Since no one has really answered your question I'll try to explain moving lights in a fairly brief and informative manner. Moving lights come in two flavors, moving mirror and moving
yoke. Most companies don't make many moving mirror fixtures. Moving mirrors work by having a solid
base mounted somewhere that projects onto a mirror. The mirror then moves about an X (across) and a Y (up and down axis). Moving yokes too have a
base, but typically the
base houses the
power transformer and some logic boards. It has a
yoke mounted to the
base that moves about the X axis, and attached to the
yoke is the head which moves about the Y axis. Inside the head resides all the optics,
bulb included. Perhaps the biggest advantage to moving yokes is that they are commonly manufactured to be able to light more area (they rotate over a full circle on the X axis compared to about a half circle for mirrors). An advantage to moving mirrors is that they can move faster (they only have to move a mirror) and in my opinion are easier to mount.
Inside the moving light is a
bulb with a large
reflector that shoots the light down one central path. Along the path are an assortment of items that make it possible to alter the light. A color wheel is probably the simplist. It is just a disc wiht several colors on it. The disc rotates so that the necessary color goes through the light path. That is why it is a color wheel. Gobos work on the same principle, but there are typically less gobos per wheel than there are colors. This is likely because many moving lights have wheels where the gobos rotate in their holder. Other things to alter the light may include
CMY subtractive color mixing. This color mixing method uses 3 wheels, one with varying amounts of cyan, one with varying amounts of magenta, and one with varying amounts of yellow. For purpose of an illustration these wheels typically have a "piece of pie" taken out of them where there is nothing. Any glass lessens the output of light. Once the operator calls for any of one of these colors the wheel moves so that the light goes through the glass. As the operator calls for more of these colors the wheel rolls. On the far end of the wheel is the color and progressively the color gets weaker and weaker. Mixing these 3 colors subtractively makes it possible to make about any color. Most moving lights also have an automated focus mechanism, no explination necessary. Diffusers, frosts, zooms, shutters,
iris mechanisms, dimmers, and prisms aren't uncommon either. Depending on the kind of light you can expect differnt features. "
Wash" lights don't have
gobo wheels for example.
The lights are controlled by using several
DMX channels. One may be used for the color wheel, much like a
color scroller. Another for the
gobo wheel, increasing
DMX values making the light go further into the wheel. Typically 2
DMX channels are used for pan, and 2 more for tilt. One moves quickly in large incriments, and another moves the projection slowly enabling accurate positioning, often within fractions of a degree on nicer lights. Almost all moving lights have a control or function
channel allowing one to re-hone the
fixture (re-calibrate the motors incase they get bumped and the projection is out of place) or allowing one to turn the
bulb on or off,
etc.
There is a fairly brief explination. I hope that helps you.