Advances in fixtures, control systems and infrastructure highlighted at the annual lighting fest.

Approximately 8,000 people were expected at this year’s LDI show, held Oct. 19-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and approximately that many products were debuted, previewed and now, reviewed.

There was no dominant new release at this year’s show, but plenty of trends that showed where our industry is headed. Hybrid rigs were on everyone’s mind, as several companies released products that handle power in new ways for the new needs of systems that rely more and more on automated fixtures and LEDs. Lex Products, SSRC, Leprecon and others all released products to help manage power to the rig, and keep the savings theatres gain by using LEDs.

Computing power was also big this year. Cast Software showed off their BlackTrax tracking system—a hybrid system of LEDs, cameras, and visualization interface which lets actors and objects onstage interact with lighting, sound and video in new and precise ways. And J.R. Clancy released their most advanced rigging control system ever, which allows them to control performer flying.

The benefits of a lack of power required by LEDs was also highlighted, too, as both Apollo and Rosco released new lines of printable gobos designed especially for LED fixtures and their lower heat output.

). This powerful site lets designers search every single color and line of gel Rosco makes by keyword, name or number. You can refine your search by color family, or from as specific library. The website is full of little extras too to make your life easier: hover-over fields that auto-populate with color data, production photos to see the color in action, and a “Show Builder” feature that suggests colors. Users can build palettes of their favorite colors, create swatch books, add design notes and more. It’s a website now, but will soon be an app on iOS and Android devices.

They also have a new Cool Ink line of plastic and glass gobos for LEDs. The gobos have metal bezels to keep them flat so the focus plane doesn’t shift because the plastic won’t bend, and a “black plate” (not ink) covers any opaque areas of the gobo, which lends a crispness to edges. They’re also available in glass.

Lastly, they’re transforming their gobos for use in projection as well. Their new Pixel Patterns line of video content are video transparency masks taken from the Rosco gobo library that video designers can place on layers in their video file to add break up and movement in a video file.

{youtube}7dHqLYZF8sk{/youtube}

Rose Brand

A lot of people were drawn to the Rose Brand booth this year thanks to the Petzl personal rigging gear display set up prominently in one corner of the booth. Rose Brand now distributes the safety gear for riggers. They also debuted a new modular Kabuki drop system. Available in 5-foot sections, the system consists of two rods that rotate, dropping the curtain off its pins. Because it uses adjustable pins the system can be used on standard curtains. Each section can support up to 70 pounds of curtains, and the system can be activated via DMX, so it can be tied right into the light board. It can also be activated by a pendant control system or manually. In other curtain news, they released their S-Drive Motor, a compact, friction drive motor for rope track curtains to add a smooth open to track curtains. Rose Brand also released a new cheeky expendable that everyone will want: NFG tape. A bright fushcia-colored gaff tape with “NFG” written in large print on it—perfect for labeling that malfunctioning unit.

SeaChanger

Whatever light source SeaChanger uses (Tungsten, LiFi, HMI) the focus has always been on their color engine—driven by their dichroic CYM color-mixing system. Their new SC LED continues that tradition, pairing a 4,250 lumen LED engine with their color system. The SC LED puts out 25 lumens per watt, and is compatible with any Source Four lens package.

SSRC

LEDs can save you energy—but only if you turn them off. Because power is never dimmed to the fixtures, they’re always on—unless you go through your rig and turn them off each night individually. SSRC has one solution for that, the Switchbrick. The Switchbrick is a DMX controlled relay switch that accepts 20A in and two 10A out. It will turn off power via a DMX signal, and it has options for wired and wireless DMX communications. It can also pass DMX through the device.

UltraTec

{youtube}TREIU81qKkU{/youtube}

UltraTec used LDI to release their Nitrogen Low Fog machine, a powerful new low-lying fog unit that produces a ton of fog. Many venues don’t like using CO2 anymore for lots of fog because of the health hazards present in pumping lots of CO2 into a room. Nitrogen gets around that issue. The Nitrogen Low Fog machine has internal fan speed control and “pressure boost” for longer distribution runs. It requires a supply of 230 PSI liquid nitrogen and outputs to a 10-inch hose.