I am an incredibly fortunate individual, I will start with that. My life has been filled with incredible people, experiences, and opportunities, and I am well aware that I am not completely responsible for the incredible life I am able to lead. I want to take the opportunity to thank a few groups of people, not necessarily by name, for everything they have allowed me to accomplish in a very short amount of time.
My parents. They have always supported me, emotionally and financially, regardless of my dreams or aspirations. I can imagine it’s not always easy to have a son who wants to be in show business, but they have always been incredibly accommodating. Thank you for that.
My girlfriend. She has been a huge part of my life for over four years now, through my high school, college, and now professional career. Few people are able to lift others up like she does, I know I am forever in debt to her for her unconditional love and kindness. Thank you, for everything.
My family. Whether it was my aspirations of producing elaborate shows on the deck at our cottage, or taking me to concerts at an early age, I can’t imagine a more supportive family. Thank you for always being there.
High school teachers and advisors. I am eternally grateful to all of the teachers who took it upon themselves to make sure I received a sound education, and to all of the advisors who spent their own personal time working with students in extracurricular activities. The lessons I have learned working with the tech crew at my high school will never be forgotten, and those experiences have catapulted me into an industry I once dreamed of working in. Thank you.
College professors and department staff. There is no doubt that my life has been filled with amazing educators, and my undergrad experience is no different. I have had the opportunity to work with those at the cutting edge of their field, and have learned that an education never stops, it is life long endeavour. Thank you for that lesson.
Industry professionals. Some career paths lead to a world of “dog eat dog” mentality, but nothing could be further from the truth for the live event production world. These people truly love what they do, and embrace their colleagues, young and old, with open arms. I’ve never experienced an environment where everyone wants you to succeed. Thanks to all of the industry professionals who have guided me along the way.
I’ve written before about the potential for Mac’s Quartz Composer to be a big time competitor to other node based visual programming environments, and this week we finally had some time in the office to get under the hood and “play” with some very exciting technology.
First, a rundown of the rig. We use two hardwire-networked iMacs each outputting 1024 x 768 to a separate DL1 moving head projector. An Avolites Pearl Expert output DMX to the DL1′s, as well as 1 universe of DMX over ArtNet to iMacs. Using Synthe FX’s Pixelnode Quartz Composer patch we were able to control our compositions using the lighting console. The result was pretty exciting, but I suggest you see for yourself with the files provided below. Our next project will utilize Quartz Composer Visualizer, which allows you to render a composition live over multiple Mac computers. This allows for seamless and extremely high resolution graphics displayed over multiple surfaces. Very cool stuff!
Our initial composition started with a Rainbow Rain Quartz composition available for free download from QuartsCompositions.com. We changed some of the parameters of certain patches (Sine wave phase, amplitude, particle color), added a webcam feed background (with color correction via DMX, of course!), and then enjoyed playing with the fruits of our labor (image below).
Troubleshooting Notes: Make sure all of your IP and subnet addresses are correct, and that your console can see the Pixelnode as a node on the ArtNet network. Check your channel patching on the console, and make sure that you are actually outputting ArtNet! We had a hard time getting this right at first, but the challenge made the result even more rewarding!
Requirements:
1 ArtNet-capable console/device
1 Ethernet switch
1 Mac computer, I recommend running 10.5 or 10.6
Quartz Composer installed (it is available on the developer tools with your Mac OS install DVDs)
Synthe FX Pixel Node, available here.
Quartz Composer Test Files with Help Text.
Quartz Composer Colors – a good way to test connections and a simple Quartz file.
Quartz Composer Rainbow Rain - Use after you have mastered the first file.
Michael Buble visited Indianapolis on June 29th, 2010, and brought an amazing stage show with him. Vocal play group Naturally 7, a headlining act in their own right, did great job warming up the audience.
But let’s be honest, you probably just want to know the stage tech nerd stuff. So here it goes.
Buble’s performance opened with projection on the outer traveler curtain, all handled from a single pj sitting high up at FOH. Buble’s initials MB transformed from a ballyhoo spotlight effect into an orchestra taking the stage, leading to the opening of the traveler. The projector continued to throw onto a massive scrim behind the band (piano on left, bass and drums in the middle, and a brass section on the right) and created a slow moving texture throughout the first song. Hard drum hits were enhanced by what looked to be vertical strips of VersaTube or LED’s strips.
After the first song, the scrim was removed to reveal 6 VersaTube pillars (approx 20-25 feet tall) as well as 5 LED walls. As the show continued, the LED walls started to move up and down, somewhat in a standard issue (yet still impressive) manner. It was not until about 3 or 4 songs in that they video walls began to move in 3D space, creating 3/4/5 panel wide moving screens across the back of the stage. Not to be outdone, the VersaTube pillars rotated along the y-axis, revealing LED pars. Needless to say, the slow smooth motion of the set pieces and massive video/grafics surfaces (VersaTubes, 5 LED panels, and LED pars) created a perfect backdrop.
Almost lost in the show was the lighting design. Don’t get me wrong, it was truly a great lighting rig, and it complimented the video elements very well. At the same time, the lighting was almost so subtle that it merely complimented the background. In my opinion, a great design is obvious and bright when it needs to be and functional when it doesn’t. In a few quick glances at FOH, I noticed that there were 3 GrandMA’s. It looked like they were all synced to manage lighting and graphics on the multiple display surfaces.
Pictures coming as soon as my girlfriend @japrobst sends them to me 