The project was created by Ample Projects, with interactive lighting, sound effects and moving parts. The sculptures were presented with a great technologically advanced setup - the tender was won by Mandylights who created a colourful and atmospheric setting for the sculptures.
"The zoo is basically pitch black at night and in many areas we really had to start from scratch," commented Richard Neville of Mandylights. "There were some areas where we had complete free reign and others where we were complementing the lanterns."
Crucial to the lighting design were 130 x ShowPro Hex 18 LED PARs and 24 x ShowPro EX36 LED Floods, both of which have an IP65 rating. The PARS provide a solid base of colour for the entire site onto which Mandylights layered more lighting.
Due to the sheer amount of foot traffic during the day, and now the night, at the zoo, there were many places where cable ramps could not be run across the ground. There are also several vehicles used in the zoo, such as the elephant transporter, that are higher than your average road vehicle so running cables higher up was a problem too.
"This is where Wireless Solutions W-DMX was invaluable," stated Richard. "It just does a series of hops around the park into really difficult to reach places."
In total there were four BlackBox F-2 MKII with directional antennas and 16x Micro R-512 receivers, all plug & play. The Wireless system controlled most of the LED Pars, wash fixtures, moving-lights and dimmers around the park.
"This project would not have been achievable without W-DMX from Wireless Solution", concluded Richard. Wireless Solution is distributed and supported in Australia by Show Technology.
(Jim Evans)
