Intelligent lighting
Intelligent lighting refers to lighting that has automated or mechanical abilities beyond those of conventional, stationary illumination. Although the most advanced intelligent lights can produce extraordinarily complex effects, the intelligence lies with the human lighting designer, control system programmer, or the lighting operator, rather than the fixture itself. For this reason, intelligent lighting is also known as automated lighting, moving lights, moving heads, or simply movers.
More recently the term has fallen into disuse as abilities once reserved to a specific category of lighting instruments have become pervasive across a range of fixtures. The distinction has become more blurred with the introduction of machines that would not be considered lights but share the ability to move their orientation and are operated by the same DMX512 control protocol, such as moving yoke projectors.
History
There are many patents for intelligent lighting dating back from 1906, with Edmond Sohlberg of Kansas City, USA. The lantern used a carbon-arc bulb and was operated not by motors or any form of electronics, but by cords that were operated manually to control pan, tilt and zoom.1925 saw the first use of electrical motors to move the fixture, and with it the beam position, by Herbet F. King. In 1936 US patent number 2,054,224 was granted to a similar device, with which the pan and tilt were controlled by means of a joystick as opposed to switches. From this point on until 1969, various other inventors made similar lights and improved on the technology, but with no major breakthroughs. During this period, Century Lighting started retailing such units specially made to order, retrofitted onto any of their existing lanterns up to 750 W to control pan and tilt.
George Izenour made the next breakthrough in 1969 with the first ever fixture to use a mirror on the end of an ellipsoidal to redirect the beam of light remotely. In 1969, Jules Fisher, from Casa Mañana area theatre in Texas saw the invention and use of 12 PAR 64 lanterns with 120 W, 12 V lamps fitted, 360 degrees of pan and 270 degrees of tilt, a standard that lasted until the 1990s. This lamp was also known as the 'Mac-Spot'
In Bristol in 1968, progress was also being made, mainly for use in live music. Peter Wynne Wilson refers to the use of 1 kW profiles, with slides onto which gobos were printed, inserted from a reel just like on a slide projector. The fixtures also had an iris and a multiple colored gel wheel. These lights were also fitted with mirrors and made for an impressive light show for a Pink Floyd gig in London. Another fixture known as the 'Cycklops' was also used for music in the USA, although it was limited in terms of capabilities. With only pan, tilt, and color functions, and at 1.2 meters long and weighing in at 97 kilograms including the ballast, they were heavy and cumbersome. These units were designed more for replacing the ever unreliable local spotlight operators.
In 1978 a Dallas, Texas-based lighting and sound company called Showco began developing a lighting fixture that changed color by rotating dichroic filters. During its development, the designers decided to add motors to motorize pan and tilt. They demonstrated the fixture for the band Genesis in a barn in England in 1980. The band decided to financially back the project. Showco spun off their lighting project into a company called Vari-Lite, and the first fixture was also called the Vari-lite. It also used one of the first lighting desks with a digital core and this enabled lighting states to be programmed in.
Genesis was later to order 55 Vari-lites to use in their next chain of gigs across the UK. The lights were supplied with a Vari-Lite console which had 32 channels, five 1802 processors and a dramatic improvement of the first console which was very simple and had an external processing unit.
In 1986 Vari-Lite introduced a new series of lighting fixtures and control consoles. They referred to the new system as their Series 200, with the new lights designated "VL-2 Spot Luminaire", and "VL-3 Wash Luminaire". The Series 200 system was controlled by the Artisan console. Vari-Lite retroactively named the original system "series-100". The Original Vari-Lite console was retroactively named the "series 100 console" and the original Vari-Lite was retroactively named the "VL-1 Spot Luminaire". The prototype fixture shown to Genesis in 1980 was re-designated the "VL-zero" in the mid-1990s to keep the naming consistent.
In 1985, the first moving head to use the DMX512 protocol was produced by Summa Technologies. Up until that time, moving lights were using other communication protocols, such as DIN8, AMX, D54 and the proprietary protocols of other companies, such as VariLite, Tasco, High End and Coemar. The Summa HTI had a 250 W HTI bulb, two colour wheels, a gobo wheel, a mechanical dimmer and zoom functions.
The first purchasable/mass-produced scanner was the Coemar Robot, first produced in 1986. Initially produced with either the GE MARC350 lamp, or the Philips SN250. Later versions were factory equipped with the Osram HTI400, a modification that High End Systems had been doing since 1987. The Robot used model aircraft servo motors to control Pan, Tilt, Color and Gobo, with the gobo wheel providing the shutter function as well. The Color wheel had 4 dichroic color filters, and the gobo wheel contained four stamped patterns. The Robot communicated with a proprietary 8-bit protocol, yet had no microprocessors/pal's/pics/ram, O/S or other modern logic device.
In 1987, Clay Paky began producing their first scanners, the Golden Scan 1 & Crystal Scan. They utilized stepper motors instead of servos and used a HMI 575 lamp, bright and with a far more uniform beam brightness. This was followed by the Intellabeam in 1989, released by High End, who at the time were the distributors for Clay Paky.
In the 1990s, the future came closer with Martin, a Danish Company that produced fog machines. They began to manufacture a line of scanners known as Roboscans, with a variety of different specifications for different users. They were named for their wattages, with a range starting with 1004 and 1016. Later came the 804 and 805, designed for small venues. Other models were the 218, 518, 812, 918 and 1200Pro units. Martin also produced a whole new range of Moving Heads called the Martin MAC Series. This series is still popular today, with new fixtures such as the MAC III and MAC Viper, which are among the highest quality moving lights.
The most recent development in intelligent lighting is digital lighting, with fixtures such as High End Systems' DL3. These fixtures consist of a bright LCD or DLP projector mounted on a moving yoke, much like that of an ordinary moving head. These fixtures also contain an integrated media server, which allows for millions of colour choices, endless libraries of gobo-like images, and projection of images and video.
Types
Moving head lights are commonly divided into four main categories: spot, wash, beam, and hybrid.- Spot fixtures are designed for precise projections, often using gobos to create patterns and shapes.
- Wash fixtures provide a softer, wide beam of light for general stage coverage and color washes.
- Beam fixtures generate a narrow, concentrated shaft of light that is highly visible in atmospheric effects like haze or smoke.
- Hybrid fixtures combine features of the other types, allowing them to function as spot, wash, and beam units depending on programming.
Features
An automated light, properly called a luminaire, fixture, is a versatile and multi-function instrument designed to replace multiple conventional, non-moving lights. Depending on the venue and application, automated luminaires can be a versatile and economical addition to a stock of traditional lights because, with proper programming, they can swiftly alter many aspects of their optics, changing the “personality” of the light very quickly. Lighting is typically pre-programmed and played back using only simple commands, although moving heads can be controlled “live” if the operator is sufficiently experienced.Most moving heads have all or some of the following features. Each one is set to a channel number.
- Panning
- Tilt
- Fine Pan
- Fine Tilt
- Pan/Tilt Speed
- Dimmer
- Shutter
- Zoom
- Focus
- Iris
- Gobo 1 Select
- Gobo 1 Rotation
- Gobo 2 Select
- Gobo 2 Rotation
- Gobo 3 Select
- Gobo Animation Wheel
- Colour 1
- Colour 2
- Cyan
- Magenta
- Yellow
- CTO
- Prism
- Prism Rotation
- Prism Rotation
- Effects Wheel
- Frost
- Lamp Shut off
- Fixture Reset
- Remote Patching
- RDM
Control
Image:XLR3-edit.jpg|thumb|left|XLR connectors, the most common method of controlling moving heads. Note that these are 3-pin XLR connectors, which are used by some manufacturers, rather than the 5-pin, which is specified by the USITT DMX-512 Standard.
The vast majority of moving heads are controlled using the DMX protocol, usually using dedicated twisted pair, shielded cable with 5-pin XLR connectors at the ends. Each fixture is assigned a block of DMX channels in one of the venue's DMX universes. The central lighting desk transmits data on these channels which the intelligent fixture interprets as value settings for each of its many variables, including color, pattern, focus, prism, pan, tilt, rotation speed, and animation.
Since moving heads did not attain prominence until DMX's predecessor, AMX, or Analog Multiplex had passed the zenith of its popularity. Very few moving heads use analogue control, due to crippling restrictions on bandwidth, data transfer speeds and potential inaccuracy. Some of the most modern intelligent fixtures use RJ-45 or Ethernet cabling for data transfer, due to the increased bandwidth available to control increasingly complicated effects. Using the new Ethernet technology, control surfaces are now able to control a much larger array of automated fixtures.
The most recent development in lighting control is RDM, or Remote Device Management. This protocol allows for communication between the lighting controller and fixtures. With RDM, users can troubleshoot, address, configure, and identify fixtures from the RDM enabled lighting desk.
Image:ETC-expression3 Fixture Box.png|thumb|right|400px|Moving lights are programmed using a fixture box in ETC light boards.
Moving lights are much more difficult to program than their conventional cousins because they have more attributes per fixture that must be controlled. A simple conventional lighting fixture uses only one channel of control per unit: intensity. Everything else that the light must do is pre-set by human hands An automated lighting fixture can have as many as 30 of these control channels. A slew of products are available on the market to allow operators and programmers to easily control all of these channels on multiple fixtures. Lighting boards are still the most common control mechanism, but many programmers use computer software to do the job. Software is now available that provides a rendered preview of the output produced by the rig once fixtures are connected to the program or console. This allows programmers to work on their show before ever entering the theater and know what to expect when the lights are connected to their controller. These products usually feature some method of converting a computer's USB output to a DMX output.