LDI 2002 In-Depth Report

Lee Filters

introduced the "P" series of 84mm wide by 100mm or 120mm long graduated filters; Screen-Shade™ for eliminating glare on LCD screens; 1" core Lite Rolls; 5'x8' acrylic lighting filter panels; and 11 new 700 series colors.

Lehigh Electric Products Co., launched the DX2/30 high-density dimmer rack, a compact cabinet with 30 2.4kW dimmers for floor or wall mounting. This 30-circuit rack, which uses the same modules and electronics as the 120 dimmer cabinet. This welded-steel cabinet is 16.5" wide, 11.5" deep, and 42" high. It features a unique wireway for running wire for line and load connections. It is suitable for small to medium to applications. Dimmer module versions include dual 2.4kW, single 6kW, non-dim, dimmable fluorescent, plus rise time options from 350 to 800 microseconds. It will be available as a DMX only cabinet or a full-featured rack with I/O including dual DMX, backup presets, Collage™ Architectural controls, and Ethernet. Ethernet will provide dimmer status reporting, programming, control, and subsystem networking.

Le Maitre Special Effects launched a variety of special effects products, including the Show Fogger Pro with 40% more output than its G100 predecessor, a one-gallon integrated fluid tank, a large heating block, a whisper quiet pump, as well LeMaitre's new Rapid Change Technology (RCT) heat exchanger design. The RCT design ingeniously overcomes a fog machine's biggest service issue: a plugged heating block, due to normal wear-and-tear. All you need is 15 minutes, a crescent wrench, a Leatherman, and a compact, lightweight RCT tube replacement kit (included free with the Show Fogger Pro), and your fog machine's as good as new. On the pyro front, the Pyroflash Fire 8 Controller was introduced. This controller replaces the original six and eight way designs.

Leprecon showed the newest product from ELC lighting, the dmxLAN system, a distribution and management solution over Ethernet. It is composed of DMX notes, Ethernet switches, quality STP/CAT5 cable with heavy-duty connectors (Neutrik EtherCon), as well as a complete software package. Also, the LP-X24 console now comes with VGA, keyboard, and mouse interface.

Leviton Colortran Division and Leviton NSI Division were all a part of the Leviton Lighting Controls exhibit at LDI. Leviton Colortran Division introductions included revision 3.1 software for the Innovator® lighting console line with graphical integration software that could display the actual facility floor plan, and the D8000 control system offering a flexible, scalable lighting control solution. Leviton NSI Division introductions included Topaz™ line of installed and portable modular dimming equipment. The line is available in 12, 24, and 96-channel cabinets as well as a 12-channel portable pack. Accompanying the Topaz dimmers was the Sapphire™ line of controls. Capable of controlling up to 512 channels, the consoles are designed to enable theatrical and architectural loads to be controlled as one system. The broad range of Leviton connection and cable products were also on display.

Lex Products introduced the company switch (400A three-phase 120/208VAC version) with several features: cam and lug connections are behind the access door when in use; the door to both cam and lug connections are interlocked to the main breaker; the cam and lug connections are combined in the same chamber; and the cam and lug connection chamber is illuminated with an integral light.

Lighting & Electronics debuted a number of new products, including the Ultra Cyc™, a 750W quartz cyc fixture using the patented Orlando reflector; the Power Border™, a continuous borderlight with a connector strip attached; and the Black Widow™, a 150W metal halide wall wash blacklight that gives an even wash, rather than the distribution of a fresnel blacklight.

Lighting Services Inc introduced the BP 150 series metal halide image/framing projector with zoom capabilities from 15° to 25° and 25° to 40°, two interchangeable lens barrels, and removable rear relamping for ease of maintenance without disturbing focus. The TP series of theatrical long-life PARs for architectural application was also launched. The TP series is a family of classical theatrically styled PAR fixtures, with an updated sculpted design for architectural integration.

Light Odyssey introduced the Torpedo, a 15,000W underwater strobe light, along with a 1,000W underwater fixture with PAR64 lamp and narrow, medium, or wide throw.

Lightronics now has the AR-1202 architectural dimming system, designed for use in restaurants, churches, auditoriums, meeting rooms, schools, and theatre; other products include the AT-402 wall mount architectural dimmer, the FL-4020 dimmable fluorescent dimmer, and the RA-122 rack mounted architectural dimmer.

Lycian Stage Lighting The company featured a prototype of the Mini Arc, a compact 2,000W xenon with full color mixing capabilities.

MA Lighting : See the ACT Lighting listing.

MSE Studio Equipment, Inc. introduced a new version of Hollywood stands, made of steel rather than aluminum.

When it comes to the most new products and the largest contingent of staff, Martin Professional certainly wins hands down. With a number of new products and a few that are now reality from last years show, Martin had a very large crowd in its various booths. The biggest buzz was for the new Maxxyz console, which has features that include customizable LCD buttons for tailored programming, a built-in 3D visualizer with real-time preview mode, and full multimedia capability. It was shown to programmers and designers last spring, a lot of the feedback was incorporated over the summer and it made a splashy debut at PLASA and here at LDI. Attendees were lined up three and four deep for an in depth run through on this very interesting new console. We will definitely have a more thorough product review in an upcoming issue of Lighting Dimensions. Other new products included the Mac 2000 Wash and Performance models, the Alien 02 architectural luminaire, and the ViroStation with its very cool flat panel speakers and exterior color changing luminaire combination.

The Japanese company Marumo showed the J-Rayer ellipsoidal unit, which promises higher illuminance, easy lens maintenance, and the use of advanced magnesium materials.

The show control company from France, Medialon, showed off a new Display Controller and Player Software, which enables you to sequence and playback any media on unlimited number of screens via any network. Also introduced was the Medialon Manager V2, a show control software based on Windows 2000/XP designed for live events, staging, entertainment and museum applications. You can control all show elements from one or several show controllers, include digital media, special effects, lighting etc., and synchronize them with one click. It is represented in the US by Scharff Weisberg.

MediaMation introduced Vidshow HD, the company's show control unit for 3D and multi-image, large-format screens and venues. It provides a simple way to control Hi Definition video playback, up to four channels, from a fully programmable show controller unit. Available in 1U rack-mount chassis for single-channel playback, or 4U chassis for up to four sync channels. Capable of playback in excess of 30 Mbps with seamless loading and looping of multiple files.

Milos Structural Systems launched the X Stage Platform Systems, with features that include a scissor leg mechanism (allowing height to be quickly adapted to various levels), or plug-in legs (with the height adjusted by adjustable or telescopic legs). Other new products include the Quick Truss® M400, for heavy-duty applications; the Quick Truss M520, a high-capacity system consisting of fixed and folding formats; the MR2 Tower, which is geared for use with the previous two products; and the MR3 roof.

Mobolazer introduced SC-DMX, allowing laser scans under direct DMX512 control.

Mole Richardson introduced the 6,000W MaxiCoop™, a six-light PAR-64 fixture. The company also launched the MolePower™ series of three-phase Cam-Lok® MoleHub and DMX remote switchboards.

Morpheus™ Lights introduced the PanaBeam™ XR2, an automated washlight with a high-performance drive system for exceptionally fast pan, tilt, color, and beam modification and a unique commutator technology for continuous and unlimited pan.

N&N Productions, Ltd., the maker of custom brass gobos, now offers custom glass gobos in both color and black and white.

National Specialty Lighting showed its xenon step light, billed as the brightest, longest-lasting 110V step light; its four-bulb xenon task light, and its xenon picture light.

Nemetschek North America showed off its newest version, VectorWorks 10. Spotlight 10 will be released early in 2003, so stay tuned for the next version of this popular program. Among the many improvements to the program include: a streamlined interface; productivity improvements; better import/export options; and a integrated and improved 3D power pack.

Neutrik USA, Inc. showed off its Ethercon ruggedized RJ45 connectors and receptacles for the rugged use in entertainment applications. The male cable carrier is a die-cast metal shell for pre-assembled RJ45 cables. Female receptacles feature a choice of PCB or IDC terminations and are available in either A/B or D series styles.

Odyssey™ Innovative Designs showed the Orion, Spinmatic, and Pulsar DMX 2 effects units, the Phantom automated unit, the Acu-Trac 25O RG moving-mirror light, and the Vector 250 single-arm yoke unit, among many others.

OmniSistem Lights and Effects showed its new line of laser products, plus the Lancer 2,500W HMI discharge followspot and the Masterful effects unit from Programmi Sistemi & Luce, La Novalight's line of special lighting effects, and the Stark large-scale projection unit from Telenia. Also, OmniSistem is now distributing lighting products from the new company Pearl River, which debuted at SIB and PLASA.

OptiLED™ showed its new 1x1mm LED unit, part of its extensive, ever-changing line of LED products.

Osram Sylvania introduced its XS (eXtreme Sea) technology for its HTI® and HMI® high-wattage metal halide light sources. XS technology allows the lamp's maximum seal temperature to be increased from 350-450ºC. Also shown was the Osram HSD® 150/70 metal halide lamp with outer bulb, designed to be a compact and efficient light source for architectural and effect lighting the flat, dimmable, mercury-free Osram Planon® lamp, for architectural, effect, and studio lighting. Also, Osram Photo-Optic now offers a longer-life ELC low-voltage MR-16 tungsten halogen lamp, with an average rated life of 700 hours, 14 times longer than standard ELC.

PCM, the specialists in the supply of lighting, flying, and rigging equipment, showed the Pilewind winch, winner of a PLASA product award. The company also showed its specially adapted Lodestar electric chain hoist units that meet German safety standards, and the Ibex range of programmable hoist controllers for Lodestar hoists and winches.

Philips showed its C3 ceramic technology designed to use less energy and provide higher intensity, cooler operation and long lamp life, plus a small spread in color temperature for strong consistent performance, and the Ceramic ST 250 HR, billed as cool alternative to halogen. The company also announced new MSR 2000SA (short arc) lamp to its Broadway range.

Phoebus Manufacturing showed a prototype of the I-Marc, a 200W followspot with a 2,000-hour DC lamp.

Pixeon, formerly known as Bright Lighting, gave an LDI launch to Color Stream™, its original LED-in-a-tube concept, developed by British technical whizzes Wynne Willson Gotellier. Each fixture contains dense arrays of red, green, and blue LEDs arranged in individual pixels; each pixel is controlled separately to produce a range of colors and dynamic movement along the length of the tube.

Power Gems introduced a 2kW xenon ballast, and showed a prototype of its four-tube fluorescent ballast with DMX. Also in prototype: the Alpha 4k, a compact "open eye" HMI fixture with dual drop-in fresnels.

Pulsar Light of Cambridge continues expanding on the LED front, with the new ChromaPar36Can™, for TV, stage, and indoor architectural applications; the Chromadeck™, developed with Litestructures to create a staging system with color-changing panels; the ChromaSphere, a 300mm diameter sphere internally illuminated with high-power red, green, and blue LEDs; and the DataSplitter, designed for the distribution of digital signals from DC to 500KHz (such as DMX, PMX, RS232, RS423, RS422, RS485, etc.).

Rosco showcased the Vortex 360, a pattern rotator for one or two glass or steel patterns. It requires no external power source and its transformer/plug will fit into a standard non-dim outlet or a dimmer receptacle. It was designed with retail and architectural applications in mind.

SGM : See the Techni-Lux listing.

Selecon had the newly redesigned Finelite projector on display. Selecon has taken on the manufacturing operations of the Finelite, which was designed around the Selecon Pacific Cool Light ellipsoidal. They have streamlined and optimized the design for larger manufacturing operations. Also being shown was the finished MSR douser, which uses photo-grey glass plates for smooth mechanical dousing for discharge sources like the MSR, CDM, and metal halide lamps. I dare you to tell what is a mechanical douse versus a halogen ellipsoidal on a standard dimmer; it is that smooth. Also, Selecon was touting the Arena fresnels, which are available in two different styles: high performance (250mm, 10" lens) and industry standard (200mm, 8" lens.)

Space Cannon got in the LED game with Metamorphosis, which produces a powerful beam of light and features color-mixing with four DMX channels (blue, red, green, and amber), creating a complete chromatic range. The product is designed for architectural uses. The fixture design includes interchangeable lenses for different throws.

Special FX Lighting introduced Glow-FX®, glow-in-the-dark safety sleeves for glassware, acrylic, and lamps.

Spotlight showed the ARC-Hyperspot Video, a moving-yoke unit for video projectors, as well as the Spotlight compact 1200W and 2500W halogen motorized plano units, the Combi 50 PC 5kW motorized plano convex unit, and the Svoboda by ADB, a new motorized yoke designed especially for Spotlight's Svoboda luminaires.

Stageline® introduced the Promobile, a mobile stage unit with two decks, designed for professional who need plenty of height, space, and load-bearing capacity.

Strand Lighting introduced the 100 Series control console, featuring 12 channel 2-scene preset and 24-channel single-scene preset; the 200 Series portable control console, available in 12/24 channel or 24/48-channel models; and the 301 back-up control console, a portable or rack-mounting system featuring 12 pages of 12 back-up looks for a total of 144 back-up cues.

Strong Entertainment Lighting prominently displayed the Gladiator IV followspot with its powerful 4.5kW xenon source. They are now ready to ship this followspot with a designed throw of 400-700'. It was used at the recent Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to highlight skaters at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. It uses dichroic colors in the color boom position (it would toast the hardiest plastic color in seconds) and has an option to add a color-mixing scroller at the front of the unit. The fixture design is similar to its popular xenon Super Troupers.

In the time honored TMB tradition of world domination through the liberal application of beer, TMB welcomed all into its black and white booth with an even larger array of products. Among the new products that TMB represents are the LED products from Pulsar as well as Pixeon; Video image systems are all the rage and TMB is representing two of the cutting edge products: RADlite and Catalyst; and in what many referred to as the "unofficial fourth day of LDI," TMB welcomed the world to its new head office at 10643 Glenoaks Boulevard, in Pacoima, California. A great time was had by all, since TMB plied us with plenty of food, drink, music, and hospitality.

Techni-Lux is now distributing products from Italian manufacturer SGM, including the Giotto line of automated profile, spot, and wash units. Also new is SGM's Regia 2048, a line of professional lighting consoles designed for use in high profile entertainment applications. The Regia 2048 line includes three models, designed to meet specific requirements: Regia 2048 Opera (theatre), Regia 2048 Live (touring) and Regia 2048 Pro (club, television, etc.). Techni-Lux is now distributing the automated lighting products from Geni Electronics, as well.

Thern showed off its extensive line of winches and hoists, including the new Series SU6 Set Up Hoist, a portable, lightweight hoist for maintenance and setup work.

Tomcat gave an LDI launch to the Swing Wing Truss, a product that goes from a stackable, self-contained transport position to a sleek, functional rigging position when flown.

Tools for Stagecraft had its usual variety of tools that make all of our lives a bit easier. New products introduced, included noise-canceling earmuffs for safety, a pin spreader/cleaner, and long-lasting rubber cable wraps.

Total Structures debuted the New Wave series of trussing, introducing new materials and concepts to truss design. Construction of each section is from a single plate, and components can be bonded with epoxy adhesive. New Wave truss is available in three versions: A-wave, which uses traditional aluminum chords with extruded plate technology, available in a range of colors; C-wave, which combines aluminum extruded plate technology with carbon fiber chords; and P-wave, made entirely from Plexiglas acrylic. The series is available with a refined variant of the Omni connector.

Ultimate Lighting Solutions, a new company, introduced The Ultimate Rotator™, billed as the next step in gobo rotators, and made for the ETC Source Four ellipsoidal, with features that include two-drive motor design, variable cable length, and quiet operation.

Unipar Lighting Corp. launched the UP-4 Ultra, a lightweight luminaire using a parabolic aluminum reflector and a single ended halogen lamp. It is a new patent-pending PAR luminaire using a new, more efficient deep drawn reflector design made possible by a new UP-575/115URL lamp manufactured for Unipar by Osram Sylvania.

Ushio introduced the VL1K tungsten halogen lamp, designed for the Vari*Lite VL1000 automated ellipsoidal reflector spotlight and Fiberline™ fiber-optic MR-16 units. In addition, the company introduced 1,000W green and blue lamps to the Colorlite series of metal halide lamps, and also introduced new ceramic bases to their stage and studio line of halogen lamps for ellipsoidal spotlights.

Vantage Lighting introduced the battery-operated PSL-35 Personal Search Light, a 35W metal halide light featuring instant restrike capabilities. Also launched was LogoVision, a gobo projection system for advertising purposes.

Vari-Lite provided the US launch for its 3000 series of automated luminaires. The VL3000™ Wash features 35,000 lumens output, 10:1 zoomable beam spreader optics, CYM color mixing, variable CTO color temperature correction, a six-position color wheel, and separate dimmer and ultra-fast strobe mechanisms. The VL3000™ Spot unit features 6:1 zoom optics, CYM color-mixing, variable CTO color-temperature correction, a six-position color wheel, two rotating gobo wheels, one rotating effects wheel, a beam-size iris, and separate dimmer and ultra-fast strobe mechanisms. Both units can be controlled from a wide variety of DMX-512 consoles. Also new are enhancements to the company's VL1000 series, including modifications to the optics systems and a new line of Series 1000 models with internal dimming using an IGBT dimmer built by Entertainment Technology. The VL1000 with an on-board IGBT dimmer offers the existing facilities that may be dimmer challenged the opportunity to use silent dimming with their fixture with out giving up a house dimming circuit.

Visual Lighting Technologies introduced the XPO fiber optic series display case lighting system was introduced. The system includes modular spot lenses and wash light points. The company also showed the Fiber Sequencer MR-1, a metal halide illuminator now with an animation wheel, and introduced the liquid-based Black Light Illuminator.

White Light and Enliten launched the 575W HID Exhibition Ellipsoidal from the Robert Juliat architectural range. The unit will soon be available with a hot restrike option.

Wildfire The company introduced a redesign of its long-throw fixture line with electronic ballast, and automatic shutdown and restrike capabilities.

In addition to Wybron's standard showcase of the latest in scrollers, iris dousers, and Autopilot, was an impressive implementation of the forthcoming standard of Remote Device Management (RDM). RDM is a bi-directional protocol for DMX512 based control systems. This new open standard of status monitoring and configuration doesn't inhibit device control but offers interoperability between many manufacturers. With the tagline "RDM--it's how we're all connected," the ingenious folk at Wybron had a demonstration of the next step for extending DMX with RDM. This standard is seen by many as the bridge between existing DMX products and the future ACN standard.

The Netherlands-based company Xilver made its LDI debut with the Droplet™, a small, automated luminaire that uses LEDs for its source. The unit is designed for use in entertainment, display, and architectural applications.

XLFX, the British company that is subtitled, "excellence in pyrotechnics" made its LDI debut after showing its products at PLASA in September.

Zap Technology, a French company, showed is line of automated lighting products, including the Zap concept, the Zap Color and the Zap Tatoo.