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Best control/visualisation setup for small theater group? Advice requested...

Hi,

Hope this question is OK for this group, but would appreciate some thoughts from the community - I'm returning to theatrical LD work after some time away, so my knowledge of the latest Hog range is a little out of date...

I have been asked by a local dramatics group to re-invigorate their lighting setup - they are looking to purchase an LED based rig and are looking at control options. One option suggested to us is to get a Hoglet wing with a touch-screen all-in-one PC. One of the key constraints they have with their venue is access time for programming - this is a shared facility and rig and tech time are highly limited.

I recall that the Hogs used to play nicely with a variety of visualisers so off-line programming used to be a possibility. I wondered what cost-effective options might be available to us within the current console range? I saw mention of LightConverse possibly being bundled with the Hogs but can't see whether a Hoglet wing comes with an activation dongle or not?

I'd be grateful if anyone is wiling to share their experiences and advice of a suitable setup for the group, that will not break the bank. We're not going for a huge rig here - a dozen or so fresnels and ellipsoidals, a few LED PARs, 2-4 LED cyc lights and 2-4 small moving heads, dependent upon how the budgets are looking - so we don't need anything hugely over-specced. We certainly don't have a budget for WYSIWGG Perform and so we're looking to see if something more affordable might be available to us?

Be grateful for any thoughts and advice you might be able to offer....

Thanks in advance.
  • 0
    I use LightConverse to pre viz every week. For me, it's easier than turning the whole rig on, with haze, etc. I set up a tv right in front of the RoadHog console and link the console to the visualizer running on my laptop with a cat 5. It's easy to set up and works pretty good as long as you have a halfway decent computer to run it. Personally, I'm not stoked on the software, but on the bright side, it gets very frequent updates that keep making it better. I use the software because it came with the RoadHog that the venue purchased, but I'm not sure they still bundle them like that. My key says "design" on it. Not sure what that means because I can't seem to find it online. All I know is that it allows me to do what I need (I run 3 universes of movers).

    The only other visualization software I've used is Capture. I've only used the free student edition but I never connected it to the hog since I have LightConverse. You might want to start by trying the LightConverse demo and Capture student edition.

    Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.
  • 0
    Hog4 Supports:

    Vision
    Capture
    Martin
    LightConverse
    Wysiwyg

    They all have their strengths and weakness, I am going to leave my opinions out of the official forums, but I can direct you to where to find more information on some of the popular options.
  • 0
    Thanks both,
    If you’re willing to share thoughts off-forum, that’d be great. Please do direct me to alternate opinions of the options -that’d be very helpful....
  • 0
    Most Hog4 people generally use Lightconverse, Wysiwyg, or Capture

    Coincidently Phillip Wood made a facebook poll

    As of this post

    Vision x4
    Capture x45
    Martin x2
    LightConverse x31
    Wysiwyg x45
  • 0
    Hello,
    the homepage is saying "Finally, High End Systems is changing the Hog family’s included visualizer to a Capture lighting design software license at the solo, duet or quartet level, depending on the Hog console purchased." Will the hoglet also be part of this deal, i.e. will the hoglet be able to control one universe in Capture? I suppose that Capture will have to run on the computer where the hoglet is connected, is that correct?

    thanks in advance!
  • 0
    Hi,

    The Hoglet will not come with a Capture license. Basically, the consoles that came with LightConverse before will be the ones that come with Capture.

    Hog 4 PC will support outputting to Capture through the visualizer stream or if you have widgets attached, you can also use artnet/sacn.

    Thanks

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