As houses of worship embrace modern technology to enhance their services, the demand for production tools is increasing.
This article covers, first, what’s meant by “house of worship production” and “church production,” and then explores how Vectorworks can streamline the design and execution of these multi-disciplinary projects.
What is House of Worship & Church Production?
“House of worship production” and “church production” refer to the planning, design, and execution of technical elements within a diverse spectrum of worship environments. This includes everything from lighting and sound design to staging, scenic elements, and even broadcasting. Production teams in sacred spaces are responsible for creating an immersive atmosphere that supports and enhances the worship experience.
In recent years, production in houses of worship has become more sophisticated, drawing on techniques used in concerts, theater, and live events. As sacred spaces expand the complexities of their productions, the need for advanced production tools is growing, and Vectorworks is leading the way by providing comprehensive solutions for these complex designs.
Key Aspects of House of Worship & Church Production
Production for houses of worship intersects with several design areas. Each aspect requires precise coordination and execution to create seamless worship experiences.
Below, we’ll explore just a few of the key aspects of church production and how Vectorworks meets the needs of each discipline.
Load In/Load Out Touring
“Load in” and “load out” refer to the setup and teardown of equipment for services, especially in houses of worship that operate in temporary or multi-use spaces. For touring church productions, efficiency is crucial — teams need to set up and dismantle large-scale AV equipment, lighting, and stage sets quickly and accurately.
Vectorworks provides you with the tools and features to achieve the efficiency that church production demands. Data visualization, for example, can help you create color-coded, 3D layouts of the space, mapping out where equipment will be positioned.
You can create data visualizations by selecting Visualization in the View menu. From there, you can click New, Edit, and Manage for any data visualizations. You can also search for visualizations in your current file, User Folder, and defaults in the Vectorworks Libraries.
Your Data Visualization menu is only available when a design layer is active; within sheet layers, your visualizations are applied as a viewport with the Data Visualization dropdown in the OIP.
You also generate reports, schedules, and other forms of documentation with features like record formats and the Data Tag tool. With the ability to generate accurate reports and documentation, teams can visualize how all elements fit together, ensuring a smooth load in/load out process every time.
For more on data-driven features that can help with your load in/load out efficiency, click here.
Theatrical Production
Theatrical production plays a significant role in many modern worship services, with performances, scenic, and lighting adding to the emotional impact of worship.
Whether it’s designing a stage for a holiday-specific program or coordinating lighting cues for a sermon, teaching, or reading, theatrical production requires careful planning with purpose-built tools.
Vectorworks shines in these areas, giving you everything you need to create stunning scenic designs to amplify your worship productions. Features include:
- Loft Surface tool – This tool is perfect for drooping, flowing elements in your design from two or more 3D NURBS curves.
- Duplicate Along Path – Use this command for setting up repeated, equidistant design elements, saving you time in your scenic design workflow.
- Deform tool – This allows you to create unique, organic shapes that would be very time-consuming to create from scratch.
- Per Face Texture Mapping – This provides you with the design flexibility to create accurate textures and control them on a face-by-face basis.
Also important to the theatrical nature of your productions is creating detailed lighting plots that show where lighting instruments are placed in relation to each other, the architecture of the worship venue, and whatever scenery there might be.
Simple light plots only need to be 2D, since they are presented in a bird’s-eye view known as a “plan view.” Sections and elevations can be created to help understand where the lights are in 3D space.
Click here to find out how to draw a light plot in Vectorworks Spotlight.
Additionally, Vectorworks gives you everything you need to light performers or speakers. To learn more on dramatically lighting productions, click here.
Broadcasting
In today’s digital age, houses of worship often broadcast their services to reach audiences beyond the physical building. Broadcasting encompasses live streaming, multi-camera setups, and audiovisual content creation, all of which are key to expanding a place of worship’s reach.
Vectorworks supports broadcasting needs with features that allow for the integration of AV designs into the overall production plan. You can use Vectorworks to create layouts for camera positions, lighting setups, and audio equipment, ensuring that the technical elements of the broadcast work in harmony with the rest of the production.
Showcase, new to Vectorworks Spotlight 2025, can also help you previz your video and lighting elements directly in your design environment.
This game-changing new feature and Vision are both great ways for you and your collaborators to quickly see what your church production will look like in real life.
How to Get Started Doing House of Worship & Church Production in Vectorworks
For houses of worship looking to get started in production, Vectorworks offers a range of tools to streamline the process. By taking advantage of these features, you can create professional-quality production designs that enhance worship services and reach broader audiences.
