The system - two PixelDrive computers - was installed and programmed by Simon Carter of Radical Lighting. One was running on a laptop and one on a desktop, with both triggered by the Avolites Diamond 4 lighting console operated by Matt Holden-Jones and Paddy Sollitt. One PixelDrive was used to run video sources into the moving lights and one to run them into the 34 James Thomas PixelLine fixtures - a mix of the 1044 and the new PixelLine 110 ec - used in the show.
Lighting for seven of the eight Global Gathering arenas, plus the Comedy Tent, was supplied by Leeds-based Zig Zag Lighting, headed by Neil Hunt. For the Godskitchen arena, the largest tent on-site, the moving lights were programmed in the normal fashion into the lighting desk. Having the additional PixelDrive computer available with this new function gives the user the option of running lighting fixture parameters via the desk direct, or handing them over to the PixelDrive.Using PixelDrive can extend what any LED fixtures in the house are doing - in this case PixelLines - to the rest of the room - so they can be fully integrated into a synchronous mix along with moving light fixtures. The continuity of the visual elements is particularly conducive to dance music and bands, and for anyone running their shows in VJ (video jockey) style, say the company. The user simply selects the fixtures on the desk and then hand them over to the PixelLine to apply the effects.
The Godskitchen Arena lighting team applied PixelDrive to specific sets of moving lights - 14 upstage ColorSpots on the rear truss, 18 ColorSpots on the floor and three sets of FOH units. These were tied in with the four sets of PixelLines which were rigged above the front truss in a crown shape; vertically at the sides framing the outside stage edge; on the stage floor and bordering the front of the DJ riser.
Holden-Jones thinks PixelDrive is great for controlling the colour function while leaving the desk dealing with the other moving light parameters. He says: "You can create complex mixes on the fly that would take hours to do on a desk if indeed they were achievable at all." This was the first time he'd used PixelDrive. "The dynamics of the software coupled with the brightness and impact of the PixelLine fixtures is amazing," he says. "You can keep overlaying patterns on PixelDrive and the imaginative possibilities are endless."
Neil Hunt says "PixelDrive puts a completely new dimension on programming LED fixtures of all types. It's a new approach to lighting - we're definitely buying it!"Paddy Sollitt follows up with "PixelLines and PixelDrive are the biggest revolution in lighting since the advent of the moving yolk."
(Lee Baldock)
