USA - Nemetschek North America has announced that a localised Portuguese 2010 version of Vectorworks Fundamentals and Renderworks software is now available in Brazil. Vectorworks Architect and Landmark software are expected to be released in January 2010.

"The 2010 version is definitely a mark in the Vectorworks evolution," says David Oliveira, CEO of CAD Technology, the distributor of Nemetschek North America for Brazil and South America. "With a very well-resolved 2D/3D association and a host of impressive new features, we believe that this version will be well-received by Brazilian Vectorworks users." "In addition," continues Oliveira, "we are making demonstration videos of the new features in Portuguese, as well as hosting weekly webinars which will highlight the new features."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Cooper Controls confirms that after eight years with Zero 88, Graham Eales has resigned.

"Graham made significant contributions to Zero 88 during his eight years, during which time the brand launched Frog consoles and the Chilli dimming range. We would like to thank Graham for his years of service and wish him well in his future endeavours" comments Ken Walma, general manager, Cooper Controls.

With this change, Cooper Controls says it is "taking the opportunity to restructure the Zero 88 brand to better service customers, increase sales, and support new product development".

With immediate effect Grant Bales-Smith will take on responsibility for Zero 88 profitability in all markets outside the Americas as well as sales responsibility for UK, Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Franck Tiesing will continue to manage Northern & Eastern Europe as Z

New Zealand - Philips Lighting played a key role in the upgrade of one of New Zealand's most stunning architectural and cultural landmarks, as Auckland Museum unveiled a dramatic lighting transformation for the 80th birthday celebrations of its building.

The striking installation designed by Light Emotion and specified by New Zealand's Modus Architectural Lighting utilises Philips' latest LED technology both inside and outside the Greco-Roman inspired building, as well as display lighting from Philips Selecon - the Museum's luminaire manufacturer of choice - throughout the interior.

"We are illuminating the building, not only to honour its architectural magnificence, but to signify the importance of the Museum's connection with the city. This iconic building should be seen from all vantage points throughout our city, and we are proud to illuminate it in an economically fr

USA The Design Wash LED PRO from Elation Professional is a high output moving LED head that combines smooth RGB+W colour mixing, fast speed and impressive brightness in a compact package that fits neatly into tight spaces - and tight budgets, says the company.

"We're very excited about the new Elation Design Wash LED PRO," said Eric Loader Director of Sales at Elation Professional. "This product is very comparable to a 250W discharge lamp, yet it's 50% more energy efficient, is about half the size and weight, and has a 100,000-hour lamp life, compared to a 3,000-hour life. In most colors, the Design Wash LED PRO is actually brighter than a discharge lamp fixture."

The Design Wash LED PRO is designed for entertainment and theatrical applications, where dramatic movement and a sense of excitement are demanded. A fully automated moving head, it delivers a 180

Download Update - People who download music illegally also spend an average of £77 a year buying it legitimately, a survey has found. Those who claimed not to use peer-to-peer filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay spent a yearly average of just £44. Almost one in 10 of those questioned aged between 16 and 50 said they downloaded music illegally. However, eight out of 10 of that group also bought CDs, vinyl and as MP3s. A total of 1008 people in the UK took part in the online poll commissioned by researchers Demos.

"Politicians and music companies need to recognise that the nature of music consumption has changed and consumers are demanding lower prices and easier access to music," said Demos researcher Peter Bradwell.

"The scale of unlawful file-sharing poses a real threat to the long-term sustainability of our creative industries," said a sp

Australia - The 15th annual Deadlys awards at Sydney Opera House contained all the glamour, emotion, pride and excitement that has come to be expected from Indigenous Australia's night of nights.

Production specialists Coastal Lighting rigged a spectacular display incorporating four of PR Lighting's XL590 LED moving head washlights into the stage floor, as specified by LD, Aldo Fabrizio.

The light output of this fixture closely resembles that of a conventional wash light containing a 1200W discharge lamp, since it uses Osram's Diamond Dragon LED, one of the world's brightest single-chip SMT LEDs. Each head contains 90 high power 5W LED's (30 x Red, 30 x Green, 30 x Blue) with the added advantage of excellent colour mixing and high uniformity of the white beam.

The clients were particularly impressed by these attributes, commenting on their surprising brightness and ov

UK - Chris Kempton, lighting director of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and a Knights of Illumination winner at PLASA09 has designed well over 200 shows for Jonathan Ross and cites "trying to create a different atmosphere for each band performance" as a chief goal.

The set uses a core rig and occasionally brings in additional fixtures to help create the different looks. Kempton described the challenging schedule: "Jonathan is very involved with the choice of music, always involved in choosing the band himself. It's a one day stand, so a very quick rig in the morning, minimal rehearsal in the afternoon and a record in the evening.

"For the lighting style we keep a basic standard rig based on wash lights to give a distinctive house style. We go for a very live look, high intensity, that leans more towards the looks of a live concert than a TV presenta

UK - Graham Eales has joined Philips Lighting us as entertainment controls systems director, Europe. Eales has had an extensive career in the industry, most recently he was managing director for Zero 88 in the UK.

"The breadth of product and technologies that Philips owns will allow us to set the standard in control of systems that are coming to dominate the entertainment and architainment lighting businesses," says Eales. "Our wide range of Strand Lighting dimming, control and networking products combined with our Selecon luminaire range are powerful tools on which we will be working to build and develop our entertainment businesses."

In related news, Peter Rogers, senior director entertainment marketing at Philips Lighting reports that in North America several changes are in progress. "In December we will move our Cypress customer service operations

UK - Zero 88's theatrical lighting console ORB is continuing to make waves in London's theatre scene; lighting two productions at the intimate Arcola and Landor theatres.

At the Arcola Theatre the ORB was in control of the acclaimed production of Elder Latimer is in Love directed by Sebastian Michael. After using the ORB recently on What's Wrong with Angry, lighting designer MJ Urbanek was happy to specify it again for Elder Latimer. He says, "The ORB is an easy desk to learn and has all the features needed for controlling moving lights and LED fixtures. With the two screens, it is easy to see exactly what is going on. I love using the ORB as its intuitive and simple to use yet boasts all the features of a more complicated console."

With sustainability projects part of its core business, the Arcola Theatre aims to be the world's first carbon neut

UK - Global communications services company BT has installed a giant electronic information screen at the top of the iconic BT Tower in London. The 360 degree LED screen - made up of Martin Professional LC Plus Series LED panels and believed to be the highest of its kind in Europe and the Americas - will be used as an information band, showing messages and providing visual content that will be visible from various locations across the city. The information band was switched on for the first time on Saturday 31 October.

BT has again selected Martin Professional product to illuminate the landmark Tower. The Tower's previous lighting scheme, which featured Martin Exterior 200 fixtures to highlight the BT logo and brand signage, was a successful scheme that ran for five years. The company has now decided to upgrade with the next level of lighting technology.

The LC Plus screen is

UK - HSL continues its touring relationship with Bristol-based Massive Attack, supplying all lighting equipment and crew to the current UK and European tour, working with lighting designer Robin Haddow.

HSL project manager Mike Oates says: "It's great to be working with Robin and production manager James Baseley and tour manager Dave Lawrence and their team again. Massive Attack have been one of the UK's most influential and creative bands over the last two decades, and their live productions are always inventive and interesting. This one is no exception."

Robin Haddow worked closely with the band's video and show designers United Visual Artists (UVA) on developing the look and feel of the show, for which they did a week of technical production rehearsals at HSL's new space next door to their warehouse facility in Blackburn. They also received considerable input from

UK - Multiform Lighting were recently contacted by Environetics, suppliers of 'Magic Fountain' systems, who were intending to use the company's MultiPac 4-channel DMX dimmer to control fountain pumps and lighting in their new 'Solo Mio' sound activated interactive fountain systems.

Multifoem says that Environetics chose the MultiPac because of its unique range of facilities including Soft Patch, Multiple Curves, Manual Presets, Programable Preheat, Limiter and Inbuilt Crossfades plus Multiform's renowned rugged serviceability.

Magic Fountain systems range from a single pump to 18-pump fountains with multi-coloured underwater lighting. They are supplied to public authorities, theme parks, special needs schools and also lottery winners! Unlike simpler sequentially programmed systems, Magic Fountains analyse the music signal electronically, converting this into DMX data which is

Denmark - On 5 December, the largest cruise liner ever built, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Oasis of the Seas, will set sail on its maiden voyage adorned in a multitude of Martin Professional dynamic lighting and smoke solutions.

The RCCL Oasis, built at the STX shipyard in Finland, surpasses anything that has come before it in nearly every way. Sailing from its home port of Port Everglades, Florida the Oasis is 360m long with room for 5,400 passengers and a crew of 3,000.

Martin secured delivery of the majority of the entertainment lighting and smoke package for the vessel: the company's solutions can be found in the majority of the ship's entertainment areas from the Promenade, ice rink and multiple theatres to a variety of bars, lounges and dance areas.

In addition, Martin is supplying an identical equipment package to the Oasis' upcoming sister ship, the R

USA - Wybron has instated a new five-year warranty, a fourfold increase in warranty duration.

"In this market, in this economy, it's more important than ever that a product works, and works well," said Wybron CEO Keny Whitright. "Extending our warranty to five years ensures that our customers will be using their energy - and our products - in creative ways, rather than having to worry about the state of their gear. This new warranty is simply a matter of passing along the peace of mind that so many of our customers already enjoy."

Under the terms of the new warranty, products must be registered with Wybron, and must also undergo a check-up after two years.

(Jim Evans)

Denmark - Danish company Neets, who manufacture control systems for audio visual equipment, has developed a new power control - 1 relay box. This new power control offers the possibility to save power in installations and help the environment. At the same time, using the power control in your installation minimizes the risk of fire, the company says.

Installed with a Neets Control System, the relay box is designed to cut power from the projector, amplifier, DVD and other audio-visual equipment when the devices are not in use. The power control can cut power from two units at the same time. This gives you the possibility to cut off the expensive standby power.

(Lee Baldock)

Singapore - On 24 September 2009, F1 Rocks Singapore kicked off a three-day musical festival surrounding Formula One's only night race on the F1 circuit. During the event at Fort Canning Park, 11 international music stars performed outdoors in front of approximately 30,000 concert-goers. Lighting designer Ross Williams and lighting equipment provider, The Show Company, relied heavily upon the new Vari*Lite VLX Wash luminaires.

"The F1 Rocks concert is quite different from my past projects as there were 11 different acts using the same stage for three nights," said Williams. "This is a challenge and the lighting design and solutions have to be flexible enough to cater to the different needs of the performers."

"Being a front runner in the rental and staging business we are always in the lookout for solutions that will wow us," added Jospeh G

Georgia - This September, the central square in Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, took on an extreme Edge - The Red Bull X-Fighters Exhibition Tour 2009 passed through the historical city to enthrall and awe the locals with an exhibition of extreme sports and live music with an extreme edge.

Freestyle moto-cross, fireworks, flying motorbikes, and instruments played with power tools are just a few examples of the adrenaline fuelled line up that the X-Fighters Exhibition had to offer.

Proel had a high profile at the event, with all of the sound reinforcement, lighting and trussing coming from the Italian manufacturer. The sound system was made up of the high end Edge point source system, in a five-way configuration comprised of the Edge212P mid/high boxes, Edge218SP double 18" bass units and the impressive Edge121SP 21" sub-woofer unit for the extende

Germany - Riku Mikael Kauppinen is MA Lighting's new regional sales manager for the Russian, Eastern European and Scandinavian market. MA's managing director Michael Althaus welcomed Kauppinen on board and is looking forward to a successful teamwork.

Kauppinen was previously regional sales manager for PRG Distribution. He has been working for more than a decade in various roles in the business including product sales and rental, lighting design and touring.

Kauppinen comments: "I am very thrilled to join MA Lighting. Becoming a part of vibrant MA community and discovering and implementing cutting-edge technological solutions for our industry's growing needs is truly a positive challenge."

(Jim Evans)

USA - TMB has introduced the first products in the ProMolded Assembly range. 19-pin (six-circuit) stage lighting cables, break-ins and break-outs are now available with TMB's ruggedised ProCable and premium ProSeries connectors. In-house retrofit services for conventional non-moulded 19-pin cables are also available, with rapid turnaround.

Comprised of internal polypropylene and outer Santoprene moulds, ProMolded assemblies are fabricated and guaranteed by TMB, offering long life and reliable performance in a variety of applications. The new products will be on show at LDI in Orlando this month.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Blackburn-based rental company HSL has supplied over 250 Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixtures to US lighting design specialists, Innovative Show Design, to provide set lighting for the World Series of Poker Europe 2009 (WSOPE).

Attracting leading players from around the world, WSOPE presented by Betfair, complements the WSOP event, which is held annually in Las Vegas. WSOPE 2009 was held at The Casino at The Empire, Leicester Square and broadcast in the UK on sports television channel ESPN (UK).

For the second year running, Innovative Show Design's president, Christopher Runnells, was hired by Nevada based Poker Productions and ESPN (UK) to design the television and scenic lighting for the event.

Runnells needed a fixture that would not produce a multi coloured shadow and would give him the ability to mix the proper colour temperature of white light.

UK - Entec Sound & Light recently purchased and then promptly employed the new Martin MAC 250 Beam on a House of Worship event at Wembley Arena, the Word at Work Conference hosted by Christ Embassy.

Entec provided lighting, sound, rigging and trussing, media servers, and set video projection for the event. Lighting designer was Entec's Ryan Brown who had six MAC 250 Beams, 12 MAC 700 Washes, 12 MAC 700 Profiles and 20 MAC 250 Washes as well as other automated and static fixtures at his disposal.

The MAC 250 Beam upgrade kit converts any MAC 250 Wash fixture into a punchy new beam effect in only five minutes. Brown chose to use the MAC 250 Beam because "we wanted to achieve beam effects that would render on camera while hiding the fixtures from view," he stated. "I originally had envisioned them for use in 'walk in' looks where they stood a better chance o

UK - White Light has been appointed to the Accredited List of Contractors at the National Gallery in London. The appointment will allow the company to supply lighting equipment and services to the many events which make use of the Gallery's building, centrally located in London's Trafalgar Square.

"We were delighted to be able to offer White Light a place on the Accredited List of Contractors at the National Gallery," commented Natasha Browne, the Gallery's head of events. "In particular, we feel that the LED lighting technology they can supply will offer our corporate members exciting new ways of lighting the gallery in a more environmentally sustainable manner for their events."

"We are looking forward to working with Natasha and the staff and guests of the National Gallery," adds White Light's director, Richard Wilson. "The building offers

UK - GE Lighting has extended its energy-efficient lighting portfolio with a new range of halogen lamps. Adding to its already extensive CFL product range, GE Lighting's new halogens will provide consumers with even more choice to help them find the right energy efficient lighting source for each application, says the company.

Among the additions to be available from early 2010 is the GE Precise Constant Color MR16 IR, incorporating the market leading double-sided coating technology, and providing up to 40% energy savings when compared to conventional low volt mirror lamps. The new Precise Constant Color MR16 IR provides superior colour rendering and lumen maintenance throughout life and eliminates unwanted backlight seen on competing products, say GE.

The GE Lighting team will also be offering an energy saving MR16 solution for less demanding needs. Arriving this November, th

UK - A decade after its original installation in the Lyceum Theatre, the lighting and control equipment for Disney's The Lion King has been upgraded, marking the end of an era for the last Vari-Lite Artisan and Series 200 system in London's West End.

The multi-award winning Disney musical, with lighting designed by Donald Holder, has used equipment from PRG Lighting since arriving in London to critical acclaim in 1999. In partnership with associate LD Jeanne Koenig and UK associate LD Alistair Grant, the show has been entertaining audiences with its unique set, performances and automated lighting design from a rig of Vari-Lite Series 200 equipment including VL4s and VL2Cs, all controlled by the Artisan Console, programmed by Aland Henderson. Offering unparalleled degrees of control and precise movement for the time, the Artisan was the natural choice to control a Vari-Lit

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