Automated Fixtures Moving Light to Follow Pre-Determined Path

[Les]

This has probably been covered before, but I've sorted through enough "ML Followspot" threads to officially give up.

Is there a trick to making a moving head spot follow a pre-determined path? The director for an upcoming show wants to have two movers hit a mark and then pan (together) in a straight line to another point - about 20' of travel over all. Based on my experiences with ML's, programming this the "usual" way will result in both fixtures hitting the first mark and then swinging "the long way", all over the auditorium's walls, to the second mark.

I guess I want to be able to tell the movers to use the path "as the crow flies" rather than what GPS tells them...

The fixtures will be mounted in an overhead position, if that makes a difference (I figure it will since they can't simply 'tilt-up' like they would in a FOH position).

Fixtures: 2x Elation DesignSpot 250 Pro
Console: ETC Element

This info might also prove useful for a pair of VL1000's I do have mounted in an FOH position. They are "perched" on a balcony rail and will be used as re-focusing specials. But I doubt that will require many live moves so I won't derail my own thread with that topic.

 

[derekleffew]

(I just broke CB's search engine.

Pretty sure you should read this thread:
Linear Motion From Moving Lights

 

[MNicolai]

I've done this before for dance. Usually need to program as a multipart cue with autofollows and trial/error through the cue sequence, breaking the gradual movements up into a few chunks.

Start by trying to get the fixtures pan or tilt aligned with the path of motion. The more you can keep the movements along a pan axis, with minor tilt corrections the better (or vise versa). This will prevent the "swooping" across the room.

I would get the positions programmed in first and then trial/error through the timings to smooth it out. Once the timings are down and matched up with the performers, you have to beat up on the performers that it is critical they are consistent in their pacing. You will also need to adjust the zoom during the cues to keep the pool of light roughly the same size throughout the motion.

Depending on how the rest of the scene is lit, 2 pools of light bouncing around the stage at varying pan/tilt/zoom may be hard to get looking natural for this, in which case you can cheat a little by dimming one of the fixtures down a little or color shifting it to be more of a fill light. Draws less attention to any inconsistencies.

 

[Les]

Thanks @derekleffew and @MNicolai. I had a feeling there would be some waypoints and autofollows involved in this. Luckily, the director is also being sensible about it, as we have developed a backup plan in case we can't get this looking graceful enough.

And why I didn't think "linear motion" when searching is beyond me. Always doing things the hard way .

 

[Amiers]

So the easiest way I have found to do this is.

Create a cue with the starting spot, record.

Then move to the final point left or right without it swinging around and record.

Then watching the blocking and count how long it takes each time take an average and record a time on the second cue to that length.

16bit fixtures obviously work better than 8. If t looks like it’s stuttering break the cue time in half over two cues.

Don’t make it automated. As you will lose control if they speed up or slow down you can grab the A/B Faders and go manual. The second you do this though you have to finish and be gentle or fast denpends on the performer. They are robots to a sense. But if they stumble, trip, sneeze, stop, and or improve then you need that backup.

Last time I did this I had 2 movers from offstage L/R panning down a set of stairs toward C about 15ft up another set of stairs to on stage L/R and then faded out tova stage wash.

It was a gamble every time and after about 3 months doing it and tweaking I finally didn’t have to touch the faders.

So when I say easy well lol it’s kinda not.

 

[Les]

Don’t make it automated. As you will lose control if they speed up or slow down you can grab the A/B Faders and go manual. The second you do this though you have to finish and be gentle or fast denpends on the performer. They are robots to a sense. But if they stumble, trip, sneeze, stop, and or improve then you need that backup.

Last time I did this I had 2 movers from offstage L/R panning down a set of stairs toward C about 15ft up another set of stairs to on stage L/R and then faded out tova stage wash.

It was a gamble every time and after about 3 months doing it and tweaking I finally didn’t have to touch the faders.

So when I say easy well lol it’s kinda not.

Haha, sounds like I might need to think of a few alternatives. Although I enjoy the challenge and still plan on trying, I hate to report that the board op for this production is not so great at taking manual control. She's almost like a robot too in that regard (Garbage In, Garbage Out). So I might need to either cross my fingers that we can automate it successfully, or think of a creative workaround - perhaps positioning a fixture so that it's just a tilt movement rather than pan + tilt.

Apparently in the scene a character that dies, but then her "spirit" stands up and walks upstage through a set of doors. The director really wants that high color-temp ML look since she's a ghost and all. Once through the doors, another moving light will pick her up from near the Cyc line, but that should be a simple fly-in as she walks straight ahead.

Hunchback of Notredame, FWIW. Still familiarizing myself with the production.

 

[Amiers]

Interesting.

It’s totally doable. But it’s a fingers crossed each time if preformer messes up, if your op isn’t up to the task where the SM calls to grab the faders and slow or speed up the rate according the their position.

You should still try and force the Op to try. It’s a good learning experience all around.

 

[Scarrgo]

I have also done this with I-Cues from FOH, its all about hitting marks and having the talent walk the same speed in a planned path, hitting stop than go while they walk can help control speed if needed, but if not careful, it will look jerky....and not the good kind...

Break a leg....and let us know how it turns out and if you did anything different...
Sean...

 

[Dionysus]

I usually go through the blocking in order, recording cues at stop points, changes in direction, changes in pace, or just good reference points.
Set the time quick, and adjust through tech and dress rehearsals (and sometimes previews).

Always important to keep blocking as consistent as possible. but sometimes that just doesn't work. Having a few additional cues allows you to stop to slow down or hit go again sooner to speed things up.

 

[DavidJones]

I've done this a bunch where someone wants to follow a singer up an isle or under a balcony where the followspots cannot reach. The best way I have used is 2 positions stored in 2 cues, then use a manual crossfade between the two cues, that way you can follow the actor/singer. This may or may not work for your needs, but at least it lets you follow the person. I have seen lots of shows where people try this in a timed cue, but the talent always starts early or late and completely missed the spot.