I-Cue Advice

jmac

Active Member
ICue questions-

Do they work equally well with different beam spreads (26,36, etc.), or best with certain one(s)? Do they work well with old Altman 360's as well as S4's? Can they do some quick spin effects, or more just used to re-position as different fixed specials?

I am thinking of using one or two in next show as re-positionable FOH specials, but would also like to use them to spin (while lit) into audience for couple scenes where actors run off stage and exit back of house. Is this feasible? When using to light on stage, will there be too much fixture glare to audience, or are there certain tricks to aiming these things to avoid this issue?

Last, any experience or thoughts using with extender arm and color scroller?

Advice and experience appreciated. Thanks.
 
-19s work best, the wider the angle, the more spill you get around the mirror.

-They won't work on an altman because of the larger gel frame size.

-I've "faked" some movement effects with them for a dance show and it was fine, but their main use is as a refocusable special.

-The best way to hang them is point the unit level (or a few degrees lower than that) is the direction you don't want the light to go and drop the mirror on the end.
 
Pie is right that a 19 or 26 is definitely best but you can get a 36 with a tolerable amount of extra spill (you might want to add a little black wrap for insurance). A 50 is just too wide and will shoot light straight ahead around the edges of the mirror.

You can do some movement but it's going to be slow. Like he said I've done a few slow pans out into the audience but it's not going to look like an expensive moving head you see in a concert. It's probably close to 2 seconds to tilt all the way from one side to the other. It's slow and deliberate in it's movement.

While I agree with Pie in the general idea of pointing the lighting instrument away from the stage, how you want to hang it can vary a lot based on your space. In the little theater I used to use them in I always hung them with the lens pointed almost straight down into the 5th row of the audience with the mirror pointing forward to the stage. In another space I used them pointing straight up. They will work in any position, just be sure to put an extra safety cable on the I-cue.
 
Not much to add, except I don't believe they'll fit a 360-those are a bigger frame size. They'll fit in a Shakespeare, however.

Glare shouldn't be a problem since the glare will follow the beam of light, and a leko shining in your face will take care of any glare you might see.

If they are your only moving devices you can fool the audience into thinking they're really cool. As soon as you add a real moving head, they start to look very static, and very limited. For specials, throw an irregular shaped gobo - like a rough cut square - in and it will blend in better with your other lights. If you want a rock show feeling, pick a pair of really interesting gobo shapes. A pair of low end gobo rotators spruces these up too, and if you have a decent power supply you can run everything off one line.

I like hanging a pair on the ends of my first electric, lenses pointing offstage and slightly to the ground - quick side light, along with another pair from my FOH position.
 
Thanks all, for the helpful replies. I would likely be using the ICue's with 26's, so I should be ok.

Any thoughts on using the ICue with a scroller, or is best to stick to NC?
 
You can certainly put color in with an IQ, becuase a S4 has two gel slots. However, a scroller wouldn't work unless your scroller had another gel holder on the end to put the IQ in. I have used an IQ and color wheel in the same instrument, that was fun, I called it Frankenstein. You have to be careful when you pile on the accessories because the instrument becomes very front heavy. Make sure you safety cable all your accessories!

-Tim
 
Glare shouldn't be a problem since the glare will follow the beam of light, and a leko shining in your face will take care of any glare you might see.

I guess my question is, is the "leko shining in your face" objectionable to the audience, or does the mirror conceal it well enough??
 
If they are your only moving devices you can fool the audience into thinking they're really cool. As soon as you add a real moving head, they start to look very static, and very limited. For specials, throw an irregular shaped gobo - like a rough cut square - in and it will blend in better with your other lights. If you want a rock show feeling, pick a pair of really interesting gobo shapes. A pair of low end gobo rotators spruces these up too, and if you have a decent power supply you can run everything off one line.

I like hanging a pair on the ends of my first electric, lenses pointing offstage and slightly to the ground - quick side light, along with another pair from my FOH position.

Thanks for the tips. Our theater has yet to see anything move....so if I can get something going, it should be cool.
 
You can certainly put color in with an IQ, becuase a S4 has two gel slots. However, a scroller wouldn't work unless your scroller had another gel holder on the end to put the IQ in. I have used an IQ and color wheel in the same instrument, that was fun, I called it Frankenstein. You have to be careful when you pile on the accessories because the instrument becomes very front heavy. Make sure you safety cable all your accessories!

-Tim

Yes, I hadn't thought of the second gel slot. Thanks.

I saw somewhere, I think the ICue manual, you could get an extension arm for the ICue, allowing a scroller to fit between the fixture gel frame and the ICue mirror. But it looks a bit awkward, and I'm wondering if you still have the same pan and tilt range, etc....
 
Also, on the subject of the i-Cue, can someone clarify the control/power cables that the i-Cue requires? I am looking at the manual for it and am confused.

From what I understand, the i-Cue runs on 24v power which comes over 5-pin from a power supply, and the control cable is a 4-pin DMX. Is this correct? Any elaboration would be appreciated.
 
For specials, throw an irregular shaped gobo - like a rough cut square - in and it will blend in better with your other lights.

If we can go one step further, please explain exactly what you mean by "rough cut square" (something I make with a pie tin, how big?), and why it helps. Also, how this would compare with drop in iris. Thanks.
 
Just an irregular shape, something other than clean geometry or a circle. It seems to blend in better when using the device for multiple specials when you move it somewhere onstage - the irregular shape lets it blend in with other lights.

I think I read that tip here, and it works well for me.
 

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