When it comes to stage and lighting design, planning is of the utmost importance. Without it, you could end up buying materials or cable you don’t need, building something that’s too big, or wasting critical time during load in working out minute details. So instead, we plan. And there are a few amazing lighting and stage design software that can help with this process. Lets look at the 5 essential lighting & stage design software available today! (Hint: several of these are free.)
Easily the most popular among the church creative arts community, this software was developed by the team at Google, and now run by Trimble as a great entry level design software for 3d environments. With a wealth of online tutorials and a large user base, this will be one of those stage design software’s that will be easy to learn and grow from others’ experience. Did we mention they have a free version that still has a TON of features? You can grab the free software details here.
Among the most powerful stage design softwares we’ll list here, with the full features of a 3d drawing program, specifically designed for the entertainment, lighting and stage designer communities. This program is the “bee’s knees” as far as features, and if you’re really serious about your designs, this may be the program for you. VectorWorks is used by some of the top stage and scenic designers (including the designer of the recent Justin Timberlake tour!) but it comes with quite the price tag. Click here to learn more about this software.
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AutoCad is arguably the industry standard in the architectural and industrial engineering fields. For more professional stage design and lighting designers, they would use a program like this to lay out rigging points, design the structural elements of their design and compliment a program like VectorWorks. This program is not for the faint of heart, and will require a significant amount of training and learning. Click here to learn more about this stage design software: AutoCad.
If you’re not looking for a true visualization software, but instead a plotting software to map out your lighting, signal flow and DMX addresses, then maybe LXFree is for you. The purpose of this program is to plot out your lighting fixtures in a theatrical or live production environment. Download the free program here (Sorry their website doesn’t have much detail).
As stage designers, you can’t just look at the aesthetics of a stage, but also the layout (and placement) of key musicians, singers, pastors and other people. This stage design software will help you with those elements specifically. Especially if you constantly have different setups, or are using a worship space for a variety of ministries, this application may become useful for you as you make stage plots for each band/ministry. Check out the free trial here.
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Quite possibly the most recognized and used stage design software in the professional world of lighting and video production, Wysiwyg is a very powerful design program. With the ability to bring in Cad files, along with a variety of other formats, this program has great power and functionality. Learn more here.
Distributed by Elation Professional lighting, Many would argue that it’s relatively easy to learn, simple to use, but powerful in design features. One of the things that makes Capture stand out is it’s vast library of design elements for those in the lighting and stage design fields. Click here for more details.
Get the FREE Stage Designer Guide from SALT15 showing the materials, planning, and setup process for each of the 5 stage designs we did during the conference. Click here to download Guide
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There you have it! 5 great stage design softwares that you should consider if you deal with stage design and lighting design on a regular basis. Of course, you can always use pen and paper! (p.s. check out this custom SALT ModNotebook… where you get FREE Digitization of all your notes, including shipping costs, with every purchase. That’s a stage designer’s best friend! click here to view the ModNotebook.)
Luke McElroy is the founder of Orange Thread Media, the parent company to TripleWide Media, SALT Conferences and Orange Thread LIVE. Author of several books including most recently released
Hailed as one of the “top innovators for worship” by Worship Leader Magazine in 2013, Luke’s leadership has helped create powerful worship environments for thousands of Church communities throughout the entire world. He currently lives in Nashville, TN and regularly writes about creativity, leadership and faith at LukeMcElroy.com
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Elevation Worship began as the musical arm of the Elevation Church, a multi-site church based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that was founded in 2006 by pastor Steven Furtick. The group was originally formed around the musical core of Chris Brown, Mack Brock, and Wade Joye, all of whom sang and played guitar, while Furtick contributed to their songwriting. While a shifting cast of instrumentalists worked with Elevation Worship, singers, Brown and Brock would become two of their on-stage focal points and a number of other vocalists were featured, including Jenna Barrientes, Jonsal Barrientes, London Gatch, Anna Sailors, and Jane Williams.
The multi-generational family band—consisting of brothers Ed Cash and Scott Cash, Ed’s daughter Franni, his son Martin and dear friend Andrew Bergthold—grew roots when the Cash brothers were just kids. Their dad played guitar, and their mom played piano, resulting in a home filled with music. Despite there being an eleven year age gap between them, as both Ed and Scott entered their teens and early 20s, they embarked on similar individual journeys as touring artists and had the opportunity to be deeply involved in the ministry of Young Life. However, when they each became fathers, the dream of being an artist was relegated to put on the back burner. Instead, behind the scenes, Ed went on to become an award-winning songwriter and producer, steering records for artists like Chris Tomlin, Crowder and Bethel Music and co-writing timeless songs like “How Great Is Our God, ”“Amen (Because He Lives)” and “All My Hope, ” among other hits. After stepping off of the road to spend more time with his growing family, Scott began working with Ed writing and producing, and the brothers have written many songs together including “Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)”. Though no longer pursuing careers as artists, both brothers continued to lead worship and remained involved in playing music at Young Life camps.
They never could have imagined how, years later, God would bring their artist dreams full circle in the form of a family band. “I think many producers are, in some way, closet artists, ” Ed attests. Andrew, Franni and Martin were also aspiring musicians, passionate about sharing their gifts through songs and stories.
Designing Lighting April 2022 By Designing Lighting
Worship Leader, singer and songwriter Tim Timmons is a man of faith whose principles were tested by hard luck and mortal challenges before he produced his first album of praise & worship music. Coming back from a dramatic cancer diagnosis, Timmons forged a career as an inspirational recording artist with albums like 2013’s Cast My Cares and 2015’s Awake Our Souls, later venturing into children’s music with 2017’s Who I Am.
Timmons was born in Irvine, California on February 9, 1976, and he developed an interest in music as a child, taking up the drums when he was seven years old, learning to play guitar and write songs when he was 11, and teaching himself to play piano. Timmons developed a knack for songwriting, and in his early twenties, he began turning professional, eventually co-writing with the likes of Mike Doheney of the group Tenth Avenue North, Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks, Dove Award-nominated singer/songwriter Jason Walker, and LaRue frontman Phillip LaRue, while also serving as a worship leader at Mariners Church in Irvine. However, in 2001, Timmons began re-examining his life when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Originally told he had only five years to live, Timmons devoted himself to his wife, his growing family, and his work as a worship leader. After he’d more than doubled his initial survival expectancy, Timmons felt a new calling to use his music as a tool to bring people to a greater understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus. Declaring that “Following Jesus versus being a believer in Him is revolutionary, ” Timmons put a new emphasis on music and songwriting, and in 2013, he landed a record deal with the Christian music label Reunion Records. Cast My Cares, Timmons’ first album of worship music, was produced by Paul Mabury, and was released in the summer of 2013 and reached number 13 on Billboard’s Christian chart. He followed up in 2015 with Awake Our Souls and toured in support of the release with MercyMe and Phil Wickham. Timmons’ next project was the 2017 children’s album, Who I Am, which he co-produced with Christian Hale and released independently. That same year, he offered his first holiday release with the five-song Mighty Christmas EP. Written during a church retreat, Timmons next offered up the anthemic single, “I
There you have it! 5 great stage design softwares that you should consider if you deal with stage design and lighting design on a regular basis. Of course, you can always use pen and paper! (p.s. check out this custom SALT ModNotebook… where you get FREE Digitization of all your notes, including shipping costs, with every purchase. That’s a stage designer’s best friend! click here to view the ModNotebook.)
Luke McElroy is the founder of Orange Thread Media, the parent company to TripleWide Media, SALT Conferences and Orange Thread LIVE. Author of several books including most recently released
Hailed as one of the “top innovators for worship” by Worship Leader Magazine in 2013, Luke’s leadership has helped create powerful worship environments for thousands of Church communities throughout the entire world. He currently lives in Nashville, TN and regularly writes about creativity, leadership and faith at LukeMcElroy.com
Wellness Design Trends The Experts Say Are Here To Stay
Elevation Worship began as the musical arm of the Elevation Church, a multi-site church based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that was founded in 2006 by pastor Steven Furtick. The group was originally formed around the musical core of Chris Brown, Mack Brock, and Wade Joye, all of whom sang and played guitar, while Furtick contributed to their songwriting. While a shifting cast of instrumentalists worked with Elevation Worship, singers, Brown and Brock would become two of their on-stage focal points and a number of other vocalists were featured, including Jenna Barrientes, Jonsal Barrientes, London Gatch, Anna Sailors, and Jane Williams.
The multi-generational family band—consisting of brothers Ed Cash and Scott Cash, Ed’s daughter Franni, his son Martin and dear friend Andrew Bergthold—grew roots when the Cash brothers were just kids. Their dad played guitar, and their mom played piano, resulting in a home filled with music. Despite there being an eleven year age gap between them, as both Ed and Scott entered their teens and early 20s, they embarked on similar individual journeys as touring artists and had the opportunity to be deeply involved in the ministry of Young Life. However, when they each became fathers, the dream of being an artist was relegated to put on the back burner. Instead, behind the scenes, Ed went on to become an award-winning songwriter and producer, steering records for artists like Chris Tomlin, Crowder and Bethel Music and co-writing timeless songs like “How Great Is Our God, ”“Amen (Because He Lives)” and “All My Hope, ” among other hits. After stepping off of the road to spend more time with his growing family, Scott began working with Ed writing and producing, and the brothers have written many songs together including “Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)”. Though no longer pursuing careers as artists, both brothers continued to lead worship and remained involved in playing music at Young Life camps.
They never could have imagined how, years later, God would bring their artist dreams full circle in the form of a family band. “I think many producers are, in some way, closet artists, ” Ed attests. Andrew, Franni and Martin were also aspiring musicians, passionate about sharing their gifts through songs and stories.
Designing Lighting April 2022 By Designing Lighting
Worship Leader, singer and songwriter Tim Timmons is a man of faith whose principles were tested by hard luck and mortal challenges before he produced his first album of praise & worship music. Coming back from a dramatic cancer diagnosis, Timmons forged a career as an inspirational recording artist with albums like 2013’s Cast My Cares and 2015’s Awake Our Souls, later venturing into children’s music with 2017’s Who I Am.
Timmons was born in Irvine, California on February 9, 1976, and he developed an interest in music as a child, taking up the drums when he was seven years old, learning to play guitar and write songs when he was 11, and teaching himself to play piano. Timmons developed a knack for songwriting, and in his early twenties, he began turning professional, eventually co-writing with the likes of Mike Doheney of the group Tenth Avenue North, Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks, Dove Award-nominated singer/songwriter Jason Walker, and LaRue frontman Phillip LaRue, while also serving as a worship leader at Mariners Church in Irvine. However, in 2001, Timmons began re-examining his life when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Originally told he had only five years to live, Timmons devoted himself to his wife, his growing family, and his work as a worship leader. After he’d more than doubled his initial survival expectancy, Timmons felt a new calling to use his music as a tool to bring people to a greater understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus. Declaring that “Following Jesus versus being a believer in Him is revolutionary, ” Timmons put a new emphasis on music and songwriting, and in 2013, he landed a record deal with the Christian music label Reunion Records. Cast My Cares, Timmons’ first album of worship music, was produced by Paul Mabury, and was released in the summer of 2013 and reached number 13 on Billboard’s Christian chart. He followed up in 2015 with Awake Our Souls and toured in support of the release with MercyMe and Phil Wickham. Timmons’ next project was the 2017 children’s album, Who I Am, which he co-produced with Christian Hale and released independently. That same year, he offered his first holiday release with the five-song Mighty Christmas EP. Written during a church retreat, Timmons next offered up the anthemic single, “I
