RED WING, MN — Aye, matey, a toucan may be a twist on the legendary parrot-and-pirate partnership that has its origins with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island character, Long John Silver. But it’s still a colorful, tropical bird, and it’s a big part of the logo for the Treasure Island Resort and Casino owned by the Prairie Island Indian Community. Alternative Video Solutions, Inc. (AVS) used PixelArc architectural LED luminaires to give the 25-foot-by-15-foot toucan at the renovated hotel’s entrance a multi-colored glow. The toucan was built by 3 Ring Scenic, made from reflective aluminum and painted white. The bird comes alive at dusk, lit by three PixelArc R heads installed inside the structure and three more PixelArc Cs on the outside.
“The PixelArcs do a perfect job of getting the toucan to come to life,” said Ron Thill of AVS. “We were confident the lights would work beautifully,” Thill added, noting the company’s use of the fixtures before.
The three PixelArc R heads installed inside the bird are run off a single six-way power supply/controller. This lets these fixtures be controlled and change colors together, while the PixelArc Cs installed on the outside are run off individual power supplies wired together via DMX and run in slave mode. This also allows these fixtures to be controlled and change colors together.
AVS intentionally kept the control for the PixelArc Rs and Cs separate so that the inside and the outside of the bird could glow in different color combinations.
“The PixelArcs specified and installed by AVS far and away exceeded our expectations,” said Chris Hand at 3 Ring Scenic. “We weren’t sure what to think at the design stage, but the toucan really comes to life with the rich colors produced by the PixelArcs.”
PixelArcs are UL-approved and IP65-rated. They are available as self contained units with circular (PixelArc C) or rectangular (PixelArc R) heads. For compact spaces, PixelArc R is also available as a head only, which can be controlled via an external source.
For more information, please visit www.pixelrange.com.
