For several years now, designers have turned potential lighting slowdowns onsite into productive work time using Prelite’s mobile visualization system. The avid interest in this service has led the company to launch Prelite Onsite.
Prelite Onsite systems are custom built CPU’s configured specifically for the demands of 3D visualization. To optimize for speed, they have only the necessary software installed and large amounts of RAM, as well as state-of-the-art professional-grade graphics cards. Each system includes all necessary DMX interfaces and dual flat screen monitors, which can duplicate the same image on both screens – for local use by a programmer and remote use by a designer – or be placed in extended view, allowing a single view to span both displays.
Design teams can opt to have a Prelite system administrator onsite to handle every aspect of implementing this virtual system, if they so choose. Additionally, the system allows seamless and simultaneous integration between the digital and physical worlds, allowing programming at any and all stages of the load-in.
Patrick Dierson used Prelite Onsite when programming MTV’s Fashionably Loud during Fashion Week and Z100’s Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden in December.
The Jingle Ball – which featured artists such as Ashanti, Avril Lavigne, Destiny’s Child, Ja Rule, Nelly, and John Mayer - was designed by aRtfag LLC’s Doug “Spike” Brandt and programmed by Dierson using an MA Lighting grandMA and Prelite Onsite. The load in began at midnight, and the programming time was very limited. “The show used a revolving stage with fixtures built into it,” comments Dierson. “We were able to start programming almost immediately, using a rendered view of the revolving stage, long before either the lighting rig or the stage were installed. And we were able to accommodate the needs of the guest designers very quickly – again before the system was completely up and running.”
Dierson continues, “We had a similar situation – in terms of total lack of time - on Fashionably Loud, which was staged at the Roseland Ballroom and designed by Otis Howard. Michael Appel and I were programming on two networked grandMAs. We had a lot of last minute fixture substitutions, which meant the patch paperwork was constantly changing and the DMX universes continually shifting until we started the load-in. The mobile system allowed us to graphically model the DMX distribution network and fixtures, while the crew was laying out the truss. We designed the data network onsite and virtually, immediately finding potential discrepancies before any physical cable runs were started. This saved enormous time in troubleshooting the rig.”
Jim Tetlow and his design group at Nautilus Entertainment Design used Prelite Onsite for the Pfizer Relpax launch at the Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. Tetlow explains, “We used the mobile system because there was no programming time available prior to the full cast coming onstage to rehearse the musical numbers. In fact, we did not complete focusing until after the first cast rehearsal. The system allowed us to develop a cue structure and record effects in time to the music before having a finished focus or talent. We set the rig up backstage, which allowed me to continue checking on progress during the load-in between cueing sessions.”
Lighting designer John Broderick and programmer Troy Eckerman used Prelite Onsite to program the latest Tim McGraw tour. Eckerman comments, “We were in the Nashville warehouse for Premier Global, who provided the equipment. Due to physical constraints, the rig was hung lower than it would be in performance environments. The mobile rig was used to accommodate those differences. That was the fastest system I have ever used. And the graphics were amazing.”
Prelite Onsite systems are available from both Prelite San Francisco and Prelite New York.
For more information on Prelite Onsite and how pre-visualization can make your life easier, check out the newly re-designed Prelite website, www.prelite.com.