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elektraLite eye Kandy

elektraLite eye Kandy

Over the last year I have seen numerous LED products flood our industry. Each one seems to be a slightly different version of a similar light fixture. Then I took the eye Kandy from elektraLite for a test drive and was immediately impressed by the fact that I was witnessing something revolutionary. Someone had built a normal moving light, but instead of the usual lamp for a light source, the light beam comes from one bright 200 watt white LED.

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Ai Infinity Series

Ai Media Servers

The Ai Media Server family, developed through Avolites Media’s alliance with Immersive Ltd., bridges the gap between media server and video pre-viz tool in a new and powerful way. Unlike other DMX-based media servers, Ai can operate as a stand-alone server that performs a wide range of media-related tasks, including content generation, playback of multiple layers of HD content, 3D mapping and pre-visualization of the entire performance area, all on the same machine.

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» The images depict the author using MadMapper and its companion app, Mad KinnectMasker. Here, Vickie Claiborne is using a Kinnect camera with her computer, applying a graphics loop to the mask created by the KinnectMasker app.

Masking with an IR Camera

The producer of an event I am designing sent me a link to a YouTube video in which projected images had been “mapped” onto a human figure, and wanted to know how difficult it would be to achieve that effect in the show we’re creating. This request sparked a journey, and it’s evident that I still have a long way to go. But I have scratched the surface, and here are a few options that I’ve experimented with and what I’ve learned so far about a possible solution using heat-seeking IR cameras.

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The Hotel AV Sector: Poised for Growth?

On the face of it, the hotel/hospitality sector doesn’t seem like the most glamorous part of the AV business to be in. How many conferences, trade shows and product presentations have we all sat through during which our attention wandered to the fellow slouched behind the audio or lighting consoles as talking heads droned up on stage, and thought to ourselves, “It’s gotta be worse for him.” Well, that guy or girl might also be looking at a newly stirring sector for AV, one that will be facing some business challenges as the recession continues to recede but that will also be a fertile field for opportunity in the near term.

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Push Button, Get Banana

For years, scientists have used buttons to train animals and determine behaviors. The simple act of pressing a button to achieve a certain response can easily be taught to many different species. Button pressing is unassuming process that can be used in various applications to produce different results. At this very moment I am pressing combinations of 56 buttons to write this article.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Holiday Hang-Ups

Last month I once again dealt with some of my favorite, yet most feared, lighting fixtures. The dreaded Christmas lights. Sure, they look great once the darkness comes and they cast a glow over my snow-filled front yard. The view is fab when the wrapping paper clad presents are illuminated solely by the blinkety-blink emitted from the corner tree. But for some reason, getting there can be a comedy of errors.

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A Time To Give Back

It’s that time of year.  The cold weather has set in, the big events of the year are long gone and everyone prepares for the holiday season.  It has been one crazy year! It has gotten to the point that I don’t even know what month we are currently in unless I go back to my calendar. Time has certainly flown by, with the roller coaster of life showing no sign of slowing done.

For the video, go to www.plsn.me/201212ednote.

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