Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rough Rendering for Wait Until Dark

Wait Until Dark

This is an initial rough rendering for Wait Until Dark.  The rendering is done in WYSIWYG and the furniture for the most part is from Google SketchUp's 3D Warehouse (you will notice the fridge from yesterday's post).  I still have work to do on it, but I like the quality of light so far.  I'm looking forward to seeing it realized.

Monday, September 26, 2011

WYSIWYG and Google SketchUp

As I am working on renderings for Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, I started looking in the library of WYSIWYG R26 and was disappointed by the lack of standard furniture and appliances.  Never fear though: Anything made for Google SketchUp can be imported into WYSIWYG!

Need a retro refrigerator?  How about this one:

This fridge happens to be based on the exact model the theatre has in stock.  Need the door open?  In this one case, not a problem:

Not bad for my first find.  I'm also finding their furniture library to be impressive as well.

To import these files into WYSIWYG is easy.  First download the file from the Google 3D Warehouse and then just go to the file menu, click on merge, switch the file format you're looking for to SketchUp, find your file and merge.  Follow the on screen instructions, and the object will now be in your file.  I find it useful to first make the object into a group so it moves in unison, and then rotate and move it into place.

In case you ever need to light the outside of a building, as long as it has been added to the 3D Warehouse, you can import those as well.  Just be prepared for your system to work very slowly and save often.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

CSU Ballroom and Dataton Watchout

I now work for the Centennial Student Union on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato.  The ballroom is currently undergoing renovation, and as part of that renovation 17 projectors are being installed for seamless projection around the entire room, to be controlled by Dataton WATCHOUT.  I'm looking forward to learning and working with this exciting technology when the ballroom comes back online next month.

From the Dataton website:
Dataton WATCHOUT multi-display production and playback system lets you orchestrate stills, animations, graphics, video, sound and live feeds in a single impressive show across multiple display areas, soft-edge or scattered. WATCHOUT is fully scalable, software-based and requires no proprietary hardware.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Busy Summer

Since the start of summer, I have worked on four lighting designs, some of them larger in scale than others.  First out of the gate was Fiddler on the Roof produced by Moorhead Community Education.  After that, Cinderella: The World's Greatest Fairytale produced by Gooseberry Park Players.  Gooseberry was followed shortly by RENT produced by FMCT Broadway Lights at The Stage at Island Park, and last but not least, Chicago, produced by Music Theatre Fargo-Moorhead opened this weekend.  Now its back to Minnesota State University, Mankato to work on Wait Until Dark among other coursework.  Here's a photo review of the summer:

RENT

RENT

RENT

RENT

Cinderella: The World's Favorite Fairytale

Cinderella: The World's Favorite Fairytale

Cinderella: The World's Favorite Fairytale

Friday, September 9, 2011

Chicago

Chicago

Music Theatre Fargo-Moorhead's production of Chicago opened last night at The Stage at Island Park (formerly Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre).  These photos were taken after four days of bringing the show from a bare stage to a final product.  Thanks to everyone that helped make this project go smoothly.

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

To see more photos, click here