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SoftSymbols™
 
 
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

SoftSymbols™ Version 3.0

These SoftSymbols™ Version 3 Packages are available for Vectorworks® version 2008, 2011, 2016, and 2017 (Remember, newer version docs won't open in old applications; for example, VectorWorks 2010 documents can’t open in version 2008.) Check your version before you make the purchase!!

If you wish to use the Vw2011 package with a later version (like Vectorworks 2012 through 2015), merely perform a batch conversion from within the application.

As a reminder, all of these libraries were current and up-to-date as of Fall 2010, but contain no new fixtures after that time. In addition to that, none of the 3D components contain Focus Functionality® -- in any 3D view, the lighting device will focus ONLY as if it was pointed ”upstage.” It will NOT rotate and aim towards an assigned Spotlight focus point.

What does this mean? If you’re not rendering in 3D, OR you don’t need to see 3D lighting devices pointed towards focus points, OR you don't need to draft using the latest gear, OR you only draft in 2D, this is the package for you!

The SoftSymbols™ Version 3 Object Library

Here are screen shots of the first page of each object library. Obviously, there are many more pages for each manufacturer:

SoftSymbols™ Version 3 Pack Also Includes:

Bonus Libraries and Features

  • Shelley’s Section Collection: (now expanded to over over 730 2D symbols) designed specifically for drafting sectional side elevations.
  • Shelley’s Scales: (in both imperial and metric scales) Slap these into your drawing and be done with drawing scales for good!
  • Lighting Position Object Library
  • Shelley’s 2D Drafting Elements: (foggers, headsets, cue lights, etc.) There is a major update.
  • SoftGuide© 60 PDF pages that explain the VW11, VW12, VW2008, VW2009, and VW2010 Resource Browser, resources, symbols, and how to make hybrid symbols from scratch! (Includes three Example VectorWorks® documents that follow the Guide.)

Data Convert Plug-ins: It converts Spotlight Frame Size and Weight data from Imperial scale to Metric scale and back again!

Complete SoftData© 90 Page PDF Spreadsheet: It displays the raw data extracted directly from the resources.

Complete SoftMaps© Collection; Seven D-sized PDF Pages : It displays a plotted visual reference for the entire collection!

SoftSymbols™ V3 for Vw2008
$120 Mac or PC
(36.1MB) 113.9MG
(includes SoftGuide)
BUY
SoftSymbols™ V3 for Vw2011
$120 Mac or PC
(45.1MB) 148MG
(includes SoftGuide)
BUY
SoftSymbols™ V3 for Vw2016
$120 Mac or PC
(70.2MB) 202.5MG
(includes SoftGuide)
BUY
SoftSymbols™ V3 for Vw2017
$120 Mac or PC
(79MB) 226.9MG
(includes SoftGuide)
BUY

*NO SoftSymbol™ product includes ANY version of Vectorworks®. And, as a reminder, ANY Version 3 SoftSymbols Package contains no lighting fixtures introduced after 2010.

2D Drafting Elements

Accessories

ADB

Altman

Altman Striplights

Arri

BriteLight

CCT

Chroma-Q

City Theatrical

Clay Paky

Coemar

Color Kinetics

Diversitronics

ETC

GAM

High End

Lighting Positions

LSD

Lycian

Martin

Morpheus

NeXXus

NSI Colortran

NSI Colortran Archive

Reiche & Vogel

Robe

Robert Juliat

Rosco

Selador

Selecon

Shelley Scales

Shelley Sections

Strand

Strand Archive

Strong

James Thomas

USITT

Vari-Lite

Wybron

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