Our social media is set aflame lately from the generous contribution of content from Serbian-based company, Chameleon Rental. After seeing the photos online from Foam Fest X, we had to investigate this company and its founder, Ivan Krsev in more detail. In doing so, we stumbled upon a diverse resume of incredible shows that Ivan and Chameleon Rental has produced, and they leave us breathless – exactly how we want to see our products used.
With 19 years of innovation as leaders in the Serbian market, Chameleon Rental not only meets today’s demanding market requirements, but their unique set-ups are recognized worldwide. The Chameleon Team is synonymous with state-of-the-art technology, uncompromising safety, product reliability and availability in the widest range of solutions. Chameleon Rental lives by its tag line, “Chameleon, staging the future.”
Chameleon’s creative team is always ready to offer unique ideas for the realization of their client’s projects. When an idea is conceptualized, Chameleon Rental sends 3D visualizations and renders of the complete project using AutoCAD, 3D Max and wysiwyg. Chameleon can work with its clients from start to finish to realize their project goals and can feel confident they’re in good hands with Ivan Krsev and Chameleon Rental.
Foam Fest X and Beyond
Ivan Krsev has been doing stage design for most of Chameleon Rental’s events. This includes Foam Fest, which is in its tenth year. The main challenge he faces is to continually come up with new ideas from prior years. Of course, everyone wants bigger, better, and more glorious each year, including Ivan.
“I have been using wysiwyg for 3 years now. Before we bought wysiwyg, I spoke with the library department. We made a deal that we’d get our own truss library because we have many unique projects, and we use special truss elements. When we switched from ACAD/3DSMax to wysiwyg, we reduced our design time by over 10 times. That was the most important thing for us, to get that extra gain.”
Chameleon Rental company has everything in-house (power generators, trussing, staging, video, sound, light, etc.). So, they don’t often need partners. Maybe for special occasions when they are overloaded with projects simultaneously but typically all is done, in-house.
Previz
We spoke to Ivan in the middle of peak season, and when we asked what he had lined up beyond peak season, he responded that most all projects are already past the previz step and no matter the event, big or small, Chameleon Rental and Ivan always begin with wysiwyg.
“For all our events we are using wysiwyg for previsualization, ACAD for precise technical drawings and documentation, d&b ArrayCalc for sound prediction, later live-capture software for audio measurements. With wysiwyg we can show our clients how their show would look like. And we are doing it even for small events. It is not just the previz part, but all the benefits from software. Dimensions, truss load, power consumption, and all the data necessary for events.”
Favourite Features
After looking at his extensive portfolio of unique design ideas and incredible past productions, we asked what some of Ivan’s favourite features were and why. The photos are testament enough that whatever Ivan is doing, it is working on a massively impressive scale and inquiring minds want to know the piece de resistance for Ivan while creating these beautiful masterpiece stage designs.
“Every new version gives us new features. Regarding the reality of renders, my favorite new features are turbulence, and ground smoke. With them I can achieve that extra ‘touch and feel’ of real-life imperfections. I spend additional time to tweak every camera view that will be exported from wysiwyg as image. Because that’s what makes the difference between simply OK and awesome.”
Good Advice
When asked the difficult question if he had any advice for designers who want to create something big and spectacular, Ivan’s response is one of someone with not only experience but also passion for his work. We see in Ivan someone who has gone the extra mile in experimentation. Over the years, Ivan has implemented education, processes and steps to reach his goals and encourages anyone else to do the same.
“First of all, they need to know their tools. That means they must try all the menu items, buttons and everything else. They must experiment a lot, and to know how different fixtures look and work. That also means before going big, you must try small things. I know it’s hard. Everything demands step by step approach. That is technical part.
Ideas and imagination are something different. Ideas and imagination are essential parts of every project. Good ideas are priceless. Today everybody can have equipment, and everything that goes with it. But if you don’t have good ideas or imagination, you’ll just have an enormous quantity of expensive equipment, not much.”
We’d like to take the time to thank Ivan Krsev and Chameleon Rental for taking the time to share his projects, advice and beautiful experiences from Serbia. Now that R43 is coming soon, we are extra excited to see what renders and reality shots we have come in from future shows Ivan and Chameleon Rental are responsible for creating.
If you’d like to learn more about Chameleon Rental or what projects they have done or are involved in, please check out their links below:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chameleonrental/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/chameleonrental
Website: http://www.chameleon.rs
More About CAST Group of Companies Inc.
Established in 1994, Toronto Canadian-based software and hardware developer, CAST Software is a member of the CAST Group of Companies Inc. CAST Software serves its core markets in entertainment production, special events and meetings.
CAST’s award-winning flagship software products are wysiwyg – lighting design and previsualization suite, and Vivien – Event Designer and the new real-time tracking technology, BlackTrax.
All products designed and created in-house with support from an established global distribution and re-seller network.