# Introducing Drafty



## Drafty App

Greetings!

I've been developing a new cloud based CAD tool for lighting, sound, and projection designers. We are currently in Beta with a scheduled launch date of January 25th. 

I am hoping to truly serve the entertainment industry. As such Drafty has been built from the ground up to be fast, intuitive, and responsive. Light plots can be generated in half the time it takes in traditional CAD programs. Pricing is available annually and monthly to fit your budget.

I hope you will give it a try and sincerely hope you like what we do. Any and all feedback is welcome.

https://drafty-app.com/


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## theatricalmatt

Hmm. Only available on Chrome and Safari right now. That would be worth mentioning up front.


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## Drafty App

As mentioned above you must currently use the Chrome or Safari browser for https://drafty-app.com/

We hope to add support for Firefox in the near future.


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## Thetechmanmac

Seems pretty neat. I wish I could export the plot with the trial. I would like to know if I can export to a PDF then print to ledger paper... Would be a deal breaker if thats not possible in the paid version. I also wish there was a way to designate a top and bottom pipe (same electric) for cyc lights.

BUT:
Coming from someone who has never done any CAD work before (although I have seen some plots) partly because I knew vectorworks is expensive and pretty difficult for someone new to wrap their head around, it was very easy for me to get something going. I have already made a plot for my venue.
I will be interested to see what happens when the app officially launches, and may possibly purchase a subscription for a few months.


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## Drafty App

Thanks!

If you could print to PDF with the trial why would you buy? 

To answer your questions, YES you can output to PDF (currently PNG but we are still in Beta) at any of the Scales and Sizes available on the Border Layer. ALSO, we offer a 30 day free trial with all subscriptions so you can test it yourself without any financial risk.

As to your CYC question there are two ways to do this.
1) Make Two Pipes one named 'CYC Top' and one named 'CYC Bot' and add your strips.
2) Use the Truss Object (The [Pipe] button becomes [Truss] when you hold down Opt/Alt) although the numbering might get a little awkward.


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## Thetechmanmac

Drafty App said:


> we offer a 30 day free trial with all subscriptions so you can test it yourself without any financial risk.



Okay thanks I'll have to give it a try then when Drafty pro comes out.


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## Drafty App

You can subscribe now. The 'Beta' plan is the 'Pro' plan with introductory pricing. Subscribing before launch will lock in that price for a year. Prices go up with launch. But you are welcome to wait so you can give us more money.


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## SteveB

Doesn't want to run on Safari on an iPad Air


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## Amiers

Neat little program. I think a monthly 10$ sub for beta testing is a bit much though. You would get better reception if you offered a closed beta to students and designers. Then go straight into V1. Would save time with the Beta testing, instead of having to plug all the websites and forums and hope you get a big enough pool of people to hit those beta benchmarks.


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## Drafty App

We had a private Beta to develop the core product. The public Beta is to give people the opportunity to pay a lower price before it launches and reach out to a wider pool than my friends.


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## Drafty App

SteveB said:


> Doesn't want to run on Safari on an iPad Air



Thanks for the heads up! First read this as Macbook Air. No, it is not designed as a mobile application so you will need a laptop or desktop running Safari or Chrome. Mobile Safari is actually a *very* different browser than Safari under the hood. I'll add a notice on the website for people.

That said we do hope to offer an iPad friendly version in the future.


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## Pie4Weebl

As someone who deals in mainly moving lights, it's a little frustrating to have to "add ers, change type to mover, and the pick a mover". It would be nice if there was a "last used" option to add. Also it needs more movers and more side/ front views of them before I would use it.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to tweak things in my title block.

In a previous post you mentioned you could make a pipe into a truss, but I can't seem to find that...

Otherwise, I am impressed with what you've made.


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## Thetechmanmac

Mouse over to add object then hold down shift to turn the ERS button into a mover button. Hold down option(alt) to get a truss from the pipe button. 

Page 8 in the guide


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## Drafty App

Pie4Weebl said:


> As someone who deals in mainly moving lights, it's a little frustrating to have to "add ers, change type to mover, and the pick a mover". It would be nice if there was a "last used" option to add. Also it needs more movers and more side/ front views of them before I would use it.
> 
> I'm having a hard time figuring out how to tweak things in my title block.
> 
> In a previous post you mentioned you could make a pipe into a truss, but I can't seem to find that...
> 
> Otherwise, I am impressed with what you've made.




Thanks for the compliment!

Truss objects can be made by holding down the Alt/Opt key which turns the [Pipes] button into a [Truss] button.

Last used is absolutely on our feature list. To speed things up right now try the 'L' key which will drop a Light at the cursor point. If you hold down the Cmd key it will populate with a Mover rather than an ERS. Likewise Shift-L is a PAR and Opt-L is a Striplight.

Expanding the Movinglight library is high on our list. You also have the option of using the 'Key' field on a selected light to change its name in the Instrument Key. I will be adding generic fixtures to accommodate items not currently in our library.

Most titleblock items are just text that you can doubleclick on the edit. For our 1.0 version the only major 'styling' options are turning the 'Typical Unit' into a 'General Notes' field. Adding style options is absolutely on our list.


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## Pie4Weebl

Drafty App said:


> Thanks for the compliment!
> 
> Truss objects can be made by holding down the Alt/Opt key which turns the [Pipes] button into a [Truss] button.
> 
> Last used is absolutely on our feature list. To speed things up right now try the 'L' key which will drop a Light at the cursor point. If you hold down the Cmd key it will populate with a Mover rather than an ERS. Likewise Shift-L is a PAR and Opt-L is a Striplight.
> 
> Expanding the Movinglight library is high on our list. You also have the option of using the 'Key' field on a selected light to change its name in the Instrument Key. I will be adding generic fixtures to accommodate items not currently in our library.
> 
> Most titleblock items are just text that you can doubleclick on the edit. For our 1.0 version the only major 'styling' options are turning the 'Typical Unit' into a 'General Notes' field. Adding style options is absolutely on our list.



Also, can you make 8.5 x 11 a page size? And with it being cloud based, what are the sharing options and will multiple people ever be able to work on a file at once?


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## Drafty App

Pie4Weebl said:


> Also, can you make 8.5 x 11 a page size? And with it being cloud based, what are the sharing options and will multiple people ever be able to work on a file at once?



ANSI A is 8.5X11.

Because we save files to gDrive you can use the sharing features built into Drive to share with collaborators. So you and your Electricians can work on the same file throughout the tech process. No need to sync files, link or re-link files, everything is contained in one easily editable .drafty file. And the Database Manager calculates instrument totals and color cuts/sheets in real time as you work. We do not encourage real time simultaneous editing (like with Google Docs) at this point. Not that you can't try, just that it is not officially supported and may cause confusions.


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## AsherSB

I know it would be a lot of work, but a good iPad app would make this an instant buy. Having simple CAD capabilities on me and on almost any computer via browser would be a game changer.


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## Drafty App

I'll keep an eye on things here to take feedback and answer questions, but it may make sense to move general program questions over to our user forum. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/drafty


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## Drafty App

Drafty, a streamlined cloud-based CAD tool for lighting, sound, and video designers has made its official 1.0 launch.

Drafty outputs high-quality paperwork in less time than traditional CAD programs. It ships with a library of hundreds of scale-accurate lighting, sound, video, and scenic symbols. With industry-specific tools that always draw objects to the correct layer, the designer’s focus is design, not layer management. Drafty provides two work views: the Drafting Table is a plan view for drawing, while the Database Manager provides a spreadsheet for quick data entry.
Features include:

Smart Pipes auto-number fixtures as the user adds, moves, or deletes items
Smart Dimensions update in real-time
Instrument Key auto-updates while the user drafts
Predictive auto-complete in Database Manager
Real-time color counts and instrument totals
Drafty integrates into classroom settings naturally. Sophisticated auto-layout features teach young designers page design and organization principles. Drafty’s intuitive controls allow for a more apples-to-apples comparison during critiques. As intuitive as pencil & paper, lighting crits can focus on the design, not on how fast a student masters layer and class controls.
_“Drafty is shaping up to be the go-to piece of software for lighting design, with easy import from PDFs and none of the complication of CAD, it creates the middle ground between CAD and drafting by hand we have all been waiting for.”_
Bryan Wallbridge - Technical Manager, Bath Spa University School of Music and Performing Arts​
Drafty is available now at https://drafty-app.com, where users can log in for a free trial. Monthly or annual subscriptions are available. Drafty offers institutional site licenses for educational and professional organizations.


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## Drafty App

Greetings!

https://drafty-app.com just released its 1.1 version today and we have a brand new Signal Flow/Patch tool for Audio and Video designers. When you log-in hold down the Shift key while pressing the Audio button or Shift-C. The Audio button or the 'C' key will make a speaker object. Then it is just as simple as connect the dots.

This is a new tool and in active development so we are always grateful and eager for feature requests and improvement ideas. We want to make the best tool for you that is possible.

Enjoy!


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## Drafty App

"_For many of the tasks you need to do every day when generating lighting plans or audio or video schematics, Drafty offers incredibly elegant, powerful solutions - elegant because they have been so well thought out by people who do the same things you do, powerful because they almost always just do the the thing you would expect (or, at least, hope!) they would do._"

More here…
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=b7ce5ff4-ac4f-4377-8425-e8a2a97d925a (need to be a subscriber to read)


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