I had a great conversation with Gil Densham from Cast Lighting yesterday. We’ve been talking about the upcoming release of WYSIWYG R25 and some of the new features that will be implemented in R25, as well as all kinds of developments that the Black Box system is having. Gil also informed me about a new Cast Software offering – a limited time WYSIWYG student version. Normally the student versions of software are fairly limited, whether it is in features or a big watermark somewhere on the drawing or something equally as pervasive. However, the student versions usually have a reduced price tag too, so the balance finds its way in there somehow.
The student pricing, also called Cast’s “Perform SSE,” is a full version of the Perform suite with visualization. You will get a dongle which is your property – the dongle will come authorized for the student version of the suite, which includes everything but tech support and updates. What I understand the details to be is as follows:
- it’s the full version of Perform. Viz, console connectivity, the works.
- the student WYSIWYG suite is $499
- the $499 that you pay as a student is fully applicable to a full version when you’ve graduated – essentially you’re getting the program for nothing if you plan on upgrading at the end of school.
- you get a dongle that you can travel with, and you’re not limited to using a student version in the computer lab.
- you do have to prove that you’re a student currently enrolled and taking classes.
- It’s essentially a full version of R22, which has all of the great viz and beam stuff.
- the student WYSIWYG will have a 1000 channel limit.
I love my WYSIWYG. After my eyes, it is my number one lighting design tool. If you’re a student, and you want to get in on this, email learn@cast-soft.com and give them the hey-what’s-up. If you ever have questions about WYSIWYG, please don’t hesitate to contact me through the JimOnLight contact form, just put WYSIWYG somewhere in the subject.
Cast also has some cool student pricing on a specially packaged student version of WYSIWYG Design, and their Event Planning and conceptual design package, Vivien. I haven’t ever talked about Vivien much, but it is a cool product. I’ll talk a bit more about this in the near future, but for $199 and a $30 “initiation fee” you get one year of the software as long as you’re a student. The cool part of that money is that if you were to buy four years at $199 a year, at your graduation they will credit you every dime of that money towards upgrading to the full version.
You’re going to use a lot of software in your lives to design lighting – some of it is cool, some of it is a waste of your time. WYSIWYG has taught me more, saved me more time, and saved my rear end more times than I can count. That’s why I write these posts.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
If only CAST had a similar offer for community theatre. Visualization software is beyond our budget although it would be an excellent teaching aid for our volunteers. 🙁
Be meaning to comment on this forever.
I’d love to add WYSIWYG to my arsenal but the suite is $499 (as compared to VW’s free with support as long as you’re a student) or ESP’s $250.00 offer with the updater. And while on paper ESP doesn’t offer support, AJ at ESP is just too awesome to say no last project I used it for.
If it even came with updatability there’s a 95% chance I’d get it, but sadly that is not this day!
Hey Dan,
Just want to add that the 499 is a perform edition with 1000 channels for console connection.
There is also the Design version for only 199… man this is great!
Hi there,
i just received the “perform student version” and its a big FRAUD!!!! they give you the R22 as a “perform student version” for only 500$ and not the R24/25 and they don’t even say that on their website.
we all know where to get the R22 for free.
don’t do this mistake
yo yo.
if it came with updated fixtures it might even be worth it. thats the only thing that the “other” version of r22 is missing.
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