QCAD 2D drafting software is one of the least expensive CAD programs out there. It’s currently selling for about $42. It doesn’t have any lighting tools built-in, but the resourcefukl user can construct their own lighting symbols from scratch....
Gimp. A free, open-source alternative to Photoshop. GIMP can do most of the things that Photoshop does, certainly enough to create a simple rendering. http://www.gimp.org
PhotoShop is the industry-standard when it comes to manipulating photographs. It has a full set of painting tools that allows one to create very effective color renderings. For students and teachers, Adobe offers an educational version for just under $300....
WYSIWYG. The name stands for “what you see is what you get.” It is a lighting visualization program that allows you to see what light will do. Among its many features: you can connect to a lighting control board and use the board to control the...
AutoCad is considered the standard of the architectural and engineering worlds. There are several renditions of the base program, as well as several sets of macros available that are designed specifically for entertainment lighting. AutoCAD is much more expensive than...
Lightwright. The demo version of Lightwright is exactly the same as the regular version except that it has a maximum capacity of seventy-five lights instead of the usual 30,000, it will hold only fifty entries in each text category instead of the usual 6,000, and...
Shading our 2 point perspective front view of a basic set design. Adding more drama through darker shading. Creating a black and white front view rendering that a set designer, and/or a lighting designer would use to communicate with others what they planned on...
Here I show how to shade our 2 point perspective front view sketch. These are basic sketching skills that will lead to creating front veiw renderings. Having sketches like these go a long way to help communicate with the director and the rest of the creative team...
Using 1 point perspective to draw a desk. We start with a single 1-point box and then expand to make a desk. Playing with 1 point perspective, I show how to draw a filing cabinet. And then change it into a desk. A bit theatrical in nature as this is for a drawing for...
Video from my Drafting and Drawing for Theater class at Columbus State University. Here I show very simple stuff including: taping the paper down, holding the pencil to draw various thickness lines, using a stage lighting template, using a parallel ruler, etc. For...
This video inspired me to suggest a session for the USITT National Conference. We called it “Analog Sketching for the TD.” It shows the drawing of a cleve, from start to finish, using markers. One of the keys to the artist’s process is turning the paper while s/he...
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