iPhone Apps – Stage Lighting Software
30 July - Lighting Design Software, Stage Lighting Tools - by: Rob Sayer
July saw the start of stage lighting’s entry into the world of Apple’s iPhone apps – lighting themed software that you can use with the iPhone (or iPod Touch). Here’s a rundown of stage lighting iPhone apps and what they do.
A tip off from Maurits (ta for that, M) told us about a new wireless DMX lighting control software for the iPhone. Earlier this month Wybron launched a couple of iPhone apps related to their colour products. Time to look into this.
Stage Lighting on yer iPhone – Apps for Lampies :

Image by William Hook on Flickr
Luminair 1.0 by SyntheFX – A DMX interface on your iPhone, the Luminair software boasts the ability to control DMX lighting fixtures. The wireless DMX signal from the iPhone is sent using the open source DMX over Ethernet protocol, Art Net. This can be routed via a Wireless Access Point/Router into your DMX universe / ArtNet node. The app also has file management capabilities and colour mixing control. You can get the Luminair DMX lighting control from the iTunes store.
“Right, can I have channel 47 @ 50% please”
“Where’s the desk?”
“Hang on – I’ll call it, what’s the number?”
Binary DIP Switch Setting Calculator
A funky little app that you can use to calculate binary dip switch setting, if you can’t face working out DIP switches in you head. Simple, cheap and good if you have a lot of DIP switch fixtures the app requires Iphone 2.0 software update. Available at iTunes
PowerCalc by West Side Systems
A calculator for power law, resistance, inductance and other useful stage lighting stuff. Although you could do these sums on the iPhones standard calculator, this little app makes life easier. Requires the iPhone 2.0 software upgrade and is only a few pennies and is available at iTunes
.
BeamCalc by Westside Systems
A handy beam calculator to help you choose spotlight angles for your lighting designs. The BeamCalc needs just a few measurements such as trim height and horizontal distance from the subject. It spits out the beam width of a given angle or can reverse the calculations for you, helping you to decide if you spotlights will be wide enough. iPhone software 2.0.Buy it at iTunes
LiteCalc
Another iPhone lighting calculator with beam widths, angles plus centre field illumination. Information for a selection of common stage lighting fixtures including the ETC Source Four range is used to help the user find the right lighting tool for the job. There is also a FREE VERSION
Buy it at iTunes
Gel Calc
Michael Zinman brings us lampies another cheap and useful iphone app. The software can calculate gel cuts, sheets, rolls and your colour costs plus has library of over 60 popular gel frame sizes to help you with your colour calls. Cheap and worth a look.Buy GelCalc at iTunes
PocketLD
MZ brings us another neat little iPhone and iTouch app that does Lighting Designer type calculations with a comprehensive fixture database to make life easier. Free database upgrades, so you can get new fixtures for the software as they are added.Buy it at iTunes
TCP/IP Remote App
A general iPhone application that can be used in stage lighting situations. The software enables customisable remote triggerin of TCP/IP and UDP capable software. This includes professional level lighting consoles like the Grand Ma and media servers. Sounds like the kind of thing that developers dream of .Available at iTunes Apps Store
A colour reference and converter app for your iPhone that has Lee, Rosco and GAM colours out back. The software allows you to browse and compare nearly 1000 gel colours, showing complimentary colours or alternatives. The app also shows transmission data plus RGB and CMY values.
Although there is no substitute for shining experimenting with a real filter, the quick comparison makes this a handy software for the iPhone of any Lighting Designer About Town. Buy it at iTunes
Wybron CXI Colour Calculator
Wybron’s Dual Gel Scroller uses two gel strings to colour mix CMY, producing a wide variety of colours. This iPhone app helps users of the scrollers to find the correct settings to achieve their chosen colours. Useful if you use the Wybron CXI scrollers. Available at iTunes
Wybron Gobo Library – With 1500 gobos to search and browse plus the ability to overlay two gobos, this iPhone app from Wybron certainly beats thumbing through an old gobo catalogue. You can even try out different gobo effects, as the software allows you to blur and spin the gobos at varying speeds and in different directions. The app is available from iTunes.
That’s all the stage lighting iPhone apps that we know of. Let us know about your favourites or new software released in the comments section.
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On Stage Lighting has a ton of stuff like this. You may also like:
- Beam Angle Calculator
- DMX Dip Switch Calculator – Work It Out For Yourself!
- DMX PC Lighting Software – Cheap Stage Light Controllers
- Stage Lighting Design Software – Choose Your CAD Weapon
- ChamSys MagicQ PC – Free Lighting Control Software
Rob is a freelance LD and Programmer working the the UK events industry. He is also the Editor of On Stage Lighting
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July 30th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Oh my God. This just makes me want to get an IPhone more.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Here’s a free html file that you can save on ANY phone with a web browser and storage space (Pocket PC, etc.) It has lots of info about lighting in one place, including gel conversions and Javascript dipswitch calculator.
http://www.chromakinetics.com/Lighting.html
August 21st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
You can find reviews of these iPhone / iPod applications at http://www.techietalk.co.uk
January 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
has anyone used the luminaire app for iphone?
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
the app is good for theater use but got to have wifi
July 21st, 2009 at 9:08 am
Hi,
Thought some of you may be interested in this iPhone app. It’s called ShowTool LD and includes a number of great features.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=319523749&mt=8
August 27th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Thanx for the info; just want to comment to developers of iphone apps please be kind and don’t put pay-apps on itunes. Free these utilities and put inside commercials and sponsors; a LD should not pay for this type of utilities, but, using them, it could be a possibility to sell products for lighting manufacturers (consoles, fixtures, gels…). Thanks anyway
October 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Hey
Has anyone actually managed to use Luminaire 1.5 with a Leap Frog 48? I’m planning on trying next month and would be useful to have some ideas of how easy it is before I start!
Thanks
Matt
October 14th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Rosco also makes an app for Iphone/Itouch that consists of their entire gobo catalouge-it has a good interface that makes it easy to find, compare, and bookmark gobos.
December 12th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I’ve just released my iphone app, Lighting Handbook, It’s a simple app that displays lots of useful information about a fixture (currently 295 fixtures in Version 1) and then it can open the manual to that fixture within the application.
Take a look at:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/lighting-handbook/id335372862?mt=8
Thanks.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
iBridle is the first bridle calculator app for the iPhone and iPod touch. It will calculate bridle leg lengths, apex angle and Load distribution. There are Loads of updates being prepared for the new year.