Make a Scene!
These Impressive Innovations Can Really Light Up a Room

By RaeAnn Slaybaugh

Part video, part lighting — 100% cool. Making its debut last year, DL2 from High End Systems (www.highend.com) lets you fuse automated lighting and digital video to create “virtual scenery.”

DL2 is a “smart” automated lighting system featuring an integrated digital media server. This single package houses a light engine, media server and content, and it hangs and acts like an automated light. DL2 controls just as easily as an intelligent moving luminaire; its plug-and-play operation uses standard DMX cabling and protocols.

Curtain or a video wall? It’s both! SoftLED products from Rose Brand (www.rosebrand.com) have only been on the market for about a year, but there’s plenty about them to ensure a long, happy life.

It started when Rose Brand paired its expertise in producing custom theatrical drapes with Main Light Industries’ extensive skills and knowledge of fiber optic and LED technology. The result: a collection of stunning LED drapes.

You can see your designs “re-imagined” on the SoftLED products, which feature Rose Brand’s specially designed LED grid. Using Color Kinetics Light System Composer (LSC) software and a PC, you can import a .png sequence or images created by another application, such as Macromedia Flash. The software also features a built-in library of visual effects, including rainbow spiral, color fade and many others, so you’re ready to go even out of the box. Even cooler, SoftLED products accept moving video files as well.

Lightronics improves on an old favorite. In June, the AR-1202 architectural dimming system from Lightronics (www.lightronics.com) — already an industry standard — was re-introduced as the AR-1202-B. Updates include a programmable calendar/clock that lets you attach scenes to date and time commands.

It also offers a “snapshot” function, which is great if you have multiple AR units. This lets you set scenes in the first unit and then copy them to additional units instead of having to set the same scenes at each individual dimmer.

Vari-Lite takes spotlight and wash fixtures to the next level. Last year, Vari-Lite (www.varilite.com) debuted two new luminaires — the VL2500 Spot and VL2500 Wash — to meet the needs of just about any environment.

To both fixtures, Vari-Lite added an improved CYM color-mixing system, offering a myriad of color options from pastels to deep hues; a coated glass dimmer wheel; and a separate dual-blade strobe system.

VL2500 fixtures also now feature separate dimmer and strobe systems for an extremely smooth dimming curve and lightning-fast strobe action. Further improvements include a beam-size iris motor that’s quieter than its predecessor’s, and pan and tilt motors designed to be more powerful, provide more torque, and operate more quietly.

Step up stewardship with energy savings. Earlier this year, Leviton Mfg. Co. (www.leviton.com) — in conjunction with MechoShade Systems (www.mechoshade.com), an industry leader in advanced solar shading technology — released the “harmonization” of their offerings: the Leviton MechoShade lighting-control solution.

MechoShade lets you combine natural and artificial lighting for maximum comfort, all while saving on your energy bills.

Leviton lighting controllers send command signals to the MechoShade IQ/MLC shade control system to move one or more shades to one of five preset positions. Photo and occupancy sensors can also be used to achieve optimum daylight “harvesting.”

Bright Ideas
Illuminating Answers for Church Lighting Needs

By Gregory A. DeTogne

As a guide to unraveling the mystery of what’s right for your church, house-of-worship lighting expert John Penisten of Middleton, Wis.-based Full Compass shares some “illuminating” insights on how to make your world brighter.

John Penisten: Its use is growing at the same pace as that of audio and other technologies — as a design entity vital to communication. Beyond being used to create ambiance, it’s a key production element. In a broader sense, lighting can be compared to an artist’s brush: It’s a tool used to paint a scenic landscape.

JP: A church that just needs fixtures to accent a Christmas cantata and other staged performances can probably get what they need for $3,000 to $5,000. For a large facility with broadcast and more sizable performance needs, hundreds of thousands of dollars can be spent.

JP: Versatile studio lights should serve as primary tools in anyone’s lighting inventory. These are fixed units that hang from trusses or other locations, but they can be moved to accommodate TV broadcasts or simply to illuminate the pulpit to create an added aura during a sermon, for example.

Moving beyond fixed lighting, we get into the realm of traditional performance lights such as the follow-spot, which is the moving spotlight used to highlight onstage talent, and then into “intelligent” lighting.

Intelligent lights go by many names, but basically we can place them all into a single category defined as lights that can be remotely controlled above and beyond simply being turned on and off.

Once you’ve selected lights for an intelligent system, you also need to get a controller that tells them what to do. Controllers can be as simple as small, factory-programmed units to concert-sized lighting consoles capable of managing hundreds of fixtures.

GAT: Pardon the pun, but for those in the dark about what’s best for their church, what do you suggest?

JP: People probably hear this too often, but in this case it certainly applies: Consult a professional. We’re here to help and make sure your needs are met according to budget and with reliable gear. If training is required, we can provide that too.

For more information, call 800.356.5844 or log on to www.fullcompass.com.