The ever-charismatic Christopher John Bolton from Johannesburg South Africa is a man who has never been shy to ask questions, to find out more and to apply his knowledge. All too often lighting designers have either too little “toys’ or too little time to express their full creativity. In this day and age its all about computers, whether it be PC Games, Photo-shopped images, viral You-Tube Videos or any other form of creativity, the PC is never far and never more so than in Entertainment lighting design.
In todays lighting industry it is very difficult to express a lighting concept to a client that might not have ever seen a show. This is where 3D Lighting Visualization can bridge the gap, or give a Lighting Designer an edge. 3D Visualization gives a designer the freedom to try different ideas and/or save valuable programming time whether they are sitting in the comfort of their home or on an airplane.
Lighting control desks have grown in leaps and bounds over the years and more so now resemble Jumbo Jet cockpits with all their buttons and screens. But a few years back there was none of that. Enter Chris Bolton when in 2003 he was introduced to by John JR Roughley (another South African MSD Whizz) to a 3D Visualization package called Martin Showdesigner (ver 4.4 to be exact) from a company called Lighthouse in Holland. This tickled his fancy to no extent, but he had so many questions that after purchasing the package he promptly decided that it was worth his while to buy a plane ticket in 2004 and visit Lighthouse in Nieuwegein (near Utrecht) to meet the people who had so brilliantly conceived this package. He was warmly met by the owners of Lighthouse, Gerald and Kathinka van Tongeren and so began Bolton’s journey.
Chis spent endless hours with Marco Westveer and Stefan Montanus, who Bolton claims are complete “legends’, and gave them some real world feedback on how he saw this software and how he felt it needed to progress. He had “real world’ questions, some he could not get an answer and some he did. The point is that Lighthouse was keen to listen to what this young man had to say, and they took note.
That was the start of a long and constructive relationship between Bolton and the Lighthouse team. Over the years with millions of back and forth e-mails and long discussions on the Martin Showdesigner forum Bolton and a few couple other users started structuring the way they wanted the software to go. And while a lot of company’s don’t take feedback seriously from end users Lighthouse were the complete opposite. The software has grown in leaps and bounds over the years and today is quite possibly one of the best Stage Lighting Visualizer packages on the market. Chris believes this is for important reason, ” the best support structure one can get – direct contact with the guys who actually write the program ”
With the release of MSD 5 in 2008, it changed the way people think of Visualization with the introduction of proper 3D Fly through and unsurpassed Real Time Visualization. Today the software exists in many variants with varying degrees of functionality and pricing according to user needs. The idea is that anybody who wants to make a start with 3D Lighting Rendering can do so, and as they progress they can upgrade very quickly and simply.
Now as with most CAD packages the learning curve can be rather steep. While software designers try to make products user friendly most often their intentions can be overlooked. While MSD 5 is as user friendly as possible. Lighthouse turned to Chris and his vast knowledge of MSD and asked him to do a series of videos on how to get going. With access to a postproduction studio in-house, it was not long before Chris had churned out a series of slick, well thought out how-to videos. These were then posted on You-Tube and now serve as a must do place to start with using Martin MSD 5 Software. Such were the success of these videos and Chris’s ability to convey this knowledge to others that Lighthouse offered him a chance to represent Lighthouse and the PLASA 2011 and Frankfurt Messe Show in 2012. Chris grabbed this chance with open arms and although it’s a long day on a trade show stand, it was a real opportunity to meet other users and to impart if only a small slice of his uber knowledge.
Bolton missed the chance to go to PLASA in 2012 as he welcomed his first little bundle of joy, Isabella to the world in Early September 2012. When not spending all hours of the night rendering away, Chris can be found operating some of the shows he has designed or you’ll find him wherever the fish are, rod in hand thinking bout that 4000 moving light rig he’s one day going to operate.
Take a look at the video’s Bolton compiled on the Martin You-Tube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9vORIXtE8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnRRwPAAWCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-RnOBplFsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlAz62zGt6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBe5QvatWs
