Buying Robotic lights

[Spikesgirl]

I need some imput from all you lighting guys. After listening to our LD talk about how nice it would be to have some robotics - my hubby and I have decided that we are going to buy a couple for the theater (and no, I'm not adpoting any new theaters at the moment).

We have an Impression board and our LD says that it will run techno's - which I personally love. No cyberlights for this girl!

However, technology has grown since I've last worked with robotics and I'm asking here - What robotics would you buy (within reason) for a community theater? I have no idea what questions to ask to answer our LD, so it's open season here, folks. HELP!!!!

Char5lie

[Grog12]

Ok first off it's incredibly cute that you call them "Robotics"

Secondly I'd roll with something that run's 120v as opposed to 220v since you're in a community theatre. I'd look at Mac 250's and 700's. Also their tungsten line. The Tungsten is nice because it'll match what's allready in the air without having to color correct.

The question (in my mind) comes down to do you want something to get more washes of color on stage or something that can focus and have a hard edge. Personally if it doens't have CMY these days I'm not really interested.

Give us some more info on the theatre/season and we'll see what we can come up with!

[David Ashton]

Whatever you like as long as it is quiet, ie it has a studio mode which will let you use it for shows other than dance.Probably best to find which local company is best to deal with, who will do the servicing? is there a manufacturer service course you can attend?, like Martins.Movers are not like conventionals, a conventional will work for years with a quick clean, but movers need proper care, regularly.What parts back up is there?You may get many preferences but quite frankly they're pretty similar, my Chinese movers work as well as the top end gear visually but the build is not as good, not an issue as we are a low usage company doing a few school shows a year and I have heaps of spares and fix them myself.These sorts of considerations should guide your choice.

[soundlight]

Theatre Movers = CMY, Rotating Gobos, and Zoom and Focus Functions.

New or Used VL1000. The VL1000TSD model is best for theatre, because it has shutters and the built-in IGBT dimmer, and will closely match the color temp of the other fixtures in the rig.

I prefer moving heads for theatre, but if you want scanners instead of moving heards, the new Elation Vision Scan 575E is nice. It has a decent set of gobos, including many breakups useful in theatre for soft-focusing in to specials. It also has one of the glass breakups popular in theatre. It has a stepping zoom of 20, 22, and 24 degrees. Not too wide. Don't discount Elation due to their DJ history - they've really been putting out quality products. However, don't go for used Vision Scans, the older ones are not the same product.

[soundman]

Whats your price point and are you willing to buy used?

[Spikesgirl]

Okay, now you are asking questions that I can answer or at least fake it.

First off, thank you for repsonding as lighitng is not my forte.

Grog - are they no longer called robotics? That what we used to call them. Moving lights, then. Our theater is a pros with a 300 seat capacity. We are closing this season with Full Monty - next season: Big Bang, Cinderella, Children's Hour, I Love You, You're Perfect, Dearly Departed Annie Get your Gun and Frankie and Johnny at the Clare d' Lune. We also rent out to a couple local high schools for their shows as well - no dance shows, just theater (or meetings). 120v is a good idea though - thank you on that!

Allthings - We are getting quotes now, but servicing would be done by our local theater supplier, who has serviced all the other robotics in the area (I know I used to have to haul the lights back and forth). Unless things change drastically, there will be no one on staff to do repairs, so we need something that will hold up fairly well.

Soundlight - I am definitely leaning toward moving heads.

Soundman - at this point, money is not an issue, although it's always a reality. I'm not keen on plunking down $10k for an instrument, but if an issue could be made, I might entertain it. At the same time, I'm not opposed to buying a used instrument either, but would certain want some sort of guarantee or full warranty on it.

The LD is getting quotes, but I just want to make sure that all things have been considered in the fullness of time, so that we get the best bang for our buck.

[avkid]

The most common terms seem to be: Automated Luminaries, Intelligent Lighting, Moving Lights, Wiggly Lights, Movers.
Those are just the non-specific terms.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by avkid

The most common terms seem to be: Automated Luminaries, Intelligent Lighting, Moving Lights, Wiggly Lights, Movers.
Those are just the non-specific terms.

Don't forget the entire generation that still calls them all vari-lites. I think I hear that more then anything.

[TimMiller]

nothing is quiet with martin. Their motors are noisy, mainly due to sloppy programming and lack of engineering. I own over 28 martin fixtures and i am not happy with them. I'd really look at the clay paky alpha's. I saw their alpha 300 shoot a beam all the way across the george R brown convention center here in houston, its a good 600+ ft throw, and it was bright. When i first saw it i figured it was a super trouper spot with some fancy little color mixing module, not a little fixture sitting on a desk. I love all of my claypakys (i currently own 32) and this year at LDI I will be buying either Clay paky alphas or Robe. You should also take a look at Robe. They are very well engineered lights with some really cool technology built in before the rest of the market was even ready for it. With Vari-lite, they are not repair friendly at all. You should make sure you local shop will even touch them. I know quiet a few that will not. If you were in houston, i'd be more than happy to show you some toys to play with and try out. I just sold some studio spot 575's to a local school and they are great theatrical lights also. You can get a CMY color mixing version, also they are completely fanless. There are several lens options you can get, then there is also a zoom lens option you can get that will allow you to zoom in and out.

[soundman]

I browsed through the impression manual and the first version is limited to 150 channels and the impression 2 is limited to 300 channels. Depending on how many channels the average show is there might not be enough channels to use moving lights. Most moving lights that you want to be looking at use between 20 and 35 channels a piece. If you have a limit of 150 channels and use 115 channels for conventional control and you have a light that uses 20 DMX channels you will only be able to fit one light into the show file.

If you have the Impression two the restrictions are not as bad but the control surface is lacking. It would be hard to use them for much more than refocusable specials with out some pretty intense programing.

Might I suggest an I cue or an ellipscan with a scroller? which is 6 channels (2 for pan, 2 for tilt, 1 for color, and 1 for intensity) much less to deal with and for the situation it seems that you will be getting similar uses for less up front cost and more versitality.