Projectors Moving Lights

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1 APRIL 2011 VOL. 20 $6.95 ISSUE 04 Projectors Moving Lights as Plus: Broadcast Storage 101 Achieving A Good Mix Product Review: ROLAND VR-5 A/V MIXER AND RECORDER

2 The Next Big Thing in Lighting 14 tfwm.com April 2011

3 Joel St-Denis, Product Manager in the Business Products division of Christie Digital Systems USA. Over 80 years in business, Christie is a global visual technologies company offering diverse solutions for business, entertainment and industry in professional and commercial markets. Christie has developed several digital lighting products that are currently in use is various facilities today. Brad Schiller, Product Manager for Lighting Products, High End/BARCO With over 20 years experience in the lighting industry, some would say Brad Schiller is an industry veteran. He has been employed as an Automated Lighting Programmer, Lighting Designer, video content designer/organizer, digital lighting specialist, creative consultant, instructor and more. VIDEO?

4 COVER/Projectors as Moving Lights While some may just be getting a handle on the technical nuances of moving or intelligent lights, there s another seismic technological shift to consider. What if instead of a light fixture atop a moving yoke, you had a projector? In the interests of imparting at least a partial understanding of what it takes to run one of these systems, we have compiled an interview with two manufacturers who have developed moving projector solutions which are already being used in houses of worship. TFWM: Why do you think there has been a recent demand for projectors that act as moving lights? Joel St. Denis: The lighting and video industries have been converging for several years now. Moving video projectors, which can act as lights, are a direct influence in this convergence. The main reasons for the increased demand for this type of product are the additional capabilities provided by a moving video projector, as well as the cost savings over time as a result of eliminating the need for single purpose gobos. Brad Schiller: The technology provides infinite creative possibilities for designers. They are no longer limited by mechanical factors to the number of effects a light is capable of. By using content in place of glass or metal gobos, anything becomes possible. In addition, the lack of moving parts means the fixtures will exhibit less malfunction. TFWM: Have these projectors been able to do to an effective job of stepping in as a replacement for spotlights? St. Denis: One of the challenges encountered in the past by customers looking to replace spotlights with moving video projectors has been the lack of brightness. In most cases a moving head projector can replace a moving light and accomplish standard lighting duties. Additionally, you gain all the capabilities of having a projector which can playback video and create countless effects which just aren t possible with a traditional moving light head. Schiller: In some circumstances yes, but they are not April 2011

5 COVER/Projectors as Moving Lights currently wide scale replacements for standard automated lights. The cost of a digital light compared to an automated light has restricted them from being used in this manner. However we have seen digital lighting take over for background projections. In this manner they have increased the creativity and given the power of projection into the hands of the LD and away from the video crew. Additionally, there is a cost and time reduction when using digital lighting instead of fixed projectors. All aligning, focusing, etc. can be done remotely from a console instead of requiring crews in the air. TFWM: What are some of the logistical considerations for projectors vs. light fixtures as far as maintenance, repair etc. Are projectors not more sensitive than moving lights? St. Denis: Using video projectors in a moving light application doesn t really put any more stress on the projectors than say being moved from city to city during a concert tour. In terms of the fixtures themselves, the units are similar, they can be rigged to truss or floor-mounted based on the application. Lamps and filters are the main components which will need regular maintenance. Schiller: Digital lights have been purpose-built to be as reliable as automated lighting fixtures. The lack of OPERATOR'S PERSPECTIVE TFWM: Do you think that as result of digital lighting products, the video operator and lighting operator positions will blend together for productions? Cameron Ware: I feel like they already have! Not only in physical settings such as churches/theaters/tours, but also in people s minds. When I speak to the pastors and leaders in churches about environmental projection and lighting, they actually mention this happening before I ever get a chance to say it myself. It s interesting even though most churches and organizations can t afford the real digital lighting fixtures, it s becoming more common to see standard video projectors taking the place of gobos and breakups for simple static environment effects. TFWM: What skills do lighting operators need to learn in order to be versatile with incorporating video operation? Ware: Even with the brightest projectors; it s hard to compete with the tens of thousands of lumen output from stage lights. From a technical standpoint, it s important for the lighting operators to understand how to balance the brightness of projectors and normal stage lighting. Also, digital lighting fixtures usually take a lot of DMX channels (hundreds) so it s key to understand what each one does and know how to integrate it into your console, your style of programming, and of course; how you run your service or event. TFWM: How do these types of products potentially change the arrangement of content creation prior to an event? Ware: When using digital lighting, it s key to decide what content will simply be a projection onto a surface, and which will be projected through the air (aerial effects). Before the digital lighting fixtures came into play, most of our lighting was either pointed at a stage, pointed out into the audience for an aerial effect, or pointed at a surface to create texture. Moving lights have helped a great deal in making it easy to go back and forth between those options, but we still had to have a fixed projector if we wanted to show a video. Now, the digital light can show a live video feed, fade to a specific piece of aerial content, and tilt out over the audience so the haze can pick up light beams from the motion video. TFWM: In your opinion, is the technology far enough so that digital projectors can effectively stand in for traditional light fixtures in terms of brightness? Ware: Yes and no. Yes - if you had a rig of only bright projectors (7-10k lumens and up) pointed them at a stage as the only source of lighting for an event; it would look awesome. But no, because as soon as you turn on your front light full of PARs and lekos; the projected light gets lost. Consider that the top-end Barco or Christie projector can output 25-30,000 lumens, but (as a crude example) the 750w (short life, 300hrs) HPL lamp that you use in your ETC fixtures is rated at 21,900 lumens. Or a 1000 watt PAR64 Medium lamp at about 19,000 lumens. Granted, that s rated at the lamp but you get my point. I think projectors will get to that point, but will never replace lighting, simply because of cost and necessity. I don t need a 25,000 lumen projector to do what a 1000 watt par will do. But, a 25,000 lumen projector can do so much more than a PAR. Camron Ware is the founder of Visual Worshiper, a design group that specializes in lighting and projection design for churches and events with a passion for creating engaging environments. 18 tfwm.com April 2011

6 moving parts within the digital fixtures actually reduces the maintenance burden as there are fewer mechanical systems to fail. TFWM: What is an example of a signal chain for a video projector versus a moving light? How is it fed its content? St. Denis: The Christie Nitro moving projectors are controlled by a lighting board through DMX, this is no different than the majority of moving lights available on the market. Given that a video projector will often display video content, a media server of some sort must be connected directly to each moving video projector. The media server is in turn connected to the lighting control board, and video content on the media server can be built into sequences and triggered by the DMX commands. Christie Nitro yokes are all equipped with DVI inputs which are fed video from the media server. Schiller: Digital lights are designed from the ground up to behave and operate in a very similar manner to automated lighting. Digital lights accept either standard DMX-512 input via a 5-pin XLR or streaming DMX such as Art-Net or E1.3.1 via an Ethernet port. Content lives within the digital light s built-in media server, which can be uploaded to remotely via the Ethernet port. So typical connection can be as simple as an Ethernet run that sends both content and DMX information to the fixture. Specific digital lights that are purpose built, moving projectors combined with a media server are ideal. Other options are to mount a projector to a moving yoke or project into a moving mirror. These type of piecemeal devices require much more cabling as the media server is not integrated. Furthermore, they often have movement limitations due to their very non-integrated nature. TFWM: Is it necessary to have a media server as part of your equation for using projectors as moving lights? St. Denis: The simple answer is no, however, a media server is recommended as it provides a simple way of shaping the light or changing the colors which can otherwise be limited on some projectors. Schiller: A media server is required to provide the content, but more importantly to provide content manipulation. As the image moves to different surfaces and locations on the stage, the keystone correction, warping, April 2011 tfwm.com 19

7 Cover/Projectors as Moving Lights and other factors must be updated in real time. This is only possible with a media server. TFWM: What are some creative ways in which moving projectors can be used as scenic elements for productions? St. Denis: The immediate example which comes to mind is moving content which can be projected around or above the performers on a stage. People are used to seeing video backgrounds rear-projected behind performers, but imagine a performer moving across a stage followed by a flock of butterflies flying above their head all coming from a single moving projector. Speaking of creative uses of projection, architectural/building projection is booming right now, simply go to YouTube and type in building projection and you will find thousands of videos. The most difficult limitation of building projection is the fact that the entire building needs to be covered with projectors to create something interesting, and the logistics and cost of doing this can be prohibitive. With a moving video projector, you have the ability to use a single projector to project anywhere on the building to create an eye catching presentation, in this scenario, imagine a character climbing the outside architecture of a building, going from one window to the next or one balcony to the other while the projector moves. Creative elements aside, a huge advantage of moving projection is the ability to project from a single video projector in different physical locations. Imagine a show where you need to project in 5 distinct locations at separate times. Previously this would need to be done using five video projectors, now it can be done with a single projector programmed through queues to move and project on each pre-programmed location. Schiller: It is very common to use digital lighting to project scenic elements or backgrounds for productions. By using blending or collage features, several fixtures can be combined to create one large image. This is very common with corporate events, where the client whishes to create a long flowing background. In addition, the re-configurability of the position and warping allows digital lighting to be re-purposed throughout a production and provide dynamic scenery that changes as the background projection surfaces change. TFWM: What do you envision being the future of video and lighting? Is it going to continue to merge? Will there still be a place for a separate video and lighting operator for productions? St. Denis: The driving forces behind the creation of the Christie Nitro product family is the rapidly increasing convergence of the lighting and video industry and our customer s demands. The merge is likely to continue and at a greater pace as we have seen the introduction of several products in the last few years which are now providing control for both lighting and video from the same interface. In regards to the future of lighting and video operators, you will find that many educational programs being offered today cater to both lighting and video; they are no longer treated as two separate disciplines. Lighting consoles and media server manufacturers are tailoring their products to cater to both markets as well, the line between the two industries is quickly blurring. My guess is that current lighting and video operators will be forced to learn both disciplines. Schiller: Eventually we will get to a point where the majority of the lighting fixtures are digital-based instead of mechanical based. We are still many years away from realizing this dream, but as technology improves and prices lower we will see more and more use of digital lighting. Video playback is increasingly under the control of the lighting department, but I think that you will continue to see video operators for camera operation and direction. It is too much for one person to take on operating lighting and video on a large scale, multi-camera shoot. u If you wanted to save weight, space & installation time by exchanging your analog multi-cores for a digital audio network... April 2011 tfwm.com 21