# Tools & technology — performance lighting designer Source: O*NET 30.3, occupation 27-1014.00 (Special Effects Artists and Animators) — manual nearest-occupation mapping via ISCO group 2166; the official ESCO crosswalk has no entry for this ESCO occupation. | Software | Category | Hot technology | |---|---|---| | Adobe Acrobat | Document management software | yes | | Adobe After Effects | Video creation and editing software | yes | | Adobe Creative Cloud software | Graphics or photo imaging software | yes | | Adobe Illustrator | Graphics or photo imaging software | yes | | Adobe InDesign | Desktop publishing software | yes | | Adobe Photoshop | Graphics or photo imaging software | yes | | AJAX | Web platform development software | yes | | Apple macOS | Operating system software | yes | | Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D | Computer aided design CAD software | yes | | C | Development environment software | yes | | C++ | Object or component oriented development software | yes | | Canva | Graphics or photo imaging software | yes | | Cascading style sheets CSS | Web platform development software | yes | | Extensible markup language XML | Enterprise application integration software | yes | | Figma | Graphical user interface development software | yes | | Hypertext markup language HTML | Web platform development software | yes | | JavaScript | Web platform development software | yes | | jQuery | Object or component oriented development software | yes | | Microsoft Excel | Spreadsheet software | yes | | Microsoft Office software | Office suite software | yes | | Microsoft PowerPoint | Presentation software | yes | | Microsoft Visio | Process mapping and design software | yes | | Microsoft Windows | Operating system software | yes | | Microsoft Word | Word processing software | yes | | PHP | Web platform development software | yes | | Python | Object or component oriented development software | yes | | Trimble SketchUp Pro | Graphics or photo imaging software | yes | | UNIX | Operating system software | yes | | Ability Photopaint | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | ACD Systems Canvas | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Adobe ActionScript | Development environment software | | | Adobe AIR | Development environment software | | | Adobe Director | Video creation and editing software | | | Adobe Dreamweaver | Web page creation and editing software | | | Adobe Flex | Web platform development software | | | Adobe FreeHand MX | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Adobe ImageReady | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Adobe Premiere Pro | Video creation and editing software | | | Ambient Design ArtRage | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Apple DrawBerry | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Apple Final Cut Pro | Video creation and editing software | | | Aqsis Renderer | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Autodesk 3ds Max | Video creation and editing software | | | Autodesk 3ds Max Design | Computer aided design CAD software | | | Autodesk Alias Design | Computer aided design CAD software | | | Autodesk Alias Surface | Computer aided design CAD software | | | Autodesk Combustion | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Autodesk Maya | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Autodesk MotionBuilder | Video creation and editing software | | | Autodesk Mudbox | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Autodesk SketchBook Pro | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Autodesk SoftImage | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | AutoDesSys form Z | Computer aided design CAD software | | | AutoQ3D | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Blender | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Bohemian Coding DrawIt | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Bunkspeed HyperDrive | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Bunkspeed HyperMove | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Caligari Corporation trueSpace | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Celsys RETAS | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Chaos Group V-Ray | Video creation and editing software | | | Character Studio | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Cheetah3D | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Code libraries | Development environment software | | | Component libraries | Development environment software | | | Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Corel Painter | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Crytek CryEngine | Development environment software | | | Cybermotion 3D Designer | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | DAZ Productions Bryce | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | DAZ Productions Carrara | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Drupal | Web platform development software | | | DX Studio | Development environment software | | | Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML | Web platform development software | | | Electric Rain Swift 3D Xpress | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | e-on software Vue | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Extensible hypertext markup language XHTML | Web platform development software | | | Freeverse Lineform | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Google Sites | Web page creation and editing software | | | HASH Animation:Master | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Indigo Renderer | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Inivis AC3D | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Luxology Modo | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Luxrender | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | MagicTracer | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Massive Jet | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Maxon BodyPaint 3D | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Maxon Cinema 4D | Video creation and editing software | | | MaxScript | Development environment software | | | Maya Embedded Language MEL | Development environment software | | | Mental Images Mental Ray | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Microsoft Expression Design | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Microsoft Silverlight | Web platform development software | | | Nevercenter Silo | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | NewTek Lightwave 3D | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Next Limit Maxwell Render | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | NodeBox | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | NVDIA Gelato | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Object-oriented programming languages | Object or component oriented development software | | | Perforce Helix software | Configuration management software | | | Pixar RenderMan Studio | Video creation and editing software | | | Pixarra TwistedBrush | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Pixelmator | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Pixologic Zbrush | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Quad Software Grome | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | QuarkXPress | Desktop publishing software | | | RealFlow | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Satori Paint | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Serif DrawPlus | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Side Effects Software Houdini | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | SideFX Houdini | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | sK1 | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Skencil | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | SmithMicro Anime Studio | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | SmithMicro Manga Studio | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | SmithMicro SoftwarePoser | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Social media sites | Web page creation and editing software | | | solidThinking | Computer aided design CAD software | | | SplutterFish Brazil | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Sunflow Render System | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | TechSmith Camtasia | Video creation and editing software | | | Three-dimensional graphics software | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Trapcode Particular | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Two-dimensional graphics software | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Unity Technologies Unity | Development environment software | | | Unreal Technology Unreal Engine | Development environment software | | | VectorDesigner | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | Xara Designer Pro | Graphics or photo imaging software | | | XML User Interface XUI | Development environment software | | | YouTube | Video creation and editing software | | ## Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 6 ads, as of 2026-07-18) Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs. ### Tools - DMX controls — **17 %** - AutoCAD — **17 %** - CAD — **17 %** - ETC — **17 %** - HOG — **17 %** - Lutron — **17 %** - Vectorworks — **17 %**