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SpotTrack User Guide 1.36

1. The bottom check box is used to indicate that that cue should start on a new page in printed cuesheets useful when starting a new act Colour This is usually a colour frame number or numbers You enter this information by typing the relevant frame number Size This is the size the spot should be for the pick up You can type anything here or click on one of the Size Shortcut buttons you have previously created Intensity This is the intensity the spot should fade up to You can type a numeric value here or use the on screen Intensity shortcut buttons SpotTrack can show an up or down arrow to indicate whether the cue is fading the spot up or down These arrows will only show if you have checked Show Level Change Arrows on the Main screen Note that in some cases particularly on older slower computers having this option on can slow down scrolling through the cue list so you may wish to turn it off while making rapid edits Vou ET Show Level Change Arrows 440 Time This is the time for the spot s cue Each spot has its own cue time or you can just leave the cue time blank You can enter a time by clicking in the field and typing the time in seconds SpotTrack will automatically add an s after the time SpotTrack v1 36 Page 29 SpotTrack Alternatively you can specify a time by pressing one of the three Time buttons at the bottom or top of the screen Cue Time will set the time for the current
2. opot numbers will be changed wherever they appear in SpotTrack on screen and in print outs v1 36 Page 12 Note Re numbering spots does not move any cue information about spots it is Setup Options SpotTrack effectively re labeling the spot columns in the cuesheet It is best done before starting work on a show You can swap information between spots using the Swap Spots buttons on the main screen see p37 Setup There are setup screens for show information the spot setup character setup cast setup cast pictures size shortcut setup and action shortcut setup you can get to these using the Setup buttons on the Main Screen or jump directly from setup screen to setup screen using the appropriate buttons v1 36 Page 13 Show Setup SpotTrack Show Setup lets you store information about the production show name lighting designer lighting team and so on The show name is the show name you specified when you purchased SpotTrack this cannot be changed The other information can be edited as required P enu setup se Show Name My Fair Lady Show Description USA Tour Show Date 2007 2008 Show Venue LJS Tour LD Lighting David Hersey Oliver Fenwick Rob Halliday Assistant LD Assistant LD Matt Roper Caller 8 g o a 3 a E Venue US Tour Show Big Logo Track Version US Tour September 07 Track Date Sat Sep 15 2007 You can switch between fields by clicking
3. User Guide 1 36 August 2012 6 SpotTrack C Contents di i1 4 VANNS NN 4 Go ee EE NIN NP HISNI SUN 4 OONO M o 4 NON TN 4 NEVO QUOC ON er oen EEE T EE 5 SS THINS OUING RE 6 Downloading SpotTrack cccccccccseeeeeeeeeeeseeeeseeeeeseeeeeaeeeeeas 6 Running Spot acK erisir iE 7 Purchasing SBOLTITACK errereen Deor een 7 Trying SOU ACM ss 8 TNINGS TO NOTE E 9 NOV Nr 10 1 5 RE 12 Specifying The Number of Followspots 12 Specifying The Followspot Layout 12 Sol COONS ecco aired oRPA A AR 13 TV SN 14 DO SE UID EEE EE 15 ATEN 16 eq EE 18 Importing Cast InfOrmatiOn ccccseccccseeeeseeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeees 19 ET M uic RERUM 20 Size Setup accuse ERAS NDHLSENN IE EANUREUSIERUDA SIRE TRRPELEEA URINE NUS 22 ACIONO cio m 24 Working With Cues eere eene nne 26 ENN 27 Cue Information rrrarernarernnrernnrennnnernnneransnnnnennnnenvunensunennene 28 Navigating The CUElS Luvvervrsrretmndpeseemdeen 32 Editing Shortcut Buttons rrrrnnrrrnnnrrrnnnrnrnnrrnnnnnnnnnnenvnnnennnn 33 Bold Gal dele camis tervRMEATRES EEUU E ERUDITI ET TR IMEURS 33 PINNE 33 Bold Levels rranrnnrnnnnnnrnnnnannnnrnannannnnnnnrnnnnnnrnnrnnnnnnennennnnnennn 33 mci a E TUM 33 Glear Formati MU UT 34 Undomng Changos EE 34 Page 2 NOLO Pee 35 IMIG NOTES ccc
4. font is used on screen and on all printed cuesheets SpotTrack v1 36 Page 33 Clear Formatting You can apply formatting to cue sheet text manually using the standard formatting tools However note that SpotTrack tries to adapt its text sizes to give the maximum amount even on different sized cuesheets Manually applied formatting for example setting a font size to 36 over rides this and SO causes problems when printing these cuesheets The Clear Formatting button removes any manually applied formatting from the selected cue Undoing Changes You can undo the most recent changes you ve made to a cue by selecting Edit gt Undo Typing or pressing 3 Z Mac or ctrl Z PC You can undo the most recent changes you ve made to a cue as a whole by pressing the Undo button in the Intensity Shortcut button box or selecting Cues gt Revert Cue Editing Setup Options Don t Hide Blank Cues Inverted Level Change Arrows SpotTrack There are three options you can set which affect how you see spot cue sheets as you edit them which have already been mentioned above Don Hide Blan Cues nverted Show Level Change Arrows Don Change Spot Cue Num m If checked SpotTrack will only show you cues which have an entry for the particular spot or spots you have chosen to look at plus cues which are set as scene break cues If unchecked SpotTrack will show you all of the cues you have created even if
5. or using the tab key to step between them shift tab to move backwards Name fields should have the job title specified in full as you wish it to appear ie Lighting Jean Rosenthal rather than just Jean Rosenthal This lets you specify the job titles as you prefer The Show Big Logo and Small Logo fields are intended for show logo graphics The small logo is used in the top left corner of cue sheets and on screen the big logo is used for the cover sheets of printed cue sheets You can either paste graphics into these fields or use the lt button to select image files and the x buttons to clear the fields v1 36 Page 14 Spot Setup SpotTrack Spot Setup lets you store information about the configuration of your followspots the spot type its position or other description its colour magazine type and colour load and the operator s name This screen will only show the number of spots you currently have set as the number of active spots Setup Assistant LD Assistant LD Matt Roper Caller Spot Caller Bo Ruff Venue US Tour No of Active Spots 2 Spot 1 Op Spot 2 Op Bo Selecta Description FOH C Description FOH SR Type RJ Aramis Type RJ Aramis Colours 1 236 HMI to Tungsten Colours 1 236 HMI to Tungsten 2 202 Half CT Blue 2 202 Half CT Blue 3 237 CID to Tungsten 3 237 CID toTungsten 4 205 CT Orange 4 205 CT Orange 5 238 CSI to Tungsten 5 238 CSI to Tungsten 6 R54 Lavendar 6 R54 Laven
6. 37 SWSDBIHO SPS 4 37 ea IO ct 38 7 WING OWS saa NOEN 39 NNN 39 CCH LS aaa 40 8 DING eT TET LI Spot Cue Sheet Printing Setup suessuusss 41 PING GUC SNES uei eerte pede dd na eeiam e todas 44 Master Cue Sigel ausser a o Dota PSOE rdi bes us 45 Gast PIGIUEBS io rtt oe ab lbs e ela A cp e os fet 46 oIZe ADDIeVISHOEiS crcire E 46 P SE Ne 46 NOE NSR 46 A General Note On Printing eeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeee 47 9 CUS LIST Irmpor ng the Que LS ae 48 Navigating Around The Cue List sseseeessse 50 10 gu m DO SD OUI FOG erna siste cie dtedtinitelabtdese id eM HCM Uus 52 Specifying The Followspot Layout 52 Show Only FL Out In Printed Spot Cuesheets 53 Clearing SpotTrack Completely 53 Partially Clearing SpotTrack rrrnnrrnnnrnnnnrnranernanennnnennnnennn 54 SPOUT LACK IMOMAT EE ve i mcam 54 FEID epee mets C C MH ee 54 COCK DISDIAY vassere adr 54 AM IT 54 11 File Recovery iunii idviee i vehe bo ev beer Peer e eaten adu 2007 12 pdatnng SpoTIIGC Krcina EGAN Behind INe SCENES vange 57 Lont REE e AEG 57 E goed fol cd dem SpotTrack Page 3 Versions Copyright Contact Show Credit SpotTrack P Preamble SpotTrack manual v1 36 issued August 8t
7. Fade off Barman our Fade off on Where s Eliza Eliza entrance 4 5 H 8 70 Eliza on entrance USC Eliza exit Fade off on ext Spot 1 THEN FAST FOH C Jamie Cronie pick up 4 5 H B 60 Jamie Cronie RJ Aramis Colour Maga i yag x 53 53 Fade off Cronies Pio m 1 236HMI to Tungsten i 2 202HalfCT Blue 3 237 CID to Tungsten 4 205 CT Orange m Reduce level with start of bin 5 238CSlto Tungsten e Nadonce ance 6 R54 Lavendar 58 58 3 As song starts up again 60 Build as song starts up again Frost in dipstick T 62 52 Scene change starts Fade off as he is moves off C I 66 656 As curtains open LX 66 3 H B 55 Higgins DSR with LX66 SpotTrack Printed wed Sec 30 2009 amp 42pm rack Version US To r September 07 rack Date Sat Sep 15 2007 Pa 9e 2 SpotTrack Printed Wed Sep 30 2009 6 42pm Track Version US Tour September 07 Track Date Sat Sep 15 2007 Page 2 Once you have set the options press either the print button for the particular spot you wish to print or the All button to print all of the spot cue sheets Cue sheets are printed with a cover sheet showing the spot s operator and set up Each page has a page number and also shows the track version it was printed from and the date and time the cue sheet was printed which can help with version management while teching a show A5 cuesheets do not have the spot set up printed on the cover s
8. file to import the information from You can use the Show pop up to limit the type of files you can select Once you ve selected a file you can decide how the information from your file is imported into SpotTrack v1 36 Page 19 Cast Pics SpotTrack Import Field Mapping Source Cast List xls Target Current Table Characters Hd Source Fields Target Fields Eliza Char Name Lisa Actor First Name O Hare Actor Last Name Actor Name As One For Import Char Pic 1 Notes Char Pic 2 Notes Char Picture 1 Char Picture 2 Global Text 1 Global Text 2 lt lt gt gt Record 1 of 2 Arrange by custom import order E Import Action Field Mapping 9 Add new records gt Import this field Don t import this field p Match records based on this field Update matching records in found set x Target cannot receive data Update existing records in found set Add remaining data as new records Manage Database Don t import first record contains field names Cancel Import Drag the target fields up and down so that they match the information in your file SpotTrack tries to store actor first and last names separately if your file has them together Fred Smith instead of Fred Smith import that name into the field Actor Name As One For Import SpotTrack will split the name into first and last name after it has import
9. m 32060001 jpg e BR 32080002 jpg E 32080004 ipg EA 32080005 jpg E 9 9 03 C Germany EQ 32080006 jpg En 32080007 jpg ff 32080008 jpg n n 32080009 jpg M Y MA 32080010 jpg a Show All Available f Store only a reference to the file ZA SpotTrack v1 36 Page 21 Size Setup SpotTrack Note You should normally leave Store only a reference to the file unchecked so that SpotTrack inserts a copy of the picture If you do check this option SpotTrack will only reference the original file This will keep your SpotTrack files more compact but will also mean that if you later move the picture file it may no longer be displayed in SpotTrack You can repeat the process to replace a photograph or use the x button next to a picture to remove it from SpotTrack There is space below each picture to add a brief note for that picture In some professional productions there may be copyright or other contractual issues with using cast pictures in this way You should check with your company manager or theatre administration prior to using cast pictures in SpotTrack A Setup Setup Setup Size to Add Short Currently Known Sizes L J Long F B Full Body x H B Half Body X SIZE SHORTCUT SETUP 5 PIN Pinspot x EE Mn BO ihi Madden 73 SLOSS Es Ex EG test test long rambly test that goes on and on forever x As with the Character Shortcut buttons SpotTra
10. s name or the colour set up of the spot You can open this window using the Spot Info button in the Main Screen s Windows section MOM MyFair Lady Spot Information Spot 1 Spot 2 Close FOH C FOH SR Sese Fred Bo Selecta RJ Aramis RJ Aramis Colour Magazine Colour Magazine 236HMI to Tungsten 1 236HMI to Tungsten 2 202 Half CT Blue 2 202 Half CT Blue 3 237 CID to Tungsten 3 237 CID toTungsten 4 205 CT Orange 4 205 CT Orange 5 238 CSI to Tungsten 5 238 CSI to Tungsten 6 R54 Lavendar 6 R54 Lavendar Frost in dipstick Frost in dipstick SpotTrack v1 36 Page 39 Cue List It can often be useful for the spot caller to have an up to date lighting cue list particularly to cross reference cue numbers with SpotTrack can import the show cue list from FocusTrack which in turn can import it from Strand 300 500 ETC Eos family or MA grandMA consoles see p48 for details of how to import the cue list With the cue list imported you can open the cue list window using the Cue List button in the Main Screen s Windows section or the Cue List button on any of the spot cue editing screens Main X Lis ser era sor o ur Era Newcue ibaie cueust Followspot kamel Mee elm Bee Mare DTP ENS Fade off dancing man B Won dras off as cloak is put around hrvvvvvvv 5m ma o OgAU AIA PA L ODo Zu oe ou LLL BB LL AALt L LLLALLOLOO6oococ Ya Ve Sep 29 2009 e IS mporled io 12 45 PM ER age qe ELA
11. should be able to get an idea of whether SpotTrack will be of use to you Every time you run SpotTrack in demo mode it will give you a chance to enter a registration code if you do so here you will be able to continue working with any cues you have already entered in SpotTrack v1 36 Page 8 3 Things To Note There are a couple of ways in which SpotTrack differs from other applications that you should be aware of e Each SpotTrack contains both the SpotTrack application and the opotTrack data file contained within one folder You should have a SpotTrack folder for each show you are using SpotTrack on opotTrack and FocusTrack work like this in an attempt to ensure that data remains accessible long term which can be important for shows with a long life whether they be hit musicals or drama opera or dance products that play in rep but may drop out of the rep only to re appear years later In some cases data associated with those shows has become unreadable old MacDraw files that nothing can now open for example We hope that by having the application with the data you ll have a better chance of being able to get into show data for a long time to come No saving You ll notice that there is no Save command in SpotTrack It is saving your data as you work hopefully to help avoid that catastrophic moment when the power goes out and you realise you haven t saved for the last three critical hours of tech Be careful th
12. show you wish to use SpotTrack on You can re name the folder My Fair Lady SpotTrack and can store that folder wherever is convenient on your hard drive You should not change the names of the files it contains Se aam anma MFL Les Mis SpotTrack SpotTrack v1 36 Page 6 Running SpoltTrack To run SpotTrack double click on the SpotTrack file on a Mac or the SpotTrack exe file on a PC Purchasing SpotTrack To run SpotTrack you need to purchase a SpotTrack licence which you can do via the website www spottrack co uk A SpotTrack licence costs 45 To purchase a licence you will need to specify the Registered User Registered Show and Show Venue for SpotTrack The registered show should be the show name My Fair Lady the venue could be the venue name or some other description such as UK Tour Each SpotTrack licence is valid for one show only think of SpotTrack as a consumable like colour filters or lightbulbs Once you have registered and paid you will receive a Registration Code by email which will enable SpotTrack for that show Note that this code is generated by a human being and so may not appear instantaneously Why do you have to purchase SpotTrack for each show Because by doing SO you and your venue are supporting two fantastic lighting charities Light Relief in the UK and The ESTA Foundation s Behind The Scenes in North America you get to choose which
13. sze lint picku col sze lint pickup H ins ond Pickering ext estore O 50 i I 285 2 133 G 5 7B Maox Elizo os 500 as pilors DSL ore clear 35 35 Eliza on throne USR HIS Mis in as she goes up to throne ke Jee od cong Vs As Eiza F I As Eizo exits DSL four Fade off o her exit SL 27 27 Higgins ond Pickering exit A Exe Fe exits through pillars i Eliza exits Pub Interior m Higgins Higgins and Pickering MSI DSR l i pillars ar 41 4 Dooitfie and Borman 4 5 H Bf oX Barman USC 281 Covent Garden FL Pickering 282 lit up on Higgins and Iris ov 412 Fade off Barman POUT fade oft on Where s Eizo Pickering a 5 Higgins ond Pickering e Fode off m Eliza Uf 42 42 Eizo entrance 4 5 H B 70 Gare on enrance USC 34 34 Dancing man 5 H B 30 Man dancing with Eliza CS I Fade off o ext Fade off Fade off loai THEN FAST Em 422 Jorie Crorie pick up 4 5 H 8 GEO Jamie Cronie 39 1 As Elza exits DSL H 40 Pub Interior 53 Iroda Fade off with LX 53 THEN FAST 41 41 Doofitle and Barman 4 5 H 8 FL Doolittle at piano MSR Doolittle DSC when pub is 53 1 5 H 8 60 Hayan P Pub Exterior 1 haltwoy in Fade off Barman 532 z is out to include J ee te Doottestscs Eliza entrance enten Eliza e Jamie wi 4 poa olour 5 SLOW ind lower 53 1 Pub Exterior OUT Fade oft wnen pubis fulyin 58 58 Angry Women or n Printing is controlled from SpotTrack s Main Scre
14. will be inserted in bold when toggled off character names will be inserted in normal text You can change the formatting manually at any time after the text has been inserted SpotTrack v1 36 Page 17 Cast List SpotTrack Jaime Cronie SpotTrack can store additional information about the Characters entered in Character setup for example the name of the cast member playing that part the name of the understudy covering that part the track name for that character SpotTrack can also store pictures of the character see Cast Pics below In the Cast List area you can enter information about Characters and can also add new characters Characters entered here will appear in the Char Setup screen and be available to assign to Character Shortcut buttons You can add characters by pressing the New Char button or delete characters using the Del Char button riesce luget You can navigate around this list by clicking in a field using tab and shift tab to move right or left across a character You can also sort by a field the character name for example by clicking on the title of that column Harry Cronie or you can look at just a particular thing a particular character name for example by clicking on the Find button above that column then specifying what you re looking for Doolittle Find Character Eliza mE Freddie Find which character Harry C
15. 1 Pub Exterior 95 Study 135 Ascot 155 Wimpole St 163 Study 177 Balroom 207 Study 225 Wimpole Street 23 Tube Station 237 Covent Garden v Eliza exit Jamie Cronie pick up With a little bit vert UVYVEFFEVVVVVEVVEEEEEEVVVEVEVEEVEVEVVVVEVEV EVE VY VY Y ENT Pub Exterior Bin dance This will pop up a list of scene names select one of these and opotTrack will jump to that point in the cuelist The Scene Names in this list are cues marked as Scene Breaks ie with the top break selector box checked Editing Shortcut Buttons You can change the set up of your shortcut buttons at any time by hitting the Setup button next to each set of shortcuts Bold Characters The Bold Chars button next to the Character Setup button toggles on or off When toggled on character names will be inserted in bold You can over write the formatting manually at any time Bold Action The Bold Action button next to the Action Setup button toggles on or off When toggled on actions will be inserted in bold You can over write the formatting manually at any time Bold Levels The Bold Levels button toggles on or off When toggled on all intensities will be shown in bold in the on screen displays and printed cuesheets Fat Font The Fat Font button toggles on or off When toggled on cue sheet text is rendered in a fatter font which some users prefer With this toggle on this
16. CA Games pret Gut TUE Ts Gs TOR AT T vr zl O00 91 1 7 7 o 98 T Lite 5 e 0 LIU 94 TRANSITION 7 7 HE miu BUILD 12 12 L1 7 7 OO Higgins to SL on balc 6 9 2 OO Higgins down stairs 10 10 o Move to DS line 10 15 OO Eliza enters 8 8 LIU Doolittle goes 12 15 L1 Mrs P leaves 7 12 OO Higgins goes upstairs 8 8 OG Just You W 35 LIC B B For more on using the Cue List display see Cue List on p48 SpotTrack v1 36 Page 40 8 Printing SpotTrack can print separate cue sheets for each followspot and also master spot calling sheets with the cues for all of the followspots designed for a spot caller to work from The individual spot cue sheets are designed to work on A4 or US letter sized or legal sized paper The master calling sheets work better on bigger paper eg A3 or US legal YB My Fair Lady 55 ollowspet 2 Bo Selecta Ix Q Q cue col size in pickup Build level with applause tor 2 Ende 24 4 End of song 5 N S Why Can t The Engish M As Eizo stands H B Mos iris out os she stands 27 27 1 Eten exits Fade off os she moves US Lighting David Hersey between pilars KEEP FOLLOWING Y My Fair Lady USA Tour 2007 2008 dd tame i it Frad Followspot 2 FOH SR Bo Selecta Followspot 3 FOH SL Jane Followspot 4 BEAMLIGHT SR 28 ex Covent Garden Mrs Pearce KG col size lint picky col
17. Page 37 Saving SpotTrack SpotTrack automatically saves your work as it goes along to prevent lost information if your computer crashes the power goes out or some other bad event happens This is a good thing unless you normally keep different versions by working on a cue sheet then saving it as a different version using Save As If you want to keep a copy of an older cuesheet you should make a copy of the SpotTrack file and rename it as an older version before starting to make changes The Version Notes field in the Main Screen provides a convenient place to note which version a particular SpotTrack is SpotTrack can help with version management by highlighting cues that you ve created or modified since a date you specify when printing cue sheets allowing you to call the spot ops attention to changes See p43 for more information v1 36 Page 38 7 Windows SpotTrack has some auxiliary windows that can be opened alongside the main cue list showing information useful while creating or editing cues Windows Spot Info Notepad Notepad You may wish to quickly jot down more general notes than the Notes button allows SpotTrack lets you keep a separate notepad open in a separate window from the Main Screen s Windows section select Notepad eoo Spot Info SpotTrack lets you keep the information about the followspot set up on view in a separate window which can be useful when remembering an operator
18. Ward Lighting Rob Halliday amp Oliver Fenwick from the original by David Hersey More information at www myfairladythemusical com The spot cue sheets were created in early versions of SpotTrack by Matt Roper Thanks also to the other SpotTrack beta testers particularly Dan Walker Ellie Wright Anna Mac Kristina Kloss Mary Reed v1 36 Page 4 1 Introduction SpotTrack is a tool for creating and managing followspot cue sheets for shows with one to four followspots It is designed to be quick to learn easy to use and to both simplify many common tasks in managing followspots and to reduce the amount of typing you have to do In particular it allows you to work on each spot s cue sheet in isolation or with multiple cue sheets side by side Switch quickly between cue sheets e define shortcut buttons for things you type regularly character names sizes common instructions intensities store additional information about each spot type colour setup operator e store additional information about the cast character names character pictures cast names and more print spot sheets for each spot op and master spot calling sheets for the spot caller cue sheets can also highlight new or changed cues automatically if required print character contact sheets for spot ops perfect for introducing new spot ops or house spot ops meeting a touring show for the first time to the characters they will be followi
19. ation in other places such as VectorWorks Spotlight or Lightwright you can import that as well FocusTrack can automatically import show data from ETC Eos lon Gio MA grandMA and Strand 300 500 series consoles from that information it can figure out which conventional and moving lights are used where they re used which positions which cues and how they re used which colours and gobos You can then add other information written descriptions of the focus grid focuses Or you can use FocusTrack to control your lighting console switching lights on and moving them to the right positions for you to take pictures of the focuses that can then be brought in to FocusTrack to leave you with a complete comprehensive record of the show lighting It also produces a very nice cue list to which you can add pictures and which you can import into SpotTrack to give you something to work from while creating your spot cues Show lighting is complicated Keeping it looking right even more so Focus Track can help Why not give it a go on your next show www focustrack co uk v1 36 Page 58
20. can always get back here by pressing 3 0 on a Mac or Cirl 0 on a PC or by selecting Display gt Main Menu The Main Screen is divided into six principal areas A Editing creating and making changes to cue sheets See p26 B Printing printing cue sheets See p41 C Setup configuring SpotTrack with information about your spots your show your shortcuts and more See p12 D Windows Opening additional windows with other information a summary of your spot s setup a notepad for taking notes the cue list if you have imported it from FocusTrack See p39 E Control Information about SpotTrack and some setup options oee p52 F Version notes A place to quickly make note of where you are up to in the process of creating a show and which version of the spot cues SpotTrack currently contains preview 1 first night or whatever In general SpotTrack is navigated by clicking on a button to take you to the information you want to work on The most commonly used buttons also have keyboard shortcuts the most important of which are SpotTrack v1 36 Page 10 Mac 36 0 36 1 96 2 36 9 36 4 96 5 d6 N 36 E d6 O d6 L do shift 86 X d6 G PC ctrl O ctrl 1 ctrl 2 ctrl 4 ctrl 4 ctrl 5 ctrl N ctrl E ctrl O ctrl L ctrl Shift ctrl X ctrl G Action Return to the Main Screen Spot 1 s cuesheet Spot 2 s cuesheet Spot 3 s cuesheet Spot 4 s cuesheet All spot cuesheets Create a n
21. ch assigning Q numbers before you know the corresponding LX cue numbers As you start adding LX cue numbers in tech SpotTrack will replace the Q numbers with new numbers based on the LX cues Because the Q numbers define the order that cues appear things can get confusing Checking this box means SpotTrack leaves your Q numbers alone In normal use if you re starting a show from scratch in tech you should leave this unchecked The Notes button on the Main Screen lets you see edit and delete notes taken during the run of the show using the Spot Note and Caller Note buttons Each note will appear here along with the date and time the note was taken who the note was taken for spot number or caller a cue number for reference and the note itself A check box to the left of the note can be used v1 36 Page 35 to indicate that a note has been given or deal with if you do not actually want to delete the note You can also delete individual notes here by clicking in the note then pressing the Del Note button Main Show Notes Since SN L Note Caller Note i X Tue Sep 29 8 07 PM Er up sooner X Tue Sep 2 amp 08PM Be brighter Mark Shown As Given z tain learn Check colours in scene 7 L Tue Sep 29 8 22 PM 3 Need fo iris out a touch further catch hands Using the buttons at the top of each column you can sort by a particular column to see spot notes in spot order for example o
22. ck has six on screen Shortcut buttons intended for Sizes that you type regularly Full Body Half Body F B and so on SpotTrack allows you to use your own abbreviations You can also enter a longer explanation of the abbreviation F B Full Body and can print a glossary of these abbreviations for spot operators The six Size Shortcut buttons are set up just as Character Shortcut buttons are As with Character Shortcut buttons you can store more than six abbreviations and load different ones into the Shortcut buttons as required To add a size to the list type it into the Size to Add Short box and type a longer explanation if required into the Long box then press the button Size to Add Short H4 5S Long Head amp Shoulders The size and its longer description will now appear in the list of known sizes v1 36 Page 22 Currently Known Sizes F B Full Body x H B Half Body x PIN Pinspot x H 5 Head amp Shoulders too of head to mid chest off waist x SpotTrack will only allow each size to appear in the list once and will warn you if you try to add a size it already knows about To transfer a size to one of the Size Shortcut buttons click on the button A pop up list will show the full list of sizes pick the size you want for that button If you want to clear a Shortcut button press the x next to that button SIZE SHORTCUT SETUP You can delete individual sizes fro
23. ck health insurance and other financial support systems that are common for professionals in other fields Behind the Scenes helps industry members through crises such as serious illness injury or death by fitting each grant to the recipient s needs Funds can be used for medical care and living expenses such as rent mortgage utilities food transportation and child care Behind the Scenes is working to raise 5 million to create an endowment so our industry will be able to help our colleagues for many years into the future Please contribute today Any amount will be appreciated Every contribution will help Since May of 2006 Behind the Scenes has been providing grants to industry professionals or their surviving family members to assist in a variety of ways including short term living expenses such as food housing and utilities and assistance with medical bills health insurance physical therapy and medications SpotTrack Light Relief www lightrelief org uk Light Relief is a charity established by and for the entertainment lighting industry to help in times of extreme hardship Formed specifically to help theatre lighting designers and those working in the field who are not in regular full time employment Light Relief can provide either practical support or financial help depending on the individual need With Richard Pilbrow as Honorary Chairman Light Relief has a board of seven trustees all of whom work in the
24. click on the button A pop up list will show the full list of Actions pick the Action you want for that button If you want to clear a Shortcut button press the x next to that button ACTION SHORTCUT SETUP F den jx rss v1 36 Page 24 You can delete individual Actions from the Actions List by pressing the x button next to that Action If you want to you can delete all of the known Actions using the Delete All Actions button In both cases only the size list will be affected any cue sheet information you have already entered will not be changed SpotTrack Page 25 6 Working With Cues You can create and edit cues from the Editing section of the Main Screen No of Active Spots Editing a FOH SR FOH SL BEAMLIGHT SR RJ Aramis RJ Aramis RJ Aramis Superbeam 1200 Don t Hide Blank Cues inverted Show Level Change Arrows Don t Change Spot Cue Num m You can choose to work on cue sheets for one spot at a time or to see two or more spot cue sheets alongside each other by using the relevant buttons keyboard shortcuts or using the Display menu Ya s en seor z sooro soore n E ee fee New eve Jess Follov Basal ee ka pre ni fi pickup EEE EE i eee zi Miu En ome m eum Starting from empty you can create a new cue using the New Cue button the menu item Cues gt New Cue or the keyboard shortcut 3 N on a Mac or Ctrl N on a PC You can
25. console does not support part cues so you will not see any part cues when importing from that console As with SpotTrack cues you can also jump to specific cues or scenes using the Goto Cue or Goto Scene buttons EE Goto Scene Cue Text Up Tm Del Dn Tm Del Att Tm C Text Goto Cue l U l 1 ST PAUL S 16 COVENT GARDEN 28 l 2 TOTT CRT ROAD 40 PUB INTERIOR 41 PUB EXTERIOR 54 I 3 STUDY 65 J 4 STREET 90 5 STUDY 95 FLAME MACHINE 114 CUP OF TEA 119 MARBLES 121 6 ASCOT 135 7 ASCOT GAVOTTE 137 v v1 36 Page 50 You can also force SpotTrack to jump to a cue you have selected in Cue List using the Spots to Cue button EE I UN LN When you do not need to see the Cue List you can close it using the Close CueList button SpotTrack v1 36 Page 51 About SpofTrack 10 Control This will give you information about the SpotTrack you are using including the SpotTrack version the user and show that SpotTrack is registered to the charity it is Supporting and more This screen also allows you to clear all or parts of a SpotTrack This can be useful if you are creating a new SpotTrack based on an existing one particularly if you want to keep Size and Action shortcuts you have defined Specifying The Followspot Layout SpotTrack Note You can re arrange the order i
26. cue If there is already a time set for this spot it will not be changed v1 36 Page 30 SpotTrack Pick up Caller notes Page number This is usually a description of the pickup or action of the cue Mrs Higgins DSR Iris in as he sits You can type anything here or click on one of the Action Shortcut buttons you have previously created You can also use the Character Shortcut buttons to enter text here the Character Shortcut button will enter text into either the Cue or Pick up fields depending on which you have clicked in By default the Character Shortcut button will type into the Pick up field This is a space for private notes for the spot caller these notes do not appear on any print outs You can make a note of the script page number that a cue appears on in any cue kas G ce t ME 7 Pickeing Higgins and Pickering exit DSL EIE Eee You can add a page number by selecting the cue then pressing the Page Number button or using the Cues gt Add Page Number menu or using the keyboard shortcut 86 G Mac or ctrl G PC think page Shift 8 G Mac or shift ctrl G will let you remove a page number You can also toggle whether page numbers are visible or not using the Show Pages button this toggle applies to on screen displays and also to the Spot Caller printouts Each cue can contain information for one or more spots If a cue only affects one spot the other spots wi
27. cues that happen within one lighting cue so x Q 91 might mark the first spot cue in this section of the show with spot cues 91 1 91 2 and so on following on from there When you create a new spot cue SpotTrack will attempt to insert a meaningful spot cue number based on the current LX Q number and nearby spot cue numbers You can modify the spot cue number at any time but you should ensure that every spot cue has a spot cue number It is this number that is used to ensure that spot cues appear in the correct order Cues do not need to have an Ix Q number v1 36 Page 27 Note Cue Information Cue Scene Song Break SpotTrack If you create spot cues ahead of production just using Q numbers because you don t yet know the corresponding LX cue numbers SpotTrack may try to replace your Q numbers when you start adding LX Q numbers during tech which can get very confusing as cues may appear in the wrong places in the show since the Q is the number used to keep cues in order To avoid this check Don t Change Spot Cue Num on the Main Screen when working in this way The other information associated with a cue is Va ee D NM NN NN a Doolittle as he enters through SR pub door Lower level This is usually a description of the cue point As Eliza enters USC The cue description is common across any of the spots that have a cue here You can type anything here or use the Character Shortcut butt
28. damaged SpotTrack spo file copy the most recent backup file and rename that SpotTrack spo You should then be able to open and continue to work with that file v1 36 Page 55 12 Updating SpotTrack When a new version of SpotTrack appears you will have to import the information from your current SpotTrack into a new SpotTrack To do this Download and install the new version of SpotTrack e Run the new SpotTrack entering you registration information opotTrack will only import from an old SpotTrack with the same registration information Make sure you have quit your old SpotTrack Copy the SpotTrack spo file inside that SpotTrack Rename the old file SpotTrack old On a Mac you may get a warning about changing the file type extension let it make the change Make sure you have not changed the name to SpotTrack old spo or similar using the File gt Get Info command is usually the best way to rename this file without this happening e Move the SpotTrack old file into your new SpotTrack folder Start the new Spot Track e From the SpotTrack Main Menu go to About SpotTrack then scroll down past the release notes where you will find a button called Import from Old Import from old SpotTrack for updating SpotTrack versions only use on an empty SpotTrack e Press Import from Old SpotTrack will warn you that this import will over write any information in the curr
29. dar Frost in dipstick Frost in dipstick Col Type Colour Magazine Col Type Colour Magazine Clear Spot Setups Information entered here is printed on cue sheets and appears in on screen cue sheets but is only for reference colour numbers entered in cue sheets do not reference back to colours specified here This means that you can change a colour frame making frame 2 into L201 instead of L202 perhaps here and print a new spot cover sheet without having to update all of the cue sheet data You can move between fields by clicking on them or using the tab key to move to the next field and shift tab to move back a field The Copy buttons allow you to copy the entire spot setup excluding the operator s name from spot to spot The Clear Spot Setups button will clear all of the spot setups v1 36 Page 15 Character Setup SpotTrack Character Name To Add Character Name e eg ee AAA lt H Higgins CHARACTER SHORTCUT SETUP E eC msn Dee ieee Ta z eG Leo mc LLLI M RIRRR A opotTrack has on screen shortcut buttons designed to reduce the amount of typing you have to do by loading the buttons with text you type regularly The Character Shortcut buttons are intended to be loaded with character names SpotTrack offers eight on screen character buttons but you can store more than eight character
30. e Clear Cues will just clear the cues and ask you for a new registration code maintaining your Shortcuts Using either of these options will clear all of your spot cue information from SpotTrack Be sure you have a backup of this SpotTrack somewhere else if the show you are clearing is still current or if you need to keep it for archive purposes v1 36 Page 53 If in any doubt the safest way to start a new show is to download a new version of SpotTrack from the SpotTrack website www spottrack co uk This will also ensure that you start each show with the most current version of SpotTrack Partially Clearing SpotTrack Clear characters Clear Clear action shortcuts Clear Chars Actions Clear size shortcuts Clear Clear spot set ups Cleor Sizes Spots Clear notes Clear You can partially clear a SpotTrack using these buttons each of which will clear a specific set of information WARNING All of these buttons will clear sets of information from SpotTrack Be sure you have a backup of this SpotTrack somewhere else if the show you are clearing is still current or if you need to keep it for archive purposes SpotTrack Information Help Lock Display Quit SpotTrack SpotTrack Elsewhere on the About screen you can find out about recent changes to SpotTrack this information is also available on the website jump to the SpotTrack or FocusTrack websites or find out more about the charities you support by p
31. e crew to load the correct colours into the spot f Spot Caller All Notes Don t Print Given Notes 0 Print Notes Since SpotTrack can print notes taken during a show using the Spot Note and Caller Note buttons see p35 you can print either notes for the spots notes for the caller or all notes You can choose to print all notes or only notes taken since a date you specify in the Print Notes Since box either by typing a date or picking from the pop up calendar You can also choose not to print notes you ve already marked as being given by checking the Don t Print Given Notes box v1 36 Page 46 Don t Print Given Notes CT TT Print Notes Since TIT These two options allow you to keep all of the notes you ve taken while only printing the most recent ones For more information on managing notes see the Notes section on p35 To print all notes clear the date by pressing the x button next to the calendar and uncheck the Don t Print Given Notes box lt will set the date to today s date A General Note On Printing SpotTrack While you obviously need to print cue sheets for your spot ops and SpotTrack has been designed to make that easier to do please remember that printing uses trees Be considerate with what you print and consider both using recycled paper to print on and re cycling the paper you use as you print updated cue sheets Depending on your computer you may be ab
32. ed the information If your file has information that has no home in SpotTrack click on the arrow to turn it off and ensure that information is not inadvertently imported Once you ve lined up the fields correctly press Import to pull the information into SpotTrack After import you should check the information carefully to make sure everything has ended up in the right place To add pictures to a character you can either click on the Cast Pics button or press the circle to the left of the character name both will take you to the same place SpotTrack can store pictures of each character allowing you to print contact sheets of characters for spot operators this can give house spot ops meeting a touring show for the first time a great head start on what they re looking for v1 36 Page 20 SA en soup senp sow is mes setup et Bess lt gt BEE SpotTrack can store two pictures for each character so perhaps two different costumes Pictures can be any standard file format usually jpg or png files To add a picture pick the character either by finding them in the Cast List then switching to Cast Pics or by using the Prev and Next gt buttons to step through characters until you find the one you want Then click on the button next to one or other picture slot This will bring up a file picker allowing you to choose the relevant picture file ae ss amp jm 3 9 12 03 Oklahoma E Q search
33. en Spot Cue Sheet Printing Setup SpotTrack The options you can set prior to printing are Paper size for individual spot cue sheets A4 A5 US Letter or US Legal Printing US Letter SR FOH SL BE iris HJ Aral SU This setting governs SpotTrack s internal page size Depending on your computer and printer set up you may have to configure your printers paper size separately A5 cuesheets are printed landscape on A5 paper and are intended for creating smaller top bound flip over cuesheets for situations where spot operators do not have room for larger cuesheets v1 36 Page 41 e Same Page Breaks Same Page Breaks 0 This governs whether SpotTrack compresses each spot s cue sheet to save paper ie spot 1 will not see blank cues where only spot 2 has any activity in those cues This is more efficient in terms of using less paper and reducing the amount of redundant information or page changes for each operator but it does mean that each spot op will have a different number of pages and so the same cue may be on different pages Often it is useful to have this checked during tech so everyone can refer to page numbers unchecked once the show has settled down Info In B W info In 8 W r3 SpotTrack cue sheets usually print in colour on colour printers so that the printed cuesheets match the on screen cuesheets and help the spot ops differentiate between different types of information The col
34. ent SpotTrack remind you where the old file must be placed then check the registration code of the SpotfTrack you are trying to import If the code matches all of the show information will be imported If not SpotTrack will tell you that the codes don t match With the import completed you can then carry on using your new SpotTrack as normal you can remove the SpotTrack old file once the import is complete SpotTrack v1 36 Page 56 C Charity By purchasing Spotlrack for your show you are supporting one of two entertainment industry charities The ESTA Foundation s Behind The Scenes in North America and Light Relief in the UK You get to choose which your SpotTrack supports when you purchase it and your SpotTrack will proudly display its chosen charity every time you run it Of course charities can always do with more help and both charities have a whole range of initiatives through which you can help them with their work Please do visit their websites to find out more Behind The Scenes www estafoundation org bts htm Behind the Scenes provides financial support to entertainment technology industry professionals when they are ill or injured Individuals and organizations contribute money to the program and Behind the Scenes provides grants for emergency situations With this initiative our industry can make sure our colleagues are cared for when tragedy strikes Many people in the entertainment technology industry la
35. entertainment lighting industry Most lighting designers and technicians are freelance and earn their living through talent and hard demanding physical work during anti social hours Like most freelance people they do not earn money unless they are working so sickness physical injuries or domestic crises can lead to dramatic falls of income This in turn affects not just them but also their families Light Relief helps people by providing practical support or financial help occasionally both and most of the people that we help are lighting designers or technicians or members of the Association of Lighting Designers If you know someone who needs help or if you need help for yourself or your family assistance may be as near as the click of your mouse Page 57 SpotTrack F FocusTrack cow 405 Loverly DS line Ch G 405 IQ Ch Gr 408 iQ Loverly DS line Loverly DS line Backi to bay 1 DS to DS edge of stage Backi to bay 1 DS to DS edge of stage 38 4 38 Loverly DS line Loverly DS line o bay 1 DS to DS edge of stage Backi to bay 1 DS to DS edge of stage Ch G 405 IQ a Ba CKI t FocusTrack is a system designed for documenting show lighting doing as much of the work as possible automatically using information from the lighting console rather than relying on show staff to manually track down information taking some of the work out of paperwork If you have show inform
36. ew cue Erase the selected cue Level OUT thing Out Level at FULL think FL oet time for cue thing tlme Copy cue text from cuelist think teXt Add a script paGe number to a cue You can see more keyboard shortcuts by selecting Help from the Control section of the main control screen for Mac Lr sers sra sors a n 36 1 3 36 3 36 4 36 5 36 0 2 3E N 96 98 8 Shift 38 1 Shift 38 2 Shift 36 3 Shift 38 4 3 9 Ee JE f re E NM fee Freddie Doolittle Shift 36 5 Shift 98 6 Shift 38 7 Sh t368 na O L S6 option 1 3 option 2 3t opfion 3 3 option 4 36 option 5 36 option 6 36 option 7 option amp or PC Fr ser ors seas ctri 0 ctri ctri N 1 ctrl E ctrl 2 ctrl 3 Fi ood ctrl O ctrl 4 ctrl 5 ctrl 8 Shift ctrl 1 Shift ctrl 2 Shift ctrl 3 Shift ctrl 4 ctrl 9 Saas Shift ctrl S Shift ctrl 6 Shift ctrl 7 Shift ctrl 8 ctri L ctrl alt 1 ctrl alt 2 ctrl ait 5 ctrl ait 6 ctrl alt 3 ctrl alt 7 ctrl ait 4 ee me ctrl alt 8 You can also jump between the various displays using the Display menu Note You can customise the order or names of your spots and re arrange which keyboard shortcuts keys 1 4 correspond to which spot This allows you to re arrange the spot buttons and cuesheets to match the physical layout of your spots See p12 v1 36 Page 11 5 Setup Specifying The Number of Follo
37. h 2012 This manual relates to SpotTrack v1 36 released August 1st 2012 We d be grateful if you could report any errors by email to spotmanualerrors Qfocustrack co uk This manual is Copyright 2012 FocusTrack however please feel free to distribute it as required You may not change the content SpotTrack is Copyright 2009 2012 FocusTrack all rights reserved Unlicensed copying or use of this software is prohibited A SpotTrack licence is valid for one show only For full licence information visit www spottrack co uk licence Cc velope q usi IY I ile Mal iv liU VU OID U NIS SOTtWare are I3o4 ZUII elv ane WARNING This solution contains password s which can only be provided by the develope Othar tradamoarke ara harohv arlennu larisar Winer Waaerrarks are NEFEDY aCKNOWICUJEU www spottrack co uk www focustrack co uk Tel UK 44 0 3239 9793 US 1 914 233 3809 Email spotsupport focustrack co uk Found a bug Email spotbugs focustrack co uk Thought of a new feature Email spotideas focustrack co uk The show featured in the screen grabs in this manual is the Cameron Mackintosh NETworks production of the National Theatre s My Fair Lady which toured the UK in 2005 2006 and the US in 2007 2008 The show s creative team was Director Shaun Kerrison from the original by Trevor Nunn Choreographer Fergus Logan from the original by Matthew Bourne Designer Matt Kinley from the original by Anthony
38. heet The Master Sheets will show change highlights if selected and level change arrows if selected under the Editing section of the Main screen see p34 as for individual cue sheets Cue sheets look best if printed from a colour printer if available Colour laser printers tend to be faster and more reliable than colour ink jet printers and also generally have lower per page running costs v1 36 Page 44 Master Cue Sheets SpotTrack For Caller Master Sheets Master Sheets Master Sheets A3 A4 US Legal aw I fir ady My Fair Lady USA Tour 2007 2008 Lighting David Hersey Oliver Fenwick Rob Halliday Spo Followspot Master Calling Sheets US Tour Spot Caller Bo Ruff Sat Sep 15 2007 FL Fade off cs exit through CS pillars BEN R Eizo pape Lose colour 5 SLOWLY and lower H B 40 53 5 ett Cronies ea Pub Exterior AUT Fade ot when pubs flyin 2 Bin donce Angry Women on tR through SR door One me The Master Sheets printouts show the cues for all of the spots They are designed as working documents for a spot caller calling a show live where more information is needed at a glance than will fit on a standard computer screen They work best when printed on big paper preferably A3 These cuesheets print in landscape mode you may need to configure your printer to print landscape The Master Sheets A4 and Master Sheets US Legal b
39. isplay get to this by pressing the Cue List button in the SpotTrack Main Screen Windows If you don t see a Cue List there or if you want to update the cue list Spot Track is using press the Import from FocusTrack button Sporlrack MEUS XB Cue List Imported 10 12 45 PM v1 36 Page 48 SpotTrack If SpotTrack already has a cue list it will warn you that this will be replaced by the new one Hit OK to confirm that SpotTrack will then ask you to find the Cue List ftr file for the show you wish to import This will be located inside the FocusTrack folder for the show Select that file then press OK SpotTrack will import the cue list SpotTrack will import the entire cue list together with any notes that the LD or programmer has added to the cue sheet in FocusTrack Scene break markers will also be imported cues that show up with a blue background as in SpotTrack If cues are not marked as scene break cues dark blue background or sub scene breaks light blue background you can mark cues by checking the scene break boxes to the left of each cue Alternatively if there is any pattern to the way cues are labelled you can use that to automatically mark cues as scene breaks using the Auto Sc Break and Auto Sub Sc buttons For example if the programmer emphasises the start of each scene in the console using text labels such as SC 1 and SC 2 press Aut
40. le to use Preview to make sure you re printing the right thing before committing it to paper In future perhaps your spot ops could have screens showing their cue list dynamically and updated automatically rather than having to repeatedly print cue sheets We re working to make that possible in SpotTrack let us know if you re interested v1 36 Page 47 9 Cue List Because it is often useful for a Spot Caller to have a copy of the current lighting console cue list SpotTrack can import a console cue list generated by FocusTrack which can in turn import the cue data from ETC Eos family MA grandMA and Strand 300 500 series consoles Sporrack Tue Sep 29 2009 M Cue List Imported 16 19 45 PM e E E O 1 7 7 O Little Bit 5 O TRANSITION 7 z o L1 1 BUILD 12 L1 97 1 7 o 97 5 1 Higgins to SL on balc 9 2 L1 98 1 Higgins down stairs 10 o 99 1 Move to DS line 15 L1 100 1 Eliza enters B B oo 101 1 Doolittle goes 12 15 OD 102 1 Mrs P leaves 7 12 O 107 1 Higgins goes upstairs B B O 108 1 Just You Wait 35 35 O 109 1 Eliza leaves desk 8 8 For more about Focus Track see p58 Importing the Cue List SpotTrack To import a cue list into SpotTrack it must have first been imported from the console by Focus Track version 2 000 or later Once you have the cue list in FocusTrack you can import it into SpotTrack from SpotTrack s Cue List d
41. ll have blank entries for that cue 3 B 425 91 9 Pub Exterior E af mE Cronles through SR pub door favour Jamie Doolittle as he enters through SR pub door 91 1 Doolittle outside pub 3 H B 425 93 93 Little Bit of Luck Reprise Close to just Jamie Cronie OUT Fade off with LX 94 94 94 Scene Change Cover 9 15 Lower level Fade off as he gets CS 94 Scene Change end Study You can choose whether or not you see these blank entries when editing or printing spot cues using the Don t Hide Blank Cues for editing and Same Page Breaks options Don t Hide Blonk Cues nverted In both cases when the option is checked you will see or print blank cues for selected spots This is useful when editing as you can quickly see all existing v1 36 Page 31 cues It s useful when printing as all of the spot will have the same cues on the same pages at the expense of having more blank cues in their cuelist Usually it s best to have these options checked when creating a show and to have them unchecked when things have settled down a bit and you want to give the spots only the information they actually need CAUTION If you try to delete a cue be aware that it may contain information for spots you don t have on screen SpotTrack will tr
42. ly selected spot to the up time of the corresponding cue number from the cue list if you have imported a cue list from FocusTrack See p48 for details of how to import the cue list Other Spot Time will set the time for the currently selected spot from the time set for one of the other spots in the same cue If the spots have different times in the same cue it will pick the time from the lowest spot number with a time e Specify Time will bring up a dialogue box asking you to enter a time any spot that has activity in the current cue will have its time set to the time you specify Cue Time Enter time for all spots active in cue 93 leave blank to clear time Cue Time EEE Cue Time Cancel You can clear all of the times in a cue by entering a blank time If you click Cue Time any spot with activity in that cue will be set to the Up time of the current cue if you have imported a cue list from Focus Track See p48 for details of how to import the cue list This is the quickest way for setting a time to all of the spots simultaneously There is also a time button at the top of the time column the small dot next to the time T Clicking on this will attempt to set the time for the current spot in the currently selected cue intelligently it will set it to the cue time if available ie if you have imported a cue list from FocusTrack or failing that will set it to the time of another spot in the same
43. m the Character List by pressing the x button next to that size If you want to you can delete all of the known sizes using the Delete All Sizes button In both cases only the size list will be affected any cue sheet information you have already entered will not be changed SpotTrack v1 36 Page 23 Action Setup SpotTrack Show Spot Cast Cast me or se EM io ioa Action To Add Currently Known Actions Iris In Iris Out ACTION SHORTCUT SETUP EEE HEN MEG MESEN VESEN rer Es ms Ess MN ie pe BJ E lt B Pe B9 As with the Character and Size Shortcut buttons SpotTrack has eight on screen Shortcut buttons intended for Actions that you type regularly Fade In Fade Out Swap to Iris In and so on The eight Action Shortcut buttons are set up just as Character Shortcut buttons are As with Character Shortcut buttons you can store more than eight actions and load different ones into the Shortcut buttons as required To add an Action to the list type it into the Action to Add box then press the button The Action will appear in the list of known Actions Currently Known Actions Iris In 3 Iris Out x Fade in x Fade out x Pick up x Swap to x SpotTrack will only allow each Action to appear in the list once and will warn you if you try to add an Action it already knows about To transfer an Action to one of the Action Shortcut buttons
44. n which the spots appear on the buttons and cuesheets to match the physical layout of the spots in our show so you could have spots 4 3 2 1 or re number the spots altogether so you could have spots 6 7 8 9 You can also re configure which of the 1 4 shortcut keys 3 1 4 on a Mac ctrl 1 4 on a PC correspond to which spot To configure this press the About SpotTrack button on the Main Screen Show Only FL OUT In Printed Spot Cuesheets Spot 1 0 Spot 20 Spot 3 0 X Click in one of the Spot Order buttons to type a new spot number If you type a number that is already in use that number and the number of the spot you selected will swap positions Set Default will return the spot order to 1 4 Match Spot Order will match the keyboard shortcut numbers to the spot numbers if possible though the shortcut numbers will always be 1 2 3 4 opot numbers will be changed wherever they appear in SpotTrack on screen and in print outs Re numbering spots does not move any cue information about spots it is effectively re labelling the spot columns in the cuesheet It is best done before starting work on a show You can swap information between spots using the Swap Spots buttons on the main screen see p37 v1 36 Page 52 Show Only FL Out In Printed Spot Cuesheets Show Only FL OUT In Printed Spot Cuesheets Spot 1 0 Spot 2 0 Spot 3 0 Spot 4 0 This allows you to record detailed level information in the followspot cue
45. names You can then load different character names into the Shortcut buttons as required by different points in the show To add a character name to the list type it into the Character Name To Add box then press the button Character Name To Add rs Pearce The character name will now appear in the list of known characters Currently Known Characters SpotTrack will only allow each character to appear in the list once and will warn you if you try to add a character it already knows about To transfer a character to one of the Shortcut buttons click on the button A pop up list will show the full list of characters pick the character you want for v1 36 Page 16 that button If you want to clear a Shortcut button press the x next to that button CHARACTER SHOBRTOLIT ETIIP Doolittle 4 Des yx rema yx Go ie Harry Cronie Bosma GO LOG EEG Higgins Jaime Cronie frs Pearce lt Back Pickering You can delete individual characters from the Character List by pressing the X button next to that character s name If you want to you an delete all of the known characters using the Delete All Characters button In both cases only the character list will be affected any cue sheet information you have already entered will not be changed In cue sheets a Bold Chars toggle button appears next to the Char Setup button When this button is toggled on character names
46. ng SpotTrack also supports charity fifteen percent of the sale price of each SpotTrack licence goes to either Light Relief in the UK or The ESTA Foundation s Behind The Scenes in North America you get to choose which charity you support at the time of purchase Find out more about these charities on p57 SpotTrack v1 36 Page 5 2 Getting Going Downloading SpotTrack SpotTrack opotTrack can be downloaded from www SpotTrack co uk Versions are available for Mac and PC The Mac version requires Mac OS X v10 5 7 or later and at least 512Mb of RAM if using a G4 or faster processor at least 1Gb of RAM if using an Intel processor at least 2Gb of RAM if using OS X v10 7 or later The PC version requires Windows XP Professional SP3 with at least 256Mb of RAM or Vista with at least 1Gb of RAM Downloading the appropriate version will give you a zip compressed file containing SpotTrack Double clicking on the file will expand it to a folder containing SpotTrack On a Mac there are two main files SpotTrack the application with the Sp icon and SpotTrack spo the data file 1SpotTrack LJ Extensions FMP Acknowledgements pdf gt o SpotTrack SpotTrack spo On a PC you will see more files but the important ones are called SpotTrack exe with the Sp icon and SpotTrack spo the data file Note that SpotTrack is self contained it is the application and the data file You will need one SpotTrack for each
47. o Sc Break then enter as the text to match All cues with labels starting with that text will be marked as scene break cues opotTrack can also show cues which have been added or deleted since the last import from the console into FocusTrack This can be useful when checking whether cues referenced by the spot cue sheets are still current Press the Show Deleted button to see cut cues highlighted in red the Highlight New button to see newly added cue parts highlighted in green v1 36 Page 49 If you wish to manually add or delete cue parts you can do so using the New Cue and Delete Cue Part buttons Any changes you make in this way will be lost next time you import cue data from Focus Track An indicator at the top of the cue list will show you when you last imported a cue list from Focus rack Navigating Around The Cue List SpotTrack You can scroll through the cue list as you would scroll through spot cues or use the lt PREV or NEXT gt buttons to step through cues or the SCENE or SCENE gt buttons to jump through the show a scene at a time provided some cues are marked as scene breaks ie show up with a blue background Em mma en The cue list will also contain part cues if there are any in the show These may or may not be of interest to you you can choose whether to see all of the cue parts or just the cues using the Omit Parts and Show All buttons Note the grandMA
48. ons to enter text if you have already clicked in the Cue field the Character Shortcut button will enter text into either the Cue or Pick up fields depending on which you have clicked in By default the Character Shortcut button will type into the Pick up field see below You can also use this as a description of a new scene Ballroom to help break up the cue list If you also mark the cue as a Scene or oong Break it will show up with a highlighted background see below Alternatively if you ve imported the show cue list into SpotTrack you can copy the cue text from the corresponding cue by clicking on the small dot next to cue pressing the Cue Text button or pressing apple X Mac or ctrl X PC think X for teXt See p48 for details of how to import the cue list There are three check boxes for each cue two you can use to indicate that a cue is a break point between scenes or songs the third to indicate a page break v1 36 Page 28 o m Doolittle outside pub B O 93 so Little Bit of Luck Reprise Checking the top box marks the cue as the start of a scene the middle box the start of a secondary point such as a song Scenes are highlighted with a dark blue background songs with an amber background this makes it easy to navigate around the cue list You can also jump directly to scene breaks without having to scroll through the cue list by clicking on the pop up list next to the cue column heading
49. ough this also means that you can t work on the show for a bit then decide to save it as a new version If you want to do that you should copy the SpotTrack data file SpotTrack spo inside the SpotTrack folder before you start work for the day to ensure that you still have the previous version should you need it This is good backup practice in any case to ensure you have a backup in case you or your computer have a bad day SpotTrack v1 36 Page 9 4 Navigation All of the features of SpotTrack can be accessed from the Main Screen 1 USAT Lighting David Hersey My Fair Lady 2007 2008 Oliver Fenwick Rob Halliday No of Active Spots Editing X OH C FOH SF FOH SL JEAMLIGHT S FOHC FOH SR FOH SL BEAMLIGHT SR RJ Aramis Superbeam 1200 Aramis RJ Aramis Superbeam 12 RJ Aramis RJ Aramis RJ Aramis Don t Hide Blank Cues o inve rted Highlight Changes E Made On Or After mm For Caller Master Sheets Master Sheets Master Sheets A3 A4 US Legal Notes Spot Caller All Notes Notes Notes Don t Print Given Notes 0 Print Notes Since im o Show Level Change Arrows Don t Change Spot Cue Num o Swap Spots Swap Spots Swap Spots 1 2 Cues 1 3 Cues 3 4 Cues Windows Setup Show 0 Cast Si ES EE GE 18 Version Notes Control US TOUR MASTER as at Pittsburgh first night SpotTrack You ll end up here when you start SpotTrack You
50. ouring can be a problem for spot operators under some lighting conditions eg blue running lights when the spot ops are visible to the audience Checking this box prints level and other information in black and white to make it more legible under these conditions Leave Space For Notes Leave Space For Notes Checking this will print cue sheets with a blank line under each opotTrack cue line giving spot operators somewhere to add notes of their own during tech You can and should collect these notes and add them to SpotTrack to ensure the permanent cue sheets are as detailed and accurate as possible SpotTrack v1 36 Page 42 Highlight Changes Highlight Changes O Made OnOrafte Im opotTrack can highlight cues that have been created or modified since the date selected in the Highlight Changes Since box The highlight a green edge to the cue only appears in printed cue sheets To enable the highlight check Highlight changes and then enter a date into Made Since either by typing a date or picking the date from the pop up calender Mode since TII September2009 er She A3 Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 131 1 2 3 4 5 6 L 8 9 10 11 12 13 E 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 sm 5 6 7 B 9 10 11 Today 30 09 2009 You can clear a date by clicking on the x next to the date field lt will ente
51. r find particular entries so to find only the entries for Spot 1 click on the Find button above Spot then specify Spot 1 Spot Co You can also manipulate which notes you see using the buttons at the top of the screen u Show Notes Since YShow Before Date Show Since Date This will show only notes taken on or after the date specified in the Show Notes Since box You can type a date into this box or use the pop up calendar lt will set today s date X will clear the date Show Before Date This will show notes taken only before the date specified in the Show Notes Since box Show All This will show all of the notes If Show All is greyed out then all of the notes are currently shown Show Only Not Give This will only show notes that have not been checked as given SpotTrack v1 36 Page 36 Mark Shown As Give This will mark all of the currently viewed notes as given This is useful when combined with the other show functions ie pick today s date then Show Since Date then Mark ALL as given to mark today s notes as given You can always individually mark unmark a particular note by checking or unchecking its given box Delete All Show This button will permanently delete all of the notes you can currently Printing Notes Swapping Spots SpotTrack Note see It will ask for confirmation before actually deleting the notes Be careful as once
52. r today s date Note Printed cuesheets are also affected by the option to Show Only FL Out In Printed Cue Sheets which can be found under the About SpotTrack button on the Main screen see p53 for details of this If your printed cuesheets are only ever showing FL or 0 as levels regardless of the levels you ve entered on screen this option is almost certainly to blame SpotTrack v1 36 Page 43 Printing Cue Sheets SpotTrack FOHC FOH SR FOH SL BEAMLIGHT SR RJ Aramis RJ Aramis RJ Aramis Superbeam 1200 Same Page Breaks 0 info In 8 W 0 Leave Space For Notes USA Ti Lighting Dovid Hi Y My Fair Lady 2 5 NU cre pred Followspot 2 Bo Selecta col size int pickup FL Build level with applause for Why Can t The English End of song As Eliza stands ats H B 10 tris out as she stands a Fade off as she moves US s UI T i ee between pillars KEEP FOLLOWING ac ly a c Higgins and Pickering exit Restore Eliza cs soon as pillars DSL are clear My Fa Ir La dy Eliza on throne USR H S Iris in as she goes up to throne USA HN 1 As Eliza exits DSL Four Fade off on her exit SL 2007 2008 i Lighting David Hersey Oliver Fenwick Rob Halliday SpotTrack Followspot 1 Cue Sheet US Tour September Assistant LD Matt Roper Sat Sep 15 2007 Spot Caller Bo Ruff Doolittle and Barman Barman USC 2
53. ronie O Higgins Jaime Cronie e Mrs Pearc Pearce Character Name Pickering Cancel C o v1 36 Page 18 Finding something will only show matching entries When you want to return to seeing the full character list press the Show All button L 1 You can specify a an order for characters by entering a number in the Order column If the characters are already in an order you like you can set that order using the Set Order button you can also clear any numbers you ve entered in this column using the Clear Order button You don t have to specify any order information but if you do that order will be used when you print any character or cast information and in the Character List button that appears in the Character Setup screen Importing Cast Information SpotTrack If you already have a cast list in electronic format for example an Excel spreadsheet from your wardrobe department or company manager you can often import that into SpotTrack rather than having to type everything from scratch Click on the Import button to bring up the import options Import OOO Open File I 4 5 4 bE a Un ag Cast 14 Q search rob EX Desktop A Applicati 7 Documents 2 C Writing ElizXLS C Theatre ee C FocusTrack jj Fusion S Cast Name Cast List xls v 4 I Size 20 KB T MEDIA Show All Available H4 Remote This will ask you to select a
54. sheets but have the printed cuesheets show only 096 when the spot is at 0 or FL when the spot is any any level other than zero This is intended for situations where the level of the spot is being controlled by the lighting console and the spot operator has a mechanical dimmer shutter which they fade from O to FL to control their fades on stage this setup most often used with tungsten beamlight followspots In this case the intention is that the spot caller can keep detailed notes as to the level programmed into the console so they know what to expect when calling the show but the operators only see when they have to fade in out rather than worrying about levels You can set this behaviour for each spot When unchecked spots show the actual level on the printed cuesheets This option ONLY affects printed cuesheets Clearing SpotTrack Completely SpotTrack WARNING Clear SpotTrack cues and enter new registration code lets you keep character size and spot set up Clear this SpotTrack completely and enter new registration code eee Warning These options will clear your SpotTrack and require a new registration code Be sure you have a backup somewhere else if this is still a current show When you buy SpotTrack you buy it for one show only to enter a new show name you have to clear SpotTrack and enter a new registration code Clear All will completely clear SpotTrack and ask you for a new registration cod
55. some dont have any actions for the spot or spots you are looking at If checked SpotTrack will switch to a white on black display instead of the usual black on white display This can be helpful when working in darkened auditoria or other low light environments particularly with LCD monitors that can t be set to a low enough brightness SpotTrack can show up or down arrow symbols to indicate whether a spot is going up or down in level relative to its previous cue level v1 36 Page 34 OUT Fade off as lampost trucks off DSR 50 Iris In and ralse level as he sits 1 40 Restore as he stands SpotTrack figures these arrows out based on the levels you specify This figuring out can slow down scrolling through a cue sheet a little particularly on older slower computers so you can disable it by unchecking this option Generally it can be best to turn this off while editing the cue sheet but turn it on before printing cue sheets since it also governs whether arrows are printed or calling the show from the on screen cuesheets As you edit spot levels SpotTrack will automatically update the level change arrows if may take a few moments to do so but you can carry on editing cues while it catches up Don t Change Spot Cue Num Notes SpotTrack When you add or change an LX cue number SpotTrack tries to work out a sensible Q number This can be a problem if you ve created a show in advance of te
56. type anywhere by clicking on the relevant field or move between fields using the tab and shift tab keys to move right or left across a cue If you have more than one spot displayed the current active spot will have its title in Blue gg 2 FOH SR bre nt pw The current active spot will be the last spot you have clicked on SpotTrack v1 36 Page 26 Cue Numbers SpotTrack Ix Q Q If you use one of the on screen Shortcut buttons for Character Size Action or Level or the Cue Time or Other Spot Time buttons the button will enter the information for the current active spot You can also quickly copy information from one spot to the next using the gt button between each spot All of the cue information will be copied automatically if the spot you are copying too has no cue information if it does have cue information you will be asked whether you want to over write that information with the copied information lxQ3 Q cue Fl Ie a aa Doolittle outside pub F Cues have two numbers associated with them is usually the nearest lighting cue number to the followspot cue point Using lighting cue numbers in this way gives a set of reference points common to all departments stage management the lighting designer the lighting console and the spot ops is the followspot cue number which is a unique reference number for each followspot action In many cases there will be many spot
57. urchasing SpotTrack Help provides an on screen reminder of the most useful keyboard shortcuts in SpotTrack This puts up the show logo and locks out access to SpotTrack It can be useful when a laptop is left unattended in an auditorium To unlock SpotTrack hold down the shift key and click on the Unlock Display button This quits SpotTrack You don t need to save as SpotTrack automatically stores information as you work v1 36 Page 54 11 File Recovery SpotTrack In very very rare cases usually if your computer crashes while SpotTrack is in the middle of trying to write its information to disc the SpotTrack data file can become corrupted The best defence against this is to make regular backup copies of the SpotTrack data file this is called SpotIrack spo and is located in the opotTrack folder for your show As you make copies rename them to remind yourself when that SpotTrack was valid to SpotTrack Sept 1 Tech End or a similar scheme to suit your working methods If your active SpotTrack file does become corrupted you can attempt to recover it by running SpotTrack double clicking on SpotTrack on a Mac or SpotTrack exe on a PC the selecting File gt Recover SpotTrack will ask you to locate the damaged SpotTrack spo file and will then attempt to recover it This will work in almost all cases If it doesn t work you ll have to go back to using one of your backup files You should delete the
58. uttons are included for those without access to large printers they scale the A3 printout so their legibility will depend on your printer For other sizes you may want to manually scale the printout using your printer s print setup dialogue box The Master Sheets will show change highlights if selected and level change arrows if selected as for individual cues v1 36 Page 45 Cast Pictures SpotTrack can print contact sheets of cast pictures either in big format two characters per page two pictures per character or small format which prints just one picture per character the left hand picture picture from the Cast Pics set up is used in this print out Size Abbreviations Spot Setups Notes SpotTrack My Fair Lady s Obr mk Rob Hoo Size Abbreviations US Tour September 07 Assistant LD Matt Roper Sat Sep 15 2007 Spot Caller Bo Ruff 1 2B Half Body 3 AB Three Quarters Body FB Ful Body H amp SH Head amp Shoulders Head Head Shot T 1 2 B Tight Half Body Size Abbreviations is the glossary of short phrases for beam size F B and the longer explanation Full Body and detailed description that you set up in Size Setup This is printed separately from spot cue sheets since you ll probably only need to print it once per spot per show SpotTrack can print setup sheets for each spot detailing the spot type operator and colour load These are useful for passing to th
59. when you purchase SpotTrack You can find out more about these charities on p57 Once you have your Registration Code you can enter it into SpotTrack to get to work enter the information required then press OK Welcome to SpotTrack Please enter your name the showname and the show venue that you used to buy SpotTrack and the registration code you received then click OK Registered Show Registered Venue SpotTrack Registration Code SpotTrack v1 36 Page 7 Trying SpotTrack SpotTrack As part of the registration process SpotTrack will ask for your name and a contact email this information will be passed back to us purely for registration and technical support purposes and to allow us to send you information about updated SpotTrack releases If you don t want to receive update information just check the don t send news about updates box If you want to try SpotTrack before you buy you can Enter Demo as the Registered User then press OK and SpotTrack will run in demo mode Welcome to SpotTrack Please enter your name the shownome and the show venue that you used to buy SpotTrack and the registration code you received then click OK FETE noder Vends IE EEE E SpotTrack Registration Code In this mode you can only work on two spots you won t be able to print cue sheets and SpotTrack will quit just often enough to be borderline annoying every thirty minutes Apart from that you
60. wspots SpotTrack can handle from one to four followspots You can choose how many spots you are working with by entering the number into the No of Active Spots box at the top of the Editing area of the Main Screen No of Active Spots Editing Spot 2 Spot 3 Spot 4 Note that any cue or spot setup information you enter is retained even if you you later reduce the number of spots ie if you change the number from 4 spots to 3 information for spot 4 is retained useful if a tour goes to a house with fewer spots than normally required for the show Specifying The Followspot Layout SpotTrack You can re arrange the order in which the spots appear on the buttons and cuesheets to match the physical layout of the spots in our show so you could have spots 4 3 2 1 or re number the spots altogether so you could have spots 6 7 8 9 You can also re configure which of the 1 4 shortcut keys 3 1 4 on a Mac ctrl 1 4 on a PC correspond to which spot To configure this press the About SpotTrack button on the Main Screen BE EG 1 fa 0 Click in one of the Spot Order buttons to type a new spot number If you type a number that is already in use that number and the number of the spot you selected will swap positions Set Default will return the spot order to 1 4 Match Spot Order will match the keyboard shortcut numbers to the spot numbers if possible though the shortcut numbers will always be 1 2 3 4
61. y to warn you if this is the case In any field you can use copy paste or apply formatting as required to copy or emphasise information Ctrl clicking in a field will give a pop up menu giving quick access to formatting and other useful tools Navigating The Cuelist You can move around the cuelist by using the scroll bars or by using a scroll wheel or equivalent trackpad to get to the cue you need to work on Note that even if you scroll to a cue you do not actually select that cue until you click in that cue The currently selected cue is shown by the black bar next to the Cue You can also use ctrl up arrow and ctrl down arrow to step up and down through cues and tab and shift tab to move right and left across cues Alternatively you can jump to a specific LX cue number or script page by clicking on the go to cue arrow in the Ix Q column title vm or ee ee F Go to LX Q Go to which LX Q number LX Q Number Page B You will be asked for a cue number SpotTrack will take you to the cue number closest to the cue you specify Keep in mind that the SpotTrack v1 36 Page 32 actual cue you specify may exist but may not appear if it has no actions for the spot you are currently looking at e jump to a specific scene by clicking on the symbol next to cue ce Jecol s fint fo Eliza entrance rden Jump to a scene au FUD mEn 53 1 Pub Exterior 64 Study 9
62. you hit OK those notes are gone You can print notes using the Spot Notes Caller Notes or All Notes from the Printing section of the SpotTrack Main Screen deciding whether to print all notes only those you haven t marked as Given only those created or modified since a date you decide or any combination of these For more on printing notes refer to the Printing section p41 Swap Spots Swap Spots Swap Spots 1 2 Cues 1 3 Cues 3 4 Cues In some cases it may be necessary to swap the cues for spots around this often happens if you move from a theatre with spots front centre to one with spots on the sides of a circle for example you may want to keep the spot numbering the same but spots may no longer be able to see to their own side of the stage SpotTrack lets you swap around the cues for spots 1 and 2 or for spots 3 and 4 You will be asked to confirm that you want to swap the cues around then will be asked for the cue range start cue to end cue you want to swap Leave these blank and the spots will be swapped for all the cues If you want to swap back repeat the process You can re name spots to match the physical layout of the spots in your show see p12 However re naming spots in this way is effectively just re labelling the cuesheet column for each spot the information contained in those columns will not move However you can then use the swap buttons to move cue information back to the right place v1 36

SpotTrack User Guide 1.36

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