Author Topic: Simple Ground Plan Design Program  (Read 7893 times)

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salbano

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Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« on: Jul 05, 2013, 11:53 pm »
Hello,

So I'm creating a document so that the crew can no where what set pieces (chairs, tables, etc) to take on and off between the scene changes.

It's really something that is simple, and I have it all hand drawn! But I can't find a program that allows me to do it on the computer. Microsoft Paint would be perfect, but it doesn't allow me to rotate the square at degrees other than 90! So I can't have a slightly angled table.

However, Photoshop is just way too convoluted, and also isn't letting me draw squares either!

I'm just so lost because there has to be something that can do this fairly simple thing.

Any help? Thanks!

Beatr79

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #1 on: Jul 06, 2013, 12:20 am »
I recommend using Microsoft Word with Autoshapes.  I've had a lot of success creating straight-forward diagrams for crew this way. 

The "group" function is very useful.  Once you're happy with the relative relationship between two objects (for example, the circle representing a chair and a rectangle that's a table next to it), select them both, right-click on the mouse and select "group".  The two objects will then be manipulated together as a group.  This way, if you add text above the diagram, you won't lose that perfect spacing between them.  You can also angle them together, resize them together, etc.  BUT the function still allows you to change an individual object within the group too.  This becomes especially helpful if you have multiple diagrams within one document - no worries about updating one diagram and consequently having to re-do all the subsequent diagrams beneath it.

Play around with Word and Autoshapes a bit, and in no time, you'll be producing clean, easy-to-read diagrams.

iamchristuffin

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #2 on: Jul 06, 2013, 05:33 am »
+1 for Word!

C

MatthewShiner

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #3 on: Jul 06, 2013, 08:33 am »
For something a little better then word, but long before you get to any autocad programs . .

If you have PowerPoint (or a similar program) you can make your ground plan as a master slide, and then put simple drawings in the correct place.

If you want to be fancy, you can add transitions where you mark where thing go.

Fairly easy to duplicate a slide to make minor changes from scene to scene.

I like to use this . . . but I usually load in the ground plan as a PNG for the background of the file - so there is some notion of scale and scope.



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K_Darby

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #4 on: Jul 06, 2013, 11:21 am »
If you do decide to use Microsoft Word this link is incredibly helpful for rotating text boxes:

http://blogs.office.com/b/office_casual/archive/2011/03/01/rotate-text-boxes-in-word-the-workaround.aspx

Most versions of Word do not let you rotate text boxes but this is a pretty simple workaround to fix that.

babens

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #5 on: Jul 06, 2013, 08:08 pm »
To take it a step further, I've found myself using Excel (now Numbers, since getting my new laptop last year I didn't feel like shelling out the extra money for Office and have been pretty happy with the iWork applications).  It's pretty easy to create a grid of 1/4" by 1/4" (or whatever size you choose) and to be setting it in a scale.  In the iWork programs it's pretty easy to manipulate your shapes and drawings to get angles and line them up with other objects or reference points on your spreadsheet.

SMrose

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #6 on: Jul 06, 2013, 10:18 pm »
CAD Standard is a simple CAD program and you can get it on line (it does cost to download the program but it's a reasonable cost).  I'm not great at CAD but this was easy to learn.

bex

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #7 on: Jul 07, 2013, 12:50 am »
You might try using Google SketchUp. It's a free download of a 3D Modeling program, although it might be more sophisticated than what you're looking for. http://google-sketchup.en.softonic.com/
Forgive me if any of this info is incorrect, it's been a while since I've used the program and don't have it downloaded on my current computer to check, but I believe you can upload a pdf or jpg of a groundplan to use as a base, or draw in your own, and then import 3D models of furniture and objects from their stock and move it around, rotate, stack, etc. You can also use the groundplan as a template to build a 3D version of the stage or wing space, if you want to get super fancy. It was fairly easy to figure out the controls and what each button did, how to get something to move a certain way, all of that was pretty intuitive and there are some great online tutorials. Again, that's the recollection I have of the program from a scene design class I took in undergrad, so the new version might have different specs. It was easier than Vectorworks, that's for sure.
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Branden

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Re: Simple Ground Plan Design Program
« Reply #8 on: Jul 28, 2013, 09:58 pm »
If you can get your scenic designer to share his Vectorworks drawings with you, I've always saved my own copy and just made adjustments that I need.

Vectorworks is free for students, but it has a steep learning curve. It's worth it, though to at least learn how to snap measurements on it (or whatever your designer is using). It's much easier to tape out a floor that way instead of using a scale rule and a printed plan.

But that's just me...
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