Lighting in the 21 st Century Dana Taylor .

Lighting in the 21Lighting in the 21stst Century Century

Dana Taylor

www.mvhsfinearts.com

Sponsored by

1-800-922-5356

www.vls.com

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

Stefan Sagmeister

It is a bit like…

• This becomes…

What We’ll Cover

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

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

Lighting • Basic Programming

Painting With a New Palette

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• The light source

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Quartz Halogen

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• 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

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

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

“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

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• The visible spectrum of light

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• The visible spectrum of light is different

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• The visible spectrum of light is different

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• As is color temperature

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• 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. As they age, color will shift and intensity will decrease.

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Light Sources RGB

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Light Sources RGBW

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Light Sources RGBA

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Light Sources: Seven Colors!

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

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• Shadows can be an issue

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• As can color

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• As can color

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• How our eyes respond to color

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

• What Red, Green and Blue LED’s produce

Differences Between LED’s and Conventional Fixtures

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

Patching

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

• On newer consoles, patching allows you to communicate with the fixture using a single physical channel on your board, the patch then organizes that fixtures attributes, assigning them to different controllers in the board.

DMX

Patching

Data Sheet Information

• Vivid Fire: D M X C o n t r o l C h a n n e l sDMX Channel• 1 Red • 2 Red-Orange• 3 Amber • 4 Green • 5 Not used ––– –––• 6 Not used ––– –––• 7 Indigo • 8 Master Intensity Control

Data Sheet Information

• The data sheet will also supply other information such a beam spread, intensity, power requirements and weight to name a few.

• This information will help you decide if the fixture is appropriate for your needs.

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.• 512 channels equals one universe

Addressing Fixtures

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

• Addressing procedures will vary by fixture.

• The fixture address will match the patch DMX address

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

Addressing Fixtures

• In some instances, such as cyc lights, you may apply the same address to each of the cyc fixtures. This will allow them to function as one fixture. Although using multiple addresses will give you many more possibilities

• If you have cyc lights both on the floor and on a batten, likely you would address them by position.

• 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

• To use a splitter, you will need a DMX out at stage level or run cable from your board to the stage. A single run of DMX is limited to 32 fixtures and 1000’. This device allows you to have multiple runs and more fixtures.

Electrical Issues

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

• You can select to replace some dimmers with constants or non-dim units. You should never run these off a normal dimmer.

• Limited applications can use “house” electric

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

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 will

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

responsibilty• 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. Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting, each from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). Mr. Taylor is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, United States Institute for Theatre Technology, PLASA and the Educational Theatre Association. Mr. Taylor 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. 

In 2006 Mr. Taylor was named Technical Theatre Educator of the Year by Stage Directions Magazine and in 2009 received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University Singing Hoosiers.

 In 2011, Mr. Taylor 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, Mr. Taylor received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Education from The United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

[email protected]

812-455-9763