Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990 - 55

with textual material using Owl
Inrernational's Guide, a hypermedia program which runs under Microsoft
Windows®. Guide uses the metaphor of
a stack of cards, each conraining unique
data. Information is cross-referenced so
that the user is taken from idea ro idea
along a largely predetermined par.
The Chesrnut Srreet Theatre
Projecr, when finished, will enable the
researcher ro browse the 3-D model of
the theacre building through a series of
pre-selected views. For more formal
srudy, a hypermedia presenration will be
employed. For example, in this presenration, by placing the cursor on a symbol
within the scene painting room and
clicking the mouse key, a menu of information relating ro scene painring, pigmenrs, scenic anists, scenery inven rories
and scenic practices appears. Choosing
"scene painring" from this list makes
available the primary evidence and commenrary relating eo scenic practices of
the period. A reference ro "lamp black"
in this documenr, by highlighting the
reference and clicking the mouse key,
will take the viewer eo a discussion of
how this pigmenr was prepared, and
subsequenr clicks will bring up informa-

tion on painr-sellers and manufacrurers
in the American colonies. The viewer
may rerum eo the discussion of scene
painring, or ro the scene painring room,
at any nme.
One final rool which is being used
in the project is IBM's Storyboard Pllis™
"presenration" software that provides an
excellenr pixel graphics ediror, a caprure
program which permits vecror graphics
from the CAD programs ro be edited in
Storyboards environmenr, and editing
capabilities which permitanimations,
fades and dissolves, and complex
sequencing of piceorial and text material.
StolJboard Plus seories, up eo 400
lines in length, can be called by Guide
"buteons." By clicking a "butron" on a
stage crap or the winch for an apotheosis, for example, the srudenr not only
gets a sequence of drawings from John
Foulsron's Plymouth Thearre, and a
descri ption from Ree's ylClopaedia, bur
an animation of these machines in
acrion as well.

RECREATING THE PAST,
ECONOMICALLY
Computer graphics in 2-D and 3-D are

no longer the exclusive purview of mainframe jockeys with George Lucas's budgets. Highly versatile and powerful
graphics software programs are now
available at a nominal cost so that even
the most cash-strapped instirution or
private company can take advanrage of
this rool.
For the scholar of performance hisrory, of the hiseory of stage scenery and
machinery, and of theacre architecrure,
the combination of two-and threedimensional drafting programs provides
a method of recreating the past with
accuracy and elegance. The ease with
which drawings can be imponed ineo
hypertext and presenration programs
provides an ideal way eo documenr the
theatre's past in computer assisted
inscruction.
ffi

John R. Wolcott is a historian at the

University of Washington School ofDrama
in Seattle.
* Gfluric CADD. Ct11l'ric 3D, and Generic Software are
[rademarks of Generic Sofrware, Inc.; lvlin-05ofi is a registered trademark of IV1icrosoft Corp.; Storyboard Plus is a
trademark of ",e IBM Corp.

EVALUATING SOFTWARE

John R. Wolcott
One component ofcomputer research at
the Unive1"Sity of Wnshi7lgton School of
Drama examines new software to see
how it might be used throughout the
School TO make this process as objective as possible, specific criteria have
been developed. Generally, three questions are asked.'
1. Is the software compatible with
most of the equipment on campus?
What is the minimum hardware configuration? These questions are assessed
in light of the typical PC LAN (Local
Area Network) at the university, most
of which consist of IBM-PC XT
machines with 640K RAM and 256K
memory on the color card, running in
the EGA mode.
2. How much does it cost? Are
multiple copies affordable? How much
will upgrades cost? Are there thirdparry program modules available, such
as special text fonts and standard symbollibraries?
3. How easy will it be for students
to become familiar with this software?

Can we expect most students to be up
and running with limited instruction?

In the assessment of CAD, additional criteria must be met:
1. Does the software allow tlie user
to work more or less as he or she has
always worked as a draftsman, or must
the user re-learn work methods? A program which came our in 1985, for
example, required all vectors (lines) to
be drawn from left to right to accomI1J$.?date its hidden line re~o~al ~lgo-
ntnm. One learned to do It In time,
but it caused no end of frustration,
even after weeks of use.
2. How easy is the software to use?
Does it have a logical command structure? Do commands always cause the
same result to occur, regardless of the
conrext in which they are used? How
long will it take a student to learn to
use the software? A 3-D program we
tested recently rotated work around a
stationary cursor, so that the user was
forced to keep track of the orientation

of the drawing as it was viewed from
different sides. Most found this
extremely confusing, and quickly abandoned effortS to move the drawing.
3. How easy is it to edit work? Can
vectors be trimmed and extended, or
must they be completely redrawn? Can
end-points of vectors be moved quickly? Do windows permit rapid relocation
of elements in the drawing? Is there an
"unerase" command as well as "erase"?
Does the program provide for re-sizeable grids and can endpoints be
snapped to gridpoints?
4. Does the program have the ability to isolate drawing elements easily?
Does it support 255 layers and at least
16 colors? Can layers be easily hidden?
Can they be changed easily? Can layers
be named and can a list of these names
be displayed?
5. Can the program run user-created batch fIles to automate repetitious
tasks such as the creation of borders,
title blocks, scale data, font styles and
sizes and the like?
6. Can menus be customized by

TD&T

1990 FALL

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990