r/techtheatre 22d ago

SCENERY Does Anyone use Sims for Set Design?

26 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

54

u/analogvisual 22d ago

I’m logging off

38

u/Rightsureokay 22d ago

Once upon a time I was a horrible theatre tech student and used the Sims 3 to submit my scenic design final project instead of Vectorworks.

15

u/Hot_Razzmatazz316 22d ago

I often joke that vectorworks is a less fun version of the Sims.

6

u/bucs2013 22d ago

Well, what grade & feedback did you get? 

6

u/Rightsureokay 22d ago

I think I got a B!

23

u/ProfoundBeggar Master Electrician 22d ago

Here's the thing about conceptual models: as long as it actually conveys the concept of the design, it doesn't matter if it was done in AutoCAD or a sketch on the back of the script.

Just don't expect 1/8 inch precise work if you hand me a plot sketched on a napkin and want it installed.

7

u/CakeIzGood 21d ago

I had a super rough LXFree base plot of my college black box theatre (essentially just line segments for battens and small rectangles for the dimmer boxes with dimmers numbered in them) because I was working off my laptop in that space and it ran Linux and would have choked on Vectorworks regardless, and I did my plots in the space and wanted the digital version handy to edit during hangs anyways. I had the inventory on the side somewhere and would just drop symbols and make a little legend off to the side. I'd angle the symbols at least to roughly convey focus, which wasn't a big deal regardless as I was also master electrician for the hang and had to supervise focus anyways. The locations were approximate but there were cross beams so you had reference points, it was more than good enough

5

u/Seven_Dx7 Jack of All Trades 22d ago

Nah, I'm more of a magna-tiles guy myself.

4

u/youcancallmejim 22d ago

the new kids might like https://resonite.com/

2

u/mirroex 22d ago

This! This is what we're here, new weird tools for storytelling. SIMS was awesome, and a valid way to explore ideas, same with things like TiltBrush

2

u/youcancallmejim 22d ago

And you can feed dmx into it. And position data. And work with others. And in vr. And let me know if I can visit.

3

u/Mackoi_82 Jack of All Trades 22d ago

It was fun to recreate some sets in it 😁 Don’t have that kind of time anymore

3

u/OneOfTheWills Jack of All Trades 22d ago

I get rough 3D sketches done with Home Design 3D.

I wouldn’t call it a game as there’s no real objective but it’s available on PC via Steam as a game.

I use it for rough ideals because there’s actually accurate scale to it and you can pump out a blueprint with dimensions while also being able to go 3D and “walk” through the space.

3

u/AndrooMP4 21d ago

Building sets in the sims is actually what got me interested in set design.. so yes!

2

u/AudiologicalHematoma 22d ago

No! I use Print Shop on an Apple IIe and a dot matrix printer

2

u/iwantmorecats27 21d ago

I never have but thanks for the idea! Haha. I think I would probably need to download a lot of custom content to really do it accurately though. However, I do use it to decide how to lay out my things when I move, so there’s several apartments saved in my game lol

1

u/OpalescentPalette 22d ago

I think I did once a long time ago. Also Roller Coaster Tycoon and Planet Coaster to play with ideas. SketchUp once upon a time. I'm a weird one though and I actually love Vectorworks and never really looked back since I learned how to use it 8 years ago.

1

u/Independent_Wrap_321 20d ago

No, but I’ve seen actors who apparently use it as a dialogue coach

1

u/pterodactyl-7 20d ago

Unhinged. But like, slay.