Outdoor lighting for building opening

[lxdad]

LEDs sound like a splendid idea. Pulsar chromafloods are brilliant and will easily light a building... I am not sure what reality show you are talking about, my mum only lets me watch BBC at home.

 

LXDad

[chrishandcock]

LEDs wil do you good outdoor colour changes, there are some great led fittings. The searchlights are usually big discharge lamps, 10K woukd be nothing excessive. Can you get the power. Does the building have a supply that you can use outside?

 

Think about the time of day and year, NOTHING competes with the sun as a lightsource!

 

LED's would be another option. Doesn't the chroma range need special power and control equipment. Also I have not seen places hiring it.

 

Power wise, it is an egineering block, and isn't finished yet, I am trying to find out what kind of power they have. I'm guessing some of the big machines need hefty power supplies. If not I'm thinking of a generator.

 

As I say so far I was thinking of using around 8 mac 2K's (4 wash and 4 profile both with electronic ballasts) and around 4 city colours. So could run it off one phase of a 3 phase 125 amp power source.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

Any more suggestions, let me know

 

Also I forgot to say, it will be dark as it will be mid evening in november.

Also as an extra bit of info, I'm operating it from a fat frog desk, if the lighting I hire needs DMX.

Obviously a stand alone searchlight will not need DMX.

 

And 10K sound a bit excessive for my need, I'm thinking more around 1 - 4 K

 

And if anyone has experience with the chroma floods, how many do you think I may need just to light up the whie front bits in the picture. Does seem like a very good idea though. Any idea of places that hire them.

 

They do look very effective on big brother. looking at it on tv a minute ago, I reckon I'd need about 14, at a guess. Does that sound about right?

[niclights]

All the powerful LED floods will do similar jobs. SGM & Delta units are standard hard power+DMX. They have moving versions should you wish along with various stand-alone/remote control options. I've never used the Pulsar floods. I have other Chroma fixtures that require CromaZone but thought you'd have more pleasure checking their pdf's on this than I would :P All three have lens options which might affect how many you need to cover that building.

 

The main thing I wanted to add was, remember the 'environmentally friendly' feature. LED option will be vastly more PC than the City Colours and that's without talking consumables and man-hours in maintainance/lamp replacement. This can often make them instantly budget friendly :(

[chrishandcock]

All the powerful LED floods will do similar jobs. SGM & Delta units are standard hard power+DMX. They have moving versions should you wish along with various stand-alone/remote control options. I've never used the Pulsar floods. I have other Chroma fixtures that require CromaZone but thought you'd have more pleasure checking their pdf's on this than I would :P All three have lens options which might affect how many you need to cover that building.

 

The main thing I wanted to add was, remember the 'environmentally friendly' feature. LED option will be vastly more PC than the City Colours and that's without talking consumables and man-hours in maintainance/lamp replacement. This can often make them instantly budget friendly :(

 

Yeah. It does sound like a really good idea. I did have a look at the chroma flood 200's and they seem to not require the chromazone. I'm normally all for LED's, hired some LED pars for a project I did a few months ago, but for some reason they didn't instantly spring to mid when I started thinking about this.

The thing is though, I would probably choose to hire everything from stage lx, and they don't do LED fixtures for hire, except for the Pixelline LED Batten.

 

Anyone know where I can hire them. Won't they be quite expensive???

[niclights]

Doh! There I am answering like this is an install and not reading the big title thingy.... Still think it's better option though. Try Siyan for Palcos. They've got loads!

[chrishandcock]

Doh! There I am answering like this is an install and not reading the big title thingy.... Still think it's better option though. Try Siyan for Palcos. They've got loads!

 

Thanks anyway. Yeah the power would be better anyway. Could run most of it off a 13 amp plug if I needed to. Bit better than a 125 amp generator!!! Cheaper and easier anyway.

[son of lx dad]

for your search lights a mac 2k would likely be quite sufficient, it doesn't matter how bright your beams are if there's nothing in the air for the light to bounce off you wont see the beams (thats the advantage of doing gigs in November - natural haze).

 

you could indeed use city colours to do the 'wash' job tho these units are actually quite hard to get hold of especially when the darker months kick in. Even tho LEDs are very efficient, and you could use a lot with not much power, dont let the power of the camera deceive you, the BB house is only two stories high and the light does thin at the top. As an alternative I would suggest mac600 with wide angled lenses as a good wash light for the purpose, you may be surprised at the results.

 

If the set up is just for one day and it happens not to rain on that day or even if it does lightly rain you may get away without exterior domes, this is a personal judgement call im not suggesting you should, but it may not be the end of the world if you didnt use them as long as the units were running hot the whole time.

 

Stage LX do indeed dry hire the chroma flood 200 unit and you are correct in thinking that it is a stand alone unit only requiring DMX and hard mains in, no 'zone' needed.

 

Having used the Palco on festival gigs last year I didnt personally feel these were very good units I thought the light output poor in an outdoor architectural situation.

[chrishandcock]

Would the mac 600 exterior work as well? I think I'd probably go with the Domes with them, just in case.

 

Thanks for the advise one the rest of it.

 

Would you have a rough idea of how many 600's I'd need to cover the area I want to light. I presume a 2k wash would be just as good (with the wide angled lense)

 

The chroma flood's would probable do the trees quite well, if I wanted to light up them.

 

Thanks for ur help

 

Any more advice is very welcome

Chris

[Ken Coker]

Do stop me if you've heard this one....

 

They have asked for some searchlight effects and also some lighting up the building maybe. They seem to be happy with whatever I can give them really.

They have quite a large budget for the event.

 

So might it not be worthwhile considering the design aspect of the event rather than just what kit does? One of the real issues, I think, of architectural lighting is that buildings are just "lit" rather than having their lighting designed. A classic, in my view, is the "Threepenny-bit" building in Croydon; here, a very ugly building has been lit and still looks ugly - just red, green and blue ugly.

 

I suppose it could be argued that the OP wanted specifically technical advice and had no desire to have an artistic oar put in; I shall therefore shut up.

 

Great idea to post a pic! I look forward to the before and after shots in November.

 

Cheers

 

KC

[chrishandcock]

That's quite ok.

I would say I was looking for more of the technical aspect. But so far as design go's, I have never done anything like this before so and help would be much appreciated.

 

The search light effect is easy. I don't have a problem with that. But it's the lighting up of the building that is a bit more difficult.

 

I was originally thinking of just lighting up the semi circle bit in on colour, that could obviously be changed. This would just give a focal point to the building and just emphasise the entrance, which is probably wht they are after really.

 

But I could light up all the white bits on the front. I don't know how it would work lighting up the glass? If I could light the glass, the entrance would look quite cool. Then I could light that bit from the inside if I wanted.

 

I would say though, that I do need to know what certain bits of kit do in this situation before I can really design anything.

It would also be helpful for me to see the building, rather than working from a drawing. I've seen the building as it is mainly completed. But there is still a building where the paved area will be so I can't see the entrance, etc yet.

 

And I'll make sure I take some pics for you to see.

 

Chris

[niclights]

From a design point of view assuming the building remains white as in the model you are being given the perfect canvas. It seems natural to make use of this but only you can decide what to do with it. That's what it's all about. Highlighting architectural features & being discreet perhaps? Sometimes the best designs are the ones noone notices. That's what I keep telling myself....

 

Regarding the glass you cannot illuminate it from the front but great potential for lighting from within.

[chrishandcock]

A question in terms of using Mac 600 exteriors.

 

Firstly, how far away from the building would I need them to get a good, even coverage.

 

Secondly, how many would I need? ( I will try and get some rought dimensions of the building soon.

 

And lastly, How to they stand up. Do they have a stable base like a normal mac. The only pic's I've seen show just the actual head of the unit.

 

 

Chris

[peternewman]

The chroma flood's would probable do the trees quite well, if I wanted to light up them.

Don't underestimate the ability of the humble 300/500W sunflood AKA a bog standard outdoor security light, for uplighting trees. I've also had some success gelling them as RGB and doing somewhat crude colour mixing. It may well be something to consider at the lower end of the budget and gives loads of bang for your buck.

[chrishandcock]

The chroma flood's would probable do the trees quite well, if I wanted to light up them.

Don't underestimate the ability of the humble 300/500W sunflood AKA a bog standard outdoor security light, for uplighting trees. I've also had some success gelling them as RGB and doing somewhat crude colour mixing. It may well be something to consider at the lower end of the budget and gives loads of bang for your buck.

 

Very true. Depends on what I decide to do with the design. I may want them to cycle through colours. But I will have a think.

[niclights]

Indeed. Sometimes that simple tungsten source is the most beautiful thing, even if it's not so 'green'!