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    Blog Series: Product News

    MVP 18 Spices Up IndieFest at Chapman University

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    Twenty-four MVP 18 video panels from CHAUVET Professional lit up the IndieFest event at Chapman University in California. Kris Plourde, president of N-Effect Productions event and rental company, placed created a mosaic effect of individual panels placed on vertical truss. “I needed to create backdrop to separate the library from the band, and this worked out well,” Plourde said. “I like the MVP 18 video panels because i can mount them easily and are very light.” Enjoy photos from the event:

    Demo at Kinetic Lighting Features CHAUVET Professional Fixtures

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    Our dealer from Los Angeles, Kinetic Lighting, recently showcased various CHAUVET Professional lights during a demo. Here are some cool pictures of our lights in action:

    This wall has an artsy look under the light from COLORado 1-Tri Tour wash fixtures.

     

    Legend 412 pixel-mapping moving yokes.

    COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights.

    The same amazing COLORado Batten 72 Tour lights in green.

    COLORado 1-Tri Tour organized and at work.

     

    Legend 412: different angle, the same performant fixture.

    Competitive COLORado Batten 72 Tour.

    COLORado Batten 72 Tour in blue.

    CHAUVET Professional Booth Stands Tall at InfoComm 2012

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    Maybe it was the impressive 30-feet height, or the colorful light and music show that ran every half an hour, or the 300 fixtures lighting in harmony the 20-by-40-feet space. Or, might have been all of the above that drew hundreds of visitors to our booth at this year’s InfoComm show in Las Vegas.

    “I think it was the best booth we have ever done overall, as far as design and execution,” said Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional. “It was well planned and everything came together smoothly.”

    We launched the new line of trussing called TRUSST and we announced new fixtures, like PVP S7 high-definition video panels, VID 100 video drape, Q-Spot 360-LED and Q-Spot 460-LED moving yokes, COLORado 1-Quad IP wash light and WELL 2.0 wireless wash light. Our ILUMINARC brand of fixtures suited for the architainment industry saw the addition of two new luminaires, the Ilumipanel 40 IP and Ilumipod 18g2 IP.

    The booth was built around a large video wall, made of 142 video panels of various resolutions. A walkway of 38 Legend 412 and Legend 412 VW pixel-mapping moving yokes visually guided visitors to a tall wall made of 66 MVP 18 and 28 MVP 12 video panels, and 48 PVP S7 high-definition video panels. The panels, ÉPIX Bar batten-style pixel-mapping fixtures and VID 100 video drape ran with ArKaos MediaMaster Express software.

    ÉPIX Bar lights placed vertically formed a luminous crown on the semi-circular truss, also loaded with Q-Spot 560-LED and Q-Wash 560Z-LED fixtures. Framing each video section  were COLORado Zoom Tour lights, COLORado 2 Zoom Tour and COLORado 1-Quad Tour wash fixtures. Twenty-three COLORdash Accent VW discreetly lit the display pieces of truss from the TRUSST line.

    Lighting Designer Alex Ares programmed the entire rig with a grandMA console and used about 180 cues. “I think it was one of the best looking booths at the show,” Ares said. “And it worked as a perfect example of what you can use in small tours.” Ares has been the lighting designer for the TV show “Duets” on ABC, the Country Music Awards (CMA), CMA Music Festival and more.

    The video content for the seven-and-a-half main show was created in-house, by CHAUVET Video Production Specialist Todd Murray. “We wanted the show to be raw and edgy, and to give the viewer different looks during each segment of the video,” Murray said. “The music was carefully selected to match every segment, and aimed for a concert-like experience, more than a technology-based booth at a trade show.”

    Enjoy the video loop and light show which ran in the CHAUVET Professional booth:

    Video in the World of Lighting – Part 3

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    Mike Graham, comfortable in the spotlight.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    By now, you know what kind of show you are doing and what it is going to look like. The plot is finished up and all of your gear is in pretty rows of road cases on your show site.

    Now what?

    Here are a few things you need to know before you start loading in:

    1. What kind of rigging kits are you using?
    For example, the MVP modular video panels CHAUVET Professional offers use an individual rig kit. That is to say that every point of the panels attaches individually to a clamp and conversely attaches to the hang point of your structure. Another style also used is the rigging bar. Commonly used in higher resolution panels, this system helps keep the panels aligned. On some rig bars, there are no clamps. Instead, eyebolts used as rigging points for cable hold the rig bar to your structure. Knowing this before you get to the show is really important.

    2. What kind of structure are you planning to attach your panels? Are you using truss?
    If you are planning to use straight truss, you may want to think about getting some schedule 40 pipe and attaching it to the truss as opposed to hanging your panels directly to the truss. This trick is useful because no matter how well you plan it out, there will always be a cross bar in the way of one or more of the rigging kits. Using the pipe will make that problem go away and you will be able to put your panels exactly where they need to be. As we all know, panel placement is critical to the alignment of the show. If you are using curved truss, you may want to think about using aircraft cable and turnbuckles to trim out your panels. Again, placement is important and as sure as you are reading this, there will be a crossbar in your way.

    3. How do you plan to run power?  
    Power for video panels is easy to overlook, and hard to fix if you do. I like to plan exact positions for my power drops in my rig. I also take the step of knowing which circuit powers what device. For example, SOCO 1, Circuit 3 is going to power my stage left stack of 16 MVP 18 panels, which means that Circuit 3 needs to have a powerCON female (blue) connector on it. I can further break that down and use a PowerStream 4 to break that run up a little more. This will also keep my cables cleaner and keep my runs of power much shorter. (I prefer to have my power runs as short as possible.)  If you are using a large system, you may have several circuits of power running your system. If that is the case, I strongly suggest running your power from one direction only (left to right, or right to left, as the case may be) so that you can keep your runs clean and simplified. Again, this is where the PowerStream 4 comes in really handy.

    4. How about signal?  
    If you mess up your signal run, you are in for a real bad day. LED Studio—and as far as I am aware, almost every other video panel addressing software—uses the order of signal cabling to locate the position of each panel in your system. It is critical that when you are laying out the signal flow, you follow it exactly. Otherwise correcting this within the software can take hours. You want to have this clear in your preplanning stages.

    Now you are loading in. The key here is to know your plan and go by it. As long as you do that, you should be fine. There are always bumps along the way, but all in all, should not be that bad.  As you put rows of panels in, it is a good idea to power each line and make sure that all of your pixels are working. Use the test button on the back of the panel to turn the panel to white (all LEDs on). This will confirm that you are good to go for LEDs. Once you have that, I would also suggest that every few rows, you send signal and make sure you are getting information from your server to the panels. Send some content to make sure you have your show. The rest of load in is set and repeat.

    Most importantly, be safe in what you are doing. Always keep in mind that you are hanging hundreds of pounds of aluminum, wire, and LEDs in the air above people’s heads. Also, keep in mind that in an outdoor environment, the wind sees a video wall like a big sail. Watch what you are doing. Keep an eye on the weather. Always make sure that your top and side rigging points are secure and no one has left any tools on the panels as they go up in the air.

    Royal Opera House, London

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    COLORdash Batten Tri lighting up the Paul Hamlyn Hall for Christmas.

    Royal Opera House employs 12 COLORdash Batten Tri linear wash lights for use in corporate events as well as on stage. Lighting Systems Manager Paul Hornsby noted “We were impressed by the output of the unit, the even colour mixing when in single colour mode and the ability to use it in pixel mode for more dynamic effects. It made for a very versatile product in one unit, whilst maintaining a small footprint for using in a rig, set or floor mounted.”

    ABTT 2012, London

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    CHAUVET Europe had a busy couple of days in stand 12 at ABTT 2012 Theatre Show. The stand featured loads of products with a focus on the new pixel-mapping shown in a matrix and variable white moving heads.The full line up included: MVP 18 LED modular video panels, PiXPar 24, PiXPar 12, COLORband PiX Mini pixel-mapping fixtures, COLORado Zoom CW Tour, COLORado Zoom WW Tour, COLORado 2 Zoom Tour, COLORado 1-Quad Tour static wash lights,  Q-Spot 560-LED, Q-Wash 560Z-LED, Legend 412 VW, Legend 412 moving heads, and Followspot 1200 and LED Followspot 75ST.

     

    CHAUVET lights Catwalk for Charity

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    Lit entirely by CHAUVET fixtures and sponsored by Neiman Marcus, the second annual Catwalk for Charity, held at Miami’s Mandarin Oriental hotel, raised funds for Breakfast with Santa (BWS), a non-profit organization serving underprivileged children in Miami and Haiti.
    Several movie and fashion stars, as well as influential Haitian-American professionals and political personalities attended the fundraiser. Four CHAUVET DJ SlimPAR Pro VW lit the red carpet, which welcomed fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons and actresses Nia Long, Vivica Fox and Garcelle Beauvais, as well as former Miss Haiti and Miss Universe 2012 pageant contestant Sarodj Bertin. A total of 30 CHAUVET DJ COLORtube 3.0 EQ  fixtures and four CHAUVET Professional COLORdash Batten Tri wash lights lit up the show’s translucent, 40-foot long runway. Additionally, four CHAUVET Professional Legend 412 VW variable white wash lights illuminated the models on the catwalk. To provide ambient lighting within the venue, 15 CHAUVET Professional COLORdash Battens wash lights lined the walls and created a soft glow. CHAUVET DJ ShowXpress and CHAUVET DJ Xpress 512 Plus controlled the fixtures.

    “We designed a lighting scheme oriented around the primary green and white colors of the event,” said CHAUVET Product Specialist Nick Airries, who volunteered to design and program the lighting. “We wanted a stunning catwalk able to change color and catch people’s attention. A lot of models praised us for the runway design because the fixtures lit them without blinding them.”