Creating Cyc Lights

[BHSlighttechie]

As of right now, the way my high school's cyc is lit it is very splotchy. I never get a solid wash no matter what I do to the levels. To attempt to fix the problem, my director said we could build our own cyc lights. Has anyone attempted to create their own cyc lights or heard of this? If you have, will you please give any advice to me. I will probably be working on it the most, since I'm in charge of lights. Thank you

 

[ship]

As of right now, the way my high school's cyc is lit it is very splotchy. I never get a solid wash no matter what I do to the levels. To attempt to fix the problem, my director said we could build our own cyc lights. Has anyone attempted to create their own cyc lights or heard of this? If you have, will you please give any advice to me. I will probably be working on it the most, since I'm in charge of lights. Thank you

Yep done so, but sorry, not a high school project. Have your director of lighting PM me about how to directly.
Sorry but not something I would have others building other than under qualified supervision.

On the other hand, what type of cyc are you using in not sufficient wash? That without supervision could be for discussion so as to optimize.

 

[BHSlighttechie]

The problem with the lights that are currently being used is that they hang and are too close to the cyc creating the splotches. We also can't move or focus them because we need to put a few gobos up. If I could just get a basic sketch or pointers on what do, I will be happy. Like I've said before, I'm more than likely going to be the one putting this together. Thanks

 

[sk8rsdad]

Would adding silk diffusion (Rosco #104), or replacing the gel with silk alternatives (assuming RGB or RGBA) to the cyc lights mitigate the problem? It's a lot cheaper than buying or building new lights, and safer too.

 

[DuckJordan]

The problem with the lights that are currently being used is that they hang and are too close to the cyc creating the splotches. We also can't move or focus them because we need to put a few gobos up. If I could just get a basic sketch or pointers on what do, I will be happy. Like I've said before, I'm more than likely going to be the one putting this together. Thanks

It still does not matter if its you or the next high school student. You are in high school, the high school is most likely required by law to use UL rated equipment. As far as i know to get something UL listed you are going to have to make several of them send them in and let them go through a ton of tests (costing a ton of money) and in the end them telling you "nope, we wont sign off on these because they were made by someone with no upper education electric training."

It's not that we don't want to help you we do, we would love to find more ways or point you in the direction of some pre-made cyc units. Its just we can't have the kind of liability hanging over our heads (literally).

Might i suggest to your director that buying a cyc light would be less costly than a lawsuit Flood/cyclorama-lights

 

[shiben]

The problem with the lights that are currently being used is that they hang and are too close to the cyc creating the splotches. We also can't move or focus them because we need to put a few gobos up. If I could just get a basic sketch or pointers on what do, I will be happy. Like I've said before, I'm more than likely going to be the one putting this together. Thanks

Why cant you move or focus them? Bumping them down an electric pipe would be a fairly easy way to make these more even, and if they are focused poorly, then you should not have a huge problem with panning and tilting them to make them more even. Putting a few gobos up should not be a huge problem either, just side hang them or something?

 

[icewolf08]

One thing that would be very helpful for us to be able to help you is for you to tell us more about how the lights and cyc are laid out in the space. How big is the cyc? What lights are you using to light it? how far are the lights from the cyc and how many lights are you using? If you can, take a couple photos and post them here for us to see what you are talking about.

The more information you can give us about the situation, the better an answer we can give you. This means you would be less likely to get answers like "no you can't" or "don't do XYZ."

 

[BHSlighttechie]

Thank you for everyone of your posts. I learned the other day that we Par Ks (not sure about spelling) to light our cyc. They are about 10-15 ft away from the cyc. If the lights go any lower than they already are they will be visible to the audience. We are using eight lights to light it.
The numbering goes 16-Blue (SL), 17-red(SR), 18-Blue(CL), 19 & 20- red, 21-blue, 22- red(CR), 23- blue. That is really the only placements I know. Again thank you!

 

[kiwitechgirl]

Thank you for everyone of your posts. I learned the other day that we Par Ks (not sure about spelling) to light our cyc. They are about 10-15 ft away from the cyc. If the lights go any lower than they already are they will be visible to the audience. We are using eight lights to light it.
The numbering goes 16-Blue (SL), 17-red(SR), 18-Blue(CL), 19 & 20- red, 21-blue, 22- red(CR), 23- blue. That is really the only placements I know. Again thank you!

Parcans? That'll be why the cyc is splotchy...parcans are not designed for an even wash of light across a cyc, no matter how well focused! The ideal unit for lighting a cyc is an asymmetric floodlight; you can get them in various different configurations (single units, rows of three or four, or squares of four being the most common). Ideal distance from the cyc will depend on your space, but somewhere between one and two metres should work. It's best if you can get a row of the units along the top of the cyc and then a groundrow as well, but it'll still look OK without a groundrow.

 

[BHSlighttechie]

Parcans? That'll be why the cyc is splotchy...parcans are not designed for an even wash of light across a cyc, no matter how well focused! The ideal unit for lighting a cyc is an asymmetric floodlight; you can get them in various different configurations (single units, rows of three or four, or squares of four being the most common). Ideal distance from the cyc will depend on your space, but somewhere between one and two metres should work. It's best if you can get a row of the units along the top of the cyc and then a groundrow as well, but it'll still look OK without a groundrow.

Okay, thank you. I'll talk to my director about it.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Parcans? That'll be why the cyc is splotchy...parcans are not designed for an even wash of light across a cyc, no matter how well focused!

Tell that to ETC...

Ok so it's not perfect, but depending on what size par cans you have, you could make them work if you don't have money for cyc lights. Get Very Wide Flood (VWFL) lamps. Pair this with Rosco 104 Tough Silk and one can actually get workable spreads from PAR's. One just needs to make sure the oval beam of the VWFL runs stage right to stag left and the grain of the silk runs vertically.

 

[shiben]

Tell that to ETC...

Um, having a 40' long strip of them is one thing, having 4 of those on a 40' cyc is a complete different issue. Doubt the OP can afford a 40' strip of multipars. Or maybe 2, one for the top and bottom. Actually, I think Wicked tours with 2 rows on the ground, 2 in the air, and 2 on each side, but I could be mistaken. You need lots of those to make an even cyc wash.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Um, having a 40' long strip of them is one thing, having 4 of those on a 40' cyc is a complete different issue. Doubt the OP can afford a 40' strip of multipars. Or maybe 2, one for the top and bottom. Actually, I think Wicked tours with 2 rows on the ground, 2 in the air, and 2 on each side, but I could be mistaken. You need lots of those to make an even cyc wash.

1) I was replying to kiwitechgirl, not the OP, concerning the use of PAR's on a cyc.

2) I have sucessfully lit a 30' x 25' cyc with a top row of six 3-cell L&E Runt cyc's and a ground row of six 3-cell MultiPAR's.
o

 

[shiben]

1) I was replying to kiwitechgirl, not the OP, concerning the use of PAR's on a cyc./QUOTE]

Ah, got it. Im not saying its impossible, its just not the prefered and/or easiest to make work. I have lit plenty of cycs with PAR strips before, its just not as easy as using a pile of cyc lights.

 

[CSCTech]

Im no expert on Cycs, mainly because we do not have one, haha. But if I were to suggest something, you could probably get some of these cheap. They work excellent as a general flood aswell as for a Cyc, we use our mid traveler as a cyc sometimes and with two of these top hung and panned up so they end at the deck, pop in RGB in each one and there you go. They are three channel cycs.

Again, not sure on the prices of these though. (I jsut know we have 5 of them and no cyc..)

Far Cycs > Fixtures > Theatrical Equipment > Commercial Lighting > All Leviton Products from Leviton Electrical and Electronic Products

 

[BHSlighttechie]

I would like to say thank you for everyone's posts! I think my director has left the project alone, at least for now. Thank you again for taking your time to help me