My favourite hobby is... Stage lighting! I am mad about stage lights and effects.
When I was small, we usually went to theatres. But often I was not interested in act. I was looking up at the ceiling. There always were trusses with stage lights on them.
The first close contact was on a musical play. We took seats near one of the trusses. There were huge black rectangular devices with mirrors. Through cooling holes I could see light, but nothing was coming out of fixture itself.
But when the play started, I saw a spot appearing on the wall and then changing it's colour from white to blue. Then the round shape changed to a flower shape. Looked like something was scrolling inside to create effects. And then one image splitted to three and started to rotate. I was impressed.
Now, through years I can easily say that it was a scanner light.
Scanner light uses a mirror and two stepper motors to move the beam through the space (scan the space)
Scanner light also has some other effects, such as
Effect wheels - different metal discs with some effects mounted on them.
Colour wheels have different colour filters on them to change colour of the beam.
Gobo wheels have different patterns on them (fixed and rotating) to make the beam shaped. Rotating gobos can rotate to create dynamic effects.
Scanners also have additional functions, such as
Iris to make beam thin or wide.
Focus to make beam sharp.
Zoom to make beam bigger and smaller.
Frost filter to make a soft-edge beam
Prisms to split images. They can be linear and circular. The amount of images is connected with number of facets on prism. For example, three-facet prism makes 3 images from 1.
Shutters to dim and strobe. Most of stage lights have discharge metal-halide lamps which can not dim or strobe. So, to make a blackout or a strobe, there is a shutter system. It closes the light output without bulb being switched off.
Every effect of light is controlled via an internal controller. Stepper motors move effext wheels and other components to exact position. And the light itself can be controlled with a DMX 512 protocol.
I love stage lighting .
When I was small, we usually went to theatres. But often I was not interested in act. I was looking up at the ceiling. There always were trusses with stage lights on them.
The first close contact was on a musical play. We took seats near one of the trusses. There were huge black rectangular devices with mirrors. Through cooling holes I could see light, but nothing was coming out of fixture itself.
But when the play started, I saw a spot appearing on the wall and then changing it's colour from white to blue. Then the round shape changed to a flower shape. Looked like something was scrolling inside to create effects. And then one image splitted to three and started to rotate. I was impressed.
Now, through years I can easily say that it was a scanner light.
Scanner light uses a mirror and two stepper motors to move the beam through the space (scan the space)
Scanner light also has some other effects, such as
Effect wheels - different metal discs with some effects mounted on them.
Colour wheels have different colour filters on them to change colour of the beam.
Gobo wheels have different patterns on them (fixed and rotating) to make the beam shaped. Rotating gobos can rotate to create dynamic effects.
Scanners also have additional functions, such as
Iris to make beam thin or wide.
Focus to make beam sharp.
Zoom to make beam bigger and smaller.
Frost filter to make a soft-edge beam
Prisms to split images. They can be linear and circular. The amount of images is connected with number of facets on prism. For example, three-facet prism makes 3 images from 1.
Shutters to dim and strobe. Most of stage lights have discharge metal-halide lamps which can not dim or strobe. So, to make a blackout or a strobe, there is a shutter system. It closes the light output without bulb being switched off.
Every effect of light is controlled via an internal controller. Stepper motors move effext wheels and other components to exact position. And the light itself can be controlled with a DMX 512 protocol.
I love stage lighting .
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