Find the Fixture That Breaks Your 512-Channel Universe — Free
A lighting plot is built fixture by fixture until the desk refuses to patch the last one, and by then the rig is hung. Every fixture has a footprint — a moving head at 16 channels, a four-bar LED wash at 4, a hazer at 2 — and a single universe holds 512. This board runs the footprints against your universe size, sorts the hungry fixtures to the top, and names the one that crosses the line.
The proof surface
Free path: the board computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A channel spreadsheet in fixture order hides the total until the last row, and 'we are over' does not say which fixture to drop. Sorting the same plot by footprint and running the total against 512 turns a rig into one decision: which fixture moves to a second universe, or comes out.
How to use the lighting plot board in four passes
A moving head may support 20 channels and run happily in a 9-channel basic mode. The footprint you type is the mode you intend to use, not the largest one in the manual.
Six pars at four channels each is 24, not 4. Either write one row per unit or multiply in the row label — the board only adds the numbers you give it.
The board sorts by footprint and marks the fixtures past your universe. If the total is over, the cheapest fix is usually a mode change, not a second universe and the node to run it.
A tech rehearsal always adds something. If the plot lands on exactly 512, one practical lamp puts you over — add a spare row so the overspend is a decision you made earlier.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: 'Harbour Light' · The Old Woollen, Leeds · ten fixture rows · two moving heads at 16 channels each · 512-channel universe · a hazer and three practicals nobody counts. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Using the fixture's maximum footprint
Manuals list every mode. Patching to the largest one wastes channels on functions you will never use, and a plot built that way fails long before the rig is full.
Forgetting the non-lighting channels
Hazers, snow machines, pyro cues, dimmer racks, house lights and chase controllers all eat channels. They are the ones people remember at the tech rehearsal.
Assuming a second universe solves a bad plot
If the overage is 34 channels, a mode change on two fixtures costs nothing and a node, cabling and a second patch costs a day. The board tells you which case you are in.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A lighting designer's plot and paperwork | Exactly this, drawn properly, with the paperwork a venue needs | a design fee plus a rigging day |
| A second universe mid-production | Node, cabling, a re-patch and a desk that may not output it | hire plus a day of crew time |
| Discovering the overage at the tech rehearsal | The desk refuses the last patch while the cast waits in the dark | an hour of stage time |
| This page + the free lighting plot board | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free lighting plot board
A ten-fixture plot is already patched against a 512-channel universe, with the two moving heads sorted to the top. Set the universe to 64 and the band-rig record shows which fixtures survive it.
Open the free lighting plot board →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every fixture, the sorted footprints, the universe total and the crossing flag, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This adds the channel footprints you type in; it is not a lighting design, it cannot check your desk's actual output or a fixture's real modes, and it does not cover power, rigging weight or safety. Confirm modes against each fixture's manual and the plot with the venue's technician, and use a licensed operator for anything pyrotechnic.