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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

SoftSymbols™

SoftSymbols™ are high-quality theatrical lighting symbols constructed exclusively within the Vectorworks® environment. Initially released in 2003, SoftSymbol object libraries have become known as the gold standard for lighting symbols. SoftSymbol users include lighting designers working on Broadway, off Broadway, the West End, other international commercial theatre, and major theatre, dance, and opera companies around the world.

Each SoftSymbol lighting resource is a hybrid symbol [consisting of a 2D and 3D component] attached to a Spotlight Light Info Record [LIR.] The 2D component is how the lighting symbol appears in groundplan view, like a drafted light plot. The 3D component is how the same lighting symbol appears as a three-dimensional shape in isometric, or other 3D views.

The LIR contains default beam spread, color frame size, wattage, and weight information (along with a second LIR specifically to address metric scale.) Using the Data Exchange structure, data specific to each lighting device [including channel, color, and circuitry information, for example] can be automatically and instantaneously synched with Lightwright®.

SoftSymbols Categories:

Legacy Packs: Old-school symbols built in Vectorworks 2010 (and back-saved to Vectorworks 2008.) All the 3D components are "frozen," and in any 3D view, only point "upstage."

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2011-2015: These symbols have been built in Vectorworks 2011, and contain fixtures, devices, and updates that have been introduced since 2010. They're "enhanced" symbols, because the 3D components contain the Parts Record, providing them with  Focus Functionality® - in any 3D view, the lighting device automatically rotates and aims towards an assigned Spotlight Focus Point.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2016: These packs contain the same symbols as the Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2011. but they're upgraded for the Vectorworks 2016 environment. All applicable 3D components retain Vw2011 Focus Functionality®, but each object  library is segmented, so the new Spotlight Instrument Tool can properly display symbols in the new Pop-up Thumbnail Resource Window.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2017: These packs contain upgraded versions of the Vectorworks 2011 resources, with updated Parts Record in the Vectorworks 2017 environment. All applicable 3D components retain Vw2011 Focus Functionality®, but each object library is recombined - this allows the new Resource Manager to display more complete resource names, while the Spotlight Instrument Tool still reveals the Pop-up Thumbnail Resource Window.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2018-2020: These packs contain the same symbols as the Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2017, but they're upgraded for the Vectorworks 2018 environment. All resources retain Vw2011 Focus Functionality®, but on top of that, special data sauce is added to each resource, streamlining the workflow from Spotlight to Vision.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2021: These packs contain the same symbols as the Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2018, but they're upgraded for the Vectorworks 2021 environment. All resources have the 2021 Parts Record attached to them, which contains the sixth Emitter data field.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2022: These packs are designed in the Vectorworks 2022 environment. All resources retain Vw2011 Focus Functionality® established within the Vw2017 environment. The 2022 Light Info Record also provides additional metric color frame size, power connector, and GDTF data fields.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2023: These packs are designed in the Vectorworks 2023 environment. All applicable 3D components retain Vw2017 Focus Functionality®, along with the special data that streamlines workflow from Spotlight to Vision. The 2023 Light Info Record also includes new data fields for Voltage, Source Wattage, LED Color Temperature, Signal Connector, and GDTF Type ID.

Enhanced Packs for Vectorworks 2024: These packs are designed in the Vectorworks 2024 environment. All applicable 3D components retain Vw2017 Focus Functionality®, along with the special data that streamlines workflow from Spotlight to Vision. The 2024 Light Info Record adds new data information for DeviceBody and DeviceLens, allowing resources to be subdivided within the new Vw2024 Equipment Lists feature.

SoftSymbols Versions:

SoftSymbols Version 3 Package is a complete package (consisting of 33 manufacturers plus bonus libraries) built in Vectorworks 2010. The symbols have not been updated since 2010. The object libraries do NOT contain the "Parts Record" - the 3D components are frozen and point in only one direction. Because of this fundamental 3D distinction, all Version 3 object libraries are in the Legacy category. Version 3 Packages are available in Vectorworks 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2016. The Vw2016 Package is restructured to utilize the 2016 Spotlight Instrument Tool and Pop-up Thumbnail Resource Window.

SoftSymbols Version 3.x Packs: These packs are divided into individual object libraries for each manufacturer, containing fixtures, devices, and updates introduced since 2010. Version 3.9 Packs are the most recent updates.

SoftSymbols Version 4.x Packs: These packs are divided into individual object libraries for each manufacturer, containing fixtures, devices, and updates introduced since 2010. Version 4.0 Packs are the most recent updates, and all 3D components have been converted to Generic Solids to reduce overall file size.

  • The LEGACY Packs have been built in Vectorworks 2010 [and back-saved to Vectorworks 2008]. They have no Focus Functionality.
  • The ENHANCED  2011 Packs have been built in Vectorworks 2011, and contain fixtures that have been released since 2010. To see what fixtures are contained in each of the object libraries, click on the linked ”Description” next to each product.
  • The ENHANCED for Vw2016 and beyond Packs have been upgraded to the post-Vectorworks 2015 environments. All applicable 3D components retain the Vw2011 Focus Functionality®. But each object library is restructured, so that the new Spotlight Instrument Insertion Tool reveals the Pop-up Thumbnail Resource Window. The Vw2017 Packs are streamlined for EZ export to Vision!

SoftSymbol Licencing:

In addition to Packages and Packs, SoftSymbols are available for purchase as Educational Side Licenses.

Sidebar: Pitch from the Marketing Department about SoftSymbols™

SOFTSYMBOLS are the MOST COMPLETE and UNIFIED symbol libraries on the market! It has the MOST symbols (over 6000 and counting), it has the CLEANEST SYMBOLS, and it’s all based on the FIELD TEMPLATE!

Look at these features:

  • SoftSymbols™ include Data Conversion Plug-ins; ONE SET of symbols can be used in either either Imperial or Metric scales!
  • SoftSymbols™ include SoftData©, PDF spreadsheets that display the data extracted directly from each resource.
  • SoftSymbols™ include SoftMaps©, PDF drawings that display all the symbols in each object library.
  • SoftSymbols™ V3 includes Shelley's Section Collection, the 2D symbols that exist nowhere else.
  • SoftSymbols™ V3 more than doubles the number of symbols in other fixture libraries.
  • SoftSymbols™ V3 includes updated web page & contact info for every manufacturer.
  • SoftSymbols™ reflects complete manufacturer’s product lines.
  • SoftSymbols™ symbols don’t contain a lot of extra lines.
  • SoftSymbols™ doesn’t need no stinkin’ color cartridges!

On top of that--compare the presentation:

When you open most Spotlight Object Library documents, you're presented with a Resource Browser in a blank document. There's ..... nothing in the document. NOTHING. So you can't compare one symbol to another, or gauge a symbol’s relative size.

Heck, up until Vw2016, the only way to even LOOK at most Spotlight symbols is to either change the Resource Browser’s view to "Thumbnail" or start pasting symbols into the document.

Compare a SoftSymbols™ Object Library to a default Spotlight Object Library and see the difference. (And these graphics are generous. The images show SoftSymbols™ versus Spotlight symbols. In reality, a true comparison is SoftSymbols™ graphics and symbols against a blank slate!)

Disclaimer:

All SoftSymbol libraries, regardless of category or version, do NOT include any version of Vectorworks®. Simply put; if you do not possess a copy of Vectorworks, don't purchase these libraries.

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