[quote=drathbun;41523] I've used WYG since 2003 and taught it since 2006 as part of my lighting curriculum, and the upgrades are just too pricey to continue especially with the freakin' dongle and dongle replacement policy.
Or it could have just been your awesome instruction, since you taught me.
Another vote for Light Converse. A much better value for the money compared to the others if you are looking for your first visualizer. It just keeps getting better and better.
I have been using WYSIWYG for a number of years, and I have ESP.
I used someone elses Wyg, and hired a laptop when I needed it..... then when it came round to buying my own system I looked at various options.
Because I draw in Vectorworks, ESP (at the time) was the best product on the market for me. So I bought it. However, since I have found that ESP isn't quite as good as I origionally thought it was. I have also recently tried using ESP on Mac which is in my opinion poor and not even at alpha quality.
So, I moved on to Light Converse, and haven't looked back. Its an incredibly powerful piece of software. An NO YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION!! you pay your money and thats it!
The problem is that it doesn't yet allow you to import VW drawings, but I think they are working on this.
The videos are great in Light Converse too! I showed one to a band I am currently working with and they were blown away. That said, it renders them in AVI's, and my 1.23min video was 1GB!! And you can input content from a Media Server onto LED Screens, Projection Screens etc.
That said, I must say that WYSIWYG is by far the quickest thing I have ever used for quickly drawing rigs, and quickly getting trusses built, lights flown etc...
For the record i use. ESP Vision 3 on running under MAC OSX twinned with Vectorworks 2010. I Find this to be a very usable and time efficient solution because everything can be done in one workflow.
I was a wyg user and still use MSD for some projects, but for me ESP (when they get it fully sorted) will pack the power to do most things.
I find the support from ESP to be very good too. Keep up the good work AJ, Kensy and the Team.
I just wish Barco/ HES / Flying Pig would produce a connectivity driver for MAC, then you wouldn't need the DP8 to get ArtNET into vision.
LD assistant is by far the best CAD software for designing lighting and now with the visualizer is the best value of any out there. WIG is way overpriced and Vectorworks just sucks for CAD period. And you have to buy the visualizer separately making it expensive also. How many universes? How about this> as many as you can possibly need! If you have the units on the plot and the console is patched, then you have control period. Non of this buying universes crap! Check their sofware out. AUTOCAD by Autodesk is the best CAD software on the planet!!!! Where else can you draw a line and build a truss out of it in seconds? Draw a box and extrude it, turning it into a stage in seconds? Add projectors and screens to the drawing and actually have graphics or video running on the screens when rendered? Best client presentation available, fastest design CAD, generates all paperwork from patch, channel, focus, color, gobo, bill of materials, 2d/3d simultaniously as you draw.
[QUOTE=JeffM;45904]AUTOCAD by Autodesk is the best CAD software on the planet!!!! Where else can you draw a line and build a truss out of it in seconds? Draw a box and extrude it, turning it into a stage in seconds? Add projectors and screens to the drawing and actually have graphics or video running on the screens when rendered? Best client presentation available, fastest design CAD, generates all paperwork from patch, channel, focus, color, gobo, bill of materials, 2d/3d simultaniously as you draw.
Ever tried VW with Spotlight? Cause this it what I do... Drawing lines with the truss-tool -> there´s a truss need a curved one? draw an arc need a stage, draw a box use the stage tool -> theres a stage, already with textures Paperworks.... almost the the same method...
Had it given to me to try out. It's terrible. slow, cumbersome and doesn't do dwg formatting well at all either. There is a reason Autodesks autocad is an industry standard and has been for many years.
[QUOTE=MWPS1;61964]I have found that cost of wyg is very prohibitive
I'm not going to argue about the merits and/or drawbacks of these products since a lot of it comes down to personal preference in the end.
However, Vectorworks + ESP is far more expensive from the start as well as annually. Here's the numbers as of Aug 2012 comparing products with similar feature sets:
