Concept: Showcase
Difficulty level: Advanced
Showcase is the previsualization component of Spotlight, specifically created for entertainment design and production professionals. These tools and commands allow you to previz the conventional lights, moving lights, video, and other effects that make up a production, simulated in the context of the event venue. With Showcase, you can program and cue your show, whether you are selling a concept to the client, testing lighting cues, or conforming lighting systems for a new venue. You can previz without being at the venue or having a crew on standby. Experiment with looks and cues, and review the options with clients and artists before the actual load-in.
Showcase incorporates many of the features of the standalone program, Vision, but it is designed for use within Vectorworks, for all-in-one design and previsualization.
Workflow: Showcase
Difficulty level: Advanced
Create the design by laying out lighting instruments, lighting positions, trusses, and general stage elements of the model. Specify lighting device and GDTF content per lighting manufacturer, model, and personalities/behaviors.
Use the DMX Patch command to assign universe and channel addresses to lighting devices, connecting them to the DMX data stream and therefore, to their previsualization appearance.
Specify PSN and DMX transforms for trusses and stage objects if they are to move or rotate.
If you want to control glowing objects through DMX, specify the information.
Associate a physical or virtual console that produces DMX data from the Showcase preferences.
If you are displaying a video file on a screen or 3D object, or streaming video on a screen, select the video file or input and then associate a streaming or capture device as the source.
Once the model is prepared for previsualization, select the Start Showcase command. The current window or multiple view pane becomes live for previsualization. The pane is rendered in Shaded render mode, with options from the Showcase preferences.
Lighting cues are defined by console operations. Operations on either the physical or virtual console are immediately reflected in the virtual model as changes to the geometry, lighting, and textures of the Vectorworks model. Changes occur based on the assignment of universe and channel, and the source GDTF data of the fixture.
Vectorworks viewing tools, such as Pan, Zoom, Flyover, Walkthrough, and the Onscreen View Control adjust the view in the previsualization pane, with variable framerates during the operations.
Make needed changes to non-moving light objects and geometry without stopping the simulation. Changes are shown immediately.
The DMX Recording palette captures the data stream for playback later in design layers, in movie exports, or in static renderings.
Use the DMX Recording palette, or a saved view, to save a single frame snapshot from the simulation.
For an additional way to impress your clients, create a path animation from the DMX recording.
Operating system features can also capture screenshots and/or screen recordings of previsualization.
Stop the previsualization with the Stop Showcase command. The lighting devices move to their “home” position.
Create a sheet layer viewport of the action using Showcase Background Render mode. Different viewports can show different animation angles or snapshots of the simulation.
