Moving Light Assistant is a new software title for the entertainment lighting industry. Many of us have either grown up on John McKernon’s Lightwright software or have gone “home brew” by creating our own paperwork in Excel. Moving Light Assistant fills a new segment in tracking data between the designer, the console and multi-attributed devices.
Keeping tabs on a moving light is a bit more challenging than a standard dimming circuit. Rather than just one attribute to track, each moving light has at least two, and usually multiple, attributes, and it can be mind boggling to keep track of all the individual fixture variables across an expansive lighting rig.
Andrew Voller created Moving Light Assistant (MLA) to help track, record and maintain working documentation of rigs that use moving lights. At first glance, MLA might seem a bit redundant. Many lighting consoles give those responsible for tracking moving lights similarly detailed information, along with offline software to edit and maintain show files.
With MLA, however, users get a consistent user interface, regardless of the type of console in use at a given show. And because the offline software is also console-specific, unless you are broadly “multi-lingual” in terms of console usage, you are going to need to master shortcut keys and mouse clicks for consoles that are foreign to you. MLA promises to bring all of this information into a clear and detailed view that can become familiar with repeated usage.
Features
Within the software, there are a host of options and features that help a lighting designer keep track of a rig with any kind of device connected to it. MLA is more then just a paperwork management system. It has the ability to track each fixture’s information, including stock fixture features, custom accessories, gobo and color wheels, fixture profiles and DMX address, to name a few. The paperwork function is nothing to sneeze at either.
One of the ongoing benefits of MLA will be its ability to import reports from a variety lighting consoles. MLA can currently import data from MA Lighting’s grandMA series 1, ETC Eos Family and High Ends Systems Hog 2 consoles and additional lighting consoles will be supported in the future. MLA also has the power to import data from Lightwright and Vectorworks files as well as text documents.
Keeping On Top of Your Rig
The main display within MLA is the Rig Data view. It shows in great detail the data associated with any device added to the show. Take, for instance, a Vari*Lite VL1000 moving light fixture. Typically, we might not worry about anything but a fixture’s address and channel information. MLA can serve up additional data, including the specific profile, mode and menu settings. Something we don’t always account for those variables when documenting a show. MLA even wants to help keep track of your fixture in the 3D world with X, Y and Z coordinates. Not practical in the real world, but when you need to import your show information into previz software, that kind of thing can be very helpful.
Are you one of those people who hates setting dipswitches to address a fixture? A simple task like that can test the patience of anyone. With MLA, you can simply add a fixture, give it the correct fixture profile and address it. MLA will provide you with a simple dipswitch illustration for the fixture. (MLA even accounts for the pesky fixtures that start at dipswitch #2.)
Taking Your Wheels Out for a Spin
Well-organized information is, to me, like a nice cup of hot coffee on a cold day — perfection. Maintaining a fixture’s color and gobo wheels can be a nightmare. Having a detailed list of each is great, but MLA offers something that makes me giggle with glee — images! If the fixture offers either color or gobos — or multiples of each — MLA already knows, thanks to the fixture profile. The wheels start off with standard wheels that are shipped with the fixture. Change a gobo or color from the database within MLA, and the change shows up bold, meaning it is not stock.
Managing the Cue List
Keeping track of a moving light’s attributes through a cue list can make a designer go cross-eyed. When you bring the show file in for your console, the cue list follows with it. From there, a designer can manipulate views to show almost any move or change happening on any fixture through the cue list. Here is where I get giddy again. MLA lets you attach photos of the stage for each cue to document the look. Not just one image, but four images per cue. One can be the overall look, another can include beams drawn over top right in MLA, and you have two more images to use as you see fit.
Rather then having an assistant take photos of the looks for each cue, MLA also offers the ability to automate the process through MIDI show controls. You can enable the software to Follow Console. As you trigger cues on the console, a photo is taken and attached to that cue in MLA.
Report Just the Facts, Please
Now that you have all that important information into MLA, how do you find what you are looking for? The reporting feature is so customizable, you can spend some time making the perfect form detailing everything you need on a single page. One report that has me elated is the fixture cards. MLA formats the information an electrician needs to address and configure a fixture during prep. Remember those pesky dipswitch fixtures? MLA even provides a nice little illustration with the correct configuration.
Growing Interoperability
Documenting a design is paramount when reproducing a show. Moving Light Assistant helps us make sure we have crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s. At first glance, MLA might seem a bit overwhelming, just like anything new. With practice, experimenting and patience, however, MLA gives the design team a valuable resource for remembering all of those details that can fall through the cracks or get lost in translation. Still in its infancy, MLA can’t yet claim to integrate with every lighting console under the sun. But Voller indicates that MLA’s interoperability will grow, along with other features that promise to make documenting console information easier than ever before.
Price and Availability
Moving Light Assistant is currently available as a free download. Without a registered license, the software works as a reader for native MLA show files. The real power of MLA becomes available when a license is purchased through MLA distributor, City Theatrical.
Moving Light Assistant
Current Version: V 1.0.2
Main Features:
- Show documentation
- Tools to help maintain and move show files
- Comprehensive fixture profile library
- Patch/preset/cue viewing and analysis
- Customizable reports
- Cue photo function
- Documentation of console Preset data
Console Integration:
- grandMA Series 1
- ETC Eos Family
- HES Hog 2
Importable File Types:
- ASCii Text Files
- Lightwright 5
- Vectorworks
Prices (License available via citytheatrical.com)
- Demo/Reader: Free
- Personal: $100
- Individual: $700
- Institutional (five users): $1,400
More details at www.movinglightassistant.com
