Things were simpler when we were in kindergarten. We learned about important things like sharing. We got to spend a bit of time coloring and painting. We even got to make big murals out of those long rolls of butcher paper. When I was programming for an upcoming tour in Nashville recently, I came to realize that there were some distinct similarities to what I was now doing.
Meeting the Class: Background
The DL.2 is the newest lighting fixture to take the flagship spot in a long list of products from Austin-based High End Systems. Though to call this a lighting fixture is probably slightly misleading. The fixture is, essentially, the synthesis of a moving head light fixture, a high-output graphics projector and a state-of-the-art DMX-controllable media server.
At the head of the current unit, the fixture houses a Christie Digital LX55 projector, a Sony video camera with infrared capabilities, an infrared illuminator, a mechanical iris-type dimmer and all the usual niceties of a top-tier fixture.
In the base of the DL.2 lives the media server/graphics engine. Relying on a Windows XPe (“e” for embedded) operating system, the DirectX powered engine is treated as a 3D environment with up to three 3D objects in use at a time.
On the exterior of the fixture, a variety of connections can be found. These include DMX in and out, power, network, USB, RGBHV video inputs to the projector (on BNC and DB-15 connectors), an S-Video output from the onboard camera and an S-Video input to the graphics engine. The base also hosts a full-color LCD display that offers a graphical menu system for fixture setup and addressing, as well as live previews of onboard content.
Learning to Share: Content Management
With the media server living in the base of the fixture, users won’t always have easy access, making content management a larger challenge than it would be on a stack of Hippotizers at FOH. To this end, HES has developed a content management application to handle uploads of all user supplied content to the server(s).
Coincidentally named the “Content Management Application,” the CMA (for short) is available for Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Via a network connection with all of your DL.2s, the software allows you to upload user-provided content, as well as preview thumbnails of all stock and user content on-board the fixture. Once the fixtures are networked most fixture options can be adjusted remotely, including DMX addressing, network properties and channel count.
Once the CMA application is connected to the fixtures, content management is very simple, giving you a good amount of information and allowing for manual or automatic DMX assignments of all media.
A Big Box of Crayons: Stock Content
With the phenomenal success of their Catalyst media servers, HES apparently learned that users want stock content out of the box. And with the DL.2 ,that’s what you get. Fixtures arrive from the factory preloaded with over 1,000 pieces of royalty-free content. Much of the media has been created by in-house artists at HES, while small sets of content have been supplied by industry arthouses in an effort to advertise their capabilities. Also included are large catalogs of static images that replicate the gobo catalogs from HES, DHA, and Apollo. (All factory-loaded content is locked down, assuring that all DL.2s in circulation will have matching stock content.)
With a diverse set of stock media, many shows will be able to rely heavily on this preloaded set of files.
Making a Mural: The Collage Generator
One of the most innovative features of the DL.2 is the built-in “Collage Generator” mode, which allows users to create edgeblended panoramas and grids using up to sixteen fixtures. The collage mode was surprisingly easy to set up initially, with about 10 to 20 minutes dedicated to updating it on each tour stop. The manual includes an easyto- follow process for converging the units and setting them to display the proper portion of the “collage.”
Out on the Playground: Summary
With that said, improvements can still be made to the platform. The most notable issue was the stretching of content in collage mode. HES is currently sizing content to its native resolution in all modes for an upcoming software release. Also notable is the limit of three objects/layers at once. While it’s suitable for most applications, this certainly falls below the standards set by similar graphics engines.
Still, the projections from the DL.2s, in the right environment, can be stunning. We projected onto a 20-foot by 40-foot muslin backdrop with two edge-blended fixtures and got great results. In many cases the fixtures are set up off stage-right and stage-left in order to provide clean lines of sight to the band from the house. We’re pushing the keystone correction to its limit, and with about a 20-foot throw the images are crisp, clear and bright.
After six weeks on the road with these fixtures, I will definitely be looking to find more uses for them in future shows. The ability to add dynamic digital content to an event is now easier than ever.
