Continued from April 2009 CTI Newsletter
Lightwright 5
Lightwright 5 is here! The long awaited upgrade of the industry's leading paperwork tool is launching in mid May 2009 with an incredible list of new features.
Here is what some of the beta testers had to say:
“The automated Vectorworks data exchange has completely
revolutionized the way I draft light plots. It has literally saved me
countless hours on paperwork.”
"THIS is the revision lighting designers have been waiting for. The improvements in Vectorworks 2009 and Lightwright 5 are enough to upgrade each individually, but with seamless data exchange between the two and Lightwright's long list of new and improved features, stepping up is a no-brainer. Less stress, more reliability. Less time as a technician, more time as an artist." Cris Dopher
As
quoted from LIGHT PLOT DECONSTRUCTED, published in March 2009:
“Lightwright 5 contains a number of improvements, all of which make it a
really nice upgrade. The combination of Vectorworks Spotlight 2009 and
Lightwright 5 is unbeatable in my book.”
Gregg Hillmar
“The worknotes feature is completely revamped and invaluable during a tight tech. I can now send worknotes to the entire team, into their email and across the theatre network without having to leave LW5. The new programmable worknote distribution features save me valuable time when it's 10:57pm and we have to be out of the theatre in 3 minutes. The color scroll printout feature really saves me time as an assistant. No more hunting down random color swatches from the web and trying to paste them into a spreadsheet. Now I just select the swatches I want in order and LW5 prints them in color with frame number and percentage.” Derek Wright
Cory Pattak
New features include:
* Lightwright/Vectorworks Data Exchange: A new and easy way to share data with Vectorworks Spotlight 2009: Keeps the plot and the paperwork synchronized, in real time. Change info on the plot, switch to Lightwright, and the change is there. Make a change in Lightwright, click back on Vectorworks, and with one keystroke the plot has the change - including added/removed lights & accessories, colors, templates, channels, and symbols.
* Complete History: Lightwright knows who made every change on the worksheet, and when. For every data field on every light, a single mouse click lets you see what's been done - and a second mouse click can change it back to any value from the past. You can also take the entire file back to a specific point in time, or undo changes made by a specific person.
* Worksheet Reconciliation: A lot of people work on Lightwright show files during the course of a production, and all make changes to them. In the past, they passed the file around like a football, and so each person could only make changes while they had "the football". Worksheet Reconciliation takes advantage of LW5's knowledge of history and based on what was changed when, shows you where two people's data disagrees and shows you when the changes were made. Once you agree (or disagree) with LW5's suggestions, a single button click updates both show files so that their worksheets agree.
* Any number of show files open at once: While this may seem trivial, to longtime Lightwright users, it's a big cause for celebration!
* Network Connectivity: Multiple Lightwright users on a network can share worknotes and files with each other quickly and easily, without learning complicated protocols or using other programs.
* All-New Worknotes: Worknotes have been completely re-thought from the ground up. Adding, editing, and prioritizing worknotes has never been easier or more flexible. A "Distribute" feature prints personalized worknote lists for multiple recipients, emails worknotes to them (from within Lightwright), and sends the worknotes to other users on the network.
* Color Scroll Design Window: Choose colors from a palette of all the major color brands and drag them into a graphical view of your color scroll. See in full color what the scroll will look like, LW5 can also tell you the percentages and/or DMX values the console will want for each frame in the scroll. Drag the scroll into a word processor and get a list of all the colors, or drag the scroll into a graphics program to get a .jpg cheat sheet of the scroll!
* Moving Light Wheel Design: Every moving light has multiple color and gobo wheels, and very often designers need to customize which colors and gobos go into which slots on the wheels. The Wheel Design window gives you a graphic picture of the wheel, with any number of holes, complete with indicator notches and rotating gears. Drag the wheel into a graphics program to get a .jpg of what the finished wheel looks like!
* Global Search: Easily search every data category for any bit of information and see the results on the worksheet.
* Template Pictures: Instead of just a number, drag the picture of a gobo from your favorite manufacturer's web site and drop it into the Lightwright file, and see that picture in the worksheet next to each light it's used in.
* Color Swatches: Lightwright 5 includes color swatches of all the colors from Apollo, GAM, Lee, and Rosco brands, and shows you swatches of those colors on the worksheet.
* Live Counts: See a running total of how many lights and accessories you are currently using. No need to run a separate report!
* More User-Definable Columns: There are now 18 user-definable columns, and ALL can contain text or numbers - no more "number" vs. "text" categories.
* Automatic Dimmer Load Balancing: Lightwright 5 can automatically reassign dimmers within each rack to balance the load across phases.
Free Upgrades:
Anyone who registered an Individual or Institutional license for Lightwright 4 between
September 15th and when Lightwright 5 is released will receive a free
upgrade to Version 5. We will send this directly to the address
you used when you registered your LW4, and we'll send you an email to
confirm that.
Please visit John McKernon's website for further information.
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