Ammonite Sessions: The Future of Pre-Visualisation

In October 2025, we hosted our fourth installation of Ammonite Sessions talks, supported by MA and Avolites. Within the Dorfman Theatre, Ammonite Studios brought together the industry's top pre-visualisation experts and users to the National Theatre for a unique day of debate and discovery.

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Overview

Together with a diverse group of engaged professionals, we looked in detail at one of the largest areas of technology growth in contemporary production of recent years and lifted the lid on all things ‘Pre-Vis’.

These dynamic portals provide design and control capabilities to ever more complex staging and multimedia production and following on from Ammonite Studios’ well received ‘The Future of Followspots’ day in 2023, we provided a timely debate and appraisal of the myriad systems and products making up the Pre-Vis universe.

With technology advancing at an unprecedented pace, industry professionals are having to work with constantly evolving systems.

New show-building protocols offering architectural realism, enhanced data sharing, vast universes of libraries and multi-media realisation, provide the potential to hugely improve collaboration across diverse technical and creative teams. The benefit is clear but what’s the reality on the ground? Can pre-vis technology truly integrate creative and technical workflows, allowing shared planning across disciplines?

We hosted panel discussions with designers, pre-vis users, showed demos of pre-vis in action and provided a platform for anyone interested in quizzing real world users as to the pros and cons of these clever systems.

‍Who was the day aimed at? ‍

Technicians, production managers, CAD experts, programmers, designers, technical directors, those emerging into the industry from training and anyone with a professional interest are all welcome to take part in this crucial conversation about the future of pre-visualisation in live entertainment.

Audiences saw discussions, demonstrations, presentations and debates tackling key topics, including:

• The major pre-vis software providers making the biggest investments today
• The evolving role of pre-vis - what it offers now and in the future
• Standardising practice across industries (Theatre, Live Events, Touring, Rock & Roll, Theme Attractions)
• Cost vs. efficiency - does pre-vis create complexity or transparency?
• Digital rehearsals - saving time with tracking and interactive setups
• The evolution of lighting control - ensuring relevance and augmenting the pre-vis world
• Designing intuitive platforms for non-technical creatives
• Report flows and management - a problem shared?
• Lidar scanning and digital twinning - gateways to fast track pre-vis 
• The artistic risk of photorealistic simulation - does realism limit creativity?
• Collaborative draughting - who controls the Digital Dolls House?
• AI coding and automation - how can it streamline workflows in pre-vis?

‍Schedule

11:00 - 13:00
Demo Space (Cottesloe Room) - Supported by Drawn to the Light

13:00 - 14:00

Panel 1 - Previs: The Designers Toolkit

Goal: Understand where the industry is now, who the key players are, and what issues matter most.

14:00 - 14:30
Break - Sponsored by Preevue

14:30 - 15:30

Panel 2 - Previs: from Concept to Console

Goal: Explore how pre-vis bridges (or fails to bridge) creative and technical teams.

16:00 - 17:00

Post Event Drinks
The Understudy Bar, (National Theatre)
Sponsored by Preevue

Speakers

The two panels featured the following speakers:

• Dan Murfin
• Jonny Milmer
• Morgan Evans
• Nigel Catmur
• Patrick Woodroffe
• Saul Richardson
• Shona M’gadzah
• Tim Routledge
• Zoe Spurr

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We would love to hear from you! 

Whether you have any questions or want to make  suggestions for future topics, as we plan and prepare for Ammonite Sessions 2026, please do send your ideas to us by email at info@ammonite.ltd to have your say.

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Written by Grace McCaffrey and Matt Veitch

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