For production and staging services, the client enlisted the help of New York City-based Todd Street Productions, who in turn reached out to Joe West, senior creative and lighting director for Digital Stage Chicago. West's challenge was not only to create a seamless ultra large-scale 600 x 20ft circular blend, but to create a design that could transform into two other completely different sets over the course of the conference - and all within the client's budget.
To accomplish the blend, West selected the Barco DL.3, the fixture he'd been using successfully since the product's introduction, yet not to this scale of implementation. West's choice was based in large part upon the DL.3's high output light engine, on-board media server, and unique Collage Generator - a feature that enables multiple DL.3s to create seamless horizontal and vertical panoramic projections, and to control them synchronously from a lighting console.
"The output of the device is phenomenal," said West, "and for the amount of lumens it pushes, we decided that it was the absolute right product to paint this event. The other major reason is the DL.3's ability to instantaneously change its position and 'collaging' on the fly. You simply can't do that with static projectors, and run all the cues in synch from the lighting board."
In addition to the 30 DL.3 Digital Lights used to create the seamless ring, the team also used four DL.3 units for additional stage effects, 10 DL.2 Digital Lights that functioned as remote screens outside the ring, a Wholehog lighting console, and an Axon Media Server as the central content archive. "For years, we had the separate video world and the lighting world," continued West, "but now, the lines are blurred, and we're painting with graphics, video and light."
(Jim Evans)
