Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures are living up to the name of Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger Tour with their punchy performance on the road. “With their very bright concentrated beam and fast effects, the Sharpys hold their own for such a little light,” reports lighting designer Roy Bennett. “They really add another layer to the picture.”

Clarkson has been headlining her fourth tour in support of her latest studio album, also called “Stronger.” She has played dates in North America, Europe and Australia.

Bennett equally divides his complement of Sharpys in the air and on the floor upstage in vertical racks. “I use them primarily for effects,” he says. “I key people with them to play around with the prism and the frost, which is an interesting effect on people. The overall look of the show is very clean; there are a lot of soft goods on the set. We’re projecting and mapping onto a series of inner and outer columns.”

Programmer Cory FitzGerald has worked with Sharpys on several shows and finds them “a very versatile light. They’re really fast, and you can get a lot of different looks with them. I’ve been doing some smaller shows with Sharpy, and if you put eight to 15 of them on a rig, all of a sudden it’s ‘The X-Factor.’”

The Sharpys, supplied by Upstaging, have been “performing great” on the tour, Bennett says. “I love them.”

A.C.T Lighting is the distributor for Clay Paky in North America.

Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, comments, “We’re very proud to see such a high profile lighting designer using our lights for such a high profile artist. We’re glad that Roy is such a big fan of our lights.”

About Clay Paky
Headquartered in Seriate (Bergamo), Italy, Clay Paky SPA has a history of designing and manufacturing innovative professional show lighting. The company was founded in 1976 by entrepreneur Pasquale Quadri who anticipated the enormous impact the evolution of technology would have on the show and entertainment worlds.

For more information on Clay Paky products, please contact:
Francesco Romagnoli francesco@claypaky.it
Davide Barbetta webmaster@claypaky.it

High Resolution Systems has announced the release of UDC 4.0, the latest upgrade for its popular software-based Universal Device Controller. The new release includes a number of new features and follows the debut of the UDC Software Membership Program, an innovative licensing approach for integrators and resellers.

“In part, UDC 4.0 has been driven by our new membership program, which provides updates and support at a low cost of entry to the pro AV control market,” says Partner and Applications Engineer Drew Taylor. “UDC 4.0 is available now, free of charge, to current customers and is included as part of the UDC Software Membership Program.”

The new release offers a Software Developer Kit (SDK) for the first time. “Almost all configuration of the system is in the user interface, but now the ability is there to program advanced response handling designed for two-way communication and handling feedback from devices,” explains Taylor. The SDK requires basic programming knowledge, which can be acquired via High Resolution Systems’ software courses.

An all-new Custom Command Sets window supports users building ASCII and HEX command sets using protocols like UDP, TCP, Telnet, HTTP and RS232. “We’ve had a custom command sets function in the past but it only handled very basic needs,” Taylor says. “Now the function is supported in a new and powerful GUI, which enables users to interact with devices, like a projector or monitor, that are not in the regular system of command sets. Like our membership program, this feature really supports integrators who can now quickly go into the software and add a device they’ve just installed on a job site.”

A redesigned Logic Screen permits UDC users to check the state of variables, execute macros and perform other functions through an easy-to-use interface for writing If Else statements. The screen now has a cleaner look and features a Help document as well as enhanced capabilities.

UDC offers buttons, labels, sliders, toggle switches and lists as controller interface objects. UDC 4.0 extends controller interfaces with the ability to build dropdown Combo boxes, fill-in-the-blanks Textboxes, and number pads and keyboards for entering passwords or additional information. “These new controller interface design tools allow for more unique and advanced interfaces for any touch screen, including Apple iPad, Microsoft Windows Surface and Tablets, Android tablets and more,” says Taylor.

About High Resolution Systems
High Resolution Systems, a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers is a company with a strong systems engineering and applications background. Its founders have decades of experience in the audio visual rental and staging industry, broadcast applications, A/V installations and system design. This combined experience allows them to provide the highest possible quality solutions to its customers in the most efficient manner. For more information, visit www.HRScontrol.com.

It may sound like a summer blockbuster action film, but Spyders met Titans when ANC Sports Enterprises selected Vista Systems’ Spyders to power two of the world’s largest video screens at Nashville’s LP Field, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

ANC Sports Enterprises, LLC of Purchase, New York, an industry leader in providing integrated signage, design and marketing solutions for sports and commercial facilities, is transforming the professional football experience with an unprecedented approach to sound and video, which debuted for the 2012 NFL season and is now featured at all Titans home games.

ANC Sports installed two HD video displays measuring 157 x 54 feet at LP Field, each featuring 8,478 square feet of LED signage – the largest end-zone video screens in the world. They are also the largest outdoor displays in sports with surface mount LEDs, the next evolution of outdoor signage technology. With over 3 million physical pixels per screen spaced 16mm apart, fans in the stadium will see details as sharp as on their HDTVs at home.

“The new video screens at LP Field are much larger, feature a higher-resolution, and show sharper, crisper content than the previous scoreboards,” notes Chris Mascatello, ANC’s Executive Vice President of Technology Sales. “Our surface mount LED technology provides clearer visuals and better viewing angles than traditional LED lamp video screens.”

Long-time Spyder users, ANC Sports chose Spyder X20 1608s to handle multiple inputs for the screens so they can display PIPs, overlays and transitions. “The Titans run the full gamut of content, including pre-recorded elements and animations, live game action, replays, crowd shots, and statistics,” says Mascatello. “The Spyder enables the Titans’ broadcast staff to seamlessly jump from live action, to replays supplemented with CG, to animated content, to in-game promotion and back to live game action without any alteration in the Technical Director’s preferred workflow.”

Spyder offers ANC Sports the advantage of seamless interaction with the company’s VisionSOFT 64-bit operating system, Mascatello reports. “That integration is a real benefit as DVI from VisionSOFT and HD-SDI from the broadcast switcher are composited into one image for the Spyder with no customization. Spyder’s capability of processing large files in real time supports VisionSOFT, which outputs uncompressed content to the displays creating the sharpest visuals in sports.”

Each end-zone screen can be driven separately by Spyder so different content can be displayed when desired.

More than 800 new audio speakers have also been installed at LP Field. At times the displays will coordinate with the new sound system to synch dynamic visuals with audio.

ANC Sports has formed a 10-year partnership with the Titans, which includes manufacturing, installation, operation, ongoing maintenance, content creation and display usage consultation. In addition to the Titans’ home games, LP Field hosts the Music City Bowl, soccer and concerts and the LED displays are expected to be key components in the fan experience at those events.

About Vista Systems
Vista Systems’ switchers have become the industry standard for live multiple-destination video and data mixed signal switching. Vista Systems was acquired by Christie, a global leader in visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, to create a comprehensive source for image processing and projection solutions. The acquisition combines the power and flexibility of Vista’s video switchers and real-time windowing and composition products with the power, performance and reliability of award-winning Christie projection systems. For more information on Vista Systems, visit their website at www.vistasystems.net.

Wilmington, Delaware-based Main Light Industries, Inc. has acquired 36 Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800 and a dozen Clay Paky Alpha Profile 800 ST fixtures from A.C.T. Lighting, the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky lighting in North America.

Main Light, which serves all of the professional lighting industry, has become one of the largest rental houses in the country. Last year it invested in Clay Paky Sharpys, Alpha 700s and Alpha Spot HPE 1500 fixtures from A.C.T Lighting for its growing inventory.

“We’re continuing to expand our Clay Paky offerings with our new purchase,” says John DiEleuterio at Main Light. “The Alpha Spot 800 series are great fixtures. They benefit from the ST lens set. which provide better color temperatures along with the increased intensity of the MSR Platinum 35 lamp. Framing shutters on the fixtures is a key feature. The Clay Paky 800 series is an excellent addition to the growing Main Light family of moving lights.”

Clay Paky’s Alpha Spot QWO 800 uses the latest MSR Platinum lamp, an 800W light source that produces an intense sparkling light – brighter even than older 1200W lamps. The Alpha Spot QWO 800 is equipped with optical features placing it at the top of its class, including a very wide zoom range from 7.6º to 55º, a uniform beam distribution at all zoom angles and a unique Stay-Sharp-Zoom feature that locks images in focus while zooming. The fixture is small, lightweight, silent and has low power consumption making it an excellent tool for TV, theater, corporate events and many other demanding lighting applications.

The Alpha Profile 800 ST is a compact, lightweight, silent beam shaper with an extremely bright light and a zoom capable of producing an extraordinarily sharp, perfectly uniform beam. It features a 6000K light beam, a miniaturized four-blade framing system for creating any geometric shape, a zoom that ranges from 7.6º to 55º, an exclusive autofocus system for easy programming, and Dyna-Cue-Creator for dynamic visual effects. It’s the ideal choice for theaters, TV studios, exhibition stands and demanding live applications.

Main Light’s customers have quickly become Clay Paky fans with the company’s initial inventory of product deployed for the Foo Fighters, the Ultra Music Festival and the Electric Daisy Carnival.

About A.C.T Lighting

A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its clients.

For more information call 818-707-0884.

Lighting designer Jason Rothberg has selected six Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800 fixtures for the current tour of indietronica band Passion Pit. Atomic Lighting of Lititz, Pennsylvania supplied the lights, which are garnering raves from Rothberg on the road.

Passion Pit is continuing its national tour after releasing its second LP, “Gossamer.” More dates are planned for 2013.

“I’ve never toured with Clay Paky lights, but these have been fantastic,” Rothberg reports. “They’re different from other lights of this type. They are smaller and brighter, and the zoom is amazing. They can go from a super tight beam to a super fat beam in an instant. They’re brighter than anything else we’ve encountered.”

Rothberg, who is also the tour’s lighting programmer, had previous positive experiences with Clay Paky 700 fixtures but calls the 800 units “even better.” He’s deploying them in a V-shape in truss towers “like a pyramid. The rig wraps around the band – they like to be tight together.”

Clay Paky’s Alpha Spot QWO 800 uses the latest MSR Platinum lamp, an 800W light source that produces an intense sparkling light – brighter even than older 1200W lamps. The Alpha Spot QWO 800 is equipped with optical features placing it at the top of its class, including a very wide zoom range from 7.6º to 55º, a uniform beam distribution at all zoom angles and a unique Stay-Sharp-Zoom feature that locks images in focus while zooming. The fixture is small, lightweight, silent and has low power consumption making it an excellent tool for TV, theater, corporate events and many other demanding lighting applications.

Rothberg also praises the fixtures’ gobos, which offer “a lot of great looks. The focus zoom is awesome, too – in gobo you can zoom in and out and it stays in focus.”

The QWO 800s have been performing well on the road, he says. “We haven’t had any issues. I haven’t taken the spares out of the truck.”

A.C.T Lighting is the distributor for Clay Paky in North America.

Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, comments, “We’re proud to see the QWO 800s have been embraced so quickly. I look forward to seeing the fixture on many more tours.”

Oceanside, California’s New Venture Christian Fellowship, near San Diego, renovated its worship facilities and upgraded its AV capabilities with stunning new projection capabilities and content managed by a Vista Spyder X20-0808 video processor.

Integrator and consultant CCI Solutions of Olympia, Washington, installed three big screens at the 1,000-seat sanctuary. A 22-foot wide screen acts as the backdrop for the pastor while two nearly 40-foot wide screens flank the central display and show IMAG, text and PIP windows. Five 15,000-lumen 2K projectors are configured with two edge-blended units for the left and right screens and a single unit for the central screen. The Vista Spyder X20 manages the content across the entire environment (sanctuary) that now engages congregants more fully in the worship service.

“The pastor really wanted to envelope the congregation in whatever he’s talking about,” said Rick Boring, senior systems consultant with CCI Solutions. “Spyder is phenomenal; it gives them a canvas for anything they want to do.”

An HP touch panel acts as the front-end interface for the system and content sources include live cameras with a matrix switcher, six Macs, a professional HD video player and several net nodes. The new infrastructure also allows six additional projectors to deliver 180-degree displays.

Boring described a typical application: “I can have a background texture or theme that goes across all the screens and can do images within all of them, and match the onscreen colors to the lighting.

“The Vista Spyder X20 is easy to use but incredibly powerful and was chosen because with other systems you’re limited to working ‘their way.’ Spyder provides the edge blending we need and gives you a huge canvas where you can do whatever you want. You don’t have to restrict resolution or creativity,” Boring concluded.

About Vista Systems
Vista Systems was acquired by Christie, a global leader in visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, to create a comprehensive source for image processing and projection solutions. The acquisition combines the power and flexibility of Vista’s video switchers and real-time windowing and composition products with the power, performance and reliability of award-winning Christie projection systems. Vista Systems’ switchers have become the industry standard for live multiple-destination video and data mixed signal switching. For more information on Vista Systems, visit their website at www.vistasystems.net.

The University of California at Berkeley and Ithaca College (NY) have added Robert Juliat Cyrano and Buxie followspots, respectively, to their theatrical lighting inventories.

UC Berkeley has invested in four Cyrano followspots purchased from Musson Theatrical. “They asked for several demos and were excited about the Cyranos,” says Musson Theatrical’s Dinna Myers. “Robert Juliat is known for high-quality optics in the followspot market – they’re rapidly becoming the leader in that sector.”

Jeremy Little is an ETCP-certified electrician and master electrician with Cal Performances, the UC Berkeley-based presenting, commissioning and producing organization for world-class music, dance and theater. He recalls working with Cyranos when he toured as a followspot operator. “They were very fun to drive,” he says. “The user interface is great, all the controls are centralized, and there is pre-focused lamp control. So they’re very easy for the operators to work with day in, day out.” When the university needed four matched followspots for its Zellerbach Auditorium, Cyranos were the logical choice.

“We just completed our training for the Cyranos with Robert Juliat,” Little reports. “Our big show this season is ‘Einstein On The Beach,’ which calls for all four followspots. It will put the Cyranos to the test all at once.”

Cyrano is a compact and efficient 2500-watt HMI followspot with a high-performance quartz condenser optical system. It features a 100% iris closing in a removable cassette; 100% closing dimmer; B-size gobo holder; dichroic color correction, variable frost, and 6-way boomerang color changer with removable filter frames.

Ithaca College acquired four Buxie followspots from BMI Supply for its Clark Theater, the school’s smaller performance space. “We were really excited to get Adam Klein at Ithaca College what he needed. He sent very detailed specs of what he was looking for: Two followspots with tripods and two without,” reports Steve Michalek, at BMI Supply.

Ithaca College is no stranger to Robert Juliat fixtures. “We already have two Super Korrigans (1200-watt HMI followspots) in our inventory, our design faculty was very happy with them and we wanted to stay with Juliat,” Klein says. “Size and optics were factors in our choice. We were looking for HID followspots with a small form factor for our smaller performance space – they had to fit on our catwalk. We saw the Buxies at USITT, and they looked great. No other followspots matched the optical clarity that the Buxies had.”

The followspots will primarily be used for a full round or three-quarter thrust space hosting dramas and musicals. “This year we are presenting ‘Spring Awakening’ and will definitely use the Buxies on that show,” says Klein. “We can also use them as supplemental followspots in our larger performance space.”

He notes that, “one of the nice things about the Buxies is that we won’t just use them on tripod stands: We can also hang them yoke up off of a pipe. They were far more affordable than we originally planned, too, so that allowed us to get a lot of accessories. Optics, output, HID, price – we’re really happy with our purchase!”

Buxie is a compact 575-watt MSD followspot with high-performance double-condenser optical system, 100% closing and removable iris, 100% closing mechanical dimmer, A-size gobo holder and 6-way color changer.

About Robert Juliat

Robert Juliat is a three-generation, independent family-run company dedicated to the manufacturing of professional stage lighting products. Robert Juliat lights are used by customers who include Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, New York’s Lincoln Center, LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Bruce Springsteen, Disney Theme Parks, Carnegie Hall, The San Francisco Opera and Ballet, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Comedie Francaise, The Sydney Opera House, plus theatres, schools and public venues around the world.

R&D, production and the company headquarters are based in the village of Fresnoy-en-Thelle, 50 km north of Paris. Robert Juliat USA is located in Wallingford, Connecticut. For more information visit www.robertjuliatamerica.com.

Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures and numerous grandMA2 lighting consoles were on hand throughout Budweiser’s Made in America Festival, which entertained crowds on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Labor Day Weekend. Jay-Z and Pearl Jam headlined main stage concerts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively; punk rockers, up-and-coming rappers and native Philly artists packed the other stages across the venue. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor for both Clay Paky and grandMA in North America.

Nick Whitehouse, the lighting designer for the main stage, was tasked with creating a rig “that pleased everyone and looked different for the two headline acts. It had to be efficient to meet both Jay-Z’s and Pearl Jam’s wishes for their shows and incorporate the needs of the other performers. The overall design fit the stage/set design based on a huge eagle formed from LED-panels that fitted the Americana theme” and evoked the iconic Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) eagle logo.

Whitehouse used 68 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures, arrayed in groups of four, to mimic the look of Par64 ACL bars. “They did that very successfully,” he reports. “A lot of the looks used the frost to help make this happen, and they very rarely moved while lit.”

He notes that the Sharpys “really show up on outdoor semi-daylight shows like no other fixtures, and they give background to the camera shots, which was very important since the whole festival was streamed live on YouTube. The Sharpys performed perfectly as always.”

A grandMA2 deployed for the main stage handled “everything we threw at it,” he reports. “It really showed how powerful a system it is.” Whitehouse extensively used the partial show read and clone feature to merge incoming acts into the festival show. He also divided the console into worlds so the incoming lighting designer could control the background of the rig and the TV gaffer (with a second online console and separate user) could run the broadcast key lights and ride inhibits of the whole rig without getting in the way. grandMA3d was also used extensively for daylight programming and fixes when required.

“A number of the lighting designers who were used to the grandMA1 became converts to grandMA2 after the festival because [the new console] showed how easy it was to pull such a large show together quickly and easily,” Whitehouse notes.

“As always, the A.C.T guys made supporting their users their top priority. A.C.T is a really great company to deal with, and we thank them for their MA programming support,” he adds.

But that’s not all.

John Duncan, Jr. of Pinpoint Lighting was the lighting designer and equipment supplier for Made in America’s B stage and electronic dance music pad. “Both stages had grandMA2 full size units and grandMA2 Lights,” he reports. “All of the 24 chrome Sharpys were spread out over the electronic tent with eight on the stage and 16 around the house.”

Duncan says he “loves” the Sharpy fixtures for “their nice beam and how it cuts through no matter how much fog or haze there is. It just punches.”

The grandMAs also performed “great,” he notes. “We had them slaved together on the B stage and had two users since we were running TV lighting at the same time. They performed very well.”

A Spyder was not only welcome at the 75th anniversary celebration for HITT Contracting, it was an essential part of the festivities. BARTKRESA design of Los Angeles used Vista System’s Spyder to showcase video content during the milestone.

From its beginnings as a small family business run from the dining room table of Warren and Myrtle Hitt, HITT Contracting Inc. has grown to become one of the top 100 largest general contractors in the U.S. with its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. John Parker of Hutchinson Design Group asked BARTKRESA design to create the festive ambience for the 75th anniversary party, which included video content.

Bart Kresa used a Spyder to switch the six outputs from a pair of video servers to three sets of triple stacked projectors. Content was played back from a Dataton WATCHOUT system v. 5.2 and two rack-mountable computers, with 6 outputs each, built in-house.

“Spyder gave us a way to smoothly switch between the two video playback systems we used for the event,” says Kresa. “We were still editing the materials while the show was running. So as we had one system online playing back the content, we were editing on the other system and then going online with system B and editing on system A.”

Challenged by a short time to design and produce the show and with a short load in just the night before, Kresa selected Spyder to give him “peace of mind. I was very comfortable knowing that Spyder, which is so reliable, would be at the heart of our system.”

He notes that, “Although I didn’t use most of the Spyder features I normally use, I am very happy that I made the Spyder call because everything worked so well. The team of Spyder and Christie projectors can’t be beat!”

About Vista Systems
Vista Systems’ switchers have become the industry standard for live multiple-destination video and data mixed signal switching. Vista Systems was acquired by Christie, a global leader in visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, to create a comprehensive source for image processing and projection solutions. The acquisition combines the power and flexibility of Vista’s video switchers and real-time windowing and composition products with the power, performance and reliability of award-winning Christie projection systems. For more information on Vista Systems, visit their website at www.vistasystems.net.

Photo: Adam Adjomi

“In the 800-1000W range of New Age automated spots, it made immediate sense to us to add the QWO 800 ST to our rental and production fleet with its competitive features and price point,” says Creative Stage’s George B. Studnicky IV. “Not only does the unit stand out from 1000W units, at only 800W it has a very sleek and compact design.”

He firmly believes that Clay Paky is “listening to clients and establishing themselves as the new premier automated brand in the U.S. while maintaining affordability and not letting brand-name pricing get in their way. With the success of Clay Paky’s Sharpy, you can imagine that the fault of overpricing may have been tempting to commit.”

Clay Paky’s Alpha Spot QWO 800 ST uses the latest MSR Platinum lamp, an 800W light source that produces an intense sparkling light – brighter even than older 1200W lamps. The Alpha Spot QWO 800 ST is equipped with optical features placing it at the top of its class, including a very wide zoom range from 7.6º to 55º, a uniform beam distribution at all zoom angles and a unique Stay-Sharp-Zoom feature that locks images in focus while zooming. The fixture is small, lightweight, silent and has low power consumption making it an excellent tool for TV, theater, corporate events and many other demanding lighting applications.

Jason Huffer, lighting designer for moe., selected eight QWO 800 STs for the theater-size rig that accompanies the band on tour. “It’s not a huge production,” he notes. “They’re on the upstage truss and meet my needs for something lightweight, not too large yet with a great feature set.”

Huffer first saw the fixtures in an online video. “They sounded like a really cool mid-range fixture,” he recalls. “The wide zoom range and focus seemed great. Kevin Parsley also from Creative Stage Lighting had just demo’d them and liked them; we said we’d take them on tour if Creative bought them. So it was a perfect opportunity for both of us.”

Huffer finds the Clay Paky Dyna-Cue-Creator function for doing projection work “very intriguing.” Dyna-Cue-Creator simplifies programming with a special channel featuring sophisticated combinations of customizable multiple effects. He likes “the thought put into the fixtures’ software.”

He also says “the wide zoom range and keeping gobos in focus while zooming is very important” for his work with moe. “The band does a lot of improvisation and it enables me to do a lot of on-the-fly stuff. I love it when the fixture does all the technical work for me. It’s really great!”

A.C.T Lighting is the distributor for Clay Paky in North America.

Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, comments, “The QWO has received a number of accolades from the industry recently and we’re proud see that as well as the fact that lighting designers are starting to embrace the benefits of one of our newest fixtures.”