Comments on: Stage Lighting Design Software – Choose Your CAD Weapon

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:34:46 +0000

Hi all,

I am not a lighting designer, but I have one in our company. He is using a lighting software called WYSIWYG, which he runs on a custom PC.

What I do wanted to know is, if its possible for him to us it on a MAC and if so, can anyone help me with the specifications and if it is a good idea to switch from a PC to MAC…

You would be of great help…thank you

By: Probir Kumar Das

Probir Kumar Das — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:17:24 +0000

I am working as a cameraman in a television channel in Bangladesh. More than 8years I am doing this job with my creativity. I have completed training on television camera and 35mm motion picture photography course from our neighbouring country India. Also we don’t have any visual media training institute in our country. From the begining I was interested on event lighting. Now a days most of the television channel interested on event show. Also it is verymuch popular worldwide. That’s why I want to get a training on event lighting scholarship. How could it will be possible for me? please give me your suggestion.

By: Callum

Callum — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:58:55 +0000

Probably the simplest thing you could go for would be a set of Par Cans on stands. These will give you decent light output with the potential for some good colour washes.

As far as a light show goes it might be worth looking at some disco lighting fixtures, as these often have a built in microphone and react to sound. With a bit of haze in the room this can look quite professional while costing relatively little.

Hope this helps.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:15:20 +0000

Heyy

I’m Setting Up A Kinda Of Gig Room/ Hall With Live Recordings In And Need A Light Set Up. I Get The Simple Jist Of It With Lighting Controllers And Dimmers But Want To Know What They Actually Do And If I Defentally Need Them. Also Good Ways Of Making An Effective Light Show With Limmited Lighting

By: Rob Sayer

Rob Sayer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:30:33 +0000

Thanks for your question Ric. Specific stage lighting CAD software is available from relatively few providers. The good news is that co’s that make WYSWYG and Vectorworks are really keen to make their software available to educational establishments at a reasonable cost. If I were a student now, I would want to take advantage of that while I could.

Other generic drag and drop 2D CAD “lite” packages can provide a simple way of producing clean drawings. Things like Turbo CAD or even Sketchup.

For entry level stuff, all solutions are picked up quickly by modern students. I suppose it depends where the educational focus is – Learning the tools used in the lighting business or just an electronic replacement for stencils and pens.

By: Ric Murray

Ric Murray — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:33:58 +0000

Hi Rob,
I teach lighting design at a small community colledge and would like to add some cad drawing to the class. Our budjet is modest, but I feel I owe it to the students to introduce them to a faster cleaner way to complete their designs.What is a good software for entry level classes?
Thanks Ric

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:05:39 +0000

Gaelle, Great to hear about your son. I assume that going off to study, he will end up with enough books about lighting design like Richard Pilbrow's but a nice LED torch or a scale rule would be useful. You might like to check our article on Lighting Designer apps for the iPhone. There are some useful lighting resources listed at the On Stage Lighting How To / FAQs page.

By: Gaelle Freer

Gaelle Freer — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:46:46 +0000

Hi Rob,
My son is going to college for Lightning Design. I wanted to buy something he could use for college and/or work as a Christmas present (within a reasonable amount of $) Do you have any suggestions? or perhaps sites I should check out?
tks
Gaelle

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:13:40 +0000

Hi just a lighting guy passing by, a good one to try that isnt free im afraid or cheap but very good is Light Factory, however if your looking for more scenic routes then Sunlite are pretty good and you can download a free unlimted trial to see what is like.

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:59:25 +0000

Hi Luke, the short answer is no. You are talking about thousands of pounds worth of software with all the development that goes with it.

You get some of the functions from available free software that isn’t lighting design specific – Open Office for spreadsheets, Google Sketchup for plans and renderings. Many lighting desks have some sort of visualiser such as the free vis from Avolites.

But you’re not going to get all that functionality in one place for free. If you really need to use that kind of software, the show must be able to pay for it. If you don’t have the budget I suggest that your shows don’t need WYSIWYG anyway.

Thanks for stopping by.