latest news headlines
Chroma-Q Color Block DB4 lighting for Computer Industry Award
“The lighting concept for the event required continually evolving sequences of colour as the evening progressed through dinner, video sequences, the presentation of the awards, and a live band for after dinner entertainment,” explained Robert Henderson. “However, the compact size of the venue meant that space and power (two legs of one 63amp three phase) were at a premium. The set consisted of a 10 metre cyc with a projection screen in the centre. In front of the cyc was an arrangement of 10 Roman style pillars and a 7 metre wide stage. However, with a stage height of only 1 foot, the opportunity for concealing large amounts of colour changing equipment was limited, making LED units the obvious choice. The Chroma Color Blocks are significantly less bulky than some other LED fixtures available and provided the ideal solution.”
Each DB4 block is approximately 250mm x 62mm x 117m and contains four ‘heads’ - each containing a red, green and blue LED. Each of these LEDs is individually addressable via DMX. The blocks can be used individually or locked together in a variety of shapes. The blocks are controlled via what is essentially an adapted and upgraded colour scroller PSU, with each PSU capable of powering up to five blocks.
“The production used 60 Color Blocks,” said Henderson. “Thirty-eight of these were configured as either five block or four block battens which up lit the length of the cyc (and used an entire universe of DMX). Ten were used to up light the pillars, two were used inside pillars to illuminate cut out sections, two were placed inside lecterns, and a further eight were used as truss leg toners and wall washes in the room.
“The blocks can be run either in hue, saturation and intensity mode, or the more traditional RGB mode. In this instance Henderson opted for RGB mode, partly because a WYSIWYG profile was not available, requiring the blocks to be simulated from other LED fixtures for pre programming. (The blocks also have a stand alone mode).
“The fixtures performed very impressively for the event, producing a near endless variety of intense saturated colour washes, and softer and more subtle pastel shades. The set could be transformed at an instant, dominating the room when required, or gently blending into the background. The size of the units ensured that, even with a very low stage, they were concealed from the majority of the audience.”
Henderson further explained: “There were some minor problems, which will probably be ironed out soon. The blocks run noticeably hotter than other LED units when configured as runs of batten, and one batten failed towards the end of the evening. When running in RGB mode, it is not possible to access the built-in effects engine, although this is not too much of a problem if you are running them from a Wholehog or similar desk.”
A dozen MAC 300’s and 250’s were used on the truss to create movement effects and additional colour in the room, and two MAC 550’s created occasional gobo washes which were combined with the up lighting on the pillars.
The show was programmed and operated from a Hog2 by David Miller, and the Color Blocks and other lighting equipment was supplied by Point Source. The event was produced by UpStage, with the set provided by Power Designs. AV was provided by PSL (who had the other leg of the 3 phase).
15th November 2004
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
