Swami Candela: Shadow, Light, and Truth

** Learning Opportunity!

cadenar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:18:05 +0000

The ESTA Foundation and USITT

Announce

Desert TECH Days

at ARIZONA STATE

FOR

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL RIGGING

AND

ELECTRICAL STAGE TECHNICIANS

New York, NY — The Joint Training Initiative of The ESTA Foundation and USITT announces Rigging, Electrical and Projection Training Sessions to be held at Arizona State University in Phoenix AZ. This event is being hosted and co-produced by the Herberger College School of Theatre & Film in association with Desert States Section of USITT. The three-day schedule of courses is designed for Basic to Intermediate level technicians. Days one through three will focus on material which would help the entertainment technicians advance their professional proficiency. These sessions will be held January 13^th through January 16^th, 2009, on the campus of Arizona State University, Phoenix AZ. The Electrical and Rigging courses will be taught by ETCP Certified Trainers Richard Cadena and Jay O. Gelrum. The Projections sessions will be conducted by Jacob Pinholster of Arizona State University and Eric Ludacer with Cirque du Soleil. A bonus day 4 on Saturday, January 17^th will offer the opportunity for informal portfolio reviews and discussions of the varied employment opportunities available in the entertainment industry.

For additional information, contact Frank Stewart at fstewart@estafoundation.org

Session Schedule – ELECTRICAL

Day One: Wednesday, January 14

The FUNdamentals of Electricity! Presented by Richard Cadena

What is electricity? How do you quantify it? Who is George Ohm and why does his law matter to the entertainment electrician? All of these mysteries of electricity and more are answered in this session on the FUNdamentals of Electricity. It covers Ohm’s law, AC electricity, phase angles, power factor, 3-phase power, and secrets we can’t mention without proper clearance.

Day Two: Thursday, January 15

Power Distribution Presented by Richard Cadena Building on day one, this session will include the theory and practice of entertainment power distribution; survey of the equipment; cabling, routines; National Electric Code and safety considerations. There will be a discussion on equipment evaluation and what to look for when purchasing or renting equipment.

Day Three: Friday, January 16

Control Systems Presented by Richard Cadena

Have a great big bowl of alphabet soup and TLAs (three letter acronyms). Learn about the new protocols and how to distribute data on a network. Topics include DMX512-A, RDM, Ethernet, ACN, and Streaming DMX.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Richard Cadena, ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician and ETCP Recognized Trainer, is a Freelance Lighting Designer, Lighting Consultant, Authorized WYSIWYG Trainer, LD Assistant Trainer, Author and Editor of the industry publication PLSN. Mr. Cadena regularly conducts Entertainment Technician training sessions around the country on a wide range of technical topics.

Session Schedule – RIGGING

Days One through Three will cover four things a flyman-rigger must know.

The FOUR K’s of Stage Rigging. Presented by Jay O. Glerum

Know the rigging equipment you are working with.

Keep it is in safe working condition.

Know how to use it.

Keep your concentration.

This three day session will cover Liability Questions, Forces and Reactions (The Physics of Rigging), Types and Designs of Hardware, Proper Operation and Inspection / Maintenance Issues. Also included, as time permits, will be discussions of Motorized Rigging, Fire Curtain Rigging and Rigging Math.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Jay O. Glerum, ETCP Certified Entertainment Theatre Rigger and ETCP Recognized Trainer, is the principal of Jay O. Glerum & Associates, Inc., a well know firm specializing in rigging inspections and training, and the author of a number of books covering various aspects of Entertainment Rigging Systems

Session Schedule – PROJECTION STUDIES 101

Projection Studies 101 classes are meant to serve as a primer for those with little or no experience working with multimedia video content and projection design for performance.

Day One: Thursday, January 15

Content Creation Presented by Jake Pinholster

This will be a day long survey course in the basics of content creation for design. The session will cover the basics of image creation (Photoshop), a variety of basic tools for animation, as well as guidelines for formatting and compression.

Day 2: Friday, January 16

Technology for Playback and Projection Presented by Jake Pinholster and Eric Ludacer

Co-taught by Pinholster and Eric Ludacer, the head of projections for Cirque du Soleil’s Love, Day 2 will cover Options for playback will be covered, ranging from no-budget to top of the line. Including will be discussions of media server technology and solutions for interactivity, as well as a synopsis of display technologies.

INSTRUCTOR BIOS

Jake Pinholster is the professor of media design in the Herberger College School of Theatre and Film at Arizona State University, the first full-time instructor of media design for performance in the US. He is also a freelance projection designer whose works have been seen in NY, LA and on international tours. An associate artist with the experimental theatre company Les Freres Corbusier. A frequent contributor to Live Design Magazine, he serves as the production manager for the LDI Institute and Projection Master Classes.

Eric Ludacer is the head of projections for Cirque du Soleil’s Love, where he is responsible for one of the most complex production projection systems ever created.

ASU LOGO

USITT Section LOGO

Attendee Name

Company / Organization Affiliation

Address

City State Zip / PC Country

e-mail Phone

Credit Card Information: Type (Visa, MC, Amex) Number Expires

Price Member Amount

Day One

Electrical $135.00 $120.00

Rigging $135.00 $120.00

Day Two

Electrical $135.00 $120.00

Rigging $135.00 $120.00

Projection $100.00 $ 80.00

Day Three

Electrical $135.00 $120.00

Aerial Rigging $135.00 $120.00

Projection $100.00 $ 80.00

Day Four

Job Opportunities Roundtable NO CHARGE

Informal Portfolio Review NO CHARGE

GAM Lighting and Color Workshop NO CHARGE

Total Amount Due

To Pay by Check: Mail this form along with your check or money order to:

To Pay by Credit Card by FAX: Please complete this form and fax to 212-244-1502

Final Registration Deadline - Friday, January 2nd, 2009

For additional information contact fstewart@estafoundation.org

Free Webinar: The Future of the Live Event Production Industry

cadenar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:46:50 +0000

The Future of the Live Event and Performing Arts Industry

Presented by: Richard Cadena

Free Webinar

Click here: http://tinyurl.com/3em8xa

Renaissance Machines Come to Life at PLASA 2008

cadenar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Fifteenth century Italy had its Renaissance men, but we have our Renaissance machines – software and hardware in a variety of areas that will redefine the entertainment lighting industry as we know it. This year’s PLASA differed from last year’s in that there seemed to be much more change and more innovative new products. And unlike years past, there was more than LEDs and media servers.

Some of the highlights of the show included new automated lights from PRG, Martin, Robe, SGM, High End Systems, and a number of other manufacturers. What’s that you say? That’s nothing new? Ah, but they are new in many ways. This year’s crop of automated lights are innovative in the way they are engineered, the way they render color, and even the light sources.

At least one manufacturer is experimenting with a new plasma source that’s the size of a Tic Tac with an efficacy of about 60 lumens per watt and a CRI of up to 94. Although it’s still in prototype form, Robe showed a moving head fixture using the Luxim LIFI Entertainment 30 Series lamp and RF power supply and it had an incredibly uniform field and surprisingly high output for such a small source. This may not be the be all and end all for green stage lighting, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

Other noteworthy moving lights debuting at the show include the PRG Bad Boy, Martin’s new MAC III, High End Systems StudioPix, and SGM’s Giotto 1500, among many others. The Bad Boy is aptly named – it’s bright, it has great optics, great color, and it’s very fast. The newly design optical train projects gobos with impressive clarity, even at its widest 56° zoom. The color system uses four color wheels, each with seven colors in a series of stepped color gradients with increasing in saturation. The resulting colors range from pastel to incredible.

The Martin MAC III is a third generation MAC fixture and it uses the new Osram 1500-watt single-ended short arc lamp with a FastFit base. It features several engineering innovations like pressure die-cast and ceramic-coated magnesium parts that are lightweight yet very strong, absolute value encoders with their own internal zero reference, “semi-hot” re-strike within 120 seconds of dousing, and a new gyro-like lamp adjustment. It has a separate dimmer and shutter, a new all glass animation wheel, and the 5:1 zoom that can go from 11° to 55° in under a second.

SGM’s new Giotto 1500 is a modular fixture that can be changed from a spot to wash or to a digital light. The digital module consists of a 0.7” XGA (1024×768) DLP chip and two color wheels and it enables the projection of animated gobos. The lamp source is a Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit or a 1200-watt MSR.

Even some of the LED fixtures demonstrated innovation that we have not seen in a while. On the High End /Barco stand, the new StudioPix, the LED fixtures with a circular array of 61 3-watt LEDs. In brief, they are a smaller, more affordable version of the ShowPix. Vari-Lite was showing a new LED light engine by appointment in a private area of the exhibition hall. It, too, is in prototype form, but it represents a big step forward in terms of getting to an LED solution for stage lighting. The LED light engine had 800 watts of RBGW LEDs packaged in a moving yoke fixture. The output lens had hexagonal cells that helped to homogenize the field, producing a beautifully uniform and surprisingly bright output. It seemed to have a high CRI and very good efficiency in the range of almost 17 lumens per watt. Though the prototype had a fixed field angle, the finished product is supposed to range from 15° to 44°. Delivery is expected to be in early 2009. There were also some LED moving yoke fixtures, like the JB Lighting VaryLED A7 Zoom and the Mushroom Lighting Technology Moving LED Zoom, with clever beam shaping features.

The presence of new digital luminaires on the Robe stand and their intention to show them at LDI was proof positive that they have worked out a licensing agreement with PRG. That will allow Robe to start selling their line of digital lighting products in the USA, which is good news for the industry because it will make the digital luminaire market more competitive and perhaps more affordable. Robe is ready with their new DigitalSpot 7000 DT and DigitalSpot 3000 DT.

But automated lighting and LEDs didn’t define the show; it was dominated by innovation across the board, which is a good indicator of what’s going on the in the industry. And what’s going on in the industry is that RDM is finally seeing the light of day. Robe, Martin, and High End Systems all showed new products with RDM capability that can talk back to the controller and provide information and remote operability from their menu displays. This could be the first true implementation of RDM in automated lighting fixtures. The word is that other manufacturers are working on their own implementations of RDM. If that’s true, then we’re witnessing a true Renaissance in the industry.

Graham Eales, Managing Director of Zero 88 (left) and Martin Searanck, Managing Director of LightFactory announced Zero 88’s appointment as exclusive global distribution partner for LightFactory PC-based lighting control software. Cooper Controls, parent company of Zero 88, will now provide marketing, distribution, service and support worldwide. Stage Research will continue to be a distributor in North America and ACT Lighting, the North American distributor for Zero 88, will also distribute the product. Zero 88 also introduced two new lighting consoles, the Orb and the Jester TL. The Orb is designed for control of LEDs, moving lights and media servers with four DMX512 universes. Jester TL is a theatrical version of Zero 88’s Jester consoles, with control of up to 120 dimmer channels from a numeric keypad using standard industry syntax. It features a cue stack, submaster playback (via DMX-in), a monitor port, USB storage, and control of up to 30 moving lights using palettes, effects engines and a fixture library.

Strand introduced two new consoles at the show, the Palette II (update to the Palette family of consoles) and the new Palette VL consoles, which are mid-sized desks for control of conventional and automated lights. Also on the Strand stand was the Vision.net range of architectural lighting controls with new photo cells and occupancy sensors added to the range as part of Strand Europe’s Green Theatre initiative. Robert Bell is shown here with the new Palette II, which he programmed on the new musical Tale of Two Cities on Broadway (lighting design by Richard Pilbrow). The display shows the Virtual Magic Sheet, which integrates with the Palette II.

Tom Folsom, General Manager of Strand worldwide (right) and Alan Luxford, General Manager of Strand Lighting Europe. Folsom was appointed GM shortly after Philips acquired Strand earlier this year.

Apollo Design Technology previewed their new Smart Color Pro gel scroller with 24 color frames, push button menu with LED display, 25% less power consumption, universal mounting, and 17% less weight. Also on display were the EZ Iris DMX, a remote iris accessory that fits in the gate of a conventional ERS fixture, three new models of Smart Power Supplies, Gel Miser with IR filtering and built-in fan, and Gelwrap color for fluorescent tubes.

Clay Paky’s new Alpha Beam creates a parallel light beam with the look of an ACL. the 1500-watt features a patent-pending focus system for variable field width, 14 gobos (six rotating and eight fixed), two rotating prisms, CMY + color wheel, rotating beam shaper, dimmer, iris, strobe, and three linear frost effects on dedicated channels. The Alpha Beam 300 was shown at LDI 2007 but it was its debut at PLASA. It has eight fixed gobos (four gobo images plus four beam angle reduction gobos, a patented frost effect with “soft mode” and “hard edge” mode, CMY color mixing and color wheel, and an electronic ballast.

Robe is preparing to launch its Robe Digital campaign in North America after signing a licensing agreement with PRG allowing them to sell their line of digital luminaires in the US. The new DigitalSpot 7000 DT is a combination 6500 ANSI lumen digital projector and RGBW LED modules with a contrast ratio of 2000:1, two LED modules with 48 Luxeon Rebel RGBW LEDs, DVI input and SDI input/output. The new DigitalSpot 3000 DT is a combination 2700 ANSI lumen projector with a REDWash LED module. It has a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and it uses a 200-watt lamp. Also on the Robe stand were the new Robe Emitting Diode (RED) series of LED fixtures including the REDWash 3•192 moving head wash light with manually adjustable beam angle from 12° to 45°. REDWash 3•192 communicates via Robe´s DreamBox USB interface with a computer running Robe RDMNet software enabling remote menu configurations and fixture setup. Other new RED luminaires included the REDFlash 3•192 (LED moving head strobe light), REDMix 3•192, and REDStrobe 3•192.

PRG brought out three new products, including the V676™ Console; the Bad Boy™ large venue luminaire; and the Mbox EXtreme™ v3 media server. The Bad Boy Luminaire outputs 48,000 lumens with a very wide ranging zoom (8:1 from 7° to 56°) and its servo motors provide speedy movements between colors and gobos as well as fast pan and tilt for a large fixture. Its Quantum Color® system produces nicely saturated colors. The PRG V676 console features eight touchscreen monitors, including five monitors built into the low-profile face panel, Super Palettes with a graphical interface for color, template, preset, macro, snapshot, and timing selection, six encoders, plus full-time pan, tilt, and intensity control. Mbox Extreme v3 Media Server features increased speed, streamlined user control, brand new hardware, and enhanced input and output options.

Compulite’s latest software for the Vector consoles displays thumbnails of media from the Arkaos and Hippotizer V3 media servers. Streaming media from the Hippo to Vector consoles is coming in version 3.2 of the Hippo. New features in the Vector include drag and drop with groups, palettes, etc, editing time values from the cue sheet, pixel mapping to LED matrices using animated GIF files, new workspaces (similar to Excel spreadsheet), DMX512 input to play back cues, 26 MIDI notes for remote control, and a new EPort which converts VC to DMX or ArtNet to DMX. Also new this year is USB backup on the DLite console.

Coolux was celebrating their recent Primetime Emmy Engineering Award, which they received August 23. Their new Pandora’s Box software release 4.1 features the Pandora’s Box Warp Engine, the processing of video material with field- and frame blending, and new de-interlacing options. The PB Warper allows a quick start into the creation of complex objects to adjust the output of Pandora’s Box to curved and non-planar screens. Frame blending allows a continuously adjustable playback speed variation of videos in real time. And all Pandora’s Box products now include the de-interlacing options top field, bottom field and field blending.

Swisson’s Simon Beck with the new XSD-I48 Sine Wave Dimmer installation racks. The first installation was recently commissioned at the New Vic Theatre in Staffordshire, UK.

The new Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit lamp debuted on the Philips stand and in the SGM Giotto 1500 fixtures. The FastFit lamp has an arc gap of 5.5 mm, an efficiency of 82 lumens per watt, a color temperature of 6000K, and a CRI of 80. It is dimmable to 800 watts. Since the initial launch of the Philips FastFit system two and a half years ago, 16 manufacturers have used them in a total of 20 fixtures. On the A.C. Lighting stand was Jands’ new Vista I3, a mid-range lighting desk the same features as the full-size T4/T2 consoles but in a smaller, more economical package. Also on the stand was the complete range of Chroma-Q™ products, including the new Color Span™ configurable LED fixture for indoor or outdoor applications. The system allows you to choose IP rating, body length, body color, LED colors, and optics. SGM’s new Giotto 1500 is a modular automated fixture that can be changed from a spot to wash or, with the addition of the new digital module, to a digital light. The digital module consists of a 0.7” XGA (1024x768) DLP chip and two color wheels and it gives it the ability to project animated gobos in black and white with a color overlay. The lamp source is a Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit or a 1200-watt MSR. Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe discusses the new MAC III on the Martin stand. The MAC III has been designed and engineered from the bottom up, using the new Osram 1500-watt single-ended short arc lamp with a FastFit base. Among its many features are a separate dimmer and shutter so it can perform a complete blackout while strobing, and a new all glass animation wheel. The 5:1 zoom can go from 11° to 55° in under a second. Also new on the Martin stand was the MAC 2000 Wash XB™, an “extra bright” version of the MAC 2000 Wash™, EvenLED™, a modular LED system with uniform field projection, new hazers in the Jem and Magnum lines, several new products and product updates in Martin’s controller range, the Exterior 1200 Image Projector™, and new indoor and outdoor LED luminaires. On the DTS stand, the XR1200 Wash fixture debuted as a new moving head projector with a Philips MSR Gold 1200W discharge lamp, outputting 27,000 lux at five meters. Features include a motorized zoom from 20°- 45°, rotating indexable beam shaper (0°-180°), two frost filters, two color conversion filters (3.200°K and 5.600°K), CMY plus a color wheel with six dichroic filters plus open, and the choice of an electromagnetic or electronic ballast. Other new products on the stand included the XR700 Spot and Wash, XR4 Wash, XM 250 Spot, and the Pharus Followspot. Barco/High End Systems debuted the new StudioPix, a hybrid wide-angle moving LED wash light with programmable graphic imaging. It’s the second product in High End Systems’ new line of Pixelation Luminaires. Based on ShowPix LED technology, StudioPix can project a color wash and display low-res graphic images and effects. Also on the stand was the DML-1200 digital moving luminaire. The dual-mode DML-1200 features a zoom range from 11° to 40° beam angle, instant switching between video and lighting modes, CMY changer and an optional on-board media player. The DL.3 Digital Light fixture with integrated Axon media server – also on the stand - features 110/220V power mode, a Collage Generator to create seamless images from multiple DL.3 units, a HAD sensor camera and an infrared illumination system. The news on the Pulsar stand was that several product lines have been upgraded with tri-color LEDs, increasing the LED density by a factor of three and eliminating multi-colored shadows. Among the upgraded products are the ChromaLink TC, ChromaPoint TC, ChromaStrip 2/25/X1 TC, ChromaFlood 50 TC, ChromaGround 50 TC, ChromaGround MR16 (available with RGB or tri-color LEDs), and ChromaBatten TC. Shown here is Pulsar’s head of sales and marketing, Andy Graves. On the PRG stand was Vari-Lite, Pathway Connectivity, and Wybron. They are the European distributors for those product lines. Lex Products exhibited at PLASA for the first time. They recently introduced a new data multicable with four CAT 5e Ethernet lines in a single cable. It has a thermoplastic-elastomer jacket and Neutrik Ethercon connectors. Vari-Lite was showing prototypes of the soon-to-be released versions of the VL500 and VL1000 with 400-watt ceramic metal halide lamps. The units will carry on-board power supplies and offer 10,000 hours of lamp life. They are expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2009. Also on the stand was the new VL3500 Wash FX fixture with four indexable rotating gobos and a new ground glass and coated output lens. The new fixture is a hybrid wash/projector and outputs 60,000 lumens. PixelRange launched the new PixelMax at PLASA. Sixteen of the six-cell LED wash lights highlighted their stand designed by lighting designer Vince Foster. Other new products on the stand included the high resolution PixelMax Pro and a compact 36 by 6 pixels half-length PixelArt. PixelMax Pro is a combined wash and pixellation luminaire, featuring 288 RGBA Luxeon Rebel LEDs with the same housing as the PixelMax Wash but with 18 individually controlled cells in a 3x6 matrix. Also introduced was a new software upgrade for PixelArt that allows it to be used standalone without other set-up utilities or a media server to generate content. ETC introduced their new Unison architectural lighting control system, of which the centrepiece is the Paradigm. Paradigm’s library of lighting products (conventionals, moving lights, LEDs and more) with touchscreen control helps create dynamic effects while networking devices from different manufacturers – both wired and wireless – to inter-operate over the same control system. Alongside Paradigm was ETC’s SmartLink lighting control solution for smaller venues. The new SmartLink TimeClock, brings time of day control to ETC Unison, Sensor and SmartPack dimming. Also at the show was a new version of SmartSoft for both PC and Macintosh computers. It allows users to connect their PC or Mac to their ETC SmartFade lighting control desk via USB and gain live displays of show data, as well as direct data-editing tools. It works as an offline editor and allows users to save SmartFade show files directly to the hard disk. Other new products included the 70-watt version of the Source Four HID family, the Eos console, Congo v5, and the new Suitcase module series from ETC’s distributed SineWave dimming range. A very busy Avolites stand was home base for Brad White of Avolites America. The show served as a launching pad for Avo’s new Titan operating system for the Pearl and Diamond 4 series consoles and a new digital media server, The Addict Server, which was developed by Dave Green, Mark Calvert and Ralph Lambert of Pixel Addicts Ltd. PR Lighting introduced the V-LED display screen and opened up two new rental companies in Europe. One of the companies bought a supply of XL-1200 Spots for local television station. Their French distributor bought a large supply of the new XL-250s. Columbus McKinnon introduced the Prostar with double DC brake system. The new ArchiBar 150 from Studio Due is a linear batten with 16 modules of 5-watt RGBW LEDs. It has an IP rating of 67 and a built-in power supply. Nine channels of DMX512 are required for control. The TMB Lounge. Green Hippo was previewing their forthcoming Hippotizer V3.1 to be released in the fourth quarter of this year. It features UberPan for multi-screen/server configuration from one ‘virtual screen’ area. In total this software release contains over 100 new features and improvements. Also being shown was the HippoCritter, a new entry-level Hippotizer with a small form-factor and seamless integration with HippoNet control protocol. The new HippoPortamus is a laptop-based Hippotizer with portability for those wishing to take their show with them. It provides all the Hippotizer features. Hippotizer Stage and Hippotizer HD are also now shipping in Green Hippo’s new road-ready enclosure. Greg Jesse of Zzyzx, Inc. with the latest version of ESP Vision visualization software. The beta version of ESP Vision V2.3 was used in Beijing during the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, driving 10,000 LEDs, and more than 800 lights. Among the new features will be dockable windows. On the Royal Shakespeare Company stand was a new device conceived and developed by the RSC’s head of lighting, Vince Herbert. The RSC Lightlock is a stabilizing device which allows moving or motorized luminaires to be rigged on flown structures. It prevents the light from shaking when it stops. They are currently looking for a manufacturer and distributor. G-LEC’s new Chimera system comprises LEDs mounted on printed circuit boards designed to be cut to fit without cutting the power to the LEDs. They are available in two sizes; the standard board can be cut to accommodate small to medium shapes or apertures, while the smaller version can be cut to fill smaller gaps. Lars Wernlund of Capture Sweden demonstrates the new Capture Polar featuring real-time shadows, volumetric beams, more realistic color mixing and HDR mapping, which prevents whiteouts and improves contrast. In addition to the TarmLED 4x4 and TarmLED Tile large-area LED-video-displays, TarmLED showed its Linear Stripe 25/50 with higher spatial resolution and cost-effectiveness. It allows for the construction of organic shapes, such as waves or cylinders. Modules are equipped with 3-in-1 SMD LEDs spaced at 25-mm or 50-mm intervals, yielding a brightness of either 6,000 nits (25-mm-pitch) or 1,500 nits (50-mm-pitch), respectively. Angular viewing fields are 120° x 120° for either version. Lighthouse showed their new R4-B and R6-B LED panels, as well as two new creative display products, the Tile and Mesh. R4-B is a 4mm pixel pitch, black-faced panel and R6-B is a 6mm pixel pitch, black-faced panel. Lighthouse’s new 3-in-1 black-faced Surface-Mount Device (SMD) LED provides a contrast ratio of 3300:1 and 3800:1 respectively, 2000 nits of brightness, a horizontal viewing angle of 140 (+70/-70), vertical viewing angle of 90 (+40/-50), and a single king pin for faster rigging. Tile is a new lighting fixture that bridges lighting and video production, allowing abstract designs, blocks of color and large fixed or animated illustrations to be displayed. They feature 12mm pixel pitch and 8x8 pixels per Intelligent Module (IM) with 5,000 nits of brightness, contrast ratio of 2000:1 and a viewing angle of 140 degrees. Mesh is designed for large-scale creative installations which will be viewed from a distance and where transparency is essential. Manufactured in epoxy-coated plastic, it is lightweight with integral rigging. It features 18mm pixel pitch and a 16x16 pixel matrix per IM with 2000 nits of brightness and 28.15 trillion colors.

Entertainment Electricity Seminar on the Beach 2008

cadenar — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:01:32 +0000

Entertainment Electrician Training Seminar on the Beach 2008

Presented by Richard Cadena, ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician, ETCP Recognized Trainer

The Entertainment Electrician Training Seminar is a three-day course that covers the concepts of electrical theory, power distribution, and networking. The first day is the foundation builder and refresher on electricity, including DC, AC, Ohm’s law, power, impedance, phase angles, three-phase power, balancing loads, dimming, and more. The second day covers the specifics of power distribution including portable generators, transformers, feeder cable, disconnects, overcurrent protection, branch circuits, connectors, grounding, GFCIs, load calculations, harmonics, lock-out/tag-out, and more. The third day covers networking systems starting with binary numbers and working through data distribution systems and networking including Ethernet, RDM, ACN, wireless, fiber, and more.

This seminar is an excellent review for the practicing entertainment electrician as well as a primer for the aspiring electrician. It has enough detail and information to challenge the experienced among us but presented in such a way as to convey useful concepts to the less experienced with a minimum amount of math and complexity.

About the teacher:

Richard Cadena is the editor of PLSN magazine (www.plsn.com), the author of Lighting Design for Modern Houses of Worship, Focus on Lighting Technology (2002, Entertainment Technology Press) and Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light in the Theatre, Live Performance, Broadcast and Entertainment (2006, Focal Press). He is also a freelance designer and
lighting consultant. His background in electrical engineering and his entertaining communication skills combine to make his seminars a unique and enjoyable learning experience.

For more information call 702-932-5585.

Dates and Times: November 11, 12, &13, 2008

9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m.

Location: La Jolla Room in the La Jolla Shores Hotel
8110 Camino Del Oro, La Jolla, California

Single Double

Garden View $129.00-$149.00 $129.00-$149.00

Additional Person $20.00 per-person, per-night

For reservations at conference rates, call 800-237-5211 and reference “Seminar on the Beach-PLSN.”

Cost: $225 per day ($675 total)
$25 per day discount for USITT, ESTA, IATSE, and CITT members

How to Register:
Call 702-932-5585 or fax your name, telephone number, e-mail address and credit card information to:

Attn: Seminar on the Beach

Fax number: 512-292-0163

Additional Information:

Everything you need for the successful completion of the three-day seminar will be provided except for a writing instrument and a calculator. Lunch will be provided each of the three days (you’re on your own for breakfast and dinner).

Course materials that will be provided include:

Notebook with copy of the PowerPoint slides with space for notes – makes it easier to follow the discussion while taking notes
Exclusive free Entertainment Electrician’s Handbook 2008 compiled by Richard Cadena – unavailable anywhere else
Several handouts with articles written by Richard Cadena and other contributors, all related to the subjects to be covered in this seminar

What They Have to Say about This Seminar:

“The class was not only informative, but also entertaining.” – Michael Caffery, New York

”The content was great!” – Chicago attendee

”These classes have greatly increased the knowledge that I learned in college.” – Marybeth Cave, IATSE Local 2

”Very personable and knowledgeable presenter.” Curt Collins, IATSE Local 2

“The class was great.” – Anonymous NYC attendee

“Very positive class.” – Anonymous NYC attendee

“Despite the large amount of material to cover, Richard was determined to make sure everyone grasped the concept before moving on to the next subject. I found that very helpful.” – T Joe Coddington

“I will definitely continue to take classes from PSLN. The knowledge that I learned is a key factor in this industry. Some of the info you just can’t learn on the job, unless you have a good teacher.” – Colorado attendee

“Richard does a great job, using a lot of anecdotes from his own experience.” – Colorado attendee

Vectorworks 2009

cadenar — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:41:15 +0000

There’s solid news from Columbia, Maryland, the home of Nemetschek North America, and it will make users of the new Vectorworks 2009 four to five times happier than before.

The latest version of Vectorworks computer-aided design, visualization, and rendering software is being announced on Monday, September 15. As part of the rollout, Nemetschek, the maker of the program, announced that they have partnered with Siemens PLM and will use their 3D modeling engine called Parasolid. This 3D modeling kernel technology is used in hundreds of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering applications in various industries and there are over 2.5 million end-users of Parasolid-enabled applications. The newly embedded kernel delivers added speed and power to the Vectorworks suite of applications.

What does that mean to the live event production industry? Greg Hillmar, freelance lighting designer a member of IATSE Local 829, was in Baltimore to demonstrate the newest features of Vectorworks 2009 and Spotlight. In short, the new modeling engine speeds up modeling operations four to five times, and enabled many new features. There are over 70 new features in all. Among them are an expanded lighting fixture library and real-time Lightwright 5 importing and exporting. The latter allows you to set up automatic data exchange so that it will automatically export updated information to Lightwright version 5 when you make changes to the plot, and vice versa.

Other features include:

· Automatic DMX512 universe assignment – this prevents the DMX512 slot footprint from bridging two universes

· Improved DWG/DXF import and export functionality including support for AutoCAD 2009

· Pre-selection indication – objects are highlighted when you hover your cursor so that you know exactly which object you’re about to select

The new features are designed to speed up and streamline your workflow, making it quicker and easier to get to the bar for a pint of Guinness. But the coolest thing about the new engine is how incredibly fast it can create renderings. Of course, the demonstration in Baltimore for the gathered press was done on a high-end machine with two quad-core processors, but it was really quick.

The presentation was kicked off by Sean Flaherty, CEO of Nemetschek North America, and he introduced some people from Siemens, who told a great story about Parasolid – what it is, what it does, and how it has improved Vectorworks. We had the opportunity to meet many of the people from Nemetschek and what a great bunch of people they are. There’s a certain vibe about the company that radiates excitement and you can tell they are having a great time doing what they do. I think that when you use Vectorworks 2009 you will feel that energy.

PLASA 2008: Day Two

cadenar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:11:23 +0000

PLASA 2008: Day Two

After spending all day on the show floor at PLASA, I went to one of my favorite cafes, Mor-ish on Earls Court Road, for dinner. On the wall was a big framed poster of a local band. You could tell they were local because there was the unmistakable black London taxi in the background. In the foreground there were four guys walking across the street, one of whom was barefooted. In the upper right hand corner it said simply, “The Beatles.”

That local band has sold hundreds of millions of records because they were very innovative and their product made people happy. Earls Court is filled this week with hundreds of companies who are trying to make innovative products that make people happy. Some fail miserably and some, happily, succeed. I can’t tell you which of the ones I saw today will fall into which category, but I can tell you about a couple that I think should debut at the top of the charts.

The Martin MAC III is one of the first of the third generation of MAC fixtures and it has been completely redesigned from the stage floor up (or from the batten down). This one uses the new Osram 1500-watt single-ended short arc lamp with a FastFit base. I haven’t had a chance to measure the output, but I can tell you it’s very bright. It has a very wide zoom range, from 11° to 55°, and even in wide focus with color and effects, it can light a very large area to a good level of illuminance.

On the inside, you can tell see that a real effort was put into the design and engineering. In the stripped down unit you can see the pressure die cast aluminum hub on which the yoke pans. When you hold it in your hand it feels lightweight yet very strong. The same goes for the magnesium yoke covers, clam shell enclosures and fixture handles. The encoders are absolute value encoders, meaning that they have their own internal zero reference and don’t have to search for in the startup sequence; therefore, it doesn’t make that familiar clacking noise. The lamp will restrike “semi-hot” within 120 seconds of dousing, and the gyro-like lamp adjustment feature makes it easy to use. The cooling system forces air directly through the optical path and a separate forced air duct has two nozzles blowing on the front pinch seals and two on the rear pinch seals of the lamp. Some of the fans run at 65% of maximum, so there is relatively little noise produced by the cooling system.

The color wheels are made of magnesium coated with ceramic and they are featherweights. You have to hold them in your hand to believe how light they are. Each rotating gobo is individually indexed so that their orientation is synchronized between fixtures. It has a separate dimmer and shutter, and it can perform a complete blackout while strobing. The new animation wheel is all glass, and the 5:1 zoom can go from 11° to 55° in under a second. The unit is a marvel of engineering and it produces really nice light and effects.

Another contender for the top of the charts is SGM’s new Giotto 1500. It is a modular fixture that can be changed from a spot to wash or to a digital light. The digital module consists of a 0.7″ XGA (1024×768) DLP chip and two color wheels. This module converts it into a fixture with animated gobos, much like the Icon M was. The lamp will be a Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit, though the one on the stand had a 1200-watt MSR. I’m told that the new lamp, when it becomes available, will be interchangeable.

On the High End /Barco stand there are lots of new StudioPix fixtures, and the top of the charts wouldn’t be complete without a mention. You need to check out these pixelators with the circular array of 61 3-watt LEDs, the new smaller version of the ShowPix. Are they wash fixtures or graphics displays? That’s for you and the rest of the lighting/video community to decide.

There is obviously much, much more on the floor of the exhibition and more to come on the third day of the show. But it’s been a hard days night and I’ve been working like a dog. Now it’s time to sleep like a log.

PLASA 2008: Day One

cadenar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:31:19 +0000

PLASA 2008: Trade Show Magic

Okay, maybe magic isn’t the right word. Then again, maybe it is. How else would you explain how things materialize out of thin air unexpectedly? That’s more or less what happened on the first day of PLASA, the industry trade show in London.

What exactly materialized is a licensing agreement between PRG and Robe, which will allow Robe to start selling their line of digital lighting products in the USA. That’s good news for the industry because it will make the digital luminaire market more competitive and perhaps more affordable. Robe is ready with their new DigitalSpot 7000 DT and DigitalSpot 3000 DT, plus their DigitalSpot 500 DT, which has been selling around the world, except for the US, for over a year now.

Another rabbit that has been pulled out of a hat was also on the Robe stand. They casually revealed that their new products have RDM capability. Oh, I know…it’s been said before by other companies. But the difference is that, this time it’s really true. Now these RDM-capable devices can actually talk back and provide every bit of information that is available from the menu display, including the DMX512 address, the DMX512 mode of operation, the operating temperature, lamp hours, and more. This is the first true implementation of RDM in an automated lighting fixture that I know of. I’ve heard reports that other manufacturers are working on their own implementations. If that’s true, then we’re witnessing the birth of the next big thing in the industry. Okay, maybe those aren’t the right words, but how else would you explain what’s happening?

Another reason to be encouraged about the developments in this trade show was sitting on the PRG stand. The Bad Boy is the first automated luminaire with what I would consider truly innovative features in a very long time. Yes, there have been lots of new automated lights released in the last few years, and, yes, they are smaller, lighter, brighter, and cheaper (in some cases) than ever before. And, yes, we’re all very appreciative, but how about some new features or radical improvements on existing features? Well, here it is – the Bad Boy. And it is “bad” indeed.

What, you might ask, is so bad about it? In a word, it’s bright, it has great optics, it has great color, and it’s very fast. Okay, maybe that’s more than “a” word – I’ve never been too good at math or keeping my promises about word counts. But I saw it throwing across the trade show airspace, hitting the opposite wall (probably a good 300′) and it almost left a permanent scar on the opposite wall. The optics are phenomenal – it projects gobos with a clarity I’ve rarely seen in an automated fixture, even at its widest 56° zoom. And, yes, it’s fast. How fast? Well, I can’t quantify it at the moment but I hope to go back tomorrow and time it. And the thing about the fixture that really makes me smile is the quality of the colors it produces. “League of its own” comes to mind. It has real red (and it’s a discharge lamp – where did they get the red energy?), a great blue, and a phenomenal green. The “secret” is that the color system is designed from the ground up and it’s a fresh approach. It has four color wheels, and each one has seven colors. But they aren’t just a series of random colors; they’re a series of stepped color gradients, increasing in saturation. For example, one color wheel has a very light yellow gradually increasing in color until it becomes very red. In short, the fixture is a quantum step in the right direction.

Another very interesting product was on the BlackBox on the Cast Software stand. The device is a sort of interface hub for a variety of devices that is designed to integrate several functions including live visualization, tracking in 3D, lighting control, motion control, robotics, video feeds, and remote monitoring for lighting designers and stage managers. If it sounds futuristic that’s because it is. It uses RFID tags to track objects in a 3D environment and report back to the interested devices. It can be used to automatically follow a subject with light, monitor the proximity of devices such as moving set pieces and light-sensitive video projection surfaces, as well as for many functions that have yet to be discovered. It will be available in 2009 but at least three third party manufacturers are on board with support and connectivity.

There are many other very interesting products – too many to name before I pass out from exhaustion, but suffice it to say that the Clay Paky
Alpha Beam 1500 looks very bright and it can produce a very narrow beam, and Strand has a very interesting integration of West Side Systems’
Virtual Magic Sheet in their Light Palette console that was used extensively in the new Broadway production of The Tale of Two Cities.

Tomorrow I’m planning to check out the new Martin MAC III and the LED fixture from Vari-Lite. Come back tomorrow, and come hungry.

PLASA 2008: Day Four

cadenar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:20:44 +0000

Earl

PLASA 2008: Day Four

Day four of PLASA? Was there a fourth day? Oh, crap! I left after the third day. I must have missed that memo. Well, I think I saw enough in three days to last until LDI. Now I’m in Baltimore to check out the new VectorWorks upgrade. More on that soon.

Swami Candela: Shadow, Light, and Truth

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INTERMEDIATE LEVEL RIGGING

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Free Webinar: The Future of the Live Event Production Industry

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Dates and Times: November 11, 12, &13, 2008

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Additional Information:

What They Have to Say about This Seminar:

Vectorworks 2009

PLASA 2008: Day Two

PLASA 2008: Day One

PLASA 2008: Day Four

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