I recently sent off design drawings for a project and was told by the Master Electrician that they did not have a copy of Lightwright and would I please send the paperwork in a different file format. I converted everything to PDFs of the Channel Hookup and Instrument Schedule and sent them along. This is not the first time such a situation has happened to me.
I am often amazed at the number of people who work as freelance Master Electricians who do not own their own copy of Lightwright. While the program is a bit pricey it has become a necessary tool for the job. The simple creation of an Instrument Schedule or Channel Hookup could be done with any spreadsheet or database program, the specific calculations made by LW allow the job of the ME to be infinitely easier. And given that nearly all lighting designers use it, having one’s own copy is necessary for working with your primary collaborator, the designer.
An electrician would not consider coming to a call without a wrench. It is seen as a necessary part of the job. Lightwirght, like email and a phone, should be considered necessary for anyone directly interfacing with designers. This includes MEs, assistants, and so forth.
The intent of this post is not to rag on a few individuals but to make a larger point. When working as a freelancer there are certain tools that are necessary to have for your job. What those are will vary depending upon what your position is, but none the less you must have the basic minimum necessary tools. Back when I worked as an electrician it was a wrench, a multi-tool, and a pair of gloves. Minimum. Many electricians carry around far more tools. You don’t want to be the electrician who borrows the designer’s wrench. It just looks bad.
I know designers who carry around a huge bag full of tools. I am not that extensive and prefer to keep my carried items as lightweight as possible. Here’s a quick list of what I consider the necessary minimum tools as a lighting designer.
- Laptop
- Lightwright
- Vectorworks
- All show files for currently active projects
- An Office Suite that can open and save as XLS and DOC files (I prefer OpenOffice)
- Photoshop (or equivalent)
- Illustrator (or equivalent)
- Desktop email client (the theater may not have wifi, so it’s best to carry your info with you)
- Calendar
- Multiple pads of paper for notes
- Pens
- Floppy disks and USB drives to back up show files
- Scale rule
- Tape measure
- Pens
- A light for your tech table
- A Headset
- Cell phone
- A Water bottle
- Wrench
- Pens
- Snacks (focus and tech can get exhausting and breaks are not always timed to your body’s rhythms. I prefer Clif bars and fruit)
- A Book (sometimes you are just sitting around waiting for scenery to arrive, might as well learn something)
Like I said this is a small list and many designers carry quite a lot more than this but for me I find it to be about the minimum that I can not assume will be provided in adequate quantity or repair by the theater.
A quick note on disks and drives. I recently pulled floppy disks out of my necessary list to lower the weight I carry on my back. Poor choice. I just ran into a situation where the theater had misplaced their disks in a cleaning frenzy and the schedule was so tight no one was free to pick any up until three days of programming had gone by. And this was a complicated show to program. Not the best situation for the nerves.
I almost never have a need for tools like Photoshop or Illustrator, so I use open source alternatives GiMP and Inkscape, but I have the option should the need arise (I also keep a full set of audio manipulation programs on my computer for similar reasons).
You will not need all these tools every day. My tiny designer wrench that is small enough to go in my carryon for airplanes would hardly serve a professional electrician. But when I need to run up and adjust a boom, because the crew of one or two are on lunch, I can do the note.
The wrench I learned the hard way. Getting all high and mighty thinking that as designer boy I would never need to touch a light again in my life, I was left high and dry during one lunch break and the few simple notes did not get done until AFTER the run through. After that, I started carrying a wrench as part of my necessary tool kit. I am sure my list will continue to evolve over time but for now this is more or less what it looks like.
Everyone’s needs are different. What do you consider a necessary tool for your work?
Lucas,
I would disagree with your assertion that Lightwright is expensive. The Personal edition is $540 and while I can think of many better uses for that money it pales in comparison to what Vectorworks costs, especially as you consider the upgrade cycle on Lightwright (every few years) versus Vectorworks (every year). Lightwright could very easily be replaced by spreadsheets and databases (Glimmerglass used to use Access and some Broadway shows use Filemaker) but who has the time.
You are spot on about the rest of the list, especially the book.
Robert
We used Access when I worked at San Francisco Opera (most repertory situations don’t use LW as it’s not particularly suited to them). There are plenty of options there, but they tend to only work in large institutional in house situations. In freelance situations the matter is different.
$540 is a decent chunk of money. It pales next to VW, but it is not insignificant. The point I was trying to make, which I think we are in agreement about, is that despite the price it is worth it.
Yes, your list is right on. Thanks for mentioning Inkscape. I’ve been looking for an open source Illustrator alternative.
Instead of a wrench, I carry the “standard” version of the Focus Tool from http://www.stagejunk.com . It has fewer sharp edges than a traditional adjustable wrench… something that’s desirable for me when I toss it in my carry on or laptop bag.
Full disclosure: I work with the electrician who designed the tool all the time, and I got one of the early prototypes at a bit of a discount. But I also think it’s a great tool.
A great list. I carry all this stuff myself. However, personally, I always put my small designer wrench in my checked baggage with my mag-lite and leatherman. The last thing I want are my tools staying at the Albany airport with nice folks at the TSA.
I am very glad you mention PENS twice. Technology is great, but I need a lot of pens when I’m in tech. I have some cool, nice rollar-balls that make me happy in meetings; and then the Pentel Sign Pen (black) for notes in tech and previews. Often in the dark, I have to write, \cut 132 and 134 off portal\, and this pen helps that a lot.
TSA size limit on wrenches is 6″. My bag gets hand checked every time I go through security, but I never leave the wrench in the hotel room.
Papermate felt tips for me.
As a production electrician, I have to disagree that Lightwright is a necessary tool. I have used it, and have many LD’s and ALD’s that like to send their paperwork in this format. I find, however, that for my purposes this is much more information than I really need.
In theater, it may be a great tool for creating detailed paperwork for an ME or crew to maintain a show, etc. However, in the large one-off, TV, or Rock and Roll world, I feel it’s a lot more work than it’s worth. I don’t generally need a detailed instrument schedule, so much as an updated patch/dimmer schedule. I have a series of spreadsheets that I use frequently detailing multi cable needs/labels/locations, and breakout numbering.
Beyond that, I usually create a patch from the plot, or some other Designer-provided paperwork, and plug it in to my Excel spreadsheet. (And yes Microsoft, I am making a list but no, I don’t want to use list manager…) I have tried exporting sheets from Vectorworks, entering information into Lightwright…. but the time required to make things a pretty, presentable sheet is just not worth it for me. But again, I spend the majority of my time outside of the theater, and I have no need to maintain a show in the same space for more than a few days.
Most of the time, I make lists by hand from the plot, and enter them in to my spreadsheet. I guess you could say I’m that guy that will never completely give up hand-drawing, or switch over. I just find it is the fastest, most fool-proof way of getting a designer’s plot up into the air and operational… and that’s what really matters, isn’t it?
Lightwright is definitely geared towards the theater and tradeshow worlds. Never having worked in Rock and Roll I can not speak to that and if you have a different system that works, that is fantastic. I know most repertory situations do not use LW because it is not customizable for their unique needs. We used Access at San Francisco Opera when I was there and LW could never have done what we needed it to.
What I was speaking to was the theater world. And on that note I can only say that in my experience, the number of times a color/template order, or color cuts, or dimmer counts, or any of the other calculations that LW does have been messed up, when it was not used vs. when it was used, leads me to suggest that it is a valuable, if not necessary, tool.
In the “measure twice cut once” way of working, LW does nearly all the measurements you need with little to no fuss. Personally I would rather print out the framed color count and hand it to someone to cut and frame color rather than relying on a hand count (or writing spreadsheet equations myself).
All that said, as long the work gets done right, it doesn’t matter what system you use. But I think most people are better off relying on the software to do the work in terms of minimizing errors.