Modelbox: A New Focus on Services to Lighting Designers

Modelbox, the specialist entertainment industry CAD bureau, announces a new range of services for Lighting Designers.

Modelbox, the company which pioneered the use of Computer Aided Design for theatrical productions and has more recently enjoyed success producing computer animations for the BBC and others, has announced a new range of services for theatre lighting designers.

For the ever-increasing number of lighting designers replacing their drawing boards with computers, Modelbox are now offering a plan-printing service capable of outputting plans from the common lighting or CAD software packages on an A0 colour plotter. Getting a paper plot of a computer-drawn plan has been a problem for many lighting designers until now; Modelbox’s service offers a neater alternative to the low-tech solution - printing across several A4 pages then taping them together - that some have adopted! Plans can be submitted on disk or by email, with the printed copies on paper or film then dispatched to the lighting designer or other specified addresses.

For lighting designers encountering busy periods, Modelbox can do more than just print a plan: they offer a complete lighting plan drawing service. Designers can submit a rough paper copy of a plan, which Modelbox staff will draft as a complete, finalised lighting drawing using their CAD software. If required, the service can be expanded to include the creation of other rig documentation - equipment lists, colour calls and so on.

Modelbox can also offer assistance to lighting designers beyond the pre-production phase: the company can now fulfil the role of lighting assistant on a production, drawing plans, producing paperwork, specifying lighting equipment and practicals, and then producing complete show documentation, including focus plots, once the show has opened.

This service was first taken up by lighting designer Hugh Vanstone on the new production of Doctor Dolittle at the Labatt’s Apollo in Hammersmith. For that show, Modelbox’s David Howe oversaw the specification of the show’s many complex electrical practicals, the installation of foyer lighting to match the design of the show, and the completion of the show’s documentation and focus plots after the first night. These will both allow the show’s lighting to be accurately maintained in London, and easily re-created for other productions around the world.

Modelbox’s new lighting design services run alongside the company’s longer-established set drawing service which, with its extensive collection of electronic theatre groundplans, can quickly produce plans for one-off shows or complex tours. The company have recently produced the plans for the forthcoming UK tour of Jesus Christ Superstar for the Really Useful Theatre Company. Now lighting designers can also benefit from their services, helping to make sure that everything goes according to plan.


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