Rising Star Praises GDTF/MVR Workflows

 

"I couldn't live without GDTF/MVR."
- Elliott Mountford

In the world of electronic dance music (EDM), every beat demands a dazzling light display. Elliott Mountford, an emerging lighting designer, knows this well.

Meet Elliot Mountford

Mountford's journey began with an apprenticeship at a rental company that allowed him to hone his craft and set the stage for his rise in the lighting industry.

Elliott founded his own company, TI22, in 2018. His breakthrough came quickly as he landed his first major gig as a lighting operator for the rock band Kasabian. This success opened doors to even bigger opportunities, and soon, he was illuminating stages for artists like Skepta and Charli XCX, taking his expertise around the globe.

Elliott has always been enthralled by EDM. Following pandemic lockdowns, Mountford channeled this passion into new ventures within the EDM circuit. Elliott's renewed focus on EDM has led to work on tours with artists like Lost Frequencies, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and Eric Prydz.

We recently spoke with Elliott, who was happy to share how he incorporates GDTF/MVR into his workflow.

A Conversation with Elliot Mountford

Q: How did you first hear about GDTF?

A: I first heard about GDTF through Robe's marketing. When MA3 was released, it really brought home the purpose and advantages of using the format.

I also went to quite a few panel sessions at Frankfurt's Prolight + Sound exhibition, where MA Lighting and Robe talked about it. Hearing them describe a general fixture type format where you can extract and expand crucial information and see exactly what data is in the file format — and even edit it — really sparked my interest.

If you have a problem with the file, you just unzip it and see where the problem is. It's an advantage not many people talk about, but I think it's really important. From a professional point of view, GDTF is super helpful.

Q: What triggered you to implement GDTF for the first time?

A: Everyone was using the MA Lighting fixture share for MA2. When MA3 was released, GDTF Share seemed like the logical evolution. The launch of MA3 made the format a necessity. From that point onwards, I've always used GDTF where possible.

Q: What was the first GDTF you used? Do you remember?

A: Probably a GLP JDC-1 or something. It must've been around 2020 or 2021.

Q: What do you think are the real strong points of GDTF?

A: I think if you don't look at it from a lighting console perspective, one of the strong points is the development of a codex, or whatever you wish to call it, a file that knows what a fixture can do. A file that can be cross-compatible between different software platforms while obviously each of them uses and translates the GDTF in a different way.

GDTF is a big part of my workflow. It's an obvious choice to use it, and it's a shame that some manufacturers don't realize the potential of it yet. It's good that more and more manufacturers are catching on now — it seems like they understand that it's a big selling point to have all of your fixtures in the GDTF format.

Q: What impact has GDTF had on your workflow?

A: From the MA Lighting side, the most helpful thing is not having to fixture swap every time and be able to move data through files and different showfiles.

Especially if you have a house rig and it's all GDTF, it's super helpful and cuts the time you need for programming.

GDTF is an integral part of MVR. Being able to use MVR every day, literally for everything, is probably the most important thing for me. And I don't think many people really understand how powerful it is yet. Even if the GDTF is not completely correct or if it's just a dummy fixture, it still contains valuable patch and position data.

Q: What features of GDTF can be improved for you? Where do you see the format evolving?

A: I believe a wider understanding on how to build GDTF files would be very helpful. The GDTF Builder is great and I would love to see hands-on, real-life tutorials. Understanding the different parts of a GDTF file and how to correctly translate a fixture's values into this format is crucial to unlocking the true potential and power of GDTF.

Additionally, developing more of a standard for how fixtures and their features are controlled by different operating platforms would maximize the benefits of GDTF a lot.

Q: What prompted your first use of MVR, and how did you find out about it?

It was probably during lockdown when I bought Depence and was bringing assets over from Vectorworks. At first I wasn't really sure what MVR was, but as time went on, I started to see the advantages and started using it all the time.

Q: Can you describe how MVR fits into your workflow?

A: MVR is essential to my workflow of pre-programming. Everyone I work with uses Vectorworks, so I will always ask for an MVR or at least a patch in MVR to work with. Then I import the file into Depence or I'll import it first into MA, clean it up, and then export it from there into Depence.

On site, it's crucial, too, for the integration of the house showfile into my showfile. It's the only way that I do it, because I'm not going to sit there and patch however many lights. It's easy to do, so I think MVR is great in that sense and in my workflow.

Q: What can be improved about MVR?

A: It would be great if we could store fixture-specific data within GDTF/MVR and have it transported through the different platforms we use for our productions. Take presets and fixture type presets for example. If they could also live in the GDTF/MVR format, it would be a clever way of sharing them across platforms.

Q: Has MVR been a benefit to your shows?

Absolutely! The time I used to spend on patching and cloning and all the things you had to think about can now be spent to focus on the more intricate stuff that you previously could not do. I spend more time creating cool stuff for my shows instead of doing dummy work.

Especially when using pixel mapping there are things I just wouldn't have been able to achieve without MVR and all the positional data it holds.

I have used GDTF and MVR on all of my projects in the last few years, and I actually couldn't live without it.

Learn more about GDTF and MVR at gdtf-share.com.