Reality is so over rated for the
stage unless you are having light board problems. Than it's useful to explain why the night scene went dark..... big cloud flew in front of the otherwise full moon - reality.
"We use
gam cloud anime disc fits in a
source four. We rent them from ILC." We use them also but don't rent them unless we need more, than again they probably rent some of ours at times also. I would think lots of the larger rental companies have the EFX rotators that fit into specially configured S-4 fixtures. I wonder if those fixtures ever got upgraded or if the rotator could take the 750w lamp???
Such rotators are nice unless the motor dies out or is used at too slow a speed, at that
point it's a expensive fried rotator disk. Other styles of disk are also available. Be really careful in using these units however because that rotator disk will burn up very easily and if renting it, it's replacement cost won't be at all cheap. Side note, also don't
drop it because as said, that disk ain't cheap. In my impression of testing such things, that motor speed could not be safely slowed down enough to be of much use on a
stage unless presenting a storm before you risked burning it up.
Given a S-4
fixture this
system is built around, the largest beam spread you could have for the
projector is a 50 degree beam spread. This would necessitate a more or less specific placement of the
fixture mounting without people getting in the way of your projection.
For a live
stage setting, such a moving sky might not even given the EFX wheel moves slow enough for you, be able to be at a sufficient angle to mount it.
Given the Solecon
fixture will take the ?
Image Pro (?and it's similar to the EFX?), than a 90 degree
fixture might be optimum for a
cyc and will have been my choice given you can get a bright enough lamp in it for the beam spread.
Otherwise given the presented problems a glass
gobo pattern especially a A/B or ABC set of them that are a set designed to link together by way of a few fixtures meshing them together in having the grey scale avaialble by way of glass painting, above what a metal black/white
gobo would have would be my choice.
Projectors and computer based systems can also do it but probably would not be cost effective. You might be able to rent these patterns from a theater supply as a possibility I have never looked into. If they are in
stock, they might be rental and cheaper than other solutions especially if your clouds don't have to move. This I think is the primary difference between the EFX and a glass
gobo.
A moving light can also do this but might also be more complex than the situation might find useful.
Another solution might be to use a few
pattern projecting Lekos with three sets of normal cloud patterns in them but in them having say three channels of control over them and three or none
gel on them in cross fading and blending the color/
gel verses none on the
cyc to make a sort of movement to the look.
Using a
cyc takes careful placement of the placement of light on
stage, or ambient and
spill levels just as any projection. To some extent, a
scrim in front of the
cyc can also help or hinder this to advantage or disadvantage.
Given a
cyc, a computer based
projector might have some advantage in doing a "scene machine"
effect on the
cyc however in that it might be able to adjust the
image angle for the almost perpendicular to
throw angle of a side projection. As opposed to other scene machines if placed in the wings in having a more fantasy look to the
image, a computer could more easily correct for the angle and perhaps the
cyc could be lit from behind a
scrim or at a steep angle. Just a thought on theory of using a computer based
projector.