CHRIS BOLTON: SA’S ShowDesigner™ GENIUS – by Bruce Schwartz
Christopher Bolton in his studio
Christopher Bolton is a Johannesburg lighting designer who, does not shy away from asking questions, expanding his knowledge or applying his skills. Chris, like most lighting designers, often feels that he has either too few “toys”, or too little time to express his full creativity. However, in this day and age computers are an ever-present as well as a key aspect in Entertainment lighting design, presenting designers with boundless opportunities.
In today’s lighting industry it is very difficult to express a lighting concept to a client who might never have seen a show. This is where 3D Lighting Visualization software can 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.
Chris's design for the Audi Silver Arrow Awards
Lighting control desks have grown in leaps and bounds over the years and now resemble Jumbo Jet cockpits with all their buttons and screens. A few years back though, there was none of that, which brings us back to the inimitable Chris Bolton and 2003 when John ‘JR’ Roughley (another South African 3D Visualization Whizz) introduced him to a 3D Visualization package called Martin Showdesigner (MSD) v4.4. The software tickled his fancy no end, but he had so many questions that shortly after purchasing the package he decided that it would be worth his while to visit Lighthouse in Nieuwegein, Holland to meet the people who had conceived this brilliant package. In 2004 he set off for the small town near Utrecht where he was warmly received by Gerald and Kathinka van Tongeren - the proprietors of Lighthouse.
Chris Bolton's design for the African Cup of Nations
Chis spent endless hours with Marco Westveer and Stefan Montanus (Chris claims they are complete “legends”) and gave them feedback on how he experienced their software and how he felt it needed to progress. He also had some “real world” questions for them. Some could be answered and some not, but 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 Chris and the Lighthouse team. Over the years with “millions” of e-mails and long discussions on the Martin Showdesigner forum Chris and a few other users started structuring the way they wanted the software to be developed. While many companies don’t take feedback from end-users seriously Lighthouse were the complete opposite. Their software has grown exponentially over the years and today it is probably one of the best Stage Lighting Visualizer packages on the market. Chris believes the key to its success is because, “… it comes with the best support structure one can get: direct contact with the guys who actually write the programme”.
The design Chris did for the SA Sports Awards
With the release of MSD 5 in 2008, and the introduction of proper 3D Fly-through and unsurpassed Real Time Visualization, it changed the way people think of Visualization. Today the software offers 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.
As with most CAD packages the learning curve can be steep. Often when software designers try to make products user-friendly, their own 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 an in-house post-production studio, it was not long before Chris had churned out a series of slick, well-planned, how-to videos. These were then posted on You-Tube and now serve as an essential starting place for anyone wanting to use Martin MSD 5 Software. So successful were these videos and Chris’s ability to convey his knowledge to others that Lighthouse asked him to represent Lighthouse at the PLASA 2011 and Frankfurt Messe Show in 2012. Chris grabbed this opportunity with both hands, and although it’s a long day on a trade show stand, it was a great opportunity to meet other users and to impart some of his “uber-knowledge”.
Chris 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. Otherwise you’ll find him wherever the fish are, rod in hand dreaming about that “4000 moving light rig I’m going to operate one day”.
Take a look at Chris’s videos on Martin’s YouTube channel: