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Worth the Wait

The 12-by-160-foot interior display

Worth the Wait

The BCEC Gets a Dramatic Visual Update, Inside and Out

When the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) was first designed in the 1990s, the design called for exterior features that would change the Boston skyline and interior displays that would impress attendees not just with aesthetics but with practical — and revenue-generating — communications capabilities.

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Lightronics LED Ellipsoidal

Lightronics LED Ellipsoidal

Lightronics’ FXLD100E and FXLD100ECMY fixtures combines the functionality of classic tungsten ellipsoidal fixtures with an LED light source. Both are available with 50°, 36°, 26° and 19° beam spreads. Depending on the lens used, the fixture offers 7,000 lux with a 50° lens, up to 23,500 lux with a 19° lens.

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Clay Paky Shotlight Wash

Clay Paky Shotlight Wash

Some of the best new ideas come from merging two great existing concepts. Clay Paky’s Shotlight Wash is a case in point. The fixture combines the strength and versatility of their 1500W wash light with two front-mounted 1500W strobe lamps. Although they are physically integrated, the two components can be used separately. Like a lot of  products that are both innovative and strikingly simple, it leaves you wondering why no one else came up with this idea before.

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Willie Nelson Country Throwdown Tour

Helios 250 Mobile Stage

Solar-Powered Stage from Kleege Industries and Sustainable Waves

Kleege Industries has been around since Nevin Kleege designed and built his first “plank and ply” stage in 1984. Sustainable Waves has been an alternative energy trail-blazer for eight years. The two companies got together to come up with Helios 250, a solar-powered mobile stage. It toured the country from May to August 2011 with the Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown and Vans Warped tours, soaking up the rays and providing enough power, even on cloudy and rainy days, to provide 120 amps at 120V for up to 12 hours.

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Chaos Participates in National Disability Mentoring Month

BURBANK, CA – Chaos Visual Productions recently joined forces for a day with PathPoint, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities and/or disadvantages reach their fullest potential. It was all part of National Disability Mentoring Month. The be:Cause Campaigns put PathPoint and Chaos together as part of its ongoing campaign of “partnering the profitable with the passionate.”

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KA at Comic-Con photo by Eric Meagher

Vertical Horizon: KÀ at Comic-Con

AD X Media Group, Cirque du Soleil Combine Live Performance with “3D” Projection

In July, AD X Media Group, a multi- and mixed-media company specializing in large format 3D projection, collaborated with Cirque du Soleil on a visual extravaganza for the opening night of the big convention in San Diego for comic books, Comic-Con.

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3D Mapping with MadMapper

MadMapper

Projection mapping is all the rage.  You see a different amazing example practically weekly, involving everything from building facades to cars to trees and castles — and if you can’t see it in person, chances are it’s up on Youtube.

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Mac or PC

The Eternal Question: Mac or PC?

DMX-controlled digital media servers range in size, features and even software platforms. How do you decide which one is right for you? For some, it boils down to this age old question: Mac or PC. That dilemma led me to ask, “What factors drive the manufacturer of a media server to choose one platform over another?”

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Video digitizers translate video into pixels

LED Digitizers: A Primer

When I crossed over from the television broadcast domain to the live events market a few years back, there was a fairly steep learning curve regarding all the lighting, staging and video equipment required to produce shows. With LED walls in particular, I figured that you simply connect a video signal to the LED wall, and presto — I-Mag images appear on the wall behind the lead singer. Well, not so fast, Sparky.

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Krafting MACROni & Cheese

Automated lighting consoles provide the programmer with a multitude of tools to help create and playback lighting for a show. Some of the most powerful features are commonly known as “macros.” These automated time-savers can help programmers simplify repeated tasks, create shortcuts and even add functionality to their show files. Although each console system uses different terminology and procedures, there are two basic types of macros: triggers and recorded. As always, refer to your console’s user manual to determine exactly what is available and how to use the features on your desk.

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Red lighting makes it difficult to capture details. Less-saturated colors tend to have less blowout.

Photography Skills

As people who work the day-to-day of concert, industrial, theatrical and television, we sometimes forget we to need to take photos to help capture our work.  It is important to show our work in the best way possible.  Detailing a design in words can only go so far; visuals help to explain what we accomplished. These days, websites and social media are great places for potential employers to see and learn about us. Our next gig might be a click away. We don’t always have the luxury to have someone capture our work. But we can learn to improve our own photography skills.

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