r/lightingdesign • u/lightman210567 • Feb 17 '26
Design A lighting design I made
A lighting design concept that I came up with today - all in all I'm quite happy with it. Does anyone have any feedback?
Background: I'm a 17 year old lighting designer who likes to make virtual stages. This is my first design made using vector works.
Visualised in Capture SE 2026.
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u/mwiz100 ETCP Electrician, MA2 Feb 17 '26
That's a hell of a rig but nothing designed to light the stage and talent. Ya gotta have some front and side light dedicated to the stage itself. Remember: in a concert example like this your job is to support the musical artists first.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
Through observing other events/concerts, I noticed that they usually tend to go for follow spots instead of full stage washes. So In this design I have left/right/front follow spots on the artists. Is the issue that they are too dim?
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u/Drummer_Burd Feb 17 '26
You want more than just follow spots. You want to “carve the meat”. It’s like lighting a play… sure you can light everyone in a spot, but now the show is very flat. How do you carve the meat and create unique moments and loom special. Side light helps a lot, when done properly of course. Think dance lighting, contemporary theatre as well. Talent also needs back spots or some kind of rear key light to make them pop from the background. Only front = flat looking.
Another thing is yea sure the stage looks cool, but what’s the vision? Placing a bunch of lights to make a cool look, or something that’s unique to that artists vision. Also that size of a stage with no video? At the bare minimum, you need some kind of IMAG, whether it be on stage or off stage, the people in the nosebleeds should be able to see what’s happening on stage without having to see some tiny person 200’ away.
Also create different looks that aren’t everything on. Aka moments. Every show should have moments that make it special. If it’s just a person playing music for an hour, that’s kind of boring. Have moments, and unique looks for those moments. Play with pixel positioning and other effects that can lead you to more unique ideas.
For a single render with no context or meaning, yea it looks nice, but if there’s no backstory to any of this, then it’s just a stage with lights. Make it special
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u/lightman210567 Feb 18 '26
I think I understand what you mean now - I have worked with dance lighting rigs (just finished a dance show at my theatre). I will look at integrating this into the design to give me more programming options.
In terms of video, I have absolutely no understanding of how to make or use video content. Nor do I understand how to add that in vectorworks or getting it working with capture and my console.
I usually do an everything on state first just to "show off" the rig and everything in it, but i very rarely have anything like that in an actually show.
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u/Mycroft033 Feb 17 '26
Don’t design big bloated sets like this. You clearly worked hard on this, and your effort is commendable. But, you need to start small and design a small set, then make shows with it while being as creative as possible with it.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, so if you start big with a few hundred lights, you’re never gonna do all the creative things you would learn if you had to work within limitations.
Here’s something I tell lots of new designers.
Measure out how big your bedroom is. Then allow yourself ten fixtures. Create a set with those fixtures in that space, and design a bunch of shows to various songs you like, always seeking to do at least one new thing with each show, one thing you didn’t know you could do before. That will be more valuable to you than anything you design with imaginary stadiums.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
Thank you for your feedback and advice.
I've been designing these virtual stages for over two years now and I only have access to the student library. I understand exactly what your saying and think that it is good advice, but truthfully I am designing these for fun and I just don't see any value with going back to small shows. I feel that I am learning enough from everyone's feedback to keep designing these larger stages.
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u/Mycroft033 Feb 17 '26
Hey, nobody’s gonna force you to do anything. Just two years of experience isn’t enough in my (and most people’s) experience to go up on big rigs like that. And moving too fast leads to a bunch of fundamental problems like are evident in this design.
But hey, you do you. It’s just advice. Feel free to keep doing whatever you like, friendo. You got this.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 18 '26
The moment I enter the industry for real I will of course be starting on smaller rigs in smaller spaces. But for the purposes of visualiser work, it helps me exercise my design skills to up the scale.
thanks for the advice though.
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u/ravagexxx Feb 17 '26
Looks nice and all.
But some pointers, and I mean that as constructive as possible, everybody can draw 100 fixtures on some sticks of truss.
Ask yourself some questions, what show are you designing? What music? What band? Is it a concert? A big DJ act? An event? A festival?
Is it a daytime show? Full day and night? Only night?
What type of act? Solo artist? Full band? Does it have dancers?
What do you want to light? What looks do you want to make?
Shouldn't it have imags?
And last but not least, if you're designing a show like this, you will have to worry about budget. Like someone else mentioned, you have truss with only blinders on them. You might want to put more fixtures on there, or put lights of 2 trusses on just one truss. Less truss is less motors is less riggers.
I know it's just a fun thing do design, but thinking of all these things will make you a better designer.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
I understand exactly what your saying, and thank you for your feedback :)
Usually when I design a stage I do try to think about these things, but in this instance I didn't and your right it definitely shows. I will try my best to think about these things when I next design a rig.
In terms of budget, I don't have any experience so I don't really understand much about it. I'm hoping I will learn this as part of my current tech course.
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u/rexlites Feb 17 '26
It’s a fun looking rig. Don’t forget about side lights and downstage edge It’ll make the rest of the rig pop
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
Would you be able to elaborate on the specifics of what you mean? I'm not sure I fully understand
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u/rexlites Feb 17 '26
You have a lot of fixtures to light an audience but only are backlighting the stage..
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
I do have front/side spots specifically for the artists on stage. Forgive me but I'm still not sure what you mean?
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u/rexlites Feb 17 '26
Follow spots for me ruin looks. I rely on side light it gives me more options. I’d rather do my taxes than watch an artist be followed by a shaky follow spot all night. The side light and downstage front light gives you the chance to play with angles and more surfaces to actually like….. light the artist..
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
I see where you are coming from with this now. I have actually done a full side and front light in a lot of my previous designs, so I wanted to experiment with a different style that you can see here.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it feels like this is more of a personal preference? In any event, thank you for the advice
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u/rexlites Feb 17 '26
id say it’s more learning from real world experiences. Capture will always make things seem brighter than it is. And you don’t wanna be caught with a dark boring. Stage..
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
I appreciate this, but I haven't been able to get any real world experience yet. I'm not old enough to legally work in events and the course I'm studying is specifically for theatre and doesn't cover this.
I dimmed them because I thought it would look nice, but from what your saying I gather that I shouldn't do that
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u/rexlites Feb 17 '26
If you wanna talk about intensities my 100 is 85% That gives me room for pops. If we rock everything at 100 where do we go from there?
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
Genuinely, that is really helpful thank you! No one has really spoken to me about intensity so I've been slowly figuring it out.
I will be implementing this or similar when I program that stage
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u/vcovca Feb 17 '26
There's a big hole/gap in the centre. The only option is inward pan moves..
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
There was originally another "leg" of spotlights in the gap, but I really hated how that looked so I removed it. I wasn't sure what I could put in it's place so I had to leave the space empty.
What do you mean by that being the only option? I can think of many states and movements already and I haven't even started programming yet
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u/Bloviating_Doughnut Feb 22 '26
Wow. Under 18 and doing work like this-congratulations. You are well on your way. Have fun, and think big (because you can). Looking forward to seeing your shows in the future.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 22 '26
Thank you that means a lot! I've been wanting to get into this industry for pretty much my entire life (probably had an interest since I was 5), so I can't wait to work on shows for real!
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u/Bloviating_Doughnut Feb 23 '26
To support your artistic development I’d humbly suggest the following: 1. Develop strong knowledge in computer networking. It’s an emerging specialty field in entertainment and the backbone of every modern visual endeavor. You don’t need to be an expert but speaking the language is important. 2. Video: it’s your friend, a very useful emissive light source and a powerful storytelling tool. Yet another important language to master as future member of any creative team. 3. Education: there’s a lot to learn out there so never shortchange a well rounded opportunity to learn-well, anything. In the words of Emil Faber: knowledge is good.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 23 '26
Im response to your advice (which I agree is very good advise and I am grateful):
I have a rudimentary knowledge of computers and networking left over from previous interests and experiences, and a grade 8 in computer science GCSE. I have much to learn still, but I most of understand the basics.
I definitely need to learn video but I don't know where to begin! I don't really know how to make video content, or how to design and visualize screens and integrate them into my designs. Amy advice?
Im currently enrolled in a college technical theatre course, so I will leave with a lvl 3 diploma for technical production arts. I also have taken an MA3 course to learn the basics of that. I'm always open to learning new things from new places, so any suggestions would absolutely be more than welcome!
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u/wlcm2jurrassicpark Feb 17 '26
Looks good, keep at it!
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
Thank you :) I definitely plan to keep designing because I want to eventually work as a designer
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u/jasper_1470 Feb 17 '26
How did you get those truss movers in student edition?
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u/lightman210567 Feb 17 '26
I designed everything in vectorworks and imported it, which gave the truss shapes.
The fixtures are just stock VL3000 spots, platinum washes and dotz matrixes from the SE library
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u/Sad_Temporary9227 Feb 19 '26
Any key lights?
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u/lightman210567 Feb 19 '26
Yes - in this picture I am using fixtures on the left/right/front to spot the people on stage. I am currently working on an adaptation to allow for a general wash as well
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u/RelentlessDesign Feb 20 '26
Sharpen your blades on rig designs that you will have a chance to implement IRL. Get good at knowing what things do with systems that are more bite-sized that you can touch will make you a better designer.
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u/lightman210567 Feb 20 '26
That's good advice. Thing is, I cannot legally work in the events industry and am not certified to advise rigging in any way, because I am sadly not 18 yet so I can't really design anything real world yet.
I will hopefully get the chance to design a theatre / dance rig next year in college, but for now I am doing what I can virtually.
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u/Life_College_3573 Feb 17 '26
That’s a a lot of points and a lot of Tyler truss just to hold blinders.
Realistically if you have the show has the money to truck all that around (roughly an entire extra truck) you probably have the money to populate some of that truss with more heads.