommended this site to me, I had used Deviant Art for research but never knew it had a portfolio service.  The service has a free and paid premium version. The free service you are limited to 100 photos and the web address they provide. The Premium service has unlimited photos and more options in creating the portfolio and runs $4.95 month or $29.95 a year.

Advantages: It was the easiest and quickest of all the services to use. It walks you through the process including uploading the photos.

Disadvantages: It is very structured and there is very few options to customize the look of the site. The few options you have look really good.

Examples: http://toddproffitt.daportfolio.com,  Ron Grimshaw,     Abigail McCarthy

Quick tip 5: Google, Google Google. Search for other designers and technicians sites and see what they are doing.  Then steal the best layouts and color schemes.

Squarespace: is a hosted website and page creator all in one. It is a paid service that runs form $8 to $50 a month. It has a 14day trial that has most functions of the full site.

Advantages: Site looks great with many themes to start from then customize. It allows you to import from many other sites and services. I imported my portfolio from my WordPress blog in minutes. I created a second portfolio using their gallery creator and it was really easy to use and looks great. I was able to create several pages in a small amount of time.

Disadvantages: Small learning curve but once I got into it was quick to create a site. The video tutorials did not help me very much. The biggest disadvantage is the cost per year is much more than the other services and it cost extra to use your domain name.

Quick Tip 6: Plan out what you want every page to look like on paper before you start. Just do a simple doodle of what the header, sidebar and pages look like and it will save you hours of work once you start. You will change it from the original doodle but a good plan will save you much-needed time.

Examples: http://toddproffitt.squarespace.com/ (will expire early March) and Nick Smith (found through search)

FolioSnap: a fully paid service, for full disclosure I have not tried this site but a couple years ago in researching my site I found many designers use this service. A colleague of mine Carol Blanchard has used this service and had this to say “For me it has become the most cost-effective and easiest way to obtain a website that I can change without needing web developers tools.”  It is a fully paid site and has several pricing plans starting at $18.99 to 58.99 a month.

Advantages: Carol says ” It is as simple as logging in, uploading the new photos, deleting anything I no longer want. Changing formats, styles, wall papers, etc. are just as easy too.” The sites look very good and present the work in an easy way.

Disadvantages: Carol says “Down falls? Well, I have to say that getting a PDF file on it requires that you get in touch with the administrators….but can be done quickly with no added expense.” To me the expense is a too much for a young designer or technician.

Examples: Carol Blanchard

Quick Tip 6: Don’t expect once you get a site up employers will come beating down the door. This business is still about networking, once you get that interview or send out that resume you will have a place for directors, managers and producers to see your work. You can promote your site on the dozens of social networks out there but still the best way to get that job making that personal connection.

Conclusion: Here are only a few ways you can get your work on line. This is not a fast process and it will take some time and management to keep it updated. You can do this completely free but some of the paid services are well worth the investment and can save time with much more attractive results. In future posts I plan on going more in-depth with several services but for now this will start you on your way to getting your work up on-line.

UPDATE:

Since writing this I have found several new services but have not have time to give them a full review below are links to the service and examples when i have them.

Vistaprint.com —

   Anna Slocum http://www.annaslocum.com/default.html

ShareMyArtwork.com —

   Ariella Lebowitz http://ariellalebowitz.sharemyartwork.com/portfolio/

Wix.com —              

Sophie Schneider  http://www.wix.com/sophiesschneider/costume-design#!   

Taylor Morse   http://www.wix.com/mors4982/tmorsephotography

webs.com —

   Jaime Samson http://jamesrsamson.webs.com/

Carbonmade.com 

   Kristen Fletcher http://kirstenfletcher.carbonmade.com/

Yola.com-

Drew Vangenderen http://drewvangenderen.yolasite.com/

As i find more services ill post more soon. Thanks to Anna, Drew and Theresa for helping me find these.

Put Those Photos Online-A Review of Photo Sharing Sites

In the age of the information super highway employers expect easy access to your work when making a hiring decision.  The best way for those in the visual performing arts is to show their work in pictures.  There are many free and paid options for the performing artist go get their work on the web and here is a rundown of those I have tried  with examples of each site with photos form the same production. Here is a list of features each has to offer.

Features	Photobucket	Photobucket Pro	Picasa Web Albums	Picasa Web Albums Pro
Cost	free	$24.95	free	$5-$4096
Storage	500mb	Unlimited	1gb	20gb-16Tb
Bandwidth	10GB/month	Unlimited	none*	none*
Sets, collections, albums	unlimited*	unlimited*	unlimited	unlimited
Ads	yes	no	no	no
Download Originals	no	yes	yes	yes
Statics	5 pictures	Unlimited	no	no
Slide Show	yes	yes	yes	yes
Share to:	MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter Hi5 many others	MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter Hi5 many others	Access to Picasa from Google Sites	Access to Picasa from Google Sites
Email Pictures	yes	yes	yes	yes
Themes	yes	yes	no	no
Offline Organizing	no	no	Picasa	Picasa
Upload from	uploader, email	uploader, email	Web,    iPhoto plug-in, Picasa	Web,    iPhoto plug-in, Picasa
Order Prints	yes	yes	yes	yes
Edit Photos	yes	yes	yes in Picasa	yes in Picasa
People tags	no	no	yes	yes
Geo tag	no	no	yes	yes

Features	Flickr	Flickr Pro	Facebook
Cost	Free	$24.95	free
Storage	100mb /month	unlimited	unlimited
Bandwidth	none*	none*	none*
sets, collections, albums	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited
Ads	yes	no	yes
Download Originals	no	yes	no
Statics	no	yes	no
Slide Show	yes	yes	no
Share to:	Most blog sites	Most blog sites,	no
Email Pictures	no	no	no
Themes	no	no	no
Offline Organizing	no	no	no
Upload from	web, flickr uploader,    iPhoto plug-in, Picasa-Plugin, email	web, flickr uploader,    iPhoto plug-in, Picasa-Plugin, email	iPhoto plug-in, Picasa-Plugin, email
Order Prints	yes	yes	no
Edit Photos	yes in Picnic	yes in Picnic	no
People tags	yes	yes	yes
Geo tag	yes	yes	no
* not mentioned on the site directly

4. Facebook- Why is Facebook in this post, it’s a social site? Facebook is the number one photo-sharing site on the Internet. More people share photos on Facebook than any other site.  The advantages are it is easy to use and most people have a Facebook account and as long as the album settings are set to everyone you can easily send a link to your album of photos. A disadvantage is most people post personal photos on Facebook and may not want future employers to see them. If you want to use Facebook for businesses make sure you really go over your privacy settings to limit what everyone has access to. You could also create a fan page to represent your design or tech business.  The other disadvantage to Facebook is the photos can’t be presented or shared outside Facebook.

Example:  http://bit.ly/aKajZy (you must log into Facebook)

3.Photobucket- This service was recommended by several people and I have only recently been using it for a short time. Photobucket has a theme that allows you to customize the look of your public page.  It gives you the ability to send the photos to over fifteen different social sites including Twitter.  There is customizable slide show that can be exported to other sites or emailed. What it lacks is a way to organize the photos offline or an easy plug-in to programs like iPhoto or Picassa.  Of all the services it has the least space and has a bandwidth cap.  I also found the ads to be very distracting. The pro version has better storage with no ads and is in the price range of  Flickr’s Pro account.

Example: http://s830.photobucket.com/albums/zz227/tm204/

Slide show: http://s830.photobucket.com/albums/zz227/tm204/?action=view&current=9d6cc9d5.pbw

2. Picasa Web Albums- I have used this service the longest because of its great photo organizer Picasa, which is available for the Mac and Pc.  Picasa the program allows the user to easily organize the all your photos and then with the click of a button upload them to Picasa Web albums. This service has a large storage space and has all the features of the paid service. It has great integration with other Google products like Google Sites.  The only disadvantage is the slide show is not as attractive as other sites and you don’t have a direct link to the slide show.  The paid service is as little as $5.00 for 20gb of space to $4096.00 for 16tb for a year’s service.

Example: http://picasaweb.google.com/todd.proffitt/LaBoheme?feat=directlink

1. Flickr- Flickr is one of the oldest photo sites and it has done a great job keeping up with features.  The site design is still very elegant and the slide show is a great way to show off your work. Of all the slide shows it is easy to customize and allows the person viewing the slide show more control. The slide show integrates well on other websites and I use it for my personal portfolio at  http://toddproffitt.com/site/?page_id=39 . The 100mb a month has never been a problem for me for storage. It has plug-ins for iPhoto and Picassa .  The pro service is a good price for a year and don’t forget it’s a business expense and can be written off.

Example:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tm204/sets/72157622789532510/

Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tm204/sets/72157622789532510/show/

Another Service-I did try Deviant Art but it really is not a photo service but rather a digital work of art site that other artist comment on your creations. You can upload and share photos to it but the its limiting in how your share and how it is presented in public. The advantage to Devant Art is its portfolio service, which I will cover in a future post.

Conclusion: If your need to show your pictures quick, another common feature of most these services is they have a good mobile app or web app that show off your photos in the iPhone. So when you are looking for a photo-sharing site look for ease of use, ability to share and how well does it present your work. That’s why Flickr is my top choice of these five..

Evernote-”The Super Human Maker”

Want a way to organize your notes and have access to them anywhere? Evernote may be the service for you. This service helps organize notes in the form of text, voice, web clips and pdf’s into a notebook. You then have access to those notes on your desktop, web interface, iphone/ipodtouch, android operating system, Blackberry, Palm Pre or Windows Mobile device. Evernote has two services a free and Premium service.

Evernote Services

So what this service does is it allows you to create a note through one of its many interfaces. This note can be text, voice, picture or pdf and once you create that note it is synced to the cloud and then is accessible from all devices that support Evernote. So if I have a pdf of a moving light manual I need in the field, I create a note on my desktop, then insert the pdf. I can then get access to that manual from my iPod touch through the Evernote App. For teaching I upload my syllabi and now have access to them on my iPod touch. You can create notes on the go as well, if I find I need to order lamps and want a quick reminder I can create a note on the iPod or create a voice note that I can check when I am back in the office. You can divide the notes that go together into notebooks for easy access or add a tag to the note. Common tags I use are to-do, manual or syllabi. Ever come across a website with interesting content? You can use the Evernote plug-in for your web browser to save a part or all of the site.  If your mobile device has a camera simply take a picture and put it in a note, if you need to explain to a master electrician that the cable needs to be neater, show them what you mean by taking a picture note. The notes can then be shared with anyone who has web access. You can simply go to the Evernote web interface and click the share function on the left hand side. If you have the premium service others can edit and collaborate on that document. I use the free version and there are some drawbacks, you only have 40mb a month and are limited to only a few file types that can be inserted into a note. The free version does not give you access to your files on the iPhone, when you are offline. The one way I want to use Evernote in the future is to use it to take both voice and text production notes during a tech. This is only the beginning of what Evernote can do, if you want to learn more Evernote provides several video tutorials here. Over all I find Evernote to be a very useful tool and the free service has enough functionality to improve the way I take notes. Give Evernote a try and you to will become a Super Human to, or at least that is what the promotional video below claims.

Podcast, Netcast or Padcast?

A podcast is an audio/video program, anywhere from 5-60minutes in length, you can download for your iPod, mp3 player, computer and coming soon to the iPad. I call them podcasts no matter what device I use to listen to them.  You might ask where I get my information in particular on services like Wufoo or Dropbox its usually a recommendation from one of several podcasts I listen to on a regular basis.  I have never been a big reader so I naturally gravitate to  content in a audio form.  My podcast usage has gone up recently now that working out on a regular basis has come into my daily routine. Content creators on these podcasts spend all there time searching the web trying out new products so I don’t have to. I tend to listen to podcasts who have industry professionals who do in-depth analysis on a product before I try it. I then take this information and translate it into how we can use it it the performing arts. Podcasts can be found on the content creators site or through iTunes. If you like a podcast you can have it delivered right to your computer using iTunes by subscribing to it.  Below are a list of podcasts that I listen too and please leave a comment if you have a suggestion on new ones to try out.

General Technology Podcasts

This Week in Tech- Great coverage of weekly tech news
MacBreak Weekly-Mac news with software pics at the end of the show.
This Week in Google-Google and cloud computing news with a tip, tool and number of the week.
Net@Night-Covers cool websites and services, they tend to get interviews with great up and coming sites and services.
Windows Weekly-You guessed it windows news but has a great tips and tricks for windows
Tekzilla-Great product demos as well as industry news. It has a weekly long format show and daily tips and tricks that are very useful.
App Judgment-iPhone and Android app show
GeekBrief TV-News on hardware and software

Tech Podcast Networks

Twit.tv and Revision 3 have many more shows to get your tech related news and information. They both have great shows that are just for pure entertainment, like Munchcast and Scam School.

Software

PodCAD-great Vectorworks tutorials *(update have not produced since 4/09)
Pixel Perfect-photoshop tips and tricks. (there are tons of photoshop podcasts let me know which ones you like)

Tech Theatre

iSquint.net-interviews with industry professionals
Jim On Light(itunes link)-interviews with industry professionals

If you haven’t ever tried a podcast these are a good place to start, they are a great way to find new ways to use technology with out sorting through the entire web to find them.

UPDATE: I left off a great VectorWorks  drafting podcasts by Jonathan Pickup. His work can be found at his website and podcast on his youtube channel.

Wufoo (gesundheit)-Save a tree put that form on-line.

In my early days working as a production manager I found my self constantly creating form after form to track budgets, vehicles, spending, space requests and many other things that needed to be tracked.  I am sad to say I killed a lot of trees.  I recently came across a service called Wufoo at http://wufoo.com/and they have a free and paid version of their service. The service allows you to build forms and post them on line for anyone to access.  The information is then stored and can be sent to you in an email or you can build  custom report to save or export. I found their form builder to be easy to use and very functional (pictured right). The report engine took some time to learn and did not fit my exact needs but I was able to make it functional. The free version allows you to create up to three forms and gives you three reports at a time or if you need more you can get there paid service.  I recently created a form to take session submissions for the USITT’s Lighting Commission for the 2011 conference here was the result.   If you are a casual form user this is a great service but for the stage manager who wants to compile cast and crew info or production manager who wants to get scheduling requests this type of service is a must.

Bees have four cones?? (the physics of color explained)

Need a refresher on how color work and how the eye and mind perceive it? This weekend I happened across a podcast on the Twit.tv network called Maxwell’s House hosted by Ray Maxwell. The show title was “Color Is All In Your Mind”  and in the episode Ray explains how color is seen and how the brain interprets it. There is great lesson in color temperature and the basis physics of color. Also in the episode he also explains why Bees have four cones to perceive color and humans have three. If you have about an hour I highly recommended a listen to this podcast, the section on color science starts about 17 minutes in. For the audio version of the podcast get it (mh0056.mp3 ), itunes or from the podcast website. There are some graphics that are show in the podcast so if you would like to see video you can get it from odtv.me.

ps: for those who don’t want to listen to the podcast and have to know, the cones in the eye see color and bees have a fourth cone that sees light in the infrared range.  Bees use this cone to pick out brightly colored flowers in dark foliage.