Kilowatt Software: LightDoc

LightDoc - Lighting Design Documentation System

LightDoc provides the Lighting Designer and Head Electrician with a fast and flexible system for producing and updating the documentation for a lighting design. LightDoc is designed to reduce the time required to produce lighting documentation without the need to become a touch typist.

The LightDoc system has three major functions:

a special purpose document processor designed specifically to produce lighting Instrument Plots (Hookups) with the minimum of effort.
a document generator designed to produce all of the production documentation such as colour cutting lists, patching charts etc, from the information already entered into the Instrument Plot.
a technical assistant designed to keep track of dimmer and circuit loads and to check for patching errors.

Structure

LightDoc operates on a Database of information about:

the venue in which the production will take place.
the luminaires that will be used for the production.
the lighting designer's documentation style and printer.

The information for the database needs only to be entered once for each venue or system used and is then available for all subsequent productions. The database is used to reduce much of the entry of the Instrument plot to a few key strokes rather than typing the same information in for many luminaires.

LightDoc is a menu driven program providing all options on screen. Once familiar with the program, LightDoc's menus don't get in the way, as each option is selected with a single key-stroke.

A Brief History of LightDoc

LightDoc was first released in 1986 after extensive field testing. It has since been installed by major companies, venues and training colleges where user feedback has led to the improvements found in Version 2. LightDoc Version 2 is faster and even easier to use whilst offering a number of additional facilities:

improved document layout.
an additional colour list sorted by rigging location.
warnings on patching and overloading errors while you document.
advanced fault reporting before print-out.
print-to-disk to enable document printing whilst continuing with other tasks.

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements to use the LightDoc system are:

IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible computer.
256 Kbytes of RAM.
80 x 25 character display, colour or monochrome.
1 x floppy disk drive 360 kbytes or larger.
MS-DOS, DR/Novell-DOS or PC-DOS version 2.1 or later.

Software Help Line

The Kilowatt Company offers free telephone support to all purchasers of LightDoc and LightCalc from 09:00 to 24:00 E.A.S.T. every day of the year.

LightData Bonus Program

LightDoc and LightCalc both come with a special bonus software package: LightData which is a database of information on over 100 luminaires in current use. The LightData package can be used to prepare the database files required by LightDoc and LightCalc without the need to search through reams of manufacturers' specification sheets.

Trying LightDoc for yourself

If you would like to test drive LightDoc, you can obtain the LightDoc Demonstration via the internet at URL http://kilowatt.com.au/lddem2.zip (download it now) . The demonstration version has all the functionality of the full system except that it is limited to 30 lighting instruments.