Reports from LDI'08

derekleffew

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Following ETC's example here: Light Minds Think Alike : Another Vegas trade Show, I thought I'd start a thread for those of us attending, to post our impressions and experiences.

As long as I'm stealing the idea from ETC's David Lincecum, why not steal his photo also?
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One and a half hours ago I unleashed the illustrious dvsDave at the LVCC to "work the floor." I'll join him later this afternoon.

To all who are attending, feel free to contribute to this thread to let everyone know what you've found interesting, good, or bad. My sights this afternoon will be focused on grandMA2, Bad Boy, V676, and MAC III.
 
Well, I'm heading to the show floor tomorrow. Yesterday I attended part of the Projection Master classes (it was kind of a favor to attend the sessions I did, I wasn't registered so I can't report on the entire session). My impression is that it should have been the Intermediate Projection class taught by Masters. For anyone with a working knowledge of video, you could get some good information (especially what to avoid), but for those of you with greater knowledge, you would find yourself not learning much.

For those of you interested in some of the workings of KA (and didn't come to LDI or get to go to those sessions if you did), I found a nice video that talks about the automation side of things as well as showing a lot of great images of the production, including the projections.

 
Well, today I saw grandMA2 and Bad Boy only from a distance. Never got the chance to investigate V676 and MAC III. I did see a prototype of a new product, by a manufacturer I cannot disclose, that will be a very useful addition to the TV Awards show and touring market, sometime in 2009.

The ETC reception for the students they sponsor to attend LDI was a very nice, low key affair. I met most, but not all, of our ETC/CB members.

A special thanks to those who attended my "private" CB Suaree, who got to see things no one else attending LDI did.:)

Will post more tomorrow, while dvsDave and Gafftaper are out partying. I'm "too old to disco" as they say.
 
Ahh, LDI. A time for everyone in the industry to come together, and go over and piss on ETC...literally.


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Anyone know where LDI 2009 will be? Is it going to be in Vegas again?
 
I listened in on the Networking session and was quite impressed with the improvements on ACN. I highly recommend all CB members start learning the basics of computer networks. Right now it is mostly being considered by lighting manufacturers but Shure is on board as well. As a consumer, I also recommend talking to your dealers and the manufacturers to encourage them to adopt RDM and ACN into their new equipment. For those of you that work in the temporary/rental markets, you should find RDM to be extremely useful, while ACN will be of most benefit to those working in house.
 
The BadBoy is big and heavy, [-]and many are lamenting that it has no CMY[/-]. (was thinking of another fixture.) The V676 is like a supercharged Virtuoso on steroids. The grandMA2 is everything I expected and more. The latest version of grandMA 3d now rivals Vision and WYG, and it's free! Never got as far as the Martin booth to see the MAC III, but I'm sure I'll have them on a show before long.

Here's another blog to read about the show: Barbizon Lighting Blog.

The entertainment for the party dvsDave and Gafftaper are attending tonight is a group called The Swingin' Johnsons--can't wait to hear all about that! :oops:

edit: it's not at all what I thought :)naughty:):
SwinginJohnsons.com NJ Band. One AM and they're still not home. I wonder what kind of trouble into which they have gotten themselves? :confused:
 
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Stagemaker hoists: Much swag from any booth (t shirt, gloves, pens, etc...) but I still have a hard time looking at square, green chainmotors. I guess I'm orange and black 'til I die.

Fisher Technical: As usual, whenever I get around my beloved Navigator, I get all sweaty and naughty feeling. But the "flapping" truss/rag combo overhead of their display cooled me nicely. Moving WITHOUT noise, might I add. The simulator built into the software for programming is still one of my favorite features, as is the array of controllers available. Even more swag than Stagemaker: FLEX-FIT hats!!! Travel mugs, promo DVD's (too short in length to be worth a sh*t, but still...), shirts, etc...

ETCP: We riggers are all going to have to get a rigging cert someday. Probably sooner than you think.

The rest is a blur- and not for the obvious reasons. I used to live there, so I don't party when I go back. Much.

ALMOST FORGOT: I took the Cirque "rigging class". This included an all day session at both 'Love' and 'Mystere' to compare how things are done on the second newest Cirque show in town, vs. the oldest. Why not 'BeLIEve', w/Criss Angel? Well, for one...it's not officially open yet. And in my opinion, life is short and I'm glad not to waste any breath/time on that guy. If you're not a rigging/automation type, these classes are worth it for the backstage tour element alone- and that's what most of it was. Walking around, looking at cool custom made toys. But if you're looking for hard knowledge of how to safely put stuff up in the air- well, don't believe the hype. Save your money for a Glerum/Paulson/Donovan class and go there.
 
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It was my pleasure to see a number of the ControlBooth personalities meet at the Apollo booth Saturday noonish. (I had just commented to our 'taskmaster/schedule keeper' that I was off to visit the 'boys room' when she asked, "Who are all those people?" "Whooops, is it noon already???" And you wonder why I danced around while we visited for an hour....)



Let's hope I didn't forget anyone...

We had:

Phil Haney
Ruinexplorer
Gale
Derekleffew
Gafftaper
Cdub260
Stoldal - was that you?
Rich Moore
Joh Hirsh was wandering here and there-
Steve Terry was hard at work

Oh yeah, and dvsDave too!!!
 
I had a great time at the show and I really enjoyed meeting all of the CB folks who were in attendance. Thanks to Derek for the secret tour of xxxx and the comps to the xxxx show; that was good fun...I love French dancing ladies!!!!

There were many amazing pieces of gear on display and it was good to see them work. I saw several items that I want to purchase for my venue and I will be in touch with you Kelite when I receive my next funding. I didn't do too well in the swag department but then I didn't have to schlep a bunch of stuff around either.

I attended 5 of the conferences and found most of them to be informative. One seemed to be a bit of mutual ego massaging by the panel members and one was difficult to understand, due to the accent of the presenter and the depth that he went into on calibrating frequencies, which was not much help.

While waiting at the airport to leave, I ran into Richard Hoyes, who is a big time lighting consultant/designer and worked on the lighting design for my venue. He has started his own company, CD+M, Lighting Design Group. If you ever have need of some excellent help, I highly recommend him.

Again, it was a pleasure to meet the CB posters and to talk with people who speak our language and didn't want to sell me something or hold out their hands expecting a tip. Ah, Vegas, what you have become.

Cheers!!!
 
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Just got home. I'll post a full report later. For now I just wanted to assure those reading this thread that while there was lobster dinner for $20, traditional french burlesque, large format projections, a follow spot operated while sitting on a pillow, fountain designs my Derrek Leffew, fake Roman emperors and Venitian Gondolas, and a bunch of guys trying to hand Dave some little cards on the street... when I dropped DVSDave off Derek's house at 1:30 am, we were both sober, had not been arrested, had maintained our chastity, and hadn't even gambled.

I believe The "worst" things we did that night were make a questionable u-turn, drink too much Coke(Dave)/Diet Coke(Gaff), and refuse to pay $8 for one scoop of Gellato... two nerds on the prowl:rolleyes:.
 
Ok, Well I'll start with a bunch of random pictures I took on the floor. My purpose for these was to just take some cool looking pictures to show my kids. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking about getting pictures of CB members or documenting the major booths... just looking for interesting shots. (I also didn't take a picture of the lightronics booth and a certain ellipsoidal hanging there. I kept checking and I never saw a single customer at that booth. I guess bad things happen when you try to rip off a well loved company and product.)

Anyway here you go, most of the old timers may be disappointed but if you've never been hopefully thise inspires you.

So here's what you see when you first come into the building.
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The Barco/HES booth... note it's full of HES products but there is no mention of the HES name anywhere. Showguns up top, Showpix across the bottom, and the new Showbeam in all white on the far left.
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Another Barco shot, even the Hog slide doesn't say HES
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Lot's of cool LED's in the Element Labs booth
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MA's booth
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Part 2
Tomcat shows us some truss
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PRG... Elation is the LED in the background on the left. And for Charc, AMDJ is straight through in the background.
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I don't know who these guys were but I liked their monstrous mirror balls
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This was a cool product. The ball on the right moved around the booth in 3D space on three lines. It was lit by three movers, and a camera tracked it. The mover on that truss in the foreground was always moving at weird angles too. The whole thing was modeled in a computer allowing the movers and camera to track the moving ball perfectly.
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So it took me a day to see everything in that hall, then you approach some steps and find hall two waiting below.
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Part 3

Lycian, with follow spots shooting all over the place
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Robe had a cool look
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Lasers are cool
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Martin way in the back
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Part 4

Synchrolites... Those suckers are MONSTERS!
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Coemar had one of the coolest booths
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That's some cool truss!
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DVSDave (The SHORT guy) and Dannyn checking out a cool LED booth.
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One of my favorite products the LED guitar.
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Last one...
A stage set up way in the back for audio classes and other demos.
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