MrsFooter's advice on grasping the basics is true, if you have only ever used dimers, all of the new
DMX gear might get a
bit confusing, you said that you had done a
bit on a Hog but was that just with an all
conventional rig? If so maybe look at hireing some scrollers,
gobo rotators and little toys for your next show to get you started on your way to moving light proness! (Is that a word?)
Footer's advice is great, the MinSpot gives you
RGB color mixing, strobing,
LED moving head, for $300US. (But that was second
hand I think)
check out
this thread in regards to the MinSpot as it tells you everything you need to know, but don't exepect to use this in your
theatre for much as it's not the brightest, but if you want to learn how to use a Moving head, then this is the
fixture for you.
Don't just learn how to use movers on one
console, as not everywhere has the same
console, so every
console you have that has moving light support (and even
preset desks can do movers if you have enough patience) in your uni you should try and get your MinSpot to work with.
After you graduate from a MinSpot check out some of the mid range movers, the
Mac 250s are a great start. But not to buy unless you have a lot of cash. Hire 2 or so and just muck around with them, maybe tie the hire in with a musical, concert, rock show, anything that movers could be used in, without falling into the
trap of "They move so I must make them move" that so many people do when they get moving lights for the first time, good practice is to sit down, make all of your lights do prettyfull colours and strobes, fly em in, all the effects in the
effects engine and save it to a show file, then start designing your actual show, if the cravings for awesome lights come in again, pull up your show file with the cool movers in it,
play with that untill you feel the urge to make them move is over. Then continue normal programming. A thread came up recently where Westlaketech discussed his old school's
theatre's use of movers, they had been given heaps of them & a hog, and they were impressive, but they were used for everything, and detracted from the show itself in some cases, movers should be used wiseley & sparingly.
Higer end moving lights such as the
Martin Mac 700 & the VL 3500, not to for get the ShowGuns, these are the lights that tour with mega-shows and are incredibly exepensive, so hire is a good option... A day with some of these will really show you the maximum that can be done.
Wow this is long. (By my standards)
Nick