Landru Design Announces New Vectorwork Plug-in: Staging ToolSet

Landru Design out of Nashville, TN has just announced the release of their latest Vectorworks plug-in, Stageing ToolSet. The 3-piece collection of tools creates Hybrid (2D and 3D) models of stage sections and risers, irregularly-shaped stage pieces, and “stage-style” step units.

Model elements can be easily reconfigured through Vectorworks’® familiar Object Info Palette include dimensions (depth, width, and height), structure (legs, fixed frame, and folding), castor and rail inclusion, and structure color. Also, the different elements making up the models are fully textured and the Staging ToolSet tools can automatically place their different parts in separate Vectorworks® Classes, allowing users to take advantage of Vectorworks’® ability to control texture assignment by-Class.

Key features include:

• Deck shapes can be basic rectangular or round – or, can follow odd curves and angles – and can be modified on-the-fly.
• Sizes can easily be changed.
• Different riser/stage and step structures can be defined.
• Castors can be included.
• Rails can be added in different formats.
• Different hardware “profile” shapes can be assigned.
• The different elements making up the models are fully textured.
• The Staging ToolSet tools can automatically place their different parts in separate Classes, allowing users to take advantage of Vectorworks’ ability to control texture assignment by-Class.
• Height text can easily be displayed in drawings.

Before you consider buying the Staging ToolSet, please be sure to check your version of Vectorworks as the ToolSet only works with version 12.5 or higher for both Windows and Mac. For more information or to purchase your copy of Staging ToolSet for $25, visit Landru Design’s web site at www.landrudesign.com.

Landru Design Releases New Vectorworks Plug-ins

While working in Vectorworks, do you have trouble rendering and display soft goods such as curtains or designing commonly used items? Landru Design, a lighting design firm out of Nashville TN has just releases two new Plug-ins for Vectorworks to help folks that use Vectorworks to design and develop 3D rendering of sets and lights.

The first plug-in Landru Design has developed is SoftGoods, which is a VectorworksR Plug-In Object that allows users to insert models of straight and curved curtains and borders, as well as straight pipe-and-drape runs in their drawings – either from-scratch or based on
existing geometry.

SoftGoods models are easily resized by dragging Control Points and making adjustments in Vectorworks’R familiar Object Info Palette. Other things like curtain openings, track visibility, pleat sizing, and curtain images (including scrims) can also be changed on-the-fly. For pipe-and-drape runs, the tool calculates spacing and tracks slider lengths and hardware and drape counts.

The other plug-in that Landru Design has developed is actually The 4th generation of VideoScreen. Significant changes have been made in all of the tools and a new tool (to some users) has been added:

• Object Info Palettes are now more unified in look and function.
• Custom images and models are now MUCH easier to add and use.
• Users have a LOT more control over text settings – including things like visibility, color, size, and alignment – all now independently changeable for each text element.
• In VS4-Projection and VS4-Blended Screen, users can now specify a screen size and the projection distance and let the tools suggest a lens, in addition to the previous projector placement method. In VS4-Projection,
  projectors can even be dragged to new locations and the tool will report back projection distances and suggested lenses.
• In VS4-Blended, projectors now move, rotate, and/or update when the parent screen is dragged, rotated, or updated.
• VS4-LED (formerly, VSx-LED) is now part of VideoScreen 4Plus. In addition to the features you’ve come to appreciate, VS4-LED now creates domes and capped tiles and disks.

For more information on either the VideoScreen or SoftGoods plug-ins or any of the other plug-ins that Landru Design has developed, visit their website at www.landrudesign.com.