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Inspiration Behind the Canvas

Inspiration Behind the Canvas

Lincoln Maynard leads a double life as an artist and general manager of Scenic Technologies for PRG.

 

Adorning the walls of PRG’s Las Vegas offices are photographs of flashy sets from famous shows and concerts — the Billboard Music Awards, VH1 Rock Honors and Criss Angel: Believe, to name a few. They showcase decades worth of work on the Las Vegas Strip and across the country. Photographs of sets the company has built, however, aren’t the only works of art on display. They share the space with paintings by artist Lincoln Maynard, who also happens to be general manager of PRG Scenic Technologies.  

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WYSIWYG R23

The CAD tools in WYSIWYG may not be as advanced as in AutoCAD, but they are sufficient for most applications in our industry, and very easy to use.

One of the most important lighting design tools to emerge in the post-automated lighting era is lighting design software. The first to market was the WYSIWYG suite of CAD, paperwork, rendering, and visualization software for lighting designers and programmers. Eighteen years after version 1.0 comes the latest release from Cast Software, Release 23, and it represents a major step forward in terms of real-time visualization, detail, and quality of rendering.

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Look Ma, No Console!

Last month I was hired to program the COTT 2008 music awards on the Caribbean island of Trinidad.  While the initial concept and plan for the show was very straightforward, there were many surprises that left me well equipped with material to write about the experience.  The show was a typical awards-style TV shoot with five cameras, a podium, and twelve musical numbers.  I was in control of automated lights, LEDs, media servers, and more.  Conventionals were controlled from another console.  The LD had done this show the year before but could not attend this year because his pregnant wife was due any day.  So it was up to me and the superb crew to help the locals make this show spectacular.

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The Bare Truth About What’s Really Recession-Proof

Looking for a recession-proof market sector? That joint near the tracks with all the neon might be a good pace to start. This particularly pernicious economic climate is chipping away at the entertainment-related areas of business that putatively do well in recessions: film box office results are flat, video game sales are down slightly and music sales — fuhgedaboudit.

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Bozo’s Balancing Act

“Know the light, but keep the shadow.”—Tao saying

Three-phase power distribution systems are very common around the world for a couple of reasons; they save money, and…I forget the other reasons.

Three-phase distribution saves money because it takes less copper to transmit the same amount of power with a three-phase system than with a single-phase system. In fact, it takes about 25 percent less copper to transmit the same amount of power with a three-phase three-wire delta system as with a single-phase three-wire system because the conductors need only be half the cross sectional area. And with a three-phase four-wire system it takes even less copper — about 66 percent less than with a single-phase three-wire system.

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Accessorizing Your Lights

‘Tis the season of trade show lighting. And whether you are starting to design the lighting for your client’s booth or you are already on site, you must make sure to put some thought into bringing a box of lighting accessories; you know, those little things good designers can’t live without.

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Elation ELAR Image X Projector

Elation Architectural’s new ELAR Image X image projector features a 32-watt xenon lamp source with a color temperature of 6,000K and an average lamp life of 3,000 hours. It is available in two versions: the ELAR Image X with stationary projection and the ELAR Image XR with rotating projection. Both versions accept metal and glass gobos with an O.D. of 37.5mm and an image diameter of 20mm. Each is supplied with a four-foot power cord.  The MSRP of the ELAR Image X is $419.95. The MSRP of the ELAR Image X is $479.95.

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Interactive Technologies SceneStation

The new SceneStation from Interactive Technologies is an architectural wall station for DMX playback. It can control nearly any DMX device and it can be programmed to run shows up to 64 steps. It features five customizable buttons that can be programmed run chases, step sequentially through scenes, toggle on and off, or act as a momentary switch. Each button includes programmable RGB backlighting and the button caps can be engraved with custom legends. An infrared Programmer’s Remote can be used to set up and program the SceneStation with fade and follow times, button colors, DMX channel levels and more.

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Xtreme Power Conversion XVRT Series UPS

The new Xtreme Value Rack/Tower Series (XVRT) Uninterruptable Power Supply from Xtreme Power Conversion provides power protection including battery backup, line-interactive voltage regulation, noise filtration and surge protection. The series is comprised of four models: 1000VA, 1500VA, 2200VA and 3000VA. All models are available in a variety of physical form factors including tower mount, rack mount or wall mount. Features include an LED display, 50/60Hz frequency auto sensing, 1-in/1-out RJ45 surge protection and UPSMON monitoring software. Included are three 8AH batteries in the 1000VA unit, two 9AH batteries in the 1500VA unit and four 9AH batteries in the 2200VA and 3000VA units.

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ElectriCalc LT

The ElectriCalc LT is an electrical handheld calculator that helps solve electrical calculations in compliance with the NEC. It works in volts, amps, volt-amps, watts, kVA, kW, power factor percentage, efficiency percentage and DC resistance. It can calculate wire sizes for copper or aluminum in various insulation ratings and it adjusts for ambient temperature. It figures voltage drop, parallel conductors, de-ratings and grounding conductor sizes. It also works as a standard math calculator and has a battery-saving auto-off feature. Includes user guide, vinyl case, lithium battery and a one-year warranty. The retail price is $49.99.

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Martin ShowDesigner 5

A new version of Martin Professional’s ShowDesigner™ (MSD) lighting and set design software is now available. It includes a new 3D graphic engine with “near rendering quality” in real-time. Some updates include: fixture beams with true-life light distribution; animated smoke with adjustable density and evenness; camera animation with time-line control; new user interface with sidebar for quick access to all features; drag-drop of object and fixture onto 3D space; ISO camera view for easier manipulation of objects in 3D view. Five versions include: Gold, Live, Live-4, Silver and Live-LJ.

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