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What others are saying
When I started using Vectorworks some 16 years ago I was fortunate to come across the Field Template SoftSymbol range not long after. They are the absolute benchmark for high quality, detailed and most of all clearly drawn symbols. They are the first ones I reach for when starting a new design and as a side by side comparison with the stock supplied VW symbols…well there is no comparison.
Max Conwell
Lighting Designer, Naked Eye Lighting Ltd., www.nakedeyelighting.com
Some [lighting designers] have always drawn their own symbols. If that’s the path you choose, that’s fine. For everyone else, there’s Steve Shelley and his SoftSymbols™. The range of products covered is remarkable. The price, given the amount of work that must be involved, remarkably low. Which is perhaps why they’re so widely used, particularly by lighting designers and their associates in America - a country that really does care about beautiful light plots. If you do too, check them out: this is a working classic, still in use daily...
Rob Halliday
Lighting Designer and Author for Light and Sound International, February 2020
What makes SoftSymbols so useful is that they are thoroughly researched, well made and above all, stick to some rigorous drafting standards that are maintained across the whole catalog.
Mark Doubleday
Lighting Designer, UK
Soft Symbols are my Vectorworks symbol library of choice, and have been since my tenure as Hubbard Street’s Lighting Director. Steve has created a product that is incredibly thorough, thoughtful, and well-organized. It looks great at any scale, is appropriate for every type of lighting gig, and could only have come from someone with his level of experience and attention to detail. It is an invaluable resource to me and will continue to be my go to library for the foreseeable future.
Matt Miller, Freelance Lighting Designer/Director
Chicago, IL
SoftSymbols are the symbol library of choice for the Lincoln Center Festival, and for all my other professional activities. They are cleanly built, graphically sophisticated, and the libraries are by far the most complete. There’s no other choice as far as I’m concerned.
Aaron Copp, Lighting Coordinator, Lincoln Center Festival, and freelance lighting designer
New York, NY
I did the Lab Rep Plot revisions with SoftSymbols. LOVE IT! So does the crew and the union House Elec. We also think the twenty-or-so production teams coming into the Lab this spring (who’ll receive print copies of this drawing) will love it too. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have SoftSymbols™ - I trust my layouts again, since your symbols are the same size as the objects they represent (DUH!), and my drawings look more like my drawings again. Woo hoo!
Martha Mountain, Freelance Lighting Designer
Washington DC

The Field Template™ Rules! 2020 Imperial Stencil

The Field Template™ Rules! 2020 Imperial Stencil is a full upgrade and revamp of the industry standard, reflecting today's lighting manufacturers, including ETC, Altman, as well as representations of today's latest conventional and moving light fixtures. Like it's predecessor, every symbol has:

  • Hanging weight
  • Cut color size
  • Beam spread information

And like before, the symbols are represented in three scales:

  • 1/2"
  • 1/4"
  • And 3/8" scale

Why 3/8? When a 1/2" plot is just too big, and a 1/4" plot is just too small, all you have to do is print a 1/2" scale light plot at 75%. It’s 3/8" scale, and *Just Right*! And now you have the template to match those-sized symbols.

And like before, these three measurement scales, along with 3/16", are printed on either side of the template.

In addition to that, the new FT Rules! 2020 Stencil is packed with a new assortment of goodies:

  • A new Moving LIght Spot lighting fixture.
  • A New Concentric Ring symbol for said Moving Light Spot fixture.
  • A New Moving Light Wash lighting fixture.
  • A Sawtooth nose symbol for the Moving Light Wash Fixture
  • A totally open 2kW Fresnel barndoor symbol, so you can draw it as a line, or as an enclosed polygon.
  • An ETC Source 4 PAR symbol, with printed indications for all lenses.
  • An ETC Source 4 Zoom fixture [both 15-30°, and the nose outline for the 25-50°.
  • LED PAR symbol, complete with three LED•Dots and Barn Door.
  • LED Fresnel, with Sawtooth nose symbol.
  • LED Ellipsoidal, with a Top Hat.

Scale rules are a thing of a past! The four scales Field Template Rules! 2020 Imperial Stage Fixture Stencil mimic any imperial scale rule. With this stencil in your kit, you can leave the scale rule at home.

Stow this stencil in your notebook! The three holes running vertically on the left-hand side of the Field Template Rules! 2020 Stencil are designed for a three-ring binder! Snap this stencil into your notebook and keep it safe from the rest of the pointy things in your bag!

It's a notebook divider! The stencil is designed with a little extra plastic "on top". Once you snap this into your notebook, the plastic will stick up and divide the paperwork from the script!

Comes with Kafka Korners™! If you look carefully in the upper left-hand corner, you'll spot a small cockroach. That's a tribute to our friend Bob Kafka, who pointed out that the plastic corners of the template got in the way of the metal tabs pressed at each end of the notebook, to open the three rings. While Bob is no longer with us, we've cut the corners on the three-ring side to prevent this conflict, and added the bug in his honor.

Final Wrap-up! All these features are now standard on the new FT Rules! 2020 Imperial Stage Fixture stencil:

  • Hanging weight, cut color size, and beam spread information for each symbol.
  • Three sets of symbols in three scales.
  • Five sets of circuitry symbols; circle, hexagon, square, and rectangle.
  • Four measured scales, two on each side, allowing for accurate scaled measurements.
  • Two inch scales, on top and on bottom, allowing for real-world measurements in either direction.
  • 6" gridwork surrounding each scale of symbols, allowing for even more free-hand measurements.

The latest for today's professional lighting designer. Available from your Field Template dealer.