drafting in disguise

Lara Dubin January 15th, 2009

Next week I am teaching a workshop called Vectorworks for Theatre. As I sit here, planning out the details of what I will teach each day (the workshop is 4 hours a day for 3 consecutive days) I realize what I am really teaching is a drafting course for theatre. We just happen to be using a mouse instead of a pencil and the vectorworks program instead of a piece of vellum on a drafting table. I find that students are quick to figure out how to use the tools and features of the program but what they don’t know and won’t get from the program is a knowledge of drafting conventions. For example, I will need to introduce them to the concept of how the thickness and the type of a line provides important information to the people interpreting the set plan or light plot, how proper use of notes and dimensions can save time and money in the scenic shop, etc. There is an art to drafting that I worry could get lost in the great world of computer aided drafting programs. I am trying to wrap the teaching of this art, this craft, into the teaching of the program. I would love to hear from others who are teaching drafting about how they are (or aren’t) incorporating cad programs into their drafting classes. Anyone?

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Related Topics: Education, Set and Production Design, Lighting, General

9 Comments to “drafting in disguise”

1. Vector Jess Says:
   

   January 16th, 2009 at 1:23 pm

   Hi Lara, I’m delighted to hear you’ll be offering such a workshop. (I work at Nemetschek NA, the makers of Vectorworks Spotlight.) I just had a conversation with Frank Brault at our company. He’s a long-time industry player and the lead of our Vectorworks training here at NNA. Two things we have to offer: The first and most expeditious is that Frank would be happy to have a phone conversation with you to address some of your concerns and offer you some tips and insights from his experience in the same realm. You can reach him at 410-290-5114.

   The second thing we can offer will help you in the long run, but not in time for your workshop next week. As it happens, Frank is teaching a day long course at the upcoming USITT conference. Here’s the info and the link to USITT’s site and the workshop info:

   Curriculum Development/Teaching Vectorworks
   Tuesday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
   Members: $120 Participants: $180

   This workshop will be taught by Frank Brault, Director of Training and Technical Support for Nemetschek North America, and two experienced faculty who have been integrating Vectorworks into technical theatre courses. The panelists will discuss and share overall course outlines and individual class plans as well as offer participants an opportunity to experience, from the perspective of the student, different course approaches and class exercises. The workshop also will include a short presentation on upgrades to Vectorworks relevant to theatrical and academic users.

   http://is.gd/g8Di

   Hope this helps.
   ~ VectorJess

2. Rachel Johnson Says:
   

   January 20th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

   I think that your concerns are more than valid. While I do not have any grand advice for you, as I have not taught the art of drafting, I do share your observations about drafting.

   I learned to draft first by hand, then using various CAD programs. I have since encountered individuals who rejected hand drafting, and went straight for a mouse and screen. Their drawings failed on many levels; standards were ignored, line weight misused, scaling incorrect, layout sloppy.

   It is my opinion that the best CAD drafters are ones who learned to draft by hand first. I am not an exceptional hand drafter, but I understand the underlying principals, which can then be translated to CAD.

   I wish you success in teaching these principals.

3. Eric Cornwell Says:
   

   January 20th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

   I quite agree; I see more and more examples of bad CAD drawings from young designers. When I teach a semester-long CAD class we spend several weeks doing hand drafting before moving to the computer lab. You don’t have that luxury, but you might be able to take advantage of the ease with which you could use Vectorworks to generate an example of a bad drawing from a good one. Make line weights uniform, mess up the layout, add confusing text styling, etc. Comparing the two versions of the same drawing side-by-side could help demonstrate the goals and methods of good drafting style.

   I guess your workshop is in progress or about to start. Let us know how you fare.

4. Frances Aronson Says:
   

   January 20th, 2009 at 9:17 pm

   Like Rachel Johnson, I have never taught drafting, but I agree that a great deal has been lost in the transfer to CAD. Drawings are meant to convey information–they aren’t just lines. I get very frustrated with drawings without labels–especially sections that feature an array of architectural indicators and are meant to convey information about a set, theatre sightlines, masking needs, etc., but which are drawn without proper attention to line weights or shadings, so that it is impossible to tell what’s architecture, what’s plumbing, what’s set, etc. Line weights, cross-sectional shadings, and well placed labels can transform a bunch of lines into an important source of information. I think it is important to know the WHY of a drawing–what information is it trying to show, and to whom–only then can drawings be useful. Otherwise, they’re a waste of time and a source of confusion.

5. Brian Flynn Says:
   

   January 21st, 2009 at 4:19 am

   I’m not thtat nostalgic for the subtlety’s of hand drafting, line weight etc. When someone at a shop has a question, cell phones are the answer. I’ve found that a good shop foreman interperts 99% correctly, and calls me -anyplace I roam - with questions.

6. Michael Mell Says:
   

   January 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am

   I believe you are looking to express to your students what I think of as the ‘elegance’ of the light plot; or really any technical theater drawing. Brian has a point; that the shop usually makes the correct call but what allows them to do that is the drawing itself.

   The conventions of drafting (I was taught drafting by hand and supported myself doing that for a number of years) allow the reader to quickly and easily understand the information contained in the plot. More than lineweights and dash-dot-dash lines, how they are put together; expressing the overall ideas as well as details is why drafting conventions are important. Common and accepted conventions provide shortcuts for the drafter and reader. A well drafted plot invites the reader into the drawing. Line weights and other conventions allow the eye to move over the drawing easily and be drawn to appropriate areas of importance. This is especially critical in any complex drawing.

   When I have completed a light plot or other theater drawing I always turn it upside down. If it appears balanced (not necessarily symetrical) and pleasing to the eye, then it will also do so when read right side up. I think I owe that idea to Lester Polakov.

   As to your class, a simple handout will explain line weights, etc. Setting up the drawing on the computer and establishing layers (I work in AutoCAD: does Vectorworks have a similar function?) for each type of line translates the drawing conventions into/onto the computer and the student can then used them along with the other software functions.

   As to explaining the elegance of a drawing, I find that the issue will arise of its own accord in the later sessions of your class as completed projects are critiqued. Alternately you could spend a little time showing the class examples of sucessful drawings and not so sucessful drawings. Anyway, break-a-leg!

7. John Moyik Says:
   

   January 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am

   I agree with the comment from Rachel Johnson. A foundation in the rules of hand drafting goes a long way to making someone a better CAD draftsperson. Eventually, I would hope it would simply be the rules of Drafting, hand or CAD.

   We use AutoCAD here ourselves which can be much harder to make graphically successful than VectorWorks but works better in assembling all elements of a show. I long ago set up templates, formats and procedures so that everyone who drafts for us is using the same tools and our drawings are consistant and clear as well as making it easy for different people to work on the same drawing or drawing set. Line weights and symbols are all based on the hand drafting equivalent. This method and these standards have been very successful. A recommendation I would make would be to develop and teach standards for CAD so beginning students don’t get lost in vast possibilities.

   Hand Drafting was once an art form in itself (and many plans have been turned into framed art). Though CAD drafting is much more efficient and quick we need not and should not forsake the rules of it’s predecessor.

   My response to those who care not for the “nostalgia” of line weight is to ask why would you want to send out any drawings that are not crystal clear with your intentions? That is the reason for line weights, isn’t it? Who wants to spend all of their time on the phone explaining what every line in a drawing means because they are all the same? Shops can be just as likely to make decsions on there own than call with questions, especially in crunch times. Do you trust them with your design decisions? Our gage of success for our drawings is exactly how many calls we get from a shop with questions. The less the calls, the more successful the drawing package (and the more time we get to devote to other projects). Now-a-days, I get a token call with a benign question in order for a shop to have an excuse to shmooz me during the bid process.

8. Brian Bjorklund Says:
   

   January 21st, 2009 at 10:47 am

   I teach a partial credit course in using VectorWorks for design in the theatre curriculum where I teach and work. Part of the course includes discussion about the place that technical drawings have in the entire communication process between designer, technician, artistic team, management, etc. We talk about the different common drawings- groundplan, elevations, sections, detail drawings, and light plots- their purpose and the ways they are used. I talk about the things that can make the technical drawings clear, easy to read, and have focus. We discuss standard symbol use, line weight, line type, layout on the page, title block information and general organization for a set of plates. As we move through the semester, students learn the application program through exercises and then by doing a groundplan, elevation, section, detail drawing and simple light plot. We re-visit the principles of clarity and focus as we complete each drawing. A CAD drawing is different than a hand-drafted drawing. The range of possibilities for exploration, editing, and sharing that the CAD drawing allows is really useful. As with hand-drafted plates, clarity and focus in a drawing aids in good communication. Experienced hand-drafters develop a style, precision, and visual appeal that is unique and interesting. CAD drafting can have similar visual appeal, though in different ways. In the end, it is important for me to remember the primary purpose of the technical drawing in the communication process.

9. Richard Reid Says:
   

   January 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm

   While I have never taught a formal class I have taught many people both drafting and software. The first rule always to know your audience!

   There is a huge difference between those that do and don’t, understand the basics of drafting *and* reading plans! As a short cut I recommend USITT’s old but basic guide to drafting standards. If your students don’t know why to use a certain line type or width, you can tell them to accept industry standards or go learn the basics.

   I believe the differences between hand and digital drafting are easily described:
   Coordinates, nearly absolute precision, Viewports/Paperspace and (for us old hands) that piece of paper isn’t so precious any more. Lastly is 3D. Drawings still hit paper and screens and are there-by 2D but designing in 3D is where CG comes into its own.

   Good Luck to you and your students.

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