If you were to pick one technology that has single-handedly changed the way lighting is designed, rendered and programmed, it would have to be CAD lighting design and pre-visualization software. But not only has it changed the way we design and program shows, it has also saved countless hours, manpower and dollars. Having the ability to design, lay out a plot, patch it, create looks and render them in photo-realistic images is one of the best tools to ever land on the lighting designer’s desk. With the speed at which computer technology is advancing, the software is only getting better. WYSIWYG Release 22 from CAST Software is just that software. R22, the latest update to WYSIWYG from the folks in Toronto, is all about looks, speed and the all-important ease of use.
The Perfect Storm
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, three factors converged to create the right environment for the birth of CAD lighting design software: computers, automated lighting and a few people at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The first desktop computers landed in the workplace in the early 1980s, right about the time that automated lighting became the latest, greatest thing in lighting production. A few folks at the CBC recognized the need for a way to manage lighting design with moving lights and color changers. The result was WYSIWYG, the first lighting design CAD program, and CAST Software was formed to produce and market the software.
Early versions of the software line drawings and wire frame beams are crude by today’s standards but were a breakthrough at the time. Since then, CAST has diligently generated new product release after new product release, arriving at R22 in the late spring of 2008. Each new release builds on all the features of the previous versions, including the easy-to-use interface and vast library of fixtures, textures, props and people.
New in WYG
Release 22 seriously improves the look and feel of WYSIWYG. The most obvious is three-dimensional light beams in the shaded view as well as in the rendered output. CAST has completely overhauled the live beam simulator. The current release has softer beams with more depth and texture, and the lights actually flare when the focus is directly on the viewer. Part of the new look has to do with the rendering of smoke and haze, which provides the environment through which the light passes. Gone are the cartoon-like beams and in their place are much more realistic-looking shafts of light. R22 also projects gobos that look like real breakup patterns in the air and produces spinning gobo wheel looks and patterns on set pieces.
Also new in R22 is aerial color mixing where mid-air beams that overlap blend colors. In addition, the heads of moving lights now follow the beams, so they look much more true to life than before.
There are also a few improvements to what CAST calls 3D primitives — the geometric shapes that are used to build sets and models. The new cone tool allows you to quickly create a cone of any height, width and depth. There are also improvements to the cylinders and spheres creation tools.
The Road Map
This software release is one of a series of planned improvements that CAST routinely generates at least a couple times each year. Not all of them are major upgrades like this one, and sometimes they are predominately library updates. But the upgrades are mapped out several releases into the future. The next major upgrade is scheduled to come out later on this year and it will further enhance the new beams in the shaded view with improvements to the footprint, wrapping and shadow. It will also include under-the-hood architectural upgrades and advances to the user interface.
WYSIWYG has always had a short learning curve, and the average user can be up and running in one or two days at the most. It doesn’t have the CAD engine of a large architectural CAD program, but it does have sufficient power to meet most demands in the entertainment industry. The trade off for ease of use is that it sometimes has trouble importing large AutoCAD files. But the package, including CAD, paperwork, design and presentation tools adds up to a comprehensive, powerful suite.
The new release ups the ante with great graphics in the shaded view which look fantastic in photo-realistic rendering. The graphics requirements are a bit more demanding, but if you have graphic card that is incapable of keeping up, it will give you an error message and run in the classic mode. And the new update seems to be solid; it was beta tested for six weeks before being released, and CAST is reporting that shows with 200 lights have been working well.
WYG was the original lighting design suite and it’s still moving ahead. The new upgrade is noticeably better in the shaded view and renderings are far more realistic and true to life.
What it is: Lighting design CAD, paperwork, design and presentation software.
Who it’s for: Designers who need a solution for drawing lighting plots, tracking paperwork, pre-cueing shows with visualization and rendering.
Pros: Very easy to use with a short learning curve; complete package in one software solution, new realistic-looking light beams with fog, texture, gobos and soft edges.
Cons: Not DWG or DXF native files.
Retail Price: $4,999.
