You have no doubt read about or seen preliminary demos on BlackBox, the world’s first combination of hardware + positioning + interconnecting + communicating + speed for the entertainment production industry. But in just the past few months, the produc-tion solution has grown by leaps and bounds. For starters, Black-Box has added three new partners filling the categories of media server, stereoscopic camera and network technology.
What’s equally as exciting is that the first Alpha version will be de-buted during ProLight + Sound, and the system is already in prelimi-nary specifications for some of the biggest upcoming productions, including the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.
If you don’t know about this revolution, a quick definition is in order.
BlackBox uses a new wysiwyg.bbx proprietary “CAD-type” soft-ware which defines the space (establishing “0”0”0”). BlackBox receives and converts live positional data received from input
various devices, such as RFID, stereoscopic/thermal camera, SONAR, RADAR, about any/many moving objects, establishes the exact 7D positions of those objects, computes instructions in XYZ, plus yaw, pitch, roll and time terms, and shoots out moving posi-tional information so moving lights, set pieces, spatial sound, media servers, robotic cameras, etc. are synchronized and tracking to the action of those moving objects, all at a minimum speed of 50 Hz.
The design is plug-and-play – the brilliance is that these devices have never before talked to each other – the speed is realtime!
We have been working with key industry leaders – each a re-spected innovator in its own field – to ensure BlackBox meets its technical objectives. In exchange, these companies are granted a 12-month exclusive partnership to capitalize on the power and speed of BlackBox in the market once it is available for general distribution, likely later this year.
After a round of successful demonstrations and high-quality reviews following PLASA and LDI, we are proud to announce that Coolux, Magna BSP Ltd. and SAND Network Systems have joined the ranks of our current partner network.
Coolux Media Systems, with locations in the USA, Germany and China is the producer of
the award-winning Pandora’s Box media and show control sys-tem, the solution for realtime video editing and image processing. Pandora’s Box Media Servers and Players are a scalable network system with access to all common control protocols from within their Media Net platform.
Magna BSP of Israel is the producer of BiScopic Protection, a high performance stereoscopic vision sensory system for the detection of perimeter intrusion.
BiScopic Protection (BSP) is based on a pair of electro-optic cameras - CCD and/or infrared thermal imagers - to achieve high probability of detection while maintaining a low false alarm rate (FAR). It operates 24/7 in all conditions and can detect a target as small as one pixel and even less. The unique stereoscopic vision feature of the system and its sophisticated software allows ac-curate detection of objects and a precise estimation of their size, distance, height above ground, azimuth and other critical charac-teristics. The system can filter the detected objects according to a wide range of parameters.
BLACkBOX DEBUTS ALPHA AT PROLIGHT + SOUND; ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERS
(SandSys) with locations in California and Norway is dedicated to control and network technology, developing and manufacturing hardware and software for Ethernet and USB, entertainment-specific technolo-gies like DMX, RDM, ACN, MIDI, wireless DMX, as well as a number of open and manufacturer proprietary protocols.
These highly respected companies join the existing BlackBox partners including MA Lighting of Germany for lighting control; Niscon Inc. of Toronto Canada for motion control via its Raynok Motion Control System Software; Out Board Electronics’, of London Uk, TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix system for sound automation; and Ubisense, providing rapid response realtime location detection.“Our industry continually strives for more impressive creative results to wow audiences by investing significant capital in technology, in-novation, and robotization,” says Gil Densham, President of CAST Software. “Accomplishing the creative objectives means it is vital that each disparate technology communicate and work seamlessly together. BlackBox is designed to deliver these solutions.
“CAST’s BlackBox is a truly collaborative effort. We selected our partners to help us ensure that BlackBox becomes the solution we envision. Together, we will develop a technology solution that may revolutionize our industry and, while doing so, each partner will showcase their own technology to demonstrate the collaborative power and speed of BlackBox. Continuing our mission for univer-sality in the industry, which accounts for the substantial growth of wysiwyg’s developer programme, we think industry profession-als should be able to pick and mix the equipment/manufacturers that deliver the technology they need to get the results they want. Ongoing development will see BlackBox also become a universal solution for the benefit of the entire industry -- it will interface with the input/output devices made by numerous manufacturers.”
For the highly automated, high-tech entertainment industry in partic-ular, using BlackBox means that formerly autonomous technologies can work together as one, live and realtime, in both dynamic and pre-programmed ways. It means a better coordination of a produc-tion, in addition to no more missed cues or potential collisions.
BlackBox will also deliver higher revenues (productions with more wow and spontaneity), substantial cost savings (reduced precu-ing and rehearsal times; labour efficiencies), and improved carbon footprint (previsualization and less setup/rehearsal time in venues).
The gains made possible by BlackBox make it truly revolutionary!
Don’t miss the Alpha premiere of BlackBox at ProLight + Sound, 24-27 March at Messe Frankfurt in Germany, Hall 11.1, Stand C46.
wysiwyg is off to one of its most exciting starting lineups in 2010, with some of the most widely viewed events in the world all using this powerful software to create these highly respected and presti-gious shows.
As you’ll see in this issue of The PLAN, wysiwyg was used for Super Bowl XLIV, the Brit Awards, ELLE Fashion Show and the launch of the newest Costa Cruise Line fleet. R25 Beta has of-ficially starting testing and additions continue to grow our Library. We’re exhibiting for the first time at ProLight + Sound, where we’ll be debuting the Alpha version of BlackBox in addition to showing R25. And as if that weren’t enough, Vivien won Best Exhibition and Conference Service for Vivien2010 at Confex in London.
And it’s only March!
I hope you all have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Passover and Easter -- wishing you all a prosperous spring-time. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, as we’ll be adding updates regularly. Enjoy this edition of The PLAN and don’t forget to send me your feedback and stories.
For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Jim Hutchison – CAST’s Social Media Director and Area Sales Manager for the Internet. Oh yeah, CAST Software is on Facebook and Twitter, and we’re growing our Social Media presence pretty much daily!
Did we have January and February already? What a whirlwind year so far! wysiwyg R25 went into beta testing this week, and it is a whole bunch of great. New presentation upgrades, applying video onto a screen surface, use Luminair 2.0 to send the electri-cian in the cherry picker the focus of that light he’s working on, and a ton more features that just keep making it THE solution for lighting designers.
Also, big new on the CAST website: we’re starting The CAST Software BLOG! In the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out our daily blog, with news about Vivien, BlackBox, wysiwyg, the company, our product users’ work and renders, and all kinds of other interesting stuff related to lighting design and virtualization!
Follow CAST Software on Twitter at twitter.com/CASTsoftware and on Facebook at facebook.com/CASTsoftware
Vivien-Virtual Event Designer and wysiwyg showed off their coop-erative capabilities in style to create stunning results for the most illustrious fashion event in Scandinavia – the ELLE Galan 2010 held at the famed Grand Hotel in Stockholm on January 29. ELLE Magazine is one of the leading fashion publications in the world, hosting some of the fashion industry’s biggest fashion shows worldwide. ELLE Galan features a fashion show and awards cer-emony, followed by a prestigious after-party celebrating the best of the best in fashion.
The 2010 celebration saw several paparazzi moments, including Hollywood starlet Hayden Pannettiere from the hit TV series He-roes, who was named International Best Dressed. Another inter-national icon, Stella McCartney won Best International Designer and her collection was shown on the runway. And the “Princess of Pop” Robin, was bestowed the honour of Style Icon of the Cen-tury. Even the stage design had people talking, with an eclectic
backdrop of scrap wood and metal, inspired by the mystical wood tower Nimis in Southwest Sweden.
Working a high-glamour and technically challenging show in Grand Hotel isn’t the easiest of jobs. The hotel opened in 1874 and was never designed for the range of events to be held within its walls. It required advance planning and a deliberate strategy to create the illusion of an ultra hip set design showcasing the latest in fashion inside a 135-year-old building.
Lighting Designer Mats Andreasson, Production Manager Ola Melzig, Creative Director Peter Andersson and Set Designer Åse Persson shared Vivien and wysiwyg files with each other to meet the demands of the layout, creating a striking design while saving loads of time and money.
Andreasson regularly de-signs with wysiwyg and knew it was fully compatible with Vivien having used this power-ful combo for ELLE Galan last year. “It was so smooth this year,” he explains, “we had the seating and catwalk layout from last year and we were using the same rig, so I had time on my side to work with the new set piece and experiment how the
Lighting Designer Mats Andreasson inside Grand Hotel with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden looking over his shoulder
Elle Fashion Gala - seating layout Elle Fashion Gala - photo
STRUTTING OUR STUFF FOR STOCkHOLM’S ELLE FASHION GALA 2010
lights would bring out the best in it. We were able to create looks rang-ing from ice glaciers to the look of the sun from The Lion king.”
Vivien solved one of the biggest challenges last year – a very strict chair count for a long list of VIPs, with exactly 855 chairs, all with good views of the catwalk. Whereas last year the team didn’t have a choice of chairs – they had to use the ones supplied by the hotel – Melzig made the chair layout to perfection using Vivien. This year, however, the design called for all white seating, so smaller white chairs were brought in. Again using Vivien, Melzig was able to perfectly calculate an additional 26 highly coveted seats around the catwalk. He explains, “It was extremely helpful to be able to use Vivien and its wizard to design the triangular seating area. With the exact chair size and catwalk dimensions, I was able to update the layout, and know with full confidence that it would fit perfectly and look great. I was also able to maneuver my point of view and confirm a good sightline for every seat.”
Happy with the updated seating layout, Andersson signed off on the design straight away, saving hours, if not days, of pre-plan-ning. With seating and catwalk in position, Andreasson imported the updated layout back into wysiwyg and easily designed the
lighting and rigging, knowing that every dimension was spot on. Said Andreasson, “I was really pleased with how nicely the files work back and forth together. It saved us all a lot of time, which I could put toward the design and how the different materials would behave with the lighting. Peter and Åse could also determine how the drapes behind the piece would compliment it best, and their best placement so it wouldn’t interfere with the models and award podium. It all proved incredibly valuable.”
CAST is experiencing great success introducing Vivien to wysi-
wyg customers by pointing out Vivien’s strengths as a sales and planning tool that quickly produces a high-quality visual concept of the project/event, and the fact that it is fully compatible with wysiwyg which means that people do not need to redo the room space. Because so many professionals are frequently involved in both the lighting and overall space design, it is being bought more and more by busy wysiwyg Users who use it as a tool to put concepts together, save serious time (and we all know, time is money) and to get business and concept approvals. Vivien - Virtual Event Designer continues to “WOW” the special events and meetings industry.
If you are one of the few who weren’t planted in front of the TV on the evening of February 7 watching Super Bowl XLIV, you’ve at least seen footage of the spectacular halftime show featuring The Who, accompanied by an astonishing light and video show. With 106 million viewers watching The New Orleans Saints’ victory over Indianapolis, Super Bowl XLIV became the most-watched program in US television history, according to the Nielsen Company.
The Super Bowl Halftime Show has some of the most stringent requirements in the business. Setup occurs in front of a packed stadium – in this case nearly 75,000 in the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida – in just under a mere 8 minutes!
With this sort of timeline, pre-production is not a luxury – it’s a necessity! wysiwyg to the rescue!
Notably amongst the myriad of lighting fixtures shipped in for the event were 120 Vari*lite VL3500, 26 Falcon 6k and 7ks, and nearly 300 Chroma Q Color Blocks, just to name a few. Another attention-grabber was the enormous stage floor created with 3055 Barco MiStrips and using Green Hippo’s VideoMapper for the stunning visuals at the heels of the band. Lighting Designer Al Gurdon placed lighting not only surrounding the stage, but up in the poles surrounding the field and in the balco-nies up in the seats to incorporate movement and color to the entire stadium. 300 Chroma-Q Color Block fixtures were added to the mix, used with DMX control or pixel-mapped to the video on the stage floor. “With the strong visual backdrop of the floor, we added a vi-sual dynamic to the vertical space in the terracing of the audience,” says Gurdon, who placed rows of Color Blocks around the stadium.
The wysiwyg design was created by Miguel Ribeiro from PRG. Miguel explained how the wysiwyg Library in particular was help-ful. “We were using approximately 300 Color Blocks which were not originally in the Library but I called Peter Debreceni, Library Manager at CAST and he built the fixtures within 24 hours. He was really amazing. I’ve used wysiwyg on some huge projects lately including U2’s 360° tour and the Brit Awards – I know I can trust the results.”
The Halftime Show has gotten rave reviews from all corners of the world. Even for people that aren’t American-football fans, every-one enjoys a good production. Ok, and the commercials. ;)
Additional Super Bowl XLIV CreditsExecutive Producer – Ricky kirshnerDirected by Hamish HamiltonExecutive in Charge of Production – Rob PaineProduction Designer – Bruce RodgersScreens and Graphics Producer – Lee LodgeLighting Directors – Rich Gorrod, Bob Barnhart, Dave GrillLighting Programmers – Michael “Oz” Owen, Peter RadiceVideo Content Programmer – Jason RudolphStaging Supervisors- Tony Hauser; Cap Spence
R24 wins big at Brit Awards
wysiwyg was also a big winner at the 2010 Brit Awards, held at Lon-don’s Earls Court on 16 February 2010. Another stunning design by Lighting Designer Al Gurdon, with wysiwyg by Miguel Ribeiro.
Artists performing live included Lady Gaga (pictured), kasabian, Lily Allen, a special Dizzee Rascal and Florence & The Machine collaboration, plus Robbie Williams - who walked away with this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Music Award.
Gurdon’s particular favourite performance was that of Lady Gaga. Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4UUqWUbTI
VIVIEN2010 WINS BIG AT CONFEXCAST Software, makers of wysiwyg, won Best Exhibition and Conference Service for Vivien2010 at Confex on Wednesday, February 24 at Earls Court in London. The award, accepted by Bruce Freeman, Chairman of CAST Software, was presented for the most significant innovation in a product or service that will impact the industry.
International Confex is the Uk’s leading trade show for event organizers, bringing together the top industry professionals who organize any kind of special event with event support services and venues both in the Uk and across the world.
This was the first year for Vivien to appear at Confex and the re-sponse was overwhelming. The all-new Vivien2010 was innovated from wysiwyg, the software of choice of designers in the entertain-ment industry for 15 years for movie/stage/TV and special event productions, including the Harry Potter series, Spiderman, Disney, Cirque du Soleil, U2 360° Tour, Nobel Prize Banquet, and the Van-couver Olympics. Vivien2010 is the most affordable special event planning/design, 3D previsualization software tool designed by/for the full spectrum of professionals in the meetings and special events industry. Vivien’s accurate 3D images mean that event planners, designers, venue sales teams, caterers, furniture rental specialists and everyone else in the chain can go way beyond the typical 2D plans. Using Vivien’s tools and wizards, they can make their creative ideas come to life in colourful 3D Virtual Views which
impress clients by creating a customized, virtual model to meet customers’ specifications, turn around RFPs quickly and inexpen-sively, incorporate eye-popping visuals and close sales at higher margins. What’s more, all this information can be sent electroni-cally or via webcast.
“We just keep hearing that Vivien2010 is an absolute must for event planners and obviously a super sales tool,” said Freeman, “I have been approached non stop with the positive response to Vivien. I’ve been told how first-time users not only secured a sig-nificant project as a result of their first use, but how Vivien actually got them additional work from the same client – all within a week! I was told of a London venue that used Vivien’s previsualizations (of their unfinished space) to presell the new venue! And one par-ticular London event industry guru said to me an hour before the awards: ‘I’ve seen nothing that is so fast, so flexible, and so power-ful!’ It reinforces our belief that Vivien2010 is something that can change the way organizers work today. We’re extremely pleased.”
As with all CAST Software products, the developments and in-novations for Vivien are ongoing, with new releases and Library additions always on the horizon and free to current Members. CAST will be releasing a huge addition to the Vivien Library in early Summer 2010, including new backdrops, linen, drapes, and furniture – adding 1000s of new objects that can be used in the planning and designing process.
Virtual View of Plaisterers’ hall in London
Igor Silva, Product Specialist; Bruce Freeman, Chairman; and Josh koffman, Product Specialist show off the award at Confex.
wysiwyg R25 BETA TESTING BEGINS!Monday, 8 March marked the official first distribution of wysiwyg R25 Beta version to our carefully selected Beta Test Team.
As you know, our beta testing program aims to uphold the high level of dependability and robustness, for which wysiwyg is renown, by enlisting typical Members to test drive it in the field un-der real conditions. We carefully monitor the Testers and ensure a reasonable cross-section of uses in order to optimize the useful-ness of the feedback. One thing the Testers have agreed: that the last 3 Releases are our biggest and best to date.
As an incentive to collect feedback by 22 Mar 10, we are offering an incentive for the Testers. Chosen at random, the prizes include a free one-year Membership renewal and five free Luminair Apps. What is a Luminair App? Read on.
Here is a list of some innovations and features found in the R25 Beta version.
As if that isn’t enough, one particularly “handy” addition to R25 is the new 3rd party application extension to work with Luminair 2.0, the next generation of the wireless multi-touch DMX control software for the iPhone and iPod touch, developed by Synthe FX of Cincinnati, Ohio. wysiwyg can download fixture POV and the necessary DMX data to these handheld devices so users are able to see what a specific fixture’s focus should be and adjust the fixture accordingly. Once that fixture is focused the user can turn that light off and the next one on from the remote location viewer, leading to download and trigger abilities for looks.
Synthe FX founder and lead product developer Ryan Hisey says, “Never before have lighting professionals had the option of designing looks on a master console, recording snapshots, and building a simple show that they can carry in their pocket. We are very excited to be working with CAST Software, which is a highly respected industry leader, on such a groundbreaking new feature for lighting pros.” Full details, videos, and screenshots can be seen at http://synthe-fx.com/products/luminair.
We encourage professionals from all segments who use wysiwyg to apply to join the R25 Beta Team. Testers must already own
New CAD Mode Features:Send to Back/Bring to Front 9Text Toolbar 9Alignment Tools 9Polygon Tool 9Convert Lines to Surfaces 9Select Fixtures on Hang Structures 9Cycle Selection 9Visual Indicators for Truss Assembly 9New/more descriptive right-click op- 9tions for truss assemblyFont Styles for Dimensions 9
New Design Mode Features:Pan and Tilt Locking for the Focus 9Designer Tool
New Presentation Mode Features:Locking Objects in Layouts 9Text Toolbar (Layouts and New Plots) 9Alignment Tools (Layouts and New Plots) 9
Enhancements to Layouts in Presentation Mode:
Zoom Layouts & Content Windows 9using the mouse wheelCopy and Paste items within Layouts 9Assign colours in Legends 9New alignment options in Worksheet 9Item PropertiesOption to modify corners of Rounded 9RectanglesEasily create perfect circles, rect- 9angles and 45 degree anglesSpeed and stability optimizations for 9New PlotsDelete Rows and Columns in Work- 9sheets
New Camera Features:Locking 9Switching Hotkeys 9Save Shaded View as New Camera 9
LED Walls:New Display Video (Sources and Sub 9sources) on LED WallsProperties tab of LED Wall allows 9modification of image/video source and intensityLED Walls are selectable in Design 9ModeLED Walls are now up to 4x brighter 9in Shaded View
And More:Video can now be split into Sub 9sourcesUpdated Application Options 9Generic Video Projectors Added to 9LibraryAll library items now appear 9smoothed
wysiwyg Design or Perform and your Membership must be current to apply.
We anticipate the full Members’ R25 release by early April. Releases are free to current wysiwyg Members. In fact, being a Member is the only way to get a fully operational copy of the soft-ware. We have also developed a new wysiwyg DV, which includes 4 sample plots, so manufacturers can test and also demonstrate their hardware using the best.
Members will also be pleased with the new Library Additions included with the R25 release.
R25 + Library – this is why Membership has its benefits!
R25 Library New Item Totals (At time of Beta Release)
R25 BETAwysiwyg R25 is on the horizon. Become a R25 beta tester!
For a limited time, you could qualify to beta test wysiwyg R25 version.
To qualify, you must be current Member and own either wysiwyg Design or wysiwyg Perform.
To find out if you qualify visit our website: www.cast-soft.com or
We will be showcasing the latest in wysiwyg
and BlackBox atWe love hearing from our Members
Don’t forget to send us your stories! If we publish your story, you get a free 3-month extension to your Membership and some extra exposure. Send your ideas, plots, photos, renders, anything you have to [email protected].
For the fourth year in a row, CAST Software has sponsored the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) South-west Student Design Competition, an annual event which recog-nizes young talent in the categories of Lighting Design, Scenic, Sound and Costume Design, as well as Stage Management and Scenic Technology.
We are pleased to announce that Angelina Vyushkova from Texas Christian University (TCU) won the 2010 Annual CAST Software Award for Lighting Design in the Lighting/Scenic category for her project Proof/Almost, Maine from amongst 40 students from Texas and Oklahoma who made the long drive to Las Vegas for the com-petition. Angelina won a 2-year wysiwyg Design - Student Edition (a USD 2500 prize). Through the wysiwyg Student lease program, upon expiration, students can apply the full lease price towards a fully licensed version of wysiwyg.
The USITT Southwest Student Design Competition is one of three USITT competitions that CAST Software supports by sponsoring its endowment fund through the donation of the wysiwyg Design Student Editions which it auctions off to raise money.
Approximately 300 educational facilities around the world run wysiwyg Learns, which average 20 seats each, to teach stu-dents about CAD-ing and theatre arts/production. Whether in the school computer lab or by using wysiwyg Design -- Student Edition on their laptops, students gain valuable experience about stages and staging by building and playing with various concepts and ideas – trial and errors in the virtual world – using wysiwyg’s infamous library of 20,000+ objects. This is invaluable experience that upgrades the industry over time. CAST adds more schools every month. Combined, these facts explain the growing demand worldwide by production professionals, teachers and students, for wysiwyg -- the industry standard.
If you are a school, college, or university and need information about our Academic Program, please go to www.cast-soft.com and click on Academic & Prof Development, or contact Michell Perez at CAST Software. Email: [email protected]; Skype: Michell.Perez; or by phone: +1.416.597.2278.221 from 9 - 6 East-ern Time on regular business days (we are GMT -5 hrs).
USITT is just one of the many ways young people can foster an interest in the technical arts. USITT connects performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialogue among practitioners, educators, and students. The organization also facilitates the advancement of members’ knowledge and skills through networking opportunities, an annual conference and training workshops, and myriad publications.
If you’re a newcomer to the industry and are interested in training opportunities, send an email to [email protected] and we’ll help steer you in the right direction.
The USITT 2010 Annual Conference & Stage Expo will be held in kansas City from March 31 to April 3, 2010. Four full days and nights of activities, sessions, exhibitions, blockbuster speakers, and social events will mark USITT’s 50th anniversary.
USITT Stage Expo showcases businesses, products and ser-vices, as well as educational and professional opportunities in the performing arts and entertainment industry. With more than 200 exhibitors, Stage Expo is the place to learn about innova-tions and discuss future projects. Representatives from dozens of colleges, universities, and theatre groups will be on hand to discuss undergraduate and graduate programs, internships, and job opportunities.
The Expo will be held at the kansas City Convention & Entertain-ment Facilities, Bartle Hall, Exhibit Halls A/B/C, 301 West 13th St - kansas City, Missouri. Complete information about rates, work-shop costs, and deadlines is available at www.usitt.org.
Angelina Vyushkova winner of the 2010 Annual CAST Software Award for Lighting Design
During the past several months we have consulted with many of you -- that is teachers, institutions, private training institutes, providers of workshops, and numerous students. Generally, your feedback is that our products are fantastic teaching aids. Your consensus is also that our software is vitally important for students for 3 reasons:
as the software tool of choice by more professionals, using it at 9school establishes a good foundation; students develop a more in-depth knowledge about the creative 9and managing aspects of their work/projects because they can share their work with teachers and other students, and those students that use our software demonstrate a much better 9overall knowledge that results from the “controlled” experimenta-tion facilitated in our previsualization 3D software.
We have listened as you explained that today’s educational insti-tutes – secondary schools, poly techs, colleges, universities -- are fiscally challenged because of government funding cutbacks. Yet schools need to keep their curriculum interesting and relevant to attract more students (revenue) yet cut costs. Students want to learn an art or craft that excites them and will pay them well in the future, so they choose a school best equipped and has the best reputation for that skill.
Overall, after considering your input, we have made significant changes to our academic programme. In fact, we overhauled our Academic Programme. We stream-lined it, better aligned the products, simplified the process for ac-quiring all Academic products, and we seriously dropped Student Edition prices to make it no more costly than a lab fee. Now any current student registered in an entertainment produc-tion or hospitality/catering/special events education stream can apply for a student licence (once CAST confirms their status), at a school which is also registered with CAST. Once approved, a stu-dent can lease a wysiwyg Design Student Edition or Vivien Design Student Edition licence for $229 (including a $30 initiation fee) the first time, and $199 each subsequent annual renewal while they qualify as a student. wysiwyg is the industry standard for lighting and production design for the entertainment production industry. Vivien is the ground-
breaking, intuitive planning, selling, designing and production tool for venues and the full spectrum of professionals in the meetings and special events industry. With its wide array of tools, Wizards (i.e. for seating, trusses, lighting, etc.) library of more than 3000 industry specific objects and textures, and flexibility to import and export files (and projects) for many different venues and occasions.
What’s better, a wysiwyg or Vivien Student Edition is identical to the Professional Version (PV), making it easier to step up after gradua-tion. In addition, during the term, a Student Edition receives the full Membership Benefits. These Benefits include a dongle plus one year of free Tech support updates, Library additions, software updates and the bimonthly wysiwyg PLAN or Vivien News – during the current lease period – regularly a $425 to $699 value!
So what are the economics for Student Edition? Let’s review -- wysiwyg Design MRSP $2499 and annual Membership is $625 or the annual lease is $699, Vivien MRSP is $1895 and annual Membership is $425, or the annual lease is $599. The price is only $229/$199 for a Student Edition AND whatever amount they pay as a student is credited against their purchase of the PV. It’s a great deal! Why should students get their personal copy of Student Edition?
The Student Edition is economic, practical and about the cost 9of a textbook. What’s more, our Student Editions are easy and fun to learn because they are hands-on and produce instant results you can see – read the story: So Easy a High Schooler Can Do It.
Each Student Edition comes with a dongle that is the stu- 9dent’s to keep so they can use the software at school, home, or working with the team on a project – anywhere the it is loaded.Previsualization means seeing it virtually before it happens. 9The virtual world is a safe place to gain valuable experience by experimenting with various design concepts and alterna-tive technologies using CAST’s infamous Library. Learning by seeing these changes virtually and instantly on the computer is a whole lot faster than years in the field. Student Editions run on PCs and laptops. After graduation the 9same dongle can upgrade to a PV of wysiwyg or Vivien so students can launch into the real world with the best tool (an important confidence-builder).During the term the new Student Edition includes all the 9Benefits and access to research, industry and technology materials on CAST’s website.
REALLY VIRTUALLY REAL - right in the classroom!Whether you are a teacher or student, wysiwyg and Vivien are the learning / teaching software tools of choice (our estimate is 6000 students per year and more than 300 universities, colleges and schools around the world).
Previsualization means that you can generate really virtually real scenarios on screen in the classroom. “Click” to demonstrate how it’s done (and how it’s not done), the visual impact and the applicable rules, standards, options and alternatives – instantly onscreen -- by changing the camera angle, filters, gobo, textures/colours, table linen colours, size of tables and number of chairs, focus, etc.
Both wysiwyg Learn and Vivien Learn can be delivered for schools in either a standalone or network dongle format for your computer labs. It’s a simple deal for qualified institutions: wysiwyg Learn and Vivien Learn are sold at $100 per seat (Licence) in “10-seat” increments. You are required to receive training on how to use
software and to have it installed by either CAST or one of our outside, specially trained installers/trainers at your cost. Once registered and providing you demonstrate ongoing use of your Learn, you also get all the Benefits free including the bimonthly wysiwyg PLAN and/or the Vivien News (which you can share with your students) on an ongoing basis.
It gets even better -- for every 10 seats of wysiwyg Learn, CAST gives you one standalone wysiwyg Perform PV.
Consider how the software just keeps getting better …
CAST continues to win industry awards and accolades for innova-tion. Our software just keeps getting better, stronger, faster – but the giant advances have been in visualization and new features. Check the website for Products and also the Features Compari-son Charts. This is where you need to be and the best tool for teaching and learning.
And, if you want a glimpse of where we are going to take the industry, take a look at our new BlackBox.
REALLY VIRTUALLY REAL - right on your laptop or in the classroom!
Our Academic Program is designed to give teachers the best teaching tool and students the edge-up for the best jobs. Our software facilitates a high energy, highly visual learning/teaching experience at a faster pace by delivering changes instantly. Previz means you do all the work in the classroom, computer lab or on a laptop. Thanks to CAST’s Library of more than 20,000 objects, your output is really virtually real!
Did you know that by prearrangement, CAST can provide WebEx training for you or a classroom full of students?
Check out the super special Student Edition for wysiwyg.
Get your current issue of the bi-monthly wysiwyg PLAN and/or Vivien News – share it with your colleagues and students. See how industry leaders around the world are using wysiwyg and Vivien to create breathtaking, memorable productions and special events. While the PLAN and News are copyrighted by CAST, you have our permission to forward copies to your students.
Remember, you and your school must be registered so you get important industry and technology materials available via our e-magazine, as well as your free software updates and tech sup-port. Please take a few minutes and complete the Educator Regis-tration Form as soon as possible. If you are only one of several in your department or if there is someone else who should get this letter, then please let us know at [email protected] and we’ll change your Registration Form accordingly.
Remember, we are here to support you. Please call or contact us so we can make sure you get the information and service you need.
CAST’S Academic Programme - continued
For STUDENTS at accredited ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS GET wysiwyg PERFORM SPECIAL STUDENT EDITION – $499
For the first time in our history and adding to our already sub-stantial academic focus, CAST is offering a wysiwyg Perform Special Student Edition at the incredibly low price of only $499 (plus any applicable taxes and shipping costs). Compare that Perform SSE price to today’s regular $4999 price for the full professional Perform.
GET wysiwyg Design SPECIAL STUDENT EDITION – $229That’s $199 plus $30 one time initiation fee (plus any applicable taxes and shipping costs). Compare that wysiwyg Design SSE price to today’s regular $2499 price for the full professional Design.
That’s a 90% Savings!
And best of all, when you graduate you can trade in your Per-form SSE and get exactly the same price you paid toward the purchase of the full professional version of wysiwyg Design or Perform.
This very special offer is only available for students and aca-demic institutions. You (and your school) must be properly registered with CAST to qualify. (You can obtain the School Registration Form from CAST -- email to [email protected].)
As we will follow up with your teacher to confirm your eligibility please be sure to fill the Form completely and accurately.
Your Perform SSE comes with 1000 channel capabilities and will be watermarked ‘For educational use only’.
Act now! This is a time limited offer, available only while sup-plies last, on a first come – first served basis.
For more information about this or our other academic and pro-fessional development programs please email us at [email protected].
We like to remind our Members every once in a while that one of your benefits of keeping your Membership current is the ability to call our own Peter Debreceni, Manager of Libraries at CAST and make ridiculous requests! (Sorry Peter!) He got a call a few months ago from Beijing, asking if he could add the BJ Color AOTU Searchlights to the wysiwyg Library for the 11th Chinese National Games.
The National Games, billed as China’s “mini-Olympics”, opened with a splendid ceremony at Jinan Olympic Sports Center. Usually held every four years, it is the country’s top national-level sports event.
The Opening was a brilliant combination of dazzling light, music and dance, fireworks – a cultural extravaganza. It was an espe-cially monumental ceremony as the country just celebrated its 60th birthday. The ceremony used 2500 lighting fixtures and a 20,000-square-meter video screen (215,000 square feet), which beats the 2004 Athens Olympic Games opening ceremony and comes close to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Although the show was designed with wysiwyg, there was one particular fixture being used that was not currently in the wysi-
wyg Library. Wei Wei Zhang, Lighting Designer for Beijing Color Productions contacted Peter with her request to get the BJ Color
AOTU Searchlights into the Library. Being halfway around the world, it was inconvenient and too time-consuming to send a fix-ture to the Toronto office. Peter explains, “In most cases I create a preliminary version based solely on the manufacturer’s specifica-tions and DMX protocol. I can then refine the profile based on the user’s own observations as I did for Wei Wei. We can actually get a fairly accurate model using this method and some will become Library additions in this way.”
The fixture behaved exactly as its virtual model and Wei Wei sent Peter her heartfelt thanks, saying, “This was such a good opportu-nity for presenting BJ Colour. wysiwyg helped us a lot on the 11st China National Games opening ceremony. You made our work much easier with the Libraries and we had great success. Thank you Peter for all you did for us!”
Lighting Designer and Chief Programmer was Weng Chun Pu. Paul Collison, Dong Jiang, Zhang Wei were Associated Light-ing Designers. Beijing-Color and Shanghai SMG supplied the lighting equipment.
Photos: Courtesy of Beijing Color Productions
MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS BENEFITS A quick custom turnaround for the 11th Chinese National Games
wysiwyg ON THE HIGH SEAS Contributed by Carl Impey, Fleet & Newbuild Lighting Designer for Costa Cruise Lines
Who would have thought of wysiwyg as a ship-building tool? Costa Crociere, Carnival Cruise Line’s burgeoning Italian subsid-iary, has brought out three “mega” cruise ships in the last eighteen months – an industry first – and wysiwyg was an integral part of the design process with regards to the many entertainment venues on board. These ships host over 2200 passengers per cruise with 17 decks and a length of nearly 1000 feet (295 metres) – more than 3 football fields long!
Carl Impey, Fleet & Newbuild Lighting Designer for Costa Cruise Lines explained, “On each of our fifteen ships we have a 1000+ seat theatre with a level of sophistication that rivals the top per-centile of land-based venues. A year before delivery I received full CAD drawings of the area with pipes, trussing, AC, DMX and generic instruments in place. This base skeleton was designed by Jim Tetlow, head of La Jolla-based Nautilus Entertainment Designs, which provides technical interface between Owner and Shipyard for all Carnival vessels. The skeleton is flexible, and using wysiwyg I could then flesh-in intelligent fixtures and effects equipment.”
“Now here is where wysiwyg’s power comes into play,” allowing me to stage virtual shoot-outs between endless configurations and brands of fixtures, to the point where the whole rig is designed, patched, focused and budgeted far enough in advance for the purchasing and building operations to kick in.”
In phase two, contractors commence the build and hang, most structural, signal, and electrical problems having been solved at the drawing stage.
While Nautilus supervises the install, Impey can hook up the grandMA fullsize to wysiwyg Perform R24 and prepare the console, building palettes and basic looks so that as the system comes online it is immediately ready for programming.
The third phase spans only a matter of a few weeks from receiving an operational lighting rig to opening night. “Without all the prep work done and previsualized in wysiwyg we’d never make it,” says Carl, “The first seven days that a ship sails for the first time involves seven different 40-minute shows which are impossible to program live in that time. Some shows are lit completely using wysiwyg, requiring only final tweaks, before the system is ever fired up.”
The maiden voyage was a complete success and Costa has already started their next new build, where Impey also plans to use wysiwyg for the theatre, discotheque and 6 smaller venues. He concludes, “I wouldn’t think of being without it!”
CONTROL
grandMA Fullsize 9grandMA Ultralite (backup) 9Arkaos VJ media server 9
LIGHTING
22 x Cyberlight 2.0 918 x VL2500 Spot 95 x VL3500 Spot 934 x SGM Palco LED wash 998 x CE Source 4 (80 w/ColoramIT scrollers) 916 x CE par64 98 x Wildfire UV with Eclipse dowser 912 x QFX150 fiber-optic illuminator 94 x HB colour laser 94 x DF-50 Hazer 92 x Glaciator low fog generator 98 x Ultratech ProLauncher confetti cannon 912-point custom Le Maitre pyro system 9Custom LED curtain 9Barco SLM R12 + projector 9
R25 LIBRARY ADDITIONS ARE COMING…Our Library is growing again! Coming soon in wysiwyg R25 are lots of hot new fixtures and the truss, gobos and accessories you need to do your show right. R25 introduces the Clay Paky Alpha 700 series, MAC 250 Beam, expands the GLP Impression range and more. Over 30 new fixtures, 130 Gobos and 30 Truss pieces have been added. At the time of the R25 Beta release, our automated fixtures alone number almost 700 different fixtures!
Improvements to our LED engine mean that many LED fixtures such as Element Labs’ Versa Tubes and Tiles will run faster than ever and look even more realistic.
Over 90 new symbols for Blinders and Film lights will give you a better representation in all views!
Remember to keep your Membership current. It’s the only way to be one of the first to get R25 and all of the Library updates. You can’t afford to fall behind the competition!
TIP 1 - Layouts: Adjusting the Position of the Model Within a CAD Item
Based on the way in which your model was drawn in CAD mode, when you create a Layout in PRES mode (or use one of the pre-defined ones), your model may not appear within the CAD Item placeholder that you defined. This is often the case when the model was imported from a DWG/DXF file.
This happens because the center of a CAD Item is always aligned with the Document Origin in the CAD mode’s drawing space, and cannot be changed (as at the time of writing). If the model that you drew or import-ed was not centered on the origin, but rather several dozen feet away (or even hundreds or thousands of feet, in some cases), it stands to reason that it will not appear within the CAD Item placeholder (or at least not ap-pear fully) when the CAD Item is inserted into a Layout.
In this tip you will learn how to manipulate the CAD Item to make the model appear correctly within it.
The first step is to import the sample CAD file used in this tip. Note that the units defined in this file are Inches and it’s safe to convert all blocks Library Items during import. When you open the file and switch to CAD mode/Wireframe view, nothing is visible because the model was drawn over 500 feet above and to the right of the origin. Follow these steps to “find” the model in CAD mode:
Zoom out as much as possible until the model becomes visible. 1. Hover your mouse cursor over the model.2. Zoom in on the model. 3.
To manage the model better in CAD mode, it is recommended that you assign/create a User Origin in your file. For more information on setting the User Origin, see Setting the User Origin. Note that for the purpose of this tip, the User Origin was set at the point where the center line meets the plaster line—the typical “center point” of a proscenium arch theatre stage.
Manipulating the CAD Item Placeholder to Display the Model
Begin by switching to PRES mode > Layouts tab. Here you can choose to use one of the predefined Layouts (which appear in the Shortcut Bar at the left), or create a new Layout (by right-clicking in the Shortcut Bar and selecting New Layout). For the purpose of this tip, we will use the predefined Micro Layout.
When you click on the Micro Layout shortcut, and the layout appears, you will notice that the CAD Item within it is empty, which, again, indicates that the model was drawn too far away to fit within the space allotted to the CAD Item placeholder. To display the model within the CAD Item, complete the following steps:
Right-click on the CAD Item and select 1. Open Contents. Result: The Plot Object window appears.Maximize this window by clicking the 2. icon in its upper-left corner.
Setting the User Origin
To set the User Origin of a file:
Working in CAD mode/Wireframe view, click 1. Tools > Set User Origin.Click or type in the coordinates for the new User 2. Origin. (If you click to set the User Origin, you can use Snaps to ensure accuracy.)
Result: If enabled, the ruler changes to indicate that it is now measuring based on the new User Origin you just created. For more information about the Ruler, consult the wysiwyg Help or the Tip from the May 2009 issue of The Plan newsletter (http://theplan.wysiwygsuite.com/issue24/ThePlan_%20May09-Tips&Tricks.pdf).
TIP 1 - Adjusting the Position of the Model Within a CAD Item - continued
Result: The Plot Object window maximizes to fill the screen. At this point, it’s normal to see nothing but a white square surrounded by a diamond-hatch pattern. (See About the White Square for more information.)
Zoom out by pressing the Page Down key on your keyboard until the 3. CAD mode model appears. (If using the sample file provided for this tip, the model will appear at the right edge of the window after you press Page Down four times.) Note: Starting with Release 25, you will be able to zoom in and out on this window using your mouse wheel.
Position your cursor within the white square, and then click and drag towards the model (the white square will follow) until the white 4. square surrounds the model at the right. Release the mouse button. 5. Note: See About the White Square for more information about the white square and what to do if the model is not fully contained within it.
About the White Square
The white square represents the area covered by the CAD Item placeholder in the Layout. If you increase or decrease the size of the CAD Item, the size of the white square and the “amount” of the CAD model that can be contained within it, will increase or decrease accordingly.
If, after zooming in on the content window and posi-tioning the white square around the model, the model is not contained within the white square, it will appear as such on the layout.
If this is not the desired result, you can do one of two things: change the scale at which the model appears •within the CAD Itemincrease the size of the CAD Item, or •
To change the scale at which the model appears within the CAD Item, right-click in the Plot Object window and choose a different scaling option: Fit, Fixed, or Vari-able. Consult the wysiwyg Reference Guide for more information on these options.
To increase the size of the CAD Item, simply close the Plot Object window, select the CAD Item, and then click and drag the grips that surround it.
Now that the model is positioned correctly within the CAD Item, press ESC on your keyboard to minimize the Plot Object window, 6. and then close it by clicking the button in its upper-right corner. Result: The Layout should now look similar to the following screenshot.
TIP 1 - Adjusting the Position of the Model Within a CAD Item - continued
CTRL-Copy1. Press CTRL on your keyboard and then click and drag any object to create a copy of the object. That’s it—it really is that simple! Here are a couple of things to note:
When using this method to copy objects, the Missing Co-•ordinate is not taken into consideration (unlike when us-ing the more conventional “copy” and “paste” commands). Therefore, if you are using CTRL to copy an object that’s one meter off the floor, the copied object will also be one meter off the floor, regardless of the Missing Coordinate. Copying and pasting the same object with the “copy” and “paste” commands, however, will take into account the current Missing Coordinate (so the copied object will ap-pear at the currently-set Missing Coordinate).You can copy multiple objects with this method—just •select them before you CTRL-click-and-drag.
ALT-Rotate2. Press ALT on your keyboard and then click and drag any object to rotate the object around its insertion point, which becomes the basepoint for the rotation. You can rotate multiple objects this way by selecting them before you ALT-click-and-drag. The rotation basepoint in this case will be the in-sertion point of the object nearest to the cursor when you click. Nudge3. To nudge any object (except fixtures), select it, press the SHIFT and ALT keys on your keyboard, and then press the ARROW keys on your keyboard to nudge the object in that direction. The nudge distance is equal to the size of the grid. To nudge objects in increments ten times larger than the size of the grid, do not hold down SHIFT.
Tip 2 - wysiwyg’s “Hidden Gems”: Three Time- and Click-Saving Tips
