Moving Lights and LED Programming Dana Taylor

Moving Lights and LED Moving Lights and LED ProgrammingProgramming

Dana Taylor

www.mvhsfinearts.com

Sponsored by

Design will continue to be Design will continue to be driven by technology.driven by technology.

Stefan Sagmeister

Programming Exercise

1. Select one of the lights and bring it to full

2. Select Color Function

3. Set color to a blue using the encoders

4. Record as a cue (go sequentially) [RECORD] <CUE> # [ENTER]

5. Record as a Color Palette as well (sequentially, but remember you color and number) [Record Only] [Color Palette] # [Enter]

What We’ll Cover

• Solid State Lighting (LED's) and How To Incorporate SSL Into Your Lighting Design

• Patching Fixtures• Basic Console Control• Organization and Planning• Color and Color Issues• Electrical and Data Requirements• Differences Between LED's and Conventional

Lighting Fixtures• Basic Programming

Differences Between Conventional Light and Moving Fixtures

The obvious…

1.They can move

2.They can change color

3.In some instances, they can use multiple gobos

4.They can make possible some very dynamic effects.

Differences Between Conventional Light and Moving Fixtures

The not so obvious…

1.Using them will add to your programming time (Baskin-Robbins with 809 Flavors)

2.They may necessitate technical upgrades

to accommodate the new technology

3. Using them will add to your prep time

4. Using them will add to your budget

Please Remember

Technically speaking….one moving light can replace several conventional fixtures…

unless it malfunctions.

Painting With a New Palette

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• The light source


• Quartz Halogen

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Lamps

• Temperature

• LED fixtures do produce heat (the Source 4 LED Series 2 shows a 104 degree operating temperature)

• A traditional S4 in Flat field - 595˚F and Peak field 905˚F

• Low power consumption


• Use additive color mixing rather than gel (although you can use gel). In short, adding color does not diminish intensity

• Use multiple channels of DMX rather than one

• Lightweight (not so much the profile fixtures)

• Life calculated in tens of thousands of hours compared to 1500-2000 hours

Color

“You buy an RGB LED fixture that claims 16.7 million colours. You plug it in... yet out of those 16.7 million available colours, you seem unable to find any of the subtle hues, deep blue or even white or amber.... In fact, any colour except red, green, blue, cyan or magenta.”Blake GarnerLighting Applications Engineer – Jands Pty Ltd


• The visible spectrum of light


• The visible spectrum of light is different


• The visible spectrum of light is different


• As is color temperature


• As is color temperature

• Conventional fixtures using quartz halogen lamps will actually change color temperature as they dim (amber drift)

• LED’s do as well but it looks different.


• Light Sources RGB


• Light Sources RGBW


• Light Sources RGBA


• Light Sources: Seven Colors!

Red, Lime, Amber, Green, Cyan, Blue, Indigo


• Shadows can be an issue


• As can color


• As can color


• How our eyes respond to color


• What Red, Green and Blue LED’s produce


• What Red, Green and Blue LED’s produce, then add four more colors

Patching, Addressing and Programming

Patching, Addressing and Programming

• Although the process varies from console to console, you will need to patch LED (or any other multi-channel fixture) to your console.

• Patching allows you to communicate with the fixture using, on newer consoles, a single channel which then organizes the fixture attributes, assigning them to different controllers in the board.

Moving Light Attributes (Parameters)

1. Intensity

2. Color

3. Position (Pan and Tilt)

4. Gobos

5. Focus

6. Iris

7. Effects

EncodersFunction Keys

Standard Communication Protocol

DMX

DMX

• The patch allows you to communicate with the fixture using the standard protocol of DMX 512. 512 channels equals one universe

• Everything a fixture does requires a channel of DMX

• If you have a 96 channel board, you have 96 control channels but still only 512 communication channels. This matters because you can run out of communication channels if you are using multiple LED or moving fixtures.

Patching

Patching

• At it’s most basic RGB, a three color light needs three channels of communication, multiply that by 10 and you have now used 30 channels as opposed to 10 for a conventional fixture.

• A moving light can require over 20 channels of communication.

• Simply said, you need to plan your patch.

Addressing Fixtures

• Every fixture will requite a DMX address (1-512).

• Addressing procedures will vary by fixture.

• The fixture address will match the patch number

• This can (and should) be planned ahead of time.

Addressing Fixtures

• In some instances, such as LED cyc lights, you may apply a single address to each of the cyc fixtures. This will allow them to function as one fixture. However, patching them separately will gain you greater control and add to your options.

• If you are using a second universe to control your LED’s, fixtures will still be addressed 1-512. Your patch will determine which fixtures use the second universe.

DMX Universes

• Most newer consoles offer more than one universe of DMX.

• You may opt to run your LED’s on a different universe (although you are still restricted by channel count)

DMX via 5 Pin

DMX via Ethernet

Patching

• Multiple Universes. To use a splitter, you will need a DMX out at stage level or run cable from your board to the stage.

Programming

Programming Tips

• Because moving lights have more than one programmable feature……

• Be organized

• Know how to use your board

• Know how to use your lights

• Write home (50/50), position, color, gobo and other palettes ahead of time

Programming Tips

• Tracking is good (mostly)

• Create block cues

• Create mark cues. Mark cues allow you to

dim lights before they move to the next position. A more theatrical application.

• “Auto Move While Dark”, “Auto Mark”

Programming Tip

1. Select Light(s)…keypad or mouse

2. Call up function you wish to change

3. Make the change

4. Record as a cue

EncodersFunction Keys

Electrical Concerns/Needs

Electrical Issues

• Although you don’t need more dimmers, you still will want dedicated power.

• You can select to replace some dimmers with constants (non-dim units)

• Limited applications can use “house” electric

• LED fixtures pull very low amperage allowing you to daisy chain power as well as data.

Electrical Issues

• W = V * A (West Virginia Formula)• 2400w = 120v * 20a

• 2400w/120v = 20a

• 20a * 120v = 2400w

Know the electrical requirements of your fixtures so that you can power them correctly

Electrical Issues

• Example: a 200 watt Altman Spectra Cyc would pull only 1.66 amps (most circuits are 20 amps) Watts/Volts = Amps

(Watts = Volts * Amps)

• In this case, you could safely run an typical cyc wash of 5 fixtures on 8’ centers on a single circuit.

Electrical Issues

• You should use this • Not this

Buying or Renting• Pros for Renting• Lower cost• Equipment is used but well maintained• If something doesn‘t work, they will usually send

a replacement.• Technical help is readily available• You get what you pay for.

• Cons of Renting• You lack experience with the equipment• Costs will likely be your department’s

responsibility as opposed to capital projects• Limited programming time• Uncertainty if you have rented the equipment

that will do the job. The rental house will help but is dependent on you knowing what you want it to do and being able to communicate your needs.

• Infrastructure may not support the equipment. (Do you know how many separate circuits are available on your stage beyond the dimmers?)

• Pros for Purchasing

• Larger cash outlay (but more likely from your school district and not your department)

• Equipment is new.

• A theatre consultant (we hope) has helped select the appropriate equipment

• You can up the training of your students

• Cons for Purchasing

• May be difficult to convince your school district to spend more for LED’s

• Can you maintain the equipment?

• You may have to live with a manufacturer's error.

• You get what you pay for.

Terminology• Additive Color Mixing: Adding color to create a new color.• Attributes: Any of the functions of a light. This will include pan/tilt, color, iris, shutter, etc.• Beamage: Refers to the visible beam of light in the air. Beamage is increased by the use of hazer

or other atmospheric effects.• Block Cue: A cue with all values set to zero. Designed to stop unwanted tracking of values

between cues.• Busking: Changing attributes such as color or position “on the fly”.• Color Correction: Changing the color temperature of a lamp by virtue of color media.• CMY Mixing: Subtractive mixing using the secondary colors cyan, magenta and yellow.• Cut Sheet: A data sheet relating to a fixture or other equipment.• Daisy Chain: Connecting fixtures in a series. Fixture one is plugged into fixture two, which is

plugged into fixture three, etc. (Can apply to power as well as data)• Dichoric Filter: Color media typically used in moving fixtures. Unlike standard gel, these filters

reflect unwanted colors back to the light source rather than absorbing them.• Dimmer Per Circuit: patching dimmer 1 to channel 1, dimmer 2 to channel 2, etc. (1:1) • DMX512: Digital Multiplex. A communications protocol.• DMX Splitter: Splitters are distribution products that provide many outputs from one input to

distribute DMX512 to multiple locations such as stage left, stage right, first electric, and dimmer room.

Terminology• Dowser: A mechanical method of creating a black out. Literally, a dowser is placed in front of the light source to create a black out. • Fade: A change in intensity. Fades are generally associated with the beginning or ending of a cue.• Fixture Library: Associated with consoles. A fixture library is the fixture attribute information required for a console and fixture to communicate. • Kelvin. The higher the Kelvin temperature, the “bluer” the appearance of the light. Arc lamps generally function above 5000 degrees Kelvin while conventional lamps are rated around 3200 degrees and appear to be “warmer” in color. • Mark Cue: Creating a blackout before resetting moving lights• Nanometer: A measurement of color within the visible spectrum.• Patch: Assigning a fixture to a channel or a channel to a dimmer.• Palette: A user defined memory featuring color, position, gobos, focus, etc.• Pan: Side to side movement of a fixture.• Parameters: See attributes• Personalities: see attributes• RGB: Red, Green and Blue. The three primary colors of light• SED Curve: Spectral Energy Distribution curve. A graph indicating in nanometers and percentages the colors found in a gel.• Submaster: A specific range of fixtures or attributes pre-assigned by the programmer to a console fader.• Terminator: A DMX plug inserted in the last multi-channel fixture in a universe. • Tilt: Up and Down movement of a fixture.• Tracking: The retention of unchanged values between cues.• Universe: 512 channels of DMX.

Suggested Reading

• The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook by Brad Schiller

• Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light in Theatre, Live Performance, Broadcast, and Entertainment by Richard Cadena

• Lighting and Sound America• Live Design• PLSN: Projection Lights and Staging News• Stage Directions Magazine

Get Involved

United States Institute for Theatre Technologywww.usitt.org

800-938-7488

Dana Taylor

Dana W. Taylor has served as director of Vocal Music at Mt. Vernon Senior High School for twenty five years.

Dana holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting, each

from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). Dana is a member of the American Choral Directors Association,

United States Institute for Theatre Technology, PLASA and the Educational Theatre Association. Dana

contributes articles to Projection Lights and Staging News, Dramatics magazine and Teaching Theatre Journal

and was named Technical Editor of Dramatics magazine in 2006. Additionally, he serves as Individual Member

Representative for PLASA NA, an entertainment technology trade organization.

Dana was named Technical Theatre Educator of the Year by Stage Directions Magazine in 2006. In 2011, he was

named "Artist of the Year" by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and received the Founder's Award from

the Educational Theatre Association for significant contributions to Theatre Education in the United States. In

February 2014, his women's ensemble, Angelus presented a mainstage concert at the ACDA Central Division

Conference. In March of 2014, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Education from The United

States Institute for Theatre Technology.

[email protected]

812-455-9763

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Moving Lights and LED Programming Dana Taylor