Prestonwood Baptist Church’s Show is an Annual Marvel
Originally founded in 1977, Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas now draws more than 40,000 parishioners from all over North Texas. Bound together through a common purpose, the church has also become known throughout the country for their annual Christmas celebration entitled “The Gift of Christmas.”
Read More »
In 2013, The MagicPanel-R from Ayrton hit the scene, and everyone took notice of the shape of the fixture. Someone had invented a new way for lighting designers to control pixels in an incredibly bright manner that could be used in all kinds of cool applications. This opened the floodgate for a plethora of LED products that adapted to this block shape. Whether they are moving heads, static LED panels or fixtures one can assemble into a grid of their own design, there is a lot of demand for these fixtures in today’s market. Take a look at what’s out there.
Read More »
High End Systems turns 30 years old this year; that’s quite a milestone for this Austin-based lighting manufacturer. High End has gone through their share of changes over the years, but many of the same familiar faces that built this company are still with HES today. In fact, they’ve been growing so fast that they now have the largest sales team assembled in years. And yes, they are still raising the bar in our industry by uniquely being #ALLABOUTLED. Sit back while we tell you a little about this company.
Read More »
For more than a century, the city of South Bend, Indiana has done its part to create an aesthetic point of interest where Jefferson Boulevard crosses the St. Joseph River. The Jefferson Boulevard Bridge, a 490-foot span first built in 1905, features unique architectural details. The city then unveiled a kinetic artwork by abstract expressionist sculptor Mark di Suvero in 1980. And in May 2015, when South Bend was celebrating its 150th birthday, the city celebrated with fireworks and a torch relay that officially “lit” its latest riverfront enhancement: an architectural light art installation designed by LD Rob Shakespeare that was billed as the world’s first interactive display over a body of water.
Read More »
December saw eSports come to Boston in a big way when the Wang Theatre at the Boch Center hosted the Boston Major tournament. The competition for Valve Corporation’s multiplayer online battle arena Dota 2 video game took place Dec. 7-10. Along with the live audience in the theatre, the four days—with up to 12 hours a day play—was followed globally via the video game live-streaming platform Twitch.tv and through a variety of international television outlets including ESPN in the U.S.
Read More »Now that the madness of the holidays are all behind us, I have a confession to make. I can’t stand the holiday season. It’s not that I’m “anti” anything; I just get really annoyed by many aspects of it all. From the commercialism to the fake sort of “have a wonderful season” (spending everything you make on stuff), to the endless amounts of zero time to get anything accomplished — it makes me crazy. On top of the guilt of having to work endless gigs to make it all affordable and then not being there for the fun stuff because of said gigs. Ugh. Bah Humb-ugh.
Read More »
Madrix is for those who are short on time and budget, but long on creativity.
The LED lighting controller software Madrix is based on “user friendliness, productivity, and ease of use.” In discussing recent projects by notable LDs who are using the program, it appears those goals are more than being met.
Read More »
LDI 2016 was populated by many memorable displays and booths, not the least eye-catching of which was a giant (playable) Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots display built by Blizzard Lighting and ModTruss. The Wisconsin-based company has been involved in the lighting industry since 2010, when they sold their first fixture, the Flurry.
In this modern day of pixilation, it’s become so commonplace for the new par fixtures to act like eye candy as opposed to emulating the look of a gelled par 64. While there is nothing particularly wrong with the look of an LED wash light with many cells on its face, some designers as well as artists prefer the look of the older pars and moving wash fixtures of yore. This is where Elation’s series of Fuze fixtures comes in. They have a lens system that turns this line of RGBW COB wash fixtures into one homogenous beam.
Read More »December 2001 marked the first article I wrote for my “Feeding the Machines” column. As I write this article 15 years later, I am thinking about how much our industry has changed, yet also stayed the same. The most popular console brand back then was different and LEDs were used as indicators, not sources. Many of the programming processes and procedures have not changed, though. I still find myself using much of the same syntax and methodology to create looks as I did long ago. It is amazing to look back and see what has changed and what has remained the same.
Across the skyline, as dusk settled in, a dynamic beacon of light sparkled, shimmered, beamed and beckoned from atop the London landmark The Shard. Woodroffe Bassett Design created the holiday lighting installation for the second year in a row, illuminating the Shard’s spire, the highest 13 levels of the 95-story building, for the festive season. The Shard, at 309.6 meters (1,016 feet) in height, is the tallest building in the U.K.
Read More »
Keeping the Lonesome Road from Dragging You Down
On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha… No, I’m not going to read into that Seger song. Karaoke doesn’t start until 8 p.m.