[james.gardner]

Hello again my first post didnt go well so here goes a better shot

does anyone have any good soft ware for designing lighting plots ??

Thanks very mcuh James

[CharlieH]

I used to use LX Free. It is a Java application that does the job fine; and its free!
However.....you haven't told us whether you are on Windows or Mac which makes a huge difference.
Also, this has been covered quite a few times so if you search for it in the box top right of your screen then you should get loads of info

[david.elsbury]

The BR search is complex and won't return more than 3 months or so worth of results. Try this link instead, as Charlie has said, this is a regular topic

https://www.google.c...channel=suggest

[Adam L F]

Perhaps a bit out of your price range James, but it's a good bit of software to know about. WYSIWYG by CAST Software (I shall put the link below for you so you can have a look), used by a lot of lighting designers and programmers, it doesn't just let you design your show, but create lighting 'looks', as well as do some pre-vis and pre-programming (depending on what version of the software you are running.

Training courses are around if you want to get to know the software, or download the demo version (link below too)

http://www.cast-soft...meetwysiwyg.php
http://www.cast-soft.../Demo/index.php - DEMO

Best,
Adam

[the kid]

Adam L F, on 22 April 2012 - 09:00 PM, said:

Perhaps a bit out of your price range James, but it's a good bit of software to know about. WYSIWYG by CAST Software (I shall put the link below for you so you can have a look), used by a lot of lighting designers and programmers, it doesn't just let you design your show, but create lighting 'looks', as well as do some pre-vis and pre-programming (depending on what version of the software you are running.

Training courses are around if you want to get to know the software, or download the demo version (link below too)

http://www.cast-soft...meetwysiwyg.php
http://www.cast-soft.../Demo/index.php - DEMO

Best,
Adam

FWIW lots of people are moving from WYSIWYG it seems, there is lots of freeware online that is arguably just as good, and being free you don't have to pay the $$$ fee to keep on their good side.

[adi19956]

WYSIWYG is definitely out of his price range. If you want similar software to that that doesn't cost 1000USD than try Sweetlight
If all you want is diagrams then I too recommend LX Free

[GridGirl]

IIRC, there is a student version of VectorWorks which is considerably less expensive than the full version. I could be wrong though - there's bound to be someone else on here who can tell you more!

[david.elsbury]

As a student, you can get a free 1 year subscription to Vectorworks. As long as you remain a student, you can keep renewing the subscription. It's a slightly crippled version, in that it displays "educational version" on every printed document, but for what it is, it's a really good deal. It's fully functional in all other ways though.

Check out http://student.myvectorworks.net/ for more info. You want Spotlight for doing LX plans.

I'd recommend Vectorworks over WYSIWYG for paperwork, TBH, I know that both do it, but I've always seen Vectorworks as more of a drafting tool, and WYG as a visualisation tool. Both can have a bit of a steep learning curve though!

David

This post has been edited by david.elsbury: 23 April 2012 - 01:18 AM

[paulears]

I really wish the Blue Room search function worked properly - I just tried to find the last time we did this topic and gave up - so David's google version seems to be a decent solution.

I have been using Serif products for years now - and they do everything I need. I don't actually need visualisations, just plans. Serif draw works really well, is easy to use and handles scaling and dimensions in a simple way. It can also handle images too. It's very simple to also import a line drawing of, say, a moving head, and then draw along the image lines with the various tools and you have proper symbols for your plans. The only downside is they plague you with phone calls to buy their other products, but I have got quite good at saying no. The price goes down, you say no again, and eventually they talk to the manager (ha ha) and offer you their own staff discount. at this point, if they have updated Draw - I purchase, or if it's another product, say no.

They are a pain - but the product is good.

[rossmck]

I have access to VectorWorks and WYG (someone else's dongle but I can use it when need be) but for simple drawings I tend to use LXFree or occasionally a completely unrelated program - OmniGraffle (much like Paul's Serif Draw I guess) which is also more than capable of putting quick plans together.  

[J Pearce]

I've just put together a nice little plan with LX Free (java version) and found it very easy to use and much smarter than my paper plans will ever be.
The auto-colouring from gel numbers is a nice touch and could prove a good idiot check when colouring a rig.

[Junior8]

paulears, on 23 April 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

Serif draw works really well, is easy to use and handles scaling and dimensions in a simple way. It can also handle images too. It's very simple to also import a line drawing of, say, a moving head, and then draw along the image lines with the various tools and you have proper symbols for your plans. The only downside is they plague you with phone calls to buy their other products, but I have got quite good at saying no. The price goes down, you say no again, and eventually they talk to the manager (ha ha) and offer you their own staff discount. at this point, if they have updated Draw - I purchase, or if it's another product, say no.They are a pain - but the product is good.

Can I back this? And what's better is that 'lite' versions of all their software is available for free download from freeserif - look on Google. After my ancient versions of Publisher and Adobe started creaking at the seams I took a punt on Page Plus X5 for dtp (£29 from Amazon after trying the free version) which apart form being easy peasy to use produced print ready CMYK pdfs to the latest standards.

[ltully]

the kid, on 22 April 2012 - 09:25 PM, said:

FWIW lots of people are moving from WYSIWYG it seems, there is lots of freeware online that is arguably just as good, and being free you don't have to pay the $$ fee to keep on their good side.

I currently have Wysiwyg but am considering the move over to vector works once this years subscription is up. especially now light converse has the plug in available for vector.

For basic plans I recommend lx free. used it a few times when I have left the wysiwyg dongle at home. Any pre vis stuff try capture - free student edition might not get the fixture you want on it but at least you see what it will kind of look like.

[Just Some Bloke]

Slightly OT but like Paul and Junior 8 I use Serif software - DrawPlus, PagePlus, WebPlus and PhotoPlus. They're all just as good as much more expensive software (e.g. PhotoPlus does virtually everything Photoshop does for less than half the cost). DrawPlus is good for drawing rig plans, though I do find it takes a little longer than dedicated LX software (I still use it, though!). WebPlus allows you to make some very complex websites without having to know a single thing about coding of any type - they just treat the webpage like a page of DTP and then when you press the "publish to web" command it does all the coding for you and even warns you of any problems it can see (e.g. problem fonts etc.)

Once you've bought one piece of their software they'll then let you try any other and see if you like it - if you don't you can return it for a refund. I've done that a few times and they're always as good as their word.

Like many things you have a choice: good dedicated software that's expensive or good, cheap software that takes a little longer.

[Stu]

For a program that costs nothing, LX Free is surprisingly good and a fantastic choice given it's relatively platform neutral. Sure, it does have some annoyances but I don't think you can do much better on a budget - especially if you're looking to generate paperwork too.

Plus, it reminds me of Maclux Pro plans and that's a nice feeling :-)