As has been the case since I landed my console in April, I've had a lot of start-stop action in learning all the things. I have my half-dozen physical lights on a truss in my office (because who doesn't do that?), and I can put everything away pretty quickly so I'm not crowded in. It's not as clean as having the non-PC version, but I didn't have to mortgage the house to buy it. I'm fairly comfortable now with basic programming. Theatrical style, cue-based stuff I could do in my sleep. Broader effects I'm OK doing, and the thing that I really love is the use of recipes. Basically you can create components of looks (positions, colors, etc.) and save those to presets, then use a recipe to make up cue or effect. That's great because, if you were on a tour for example, and the singer's position was for some reason not where it should be, you could just correct that position preset, and not have to mess with an overall effect.
But programming stuff isn't the same as designing it, and I want to be good at both. After looking at some of the design tools, it appears that the vast majority of pros are using either Vectorworks or Capture. The latter is made specifically for lighting design, and can do basic scenic stuff as well. Vectorworks is CAD software that has a number of specialty variations, including straight up architecture, but also landscape design and entertainment stuff that includes lighting and scene design. While both can output MVR files ("my virtual rig") for use in consoles, and both can visualize output from consoles, Vectorworks is far more capable. It's also more complicated, but their education stuff is pretty extensive. The pricing models vary, where Capture costs more up front with cheap annual upgrades, while Vectorworks is an annual subscription, and is 50% off right now. Neither is cheap, but good tools rarely are.
So I've started to work through the intro classes online. My hope is that I can absorb enough quickly and quite literally model my office and the six lights on a truss. Making real things is the way that I learn best. I figure once I've got that, I'll create some kind of basic stage and rig. That's kind of fun, because I can use the most expensive fixtures possible since they're not real. I'm kind of obsessed with the MagicBlade FX from Ayrton. They're $3,800 each, so I won't be getting any of those for home use.
I still can't say where this will lead in the long run, but it brings me joy. I can't tell you how badly teenage me wanted to be able to do this sort of thing, and back then, I suspect the people who did were in the dozens at most. Things sure have changed!
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