Moving Light as Follow Spot

I always thought a really smart system with video where it would intuitively learn to recognize performers, at which point following with automated or by just areas, being able to add rules, tell it the fair skin blond is to be lit with pink and lavender and the male lead is lit in steel tint and n/c, with similar for other angles. and lets make it smart enough so it recognizes voice commands, and differentiates between the LD, ALD, ME, etc. Be able to paint the stage on the screen - adding light, color, or a practical. Some day we are going to get beyond the big desk with lots of buttons and sliders and displays. It will happen. Maybe not in my lifetime but it will happen. I started with auto transformers and mechanical interlocking, everything from mag amps and thyratron on multi scene analog logic preset boards, to what we have today. I still like the move fade of a piano board - and rope and sand bags - but look forward to what is coming and hope I get to see a few more major steps.

I really appreciate the insight and opinions of those posters who have to deal with what they have now and the show that must go on tomorrow. But don't not dream once in a while. I've only too recently learned teh value of stopping and looking and trying to see what would not just do and make it good enough, but what will be a major step above the last time.
 
That is the X that marks the spot. You mark the X spot on this topic.
Who would pay for automated followspot system, and why?
What kind of advantage do theatre get from fully automated followspot at the price of several BMW 5 series? :)
So, in my opinion, human operated, remotely controlled moving light as followspot that is cost effective has more advantages. For example, In summer street festivals, moving light can be used as followspot using web camera and operator on pc for far more less then BMW 1 series.


As an engineer, I had a very long look at the video technology and it is a race against pixels, it will always be.
Look at the mobiles, now we are waiting for 4k on our mobiles, stream from internet, of course. Processing power for that will not leave much for anything else to be processed. On a PC it is bit better but still, if video analysis is the name of the game, specialized hw is in order, that comes with the price.

Regards,

H
 
I never denied the price is high today, not affordable perhaps, but I have more computing power in my phone today by many orders of magnitude than any one could have afforded 50 years ago.

I refuse to be the person before the Wrights and Sikorskys who proclaimed that if man were meant to fly he'd have wings.

I'll add that in late 1990s I said I'd never design fully motorized rigging systems. Now have done 7 or 8 and predict new install manual counterweight systems will be few and far between by 2025 or 2030. I never believed they'd do what they do already.
 
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The only thing that turns me off of automated followspots is the fact that it allows fewer people to be involved. To me, theatre is about hands-on participation. I guess the same could be said for lighting consoles vs resistance dimmers, but at least that made way for better execution of artistic vision.

On the contrary, I don't mind automated rigging, but that's mostly because there are so many safety benefits (same could be said for resistance dimmers). Automated followspots seem to benefit hardly anyone.

Guess I just don't see the real value in it, unless you're an accountant hoping to save money on labor.
 
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Here is an alternate thought to make this work.

Instead of trying to remote control a moving head fixture, what if you used a powerful projector then had a live video feed of the stage and a touch screen. Where you touched a circle would appear that got projected following your fingers.

Or use facial tracking software, click on someones face and the projected spot automatically tracks them until you click it off.

This would give companies that literally don't have space to accommodate spot ops a way to hang a projector and then give an ipad to a spot op and let them work from a remote location.
 
Here is an alternate thought to make this work.

Instead of trying to remote control a moving head fixture, what if you used a powerful projector then had a live video feed of the stage and a touch screen. Where you touched a circle would appear that got projected following your fingers.

Or use facial tracking software, click on someones face and the projected spot automatically tracks them until you click it off.

This would give companies that literally don't have space to accommodate spot ops a way to hang a projector and then give an ipad to a spot op and let them work from a remote location.

Kind of like the overlay software they have for sporting events. Not a bad idea.
 
Would the "projector black" not be an issue?

That is an interesting idea. Although it would probably cost over $1,000 just to rent a projector powerful enough which takes me back to the "which problem are we even solving" question.
 
Would the "projector black" not be an issue?

That is an interesting idea. Although it would probably cost over $1,000 just to rent a projector powerful enough which takes me back to the "which problem are we even solving" question.

Any DMX douser would solve that but yes a high end projector wouldn't be cost effective unless you already had one.
 
I meant that if you are doing the white circle thing, the rest of the image would be projector black.

Ah, well if it is covering a whole stage i don't think it would be noticeable. Then again this is all assumptions lol.
 
Here is an alternate thought to make this work.

Instead of trying to remote control a moving head fixture, what if you used a powerful projector then had a live video feed of the stage and a touch screen. Where you touched a circle would appear that got projected following your fingers.

Or use facial tracking software, click on someones face and the projected spot automatically tracks them until you click it off.

This would give companies that literally don't have space to accommodate spot ops a way to hang a projector and then give an ipad to a spot op and let them work from a remote location.

Interesting idea. George Izenour proposed the video projector as a framing, colorable theatre light source in the 50s or 60s. Put enough around the stage that were powerful enough and could do evetything. Probably will work some day no that it's easier to manage heat. His lamps that included connections for liquid coollant had ...... issues.
 
My school has terrible followspots so I am thinking about renting 2 Mac Auras and utilizing those as followspots in our upcoming musical. Would you or would you not try this? The idea of color mixing with the Auras seems beneficial since we can add front light to any specific area without it really seeming like a followspot. My concern is actually in the cueing. Should I be concerned that the actors won't always follow the exact same path/timing if I'm using the Aura as a followspot? Obviously rehearsing it over and over will be helpful but I want to consider every con.

Thanks for the input!
 
Should I be concerned that the actors won't always follow the exact same path/timing if I'm using the Aura as a followspot?

I would be. The only way I would use a mover as a followspot is simple, straight-line movements. Even then, the mover's natural path may be more of an arc depending on hanging position. I would also be afraid of it looking too robotic.
 
You are talking so so so much rehearsal time that you would have paid for a rental on a top of the line follow spot and an OP.

Best thing to do is to make yourself some S4s on a stick and get yourself a follow spot op. The money that you would spend on the Macs can goto the OP.
 
It can be done. I wouldn't use an aura, or any wash light. a profile with a significantly higher output than the rest of your rig helps a great deal. The number one challenge, as you've identified, is programming. Best methods are highly dependent on the console you're on. The number one thing you want is control of that movement. Something like a submaster that slowly takes over the position, or possibly a manual cue fade with the fader.

All that being said, for the cost of renting a couple auras you should be able to rent a fantastic follow spot.
 
What Amires said, actors will never stay in the light and you will spend all of your programming time on these cues. Moving lights should be thought of movable specials, not spotlights. Yes there is at least one product that, using cameras, can make a mover act like a spot but I have not used one and can't comment on how well it works or it's cost. I have heard that someone is showing a new tracking system at USITT so maybe soon it will be easy.
 
I hear the price tag is getting cheaper. But not that cheap.

When I first started researching years ago it was 20k and a few years later it was 10k and after the people that made it got bought out it went down again. So hell it could be 5k and under.
 

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