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The rapidly-increasing capability and miniaturization of the computer is putting enough power in our pockets to change the world as we know it. It wasn't too long ago when information like user manuals and product specs had to be mailed or faxed, neither or which was particularly fast or convenient. Along came the Internet and now this information, and much more, is only a few clicks away - as long as you can connect to the Internet. But the smart phone marries the computational power of a computer with access the Internet wherever you can make a cell phone call...New applications for the smart phone are focusing those resources on the live event production industry. The result is an explosion of iPhone and iTouch apps for lighting, rigging, and production, and we've only scratched the proverbial surface. As computers and smart phones become smarter and even more powerful, the ways in which we use them for our jobs in increase as will our dependence on them to get our jobs done..
From "Buyers Guide" by Richard Cadena, PLSN, Jan. 2010
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For image editing, PNG offers fully lossless compression, so saving and re-saving file does not degrade the quality of the image. Even using its highest-quality settings, JPG is not capable of this; editing an existing JPG results in image degradation from the get-go. Also, saving an image in PNG will not introduce visible artifacts that aren't already in the image. There are five primary image types in PNG, including grayscale (up to 16-bits), Truecolor (up to 48-bits), indexed-color (palette-based, 8-bit, 256 colors), grayscale with alpha and Truecolor with alpha. In addition to providing the flexibility of multiple image types, PNGs allow for anti-aliasing, providing for smoother blending within the image and its surroundings. This allows the PNG to create the illusion of smooth curves, as opposed to the visible jagged corners and background artifacts found in a GIF file. PNGs also store gamma correction information, resulting in images that are optimized approximately for the display device regardless of the computer platform chosen.
From "Video Digerati" by Vickie Claiborne, PLSN, Jan. 2010
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If you are earning money in the United States, then you are most likely liable for taxes. Generally you have two choices as to how you report your income to the IRS and how you file your taxes. You can either be "self-employed" or work for a company. I know programmers who file as self-employed, and I also know programmers who "own" their own corporation or Limited Liability Company (LLC). Either way, there are specific rules that must be followed according to IRS guidelines. You don't want to mess wit the IRS, so I suggest that you hire a good accountant to help you with your taxes.
From "Feeding the Machines" by Brad Schiller, PLSN, Jan. 2010
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In the last 20 years we have seen more lighting consoles come on the market than I can remember. They all strive to achieve the same thing; talk to lighting fixtures, dimmers and media servers. They all get the job done eventually, but I've come to conclude that certain consoles execute some tasks well and others, not so much...I don't think there are any bad consoles out there. Everyone should learn a few different types and not get stuck on one model. It limits your horizons and your ability to work on certain shows where the console being used may not be your choice. If you don't try something new, you may never know what you are missing.
From "LD-at-Large" by Nook Schoenfeld, PLSN, Jan. 2010
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There are two types of 3D glasses; passive and active. Passive glasses are designed with polarized lenses and the left lens is polarized differently than the right. With this method, the shutter is created in the projector, either with a third-party polarizer placed in front of the lens (similar to a filter), or a third-party color modulator placed inside the projector - electronically upstream of the projector's DLP (Digital Light Processing) chip. Active lenses, on the other hand, have a built-in electronic shutter, which makes them more expensive. These glasses are synchronized to the projector via an infra-red beam emanating from the screen. No additional hardware is required in the projector. Both processes are driven by frame pulses in the movie's digital file (as stored on the server). The pulses identify the left and right frames. For the "passive" method, the pulses tell the third-party polarizer which frames to turn on and off, in the proper sequence, thus creating the shutter. When this "pre-polarized" light reaches the passive glasses, the left eye only sees the left frame, and the right eye is blanked. In the next frame the right eye sees the right frame, and the left eye is blanked - and so on, throughout the movie. In the case of "active" glasses, the pulses drive an infra-red beam which synchronizes the frame sequence to the glasses. When a "left" frame is projected, the beam tells the glasses to open the left eye and shutter the right. When a "right" frame is projected, the glasses' open the right eye and shutter the left - and so on.
From "Video World," by Paul Berliner, PLSN, Dec. 2009
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Several popular brands of moving lights have a mode that allows the
fixture to move faster than normal. You might ask why they don't just
allow the fixtures to move at their fastest speed all the time. The
manufacturers like to promote the silence of their fixtures, so they
limit the speed to reduce the noise. They also understand that many
situations require fast movement without regard to noise. So they offer
a mode that increases the top speed of movement when enabled. It's
important that automated lighting programmers are aware of this mode
and request it to be enabled when desired. Your designer will praise
you when he/she sees that you can move them faster than anyone else!
Furthermore, you must always check your rig before you begin
programming to ensure that all fixtures are set to the same speed mode.
I always grab all my fixtures and give them a big pan move, then a big
tilt move. Often you will see one or two fixtures move at a different
speed than the rest. You can then ask your crew to set the movement
mode to match the other fixtures. If you do not catch this early you
will spend many hours trying to figure out why these two fixtures
respond to a ballyhoo effect differently than the others.
From "Feeding the Machines" by Brad Schiller, PLSN, Dec. 2009
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An internet protocol (IP) address is a way of telling every other device on a network exactly where a particular device can be reached over an IP network. In some ways, it's similar to the way your mail delivery person uses your house address to deliver your mail, except that computer data sent to you is never delivered to your neighbor's computer by mistake, and an IP network doesn't take the day off for holidays.
Like your street address, which has a street number and name and a postal code, an IP address has a couple of parts. There's a network part and a "host" part. Think of the network part of an IP address as the postal code. It routes data to the right general area but not straight to your door. Then there's the host part, which identifies the exact location of the host or the computer to which the data is intended.
Unlike a postal code, the network portion of an IP address is variable in length, depending on the size of the network. IP addresses are currently formatted in what's called "quad-dotted decimal notation." That's a geeky way of saying it has four segments, each of which are separated by a dot, and although a computer sees them as an eight-bit binary number, we notate it in decimal because it's much easier for humans to read. So IP addresses range from 0.0.0.0 to 256.256.256.256. If the network is to accommodate, say, 32 computers, then the host portion will need to be able to represent 32 unique numbers in binary. That takes five bits because 00000 in binary is 0 in decimal and 11111 in binary is 31 in decimal. Since the entire IP address is 32 bits long, that leaves 27 bits for the network portion of the IP address.
From "Focus on Fundamentals" by Richard Cadena, PLSN, Dec. 2009
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Practice makes perfection, people. If I screw up and hit a
light cue early, it may throw off everyone else’s timing. And it creates a
domino effect. Often it is the light cue that signals the performer when to
make an entrance or a band member to hit a drum roll. If I miss a strobe light
cue, the soundman won’t hit the recorded thunder roll that signals the start of
the next musical number. Then the dancers don’t enter from behind the curtain.
Then the singer is lost because he’s waiting on the dancers. Then we are all
involved in an amateur production. Without practice, we cannot prevent these
problems. A lighting crew must check the spotlights in every venue prior to the
show. One of my pet peeves is when I start a show and find that one of the
lights is a lot dimmer than the others. This means one of the performers who
needs to be lit won’t be. I don’t care that the venue owns the spotlight and
not the company that is providing the traveling lighting system. I want to know
that my crew chief has my back and has checked them in advance. In the
afternoon you have time to fix these sorts of problems. Finding an intercom
fault five minutes before show time is unacceptable.
From
“LD-at-Large” by Nook Schoenfeld, PLSN, Dec. 2009
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Up until now, control systems have been one-way
(unidirectional) commands sent to a machine to control the on/off, duration,
and sometimes the intensity of the output and possibly the fan speed. But
factor in a two-way (bidirectional) control system and the entire game changes.
Think of the possibilities. Not only can we send commands to a machine but we
can also monitor everything about the machine — fluid level, temperature,
voltage, current, and more. Then the operator could anticipate problems before
they are manifested as a loss of interference medium on stage. Add some fog or
haze sensors and now the system becomes a self-regulating environment with
operator monitoring and intervention. The good news is that the technology now
exists. By using RDM (E1.20: Remote Device Management Over DMX512 Networks) the
two-way communication is accomplished and anything that can be configured on
the machine can be done at the console, anything that can be monitored
electronically can be reported back to the operator, and anything that can be
accessorized can be made to be RDM-enabled.
From
“Buyers Guide: Haze Machines” by Richard Cadena, PLSN, Nov. 2009
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The economics of luminous art is a reflection of that of the art world in general: it’s a tightrope between searching for grant funding and accepting corporate sponsorship and the strings that often come attached to it. Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose Levels of Nothingness was featured at New York's Guggenheim Museum this fall, has had budgets that vary widely, from as little as $10,000 for a simple (but clever) show to the $100,000 he expects Levels of Nothingness to cost, through the $250,000 spent for an outdoor show in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park all the way to $1.5 million for a recent U.K. installation. The numbers often parallel those of top-tier concert tours and corporate events. “It can get expensive,” Lozano-Hemmer says, speaking from his office/studio in Montreal. “With art, the concern for economics is always there.”
From “The Biz” by Dan Daley, PLSN, Nov. 2009
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