Originally Posted by Steve B.

There's a very popular database/spreadsheet program used in the entertainment lighting business, called Lightwright. Created by a Broadway designer about 40 years ago in DOS, then ported to Mac. The creator works with Nemetschek, the VW owner, on the data transfer. It's really just a case of the CAD program giving a specific ID for high level drafting objects that are the symbols for the stage lights. Once that specific ID number is shared between programs, information about the object can be filled in, such as electrical load, instrument type, weight, control channel, etc..... Once some of the data is generated, the control channel info gets ported to the computer that actually manipulates the lighting and gets played back during the show. All this data transferring is a monumentally hugh time saver and was a game changing thing to learn in my later career.