Programmed almost entirely offline using Capture visualisation software - with the designers in Scotland and programmer in Germany - this project took long-distance collaboration to the limit. "We essentially programmed this show via Skype," says ETC Controls product manager and Congo programmer Sarah Clausen. "SaMA worked for weeks to create the model and get all the strobes inserted, focused and patched, while I worked to channel and group the strobes into usable chunks to create the effects we needed.
"The v5 Effects were essential to this project - some of SaMA's ideas actually need 42 effect playbacks running simultaneously to create the right look. During the programming I had Capture, a Congo desk and a single Dataflash AF1000 strobe. Iain Ruxton at SaMA had a setup with Capture, a Congo jr and another Dataflash. I could program something, send him the show file, he could load it and look at it with the team there."
Says Iain Ruxton, associate at SaMA, "We've done some smaller projects with visualisation and we used Capture and Congo together on the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It was invaluable in planning the focus and the show framework there, but the Burj Khalifa is the first time we've programmed dynamic lighting of this complexity on a completely virtual building, without designer and programmer being in the same country. Quite simply, we could not have achieved this by programming on site only."
The 7kW Fineline searchlights were specified because they are, according to Ruxton, "unbelievably solid. The liquid cooled lamps need to be able to be able to cope with the harsh conditions in Dubai with a minimum of maintenance".
In daily use, the ETC Congo Light Server system is triggered using serial data sent by the Unison Paradigm system at specified times. The touchscreen interface makes it easy to override the system when a special event requires different treatment.
(Jim Evans)
