Programming/Previewing software

[dhawley]

We have just installed out new lighting system in our new sanctuary. We have approx 60 incandescent and 16 intelligent lights (combination spot,flood and wash) with room to expand in the future. We were going to buy the software and screen from Leprecon but the price was a little steep. Any suggestions on a software that will allow us to design and review our shows. Thanks Dave

[Lucas]

I don't know much about lighting.

But I play with this on my PC for fun.

http://www.nicolaudie.com/main.php?id_page=4

Originally Posted by Lucas

I don't know much about lighting.

But I play with this on my PC for fun.

http://www.nicolaudie.com/main.php?id_page=4

Drool! I would have bought one of these back in my rock-star-wannabe days. MIDI RULES!

[james tucker]

Do you already own a leprechaun console?

Martin light jockey has a not extremely user friendly visualizer bundled with their light jockey software... I had my light jockey system a few weeks before I installed it in a christian club..... I was able to make super simple stuff using the software/visualizer sitting in my living room. I made my base cues (star gobo, red/blue chase, etc) ahead of time - I also created my intial focus pallettes. Once I got to the venue, I only needed to tweak my focus pallettes to correct my cues and I was ready to party...

FWIW, I have a full ETC Emphasis system with WYSIWYG (one of the better lighting design software).... I don't really use the visualizer to design my shows (as the lights are right in front of me), I use the visualizer to preview my next cues. We also have a dongle that would allow me to use the software at home and edit my shows at home - I seriously have never used it.....

Call me old fashioned but I have never once desired to sit at home in my boxers and design my Sunday AM service.... Its faster and easier to sit in front of my lights behind a real console.....

If you want to design and review all your shows I would suggest in investing in a pair of comfortable chairs to sit behind your console in your audotorium - so you can sit on them to design and review your shows with your stage right in front of you .... LOL... (insert smiley here)

All that being said....

The Sunlight software is super simple and fun to use....

[Gracetech]

Give LightFactory and Hog PC a whirl. I'm a big LF user and for the small amount of change you get so much flexibility and power.

crt

[darthkyle]

The lighting system that Dave is talking about was supposed to get a Whole Hog IPC lighting console, but budget cuts dictated a retreat to the Leprecon LPX-48, which still seems to be a powerful console.

[darthkyle]

Are there any of these options for Mac OSX?

[tatster]

Have you guys had experience of MagicQ from Chamsys (http://www.chamsys.co.uk)- it's available as hardware desks but also as software that will run on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux (Mac and Linux versions are limited to 1024x786 screen resolution).

I am playing around with it at the moment and from what I've seen so far it looks promising.
Of course, as it's free nothing is lost if it doesn't meet your needs.

Tatster.

[kodypage]

At my church's recent renovation we purchased an ETC emphasis control system. It has an amazing onboard visualization engine! I have designed shows at my home on my laptop (we have the version where you can set cues in a blind mode and see the virtual light). It is great for moving lights as well. If you have drawn your sanctuary on the cad you can actually point and click to put lights where you want them. It also uses drop-down menus to set gobos and what not. It is very pricey though. I have used stage research's softplot 3d with decent success too.

[james tucker]

Originally Posted by kodypage

At my church's recent renovation we purchased an ETC emphasis control system. It has an amazing onboard visualization engine! I have designed shows at my home on my laptop (we have the version where you can set cues in a blind mode and see the virtual light). It is great for moving lights as well. If you have drawn your sanctuary on the cad you can actually point and click to put lights where you want them. It also uses drop-down menus to set gobos and what not. It is very pricey though. I have used stage research's softplot 3d with decent success too.

Yeah, keep your receipt take the Emphasis system back to your vendor and purchase a better moving light console.... We are seriously selling our Emphasis system and probably getting an Express for conventionals and a used Hog 500 for movers. (and probably have enough money left over to purchase some used Studio Colors).

We don't have 20k to waste on another super moving light console to control 16 movers from 1993 - we are getting 2 consoles that do what they do really well.... I know that an express has all the features to run a nice conventional show and the Hog 500 is a proven moving light console that has just the right features to control our 8 cybers and 8 studio colors from 1993. Price pointed perfectly at around $3-5k for a used console (yes I know the hog 500 can do conventionals as well, but have you ever tried to patch, let alone control a pile of dimmers and do on the fly changes to conventionals on a hog, its a pain, I like the idea of having a pile of faders and subs for my cans/lekos/house lights)

From a 2 year Emphasis system user..... The offline visualizer stuff is neat to do at home and show off to all your other church techie friends but in an installed environment its a waste. The console lacks the "on the fly" features you will find in other consoles like palleting - yeah, there is "focus points" that can store anything but its like 10 keystrokes to record your cool red/blue/yellow pallette to a memory and not accidently store pan/tilt/shutter/etc......