Cyc Lighting

Charc

Well-Known Member
Again, sorry for all the newb questions. This is what, my 5th question in 24 hours? :rolleyes:

Anyways. I read something somewhere earlier today which suggested to me that our cyc setup is terribly incorrect. From what I think I understand from what I read, and from what I inferred, the correct way to set up our cyc is as follows. Our cyc lighting (forgive me not knowing the terminology for cyc lights) consists of 3 fixtures, with three lamps each. Each lamp has a different gel color, but the pattern is repeated on each instrument. Most cycs, especially of this limited setup (stop me if I'm wrong) should be set up with each fixture having one red lamp, one green lamp, and one blue lamp. Basically, this reflects RGB color mixing, and therefore you can create many more colors on your cyc, with only 9 lamps. Our current setup is 1/3 of our lamps aren't patched in, so I don't even know what color they are gelled, then we have our "blues" all patched together. Except it was patched incorrectly and we have 2 blues and a turquoise. Then the other 2 turquoise aren't patched in, I believe. So is it worth it for me to get some primary Red and Green gel (already have blue, though I'm not sure if it is the correct hue) and re-gel & re-patch our cyc?

Thanks, Charlie
 
In a word , "yes!".
You'll be amazed at what you can do with a properly colored and patched cyc wash. As you said, you will then be able to do RGB color mixing with you cycs. That's not to say that you can't use different colors in a cyc light, but if you want a full range of color ability then you're going to want to use a primary Red Green and Blue, I don't remember the numbers but Rosco makes all three with that are frosted already. I always patched them so they were my last three sliders, in order, RGB just for an easy visual reference.
 
In a word , "yes!".
You'll be amazed at what you can do with a properly colored and patched cyc wash. As you said, you will then be able to do RGB color mixing with you cycs. That's not to say that you can't use different colors in a cyc light, but if you want a full range of color ability then you're going to want to use a primary Red Green and Blue, I don't remember the numbers but Rosco makes all three with that are frosted already. I always patched them so they were my last three sliders, in order, RGB just for an easy visual reference.

Thanks Van, for another timely and informative response. My next question, what and why frost gels for cycs? And what is frosting? I'm holding a rosco gel swatch book so I can immediately look at anything you guys note about 'em.

Edit:
I think I spotted 'em. What is the difference between diffusion and silk, and pros and cons etc?

# 120 red diffusion
# 121 blue diffusion
# 122 green diffusion
# 124 red cyc silk
# 125 blue cyc silk
# 126 green cyc silk
 
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This given at times a replacement of primary green and perhaps red isn't dependant upon the show or use at times better replaced by other things. Say a less saturated blue, perhaps an amber or just plain clear/white.

The RGB of lighting in a three cell cyc is useful for color mixing but not persay a all ending conclusion either. Could also double blue or perhaps one blue, one lavender, one red if useful.

Could say straw, amber, fire some combination of gel also.

Cyc lights in three cell can color mix, they as wash lights can do other things also.

It's a fixture, design and experiment.

Believe while not as mixible, you can blue/red/clear them also in some extent of color mixing - though not as good of mixing.
 
Thanks Van, for another timely and informative response. My next question, what and why frost gels for cycs? And what is frosting? I'm holding a rosco gel swatch book so I can immediately look at anything you guys note about 'em.
Edit:
I think I spotted 'em. What is the difference between diffusion and silk, and pros and cons etc?
# 120 red diffusion
# 121 blue diffusion
# 122 green diffusion
# 124 red cyc silk
# 125 blue cyc silk
# 126 green cyc silk

The diffusion/frost/silk break up the light so that it spreads more evenly on your cyc. At the back of the Rosco book you'll find multiple levels of diffusion from very light to very heavy. As the light passes through it hits the diffusion and gets sent off in odd angles so it spreads out. The harder the diffusion the more the light will spread but also the less light that will pass through. You can make an ellipsoidal blend as smooth as a fresnel with the right diffusion.
 
Thanks Van, for another timely and informative response. My next question, what and why frost gels for cycs? And what is frosting? I'm holding a rosco gel swatch book so I can immediately look at anything you guys note about 'em.

Edit:
I think I spotted 'em. What is the difference between diffusion and silk, and pros and cons etc?

# 120 red diffusion
# 121 blue diffusion
# 122 green diffusion
# 124 red cyc silk
# 125 blue cyc silk
# 126 green cyc silk

Typically, Cyc lights already have a soft edge to them, adding diffusion, frost, silk, will increase this softness and help them blend even better. Diffusion and frost are essentially the same thing, Silk will "pull" the light as opposed to a even diffusion pattern that you'd get from frost. By pulling I mean you will notice that according to the direction that you put the silk in the fixture it will effect the way the light is pulled, sort of like how a PAR has an oblong center>.
If you need to make the light wider across the the cyc you orient the silk vertically in the fixture if you need to make the light stretch taller across the cyc put the silk in horizontially. Depending on how your coverage is with the lights you have will determine how you orient the silk. The only real Cons to using silk or tough spun is the hit in lumen output. With silk the hit is negligable, Spun, tough Spun are a much bigger hit.
Take Ships advice too, experiment. you can get a ton of colors and effects. Personally I'm a fan of RGB. Some cycs are four cell and use RGB and Yellow/amber. Again IMHO I believe the use of RGB in a three cell is most flexible way to go .
 
What three colors you use is entirely dependent on the show. Being the low-budget guy, I'd suggest that you only get RGB, but if you're willing to go for more, also get the amber complement to the series that you're getting (by series I mean frost, silk, etc...). For example, you would get R124, R125, R126, and R127. This way, if you wanted red blue amber mixing (great for dance concerts that really ask for the amber for classical ballet pieces), you could do that, or you could to RGB mixing for a show that needed green in the mix, or you could do RGA mixing or ABG mixing...hmmm...those would both be really weird, but they might work if the production called for it.

To check out RGB mixing, you can download the program that BillESC mentioned in this thread. You won't be able to create the lighter colors and the ambers very easily with the cyc lights, but you should be able to do most anything else. Fun to play with to get a feel for RGB mixing. (As mentioned in the thread, it also works well for seeing what colors RGB LED systems can theoretically produce.)
 

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