Field Templates

Field Template Dealers

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™ Concept

The Field Template '07 uses the patented Pro•Trak 50 System. All of the symbols are spaced 1'-6" apart, and aligned on a single horizontal axis (like a batten.)

So drafting is made simple:

Trace a symbol.
Slide the template so that the traced symbol appears in the adjacent hole.
Trace the same symbol again. The two symbols are now pre-spaced 1'-6" apart.

On top of that, Field Template '07 shows the weight, cut color size, and beam spread for every symbol stamped right into the plastic. And the four black dots surrounding each symbol allow you to draft matching instruments at a 45-degree angle without a triangle.

But wait. There's more. Lots more.

Not only have all of the symbols been carefully redesigned to reduce lead breakage.

Not only have the number of lighting symbols been expanded, providing a larger variety of Ellipsoidals (ETC's Source Four and Altman's Shakespeare series), Vari*Lites, and Fresnels.

Not only are there circuitry symbols, twofer symbols, a scaled boom base, and color scrollers, reducing dependence on other templates.

But this outstanding assemblage of unparalleled perception has been packaged into a single plastic appliance.

Freedom from scale rules, T-squares, and parallel rules. Freedom from other templates required to draft circuitry or auxiliary symbols. Freedom from charts and lists to calculate weight, color, and beam spread cut sheets. Put this rocket in your pocket and draft anywhere cleaner, faster, and smarter.

Accepted payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, and American Express