PILTON, UK –  Late Friday night, as they concluded their 90-minute set on Glastonbury’s acoustic stage, headliners Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott walked out for their first encore. Evoking an earlier time in Heaton’s iconic career, they performed a moving and soulful version of “Caravan of Love,” a song that was a No. 1 hit for Heaton when he was a member of the Housemartins.

It was a special moment for many fans, as the two artists melded their voices in a soft, sweet harmony that flowed as beautifully and naturally the summer breeze that wafted through Worthy Farm. Embracing the music and enhancing its magical effect was a Patrick Sollitt lightshow that he ran on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M.

“’Caravan of Love’, was my favourite look,” said Sollitt. “It was simple, nothing very complicated, just two colours that move together in a very gentle balanced way. I think it topped off the set perfectly.”

Working with a rig supplied by Fineline Lighting, Sollitt created a variety of other serene transformative looks that captured the deep, and gently evocative mood of the 21-song set.
The mellow aura notwithstanding, however, the road that took Sollitt to this show was not without its twist and turns.

“Glastonbury always has its own special set of challenges,” he said, speaking from experience after having worked multiple times at the festival. “There is no true global production in place, which can make things daunting at times. I came to the festival with a MQ500M in the back of my truck, but there was already a MQ500M and MQ250 at FOH. Still, you always have to be prepared at a festival!”

A ChamSys user since 2007, Sollitt credits the intuitive and user-friendly features of his MQ500M with helping him navigate his way through the festival experience. “There was no busking, I fully programmed for each song in the set,” he said. “There are a great many things about the MQ500M that made it easier for me to do this, and make last minute changes in festival environment. The seamless cloning and morphing are life savers, and they add to the quality of my show day-to-day in festival situations, while reducing the time it take for me to achieve great results.”

Sollitt, who used WYSIWYG to create plots, also relied on the 3D Visualiser to change up things like beam and gobo renderings. Additionally, he noted that the logical interface of the consoles and its two screens made his work process more fluid.

This, he says, helped “go with the flow” at Glastonbury … And given the relaxed vibe on this night, that seemed like a really nice thing to do.

PARIS –  Sometimes traveling 587 kilometers can be like entering a new world. Popular French comedian Maxime Gasteuil is familiar with this feeling, having journeyed from by train from his small (population under 2,000) village of Saint-Émilion in the south of France to seek the bright lights of Paris.

Gasteuil recounts this transition in a way that all thirty-somethings migrating to the French capital can relate to in “Arrive en Ville,” a show playing to sold out houses, and now the subject of an Amazon Prime program.

Witty, wry and insightful, the show is really more of a comedic narrative than a standup routine, as it contrasts Gasteuil’s life in his hometown, with its historic Romanesque churches and famous vineyards, to the fast pace of 21st century Paris, teeming with traffic, Starbucks coffee shops, nightclubs, and “rabbit cage apartments.”

Helping this entertaining narrative unfold is a richly-textured, theatrically flavored lighting design by the G!theimagineers team of Vincent Rautureau and Andreas Monschauer that was powered by a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M console.

Involving close to 300 fixtures and 50 universes when it debuted at Casino de Paris for nine sold out shows, which were recorded for the Amazon Prime, Arrive en Ville reflects the various situations, humorous and thought provoking, that Gasteuil finds himself in on his cultural odyssey.

“We started working on this show in July of last year and began preprogramming it in September for the January premiere in Paris,” said Monschauer, who ran the show on his ChamSys console. “This was quite different from a typical concert, in the sense that it was more intimate and had to tell a narrative. Throughout the process we did a lot of 3D drawings to show to Maxime and his team.”

A ChamSys user since 2010, Monschauer credits his MagicQ MQ 500 with making the complex show more manageable. “The Audio Timeline feature was extremely helpful,” he said. “I sent audio from the console and timeline and programming in a timecode was extraordinarily fast.

“Using our rig, we had to create multiple atmospheres with light by doing things like using beams to simulate windows in Paris apartments and pixel mapping FX to create the feeling of Maxime being on a train,” continued Monschauer. “And of course, the Pixel Mapper feature was a big help in allowing me to make different looks in no time!”

Color played a big role in Rautureau and Monschauer’s design concept. They used warm colors to reflect the friendly, supportive environment that surrounded Gasteuil in his village, and cold colors to evoke the different kind of mood when he encountered among the “arrogant” Parisians.

Arranging their fixtures in four rows that spanned almost the entire width of the stage, the two designers created a compelling sense of architecture. This not only served them well when creating urban looks for the Paris segments of the show, it also translated smoothly for the Amazon Prime crew’s cameras. Throughout the production, they accentuated the different moods of the set with adroitly executed changes in lighting.

“As long time ChamSys user, I never really thought about Motorised Faders, but the MQ500M is really a timesaver in this regard,” said Monschauer. “The ability to change banks from Playbacks to Masters with one button press is impressive. ”

In addition to crediting powerful console, Monschauer praises the staff that worked with the lighting design team on this show, noting that the producers, Magali Faure and Benjamin Demay; director/writer Edouard Pluvieux, production manager Matthieu Tortosa, and technical manager David Morcet among others were instrumental in supporting their efforts.

“This was an ambitious project that told many different stories, so it required a bold lighting design,” said Monschauer. “Thankfully the producers and directors gave us the freedom and support we needed.”

That support was well founded. Like a youngster from the country journeying to Paris for the first time, these designers had a big vision – and thanks to their talent, inspiration and hard work, along with some help from a powerful console, they made it all come true.

GHENT, BELGIUM – ChamSys has attracted an ever-increasing following in Benelux in recent years with many leading programmers and designers making the company’s product their console of choice for major festivals like Reverze, as well as at clubs and on tours. In response to this growing demand, the company has joined with AVL, its longtime distributor in the region, to found ChamSys Benelux.

The award-winning ChamSys line is now available for sale in Belgium directly from the company’s affiliate, Chauvet Europe BVBA (ChamSys Benelux). While in the Netherlands ChamSys will continue to be distributed by Aukes Theatretechniek, with the support of ChamSys Benelux behind them.

Under this new arrangement, AVL now works with ChamSys Benelux to supply the high level of support, that AVL has built over the last 20 years, with ChamSys Benelux bringing increased investment in local inventory of products and parts, ChamSys products will be more readily available than ever in Benelux.

Highly regarded industry figure Luc Buytaert of AVL has joined ChamSys Benelux and will remain the primary contact point for the company in the region. Now, however, Buytaert and his team will be able to draw on the global resources of ChamSys to provide unparalleled levels of training, support and after sales service.

The same resources will also increase the efficiency of the ChamSys supply chain in the region. This will result in optimal inventory levels of products and parts, as well as industry- standard-setting delivery times, all of which will be very much needed as ChamSys continues to expand its market share in Benelux.

For placing orders and sales: [email protected].
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About ChamSys
Based in the UK, ChamSys Ltd. was founded in 2003 by a group of designers and product developers seeking to create a lighting console that offered greater flexibility. The company’s MagicQ range has set an industry standard used in some of the most prominent concert, theatre, broadcast and club applications around the world. ChamSys was acquired in 2017 by Chauvet & Sons LLC, a leading global provider of professional luminaires, trusses, controllers and related equipment headquartered in the USA. For more information, visit www.chamsys.co.uk

LONDON – In 1999 the Greater London Authority wanted to do something special to mark the arrival of the new millennium, so they hit upon the idea of creating a 20-minute pyrotechnic extravaganza complete with a “River of Fire” on the Thames. Millennial fever has faded into history, as has Y2K and the River of Fire idea, but happily, what remains of that venture has emerged as an extraordinarily popular New Year’s Eve tradition.

The London New Year’s Eve Fireworks has attracted millions to the city every December 31st . Although safety protocols restricted crowds in London this year, the celebration was as popular and breathtaking as ever, garnering its customary huge audience of BBC viewers.

Developed by Jack Morton, the global brand experience agency, working in partnership with the Mayor of London’s office, the celebration features an impressive 13-minute firework display, kicked off by the ringing of Big Ben’s iconic bell, and a Durham Marenghi lighting design that covered the entire downtown.

Since it spanned such a wide area, the NYE lighting was divided into two sections: Central London and the Old Royal Naval College. Associate designer Paul Cook, ran the lighting in the first section, which included the Globe Theatre and St. Paul’s.

Cook used his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium Console to run the, 12-universe show at the Globe Theatre and an MQ80 for the 8-universe St. Paul’s rig. Both featured an array of dazzling looks, such as when St. Paul’s famous dome was immersed in stunning web of lasers by ER Productions’ Mark Payne. Each of these visuals was precisely timed to flow seamlessly with the TV broadcast, no small feat, but accomplished smoothly, thanks in part to some adroit programming skills.

The entire light show for the evening was pre-programmed and visualized on WYSIWYG and Depence2 to create a smooth work flow with no surprises for the client and the BBC, as there were to be no public rehearsals

The in-built Visualiser on Cook’s ChamSys consoles allowed him to check focus and programming details so he could fully pre-program his show prior to getting to the site. He brought the vis and patch into the console via a MVR file from the lighting plan data, so no actual redrawing or patching needed to be done. This saved him a great deal of time, as only slight morphing of fixtures was needed to achieve a fully functional and patched console prior to plotting.

Elaborating on how his consoles helped him meet the challenge of preprogramming and executing his show with such precision, Cook said: “We had to ensure that the lighting of the live action sequences were balanced; so, the Group Master functions were used extensively to control the balance for the TV, thereby ensuring the exposures were under control. Also, the ease of programming and morphing new fixtures was great in allowing me to accommodate rig changes very easily.”

The Execute Fader feature of his consoles also helped Cook manage his complex show under time pressure. For example, on those back up consoles that did not have the required number of faders, he was able to use his Execute Faders as GM masters.

On the subject of dealing with time pressure, Cook praised the efforts of Rob Watson and the team at Lights Control Rigging for installing a “faultless system” at the Globe Theatre and St. Paul’s.

The smooth teamwork made for a very happy New Year’s Eve, a night on which “hope smiles for the threshold of the year to come,” as poet Laurette Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote many New Year’s ago.

If that be the case, then it smiled very brightly this night in central London with help from a brilliantly executed lightshow.

STOCKPORT, UK – The hit Starz TV series Outlander has captivated global audiences with its intensely visceral tale centered around time travel. And with the passage of time, of course, comes change, which is something that Jon Towler can appreciate as lighting programmer and console operator for the program.

Towler, of Nineteen Sixtyone Ltd., began working on Outlander when it debuted in 2013 at the invitation of its HOD Gaffer Scott Napier, and has been with the program for all six seasons since. In that time, the show has made a major transition from tungsten and HMI heavy lighting into a rig consisting mostly of LED fixtures.

“Things change, and as technology has advanced, the lighting has transitioned dramatically,” said Towler. “The biggest surprise to me was how quickly the show embraced LED & wireless DMX. To give you an idea of how dramatically things changed, we started Season 1 with eight universes of DMX for the studio (controlling mostly tungsten & fluorescent). We ended Season 6 with 180 universes of DMX in the studio and 12 Universes of wireless DMX.

“The transition to pixelated LED fixtures and wireless DMX has created the tool kit the DOP always dreamed of,” continued Towler. “However, it’s also introduced new issues of how to control all the different types of fixtures, with each manufacturer taking different approaches to control and colour spaces. My biggest challenge as programmer/console operator is to ensure that as these changes have taken place, there are always as many options available to the DOP in the shortest time possible.”

Helping Towler navigate is way through these changes, along with the other challenges involved in lighting a program that takes place in varied locations, are his own ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console and MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Wing. (Outlander also carries two MagicQ MQ100 units supplied by Panalux for some filming sites as well as a QuickQ 30 and QuickQ 20, owned by the Gaffer for smaller locations and camera tests.)

“Thanks to the high (256) universe count on the ChamSys MQ500M, I was able to make the decision to use all fixtures in 16-bit and Pixel control modes,” said Towler. “This gave the DOP and Gaffer the ability to run effects on any fixture at a moment’s notice without needing to repatch or change modes, which saves time, something you are always short on with a program like this. By the end of filming, we had amassed a total of 180 ArtNet Universes used.

“I should also add that not having to worry about parameter counts, means I don’t have to take a conservative approach to the lighting control,” he continued. “Everybody knows sets get added and the lighting rig grows constantly. So, it’s a relief to know I can always accommodate.”

All of the floor lighting kit is controlled using wireless DMX (LumenRadio CRMX). With the large selection of floor lamps pixelated, Towler had to up the wireless universe count to 12, which he anticipates increasing as the program continues.

Towler described how MagicQ Swatch helped him balance colors for the program. “The issue we have with fixtures in TV & Film, is that they are mostly calibrated to different colour spaces,” he said. “This is a big challenge when trying to match the colour on different fixtures. To resolve this issue, I populate the personality palettes with the fixture’s CCT & filters. I also use custom user swatches in addition to the MagicQ Swatches, and add colorimetry for all noncalibrated fixtures. The combination of all these methods gives me the best chance of colour matching.”

Filming locations for Outlander change virtually every day, and include castles, forests, outdoor sets, studio sets, and listed buildings. The same level of lighting control is required regardless of where the filming occurs.

Towler has a shooting kit that travels to all sets and locations. All consoles have the same base programming/patching, so everything is seamless. By networking the stages Towler can control all the Stages from one central point, while retaining the option to have a console in the Studio if required.

Almost all programming for Outlander, including effects, is done only minutes before the camera turns over, noted Towler, who states “the speed at which I am able to work, and the flexibility within MagicQ, is why I am a loyal ChamSys user!”

Other features of his console that Towler finds indispensable on Outlander are The Output Plan View (“it would be nearly impossible to control a show of this size without it.”) and Motorised Faders (“a feature you don’t realise how much you need until you use a console without it.”)

Making full use of his console’s robust features and working closely with the DOP and Gaffer, Towler has been delivering impeccable lighting control for Outlander season after season through advances in technology and changing location demands. There are many reasons why the show has been justifiably praised for making a fantastical tale seem so believable. This impressive accomplishment belongs somewhere on that list.

BYTOM, POLAND – Michal Hyra could have been forgiven if he wondered what else could go wrong. Chosen to light the grand finale of the two-month long celebration of Tryptyk powstańczy – pamięć ziemi, which marked 100th anniversary of the Third Silesian Uprising, he found his rehearsal time for the on June 25th event severely curtailed by unrelenting rain on the 23rd and 24th. 

Despite this issue, Hyra was able to create a captivating lighting design that engrossed the large crowd gathered in Byton’s historic Market Square as well as those watching the livestream of one of the most important events in Poland. Dynamic and deftly executed, his smooth color changes and seamless transitions flowed naturally with the traditional Polish folk dancers on stage. Later in the evening, when the initial performers were replaced by a rock band, he created a tour-like show.

Helping Hyra accomplish this feat was the ChamSys Magic MQ 500 Stadium console that he used to run his 8-universe show. “I started learning MagicQ almost exactly a year ago and I’ve been using MQ500 since September of 2020,” he said. “It proved its worth on this project, which was carried out as a final part of the Metropolitan celebrations.

Recalling 100th anniversary project’s challenging start, Hyra said: “Due to the heavy rain, we had to program the whole show with only a reduced number of dancers, our director Karolina Widera, and our LD Paweł Murlik, present. We had to listen to a partial rehearsal from the day before to figure things out. This is where the MagicQ stepped in!”

Hyra credits his console’s “easy on the fly cue editing,” with helping him adapt. He notes that thanks to this capability he was able to change looks quickly to reflect the vision of his director. The user-friendly intuitive interface of the MagicQ MQ 500 Stadium also made it easier for him to busk.

“Since we didn’t have a real dress rehearsal, a whole bunch of stuff like strips and front lights had to be busked outside of the main cue stack,” he said. “Not to mention, that second part of the whole show was a rock concert, which I busked. So, the flexibility of my console was very appreciated.”

Another feature of the MagicQ MQ 500 that earned praise for Hyra was its UPS. “This turned out to be very valuable. “I also really liked the capacity of the screen desk, as groups alone took three quarters of one screen. Plus, the built-in patch-list generator, auto groups by fixture names, and color tagging all made things easier for me.”

Having tools that made his work easier was especially important to Hyra on this evening when so many factors outside of his control presented obstacles. But adversity often brings out the best in creative efforts — and at this national celebration that’s precisely what it did for this talented programmer and designer.

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA – The marriage between lighting and set design is never far from Crt Birsa’s mind. Only when light absorbs itself completely in its surroundings, can it exert its full power to transform. This is always true, he believes, but especially so when lighting television productions, where the limited and less forgiving eye of the camera replaces live human vision.

“In TV shows lighting has to walk hand in hand with set design,” he said. “There must be tight collaboration between the lighting and set designers for the total design to reach the level of perfection that the camera demands.”

Birsa and his frequent collaborator set designer Greta Godnic achieved this level, and then some, for a NYE special run by Slovenian National Television (RTV) in its famed Studio 1.  Powering his five universe show with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80, he wove light from 101 fixtures (not counting key lights) so tightly around the set’s myriad crystalline structures that they fused into a single spectacular vista that mesmerized from every camera angle.

“On TV projects I usually work with Greta,” he said. “We make most of the things together. There is my input on her set designs, and there is her input on my lighting designs, so we can’t really say who did what. When building the set design, we are already thinking where to put the lights and where to leave space.

“In this project, the geometric structures represented ice spikes or crystals, and were made from semi-transparent plastic material, “continued Birsa. The crystals were meant to be lit with the lights. Because they were semi-transparent, the light beams went through them to become part of the structure itself.”

Precise timing of colors was critically important in making the collaborative design achieve its intended effect. Birsa credits his MagicQ MQ80 with helping him in obtain this level of control. “As I have done a lot of jobs with RTV, importing palettes was really important,” he said. “The speed of my desk was critical to this timing. It gave me a fast way to bring my show file to the starting point.

“The Cue Stack macros of  the MQ80, which make it possible for one cue to control (activate, release or manipulate) many other cues or playbacks, were also very important for programming the show,“ said Birsa. “They helped me start all the right cues on time. Something else that was really valuable about my ChamSys in this show was being able to replace a palette in a cue or a whole cue stack.”

Another challenging aspect of lighting this television show was that the set had to be treated like a 360ﹾ stage. “We had to cover all angles for the camera,” said Birsa. “At the same time, we had to make sure that the key lights did not bleed onto the set and detract from our colors. The RTV technicians who ran the key lights did a great job avoiding the set in such a small place. Also, by allowing me to  transfer  my ideas to reality very quickly, my desk helped me manage this tricky situation.”

Everything in his complex project was pre-programmed on his MagicQ MQ80, notes Birsa. This helped ensure that there were “no special surprises” in his show. 

No “special surprises” perhaps for this talented designer, but for those who tuned in on RTV, the show was a rewarding journey into the surprising visual delights that unexpectedly arise when light and its surroundings become one.

TRIESTE, ITALY – With its exquisitely light and airy Neo-Renaissance forms, the Nicolò Bruno-designed Politeama Rossetti theatre affords excellent views from each of its 1,531 seats. Regardless of where visitors find themselves in the historic venue, however, they can only see the stage from one angle at a time.

No such limitation exists for livestream viewers, though, and that, believes Crt Birsa, changes the fundamental trajectory of a lighting design. “The live audience has just one point of view,” he explained. “But in a livestream each camera is a new point of view that has to look good. The viewer sees things from all angles, so your design has to present a very consistent image from one end to the other.”

Birsa provided a breathtaking example of this principle in December when lighting a one-hour livestream at Politeama Rossetti for the Trieste-based guitar quartet 40 Fingers. Covering the stage with a seamless and tightly woven pattern of gobos and beams, his 15-universe, 110-fixture show enveloped the four artists in an all-embracing panorama that reflected their lively performance. 

Powering his preprogrammed show was a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console and PC Wing. “The show was designed in WYSWIG and run on my MQ80 with the Wing for backup,” said Birsa. “I have been using ChamSys for 10 years, ever since a retailer in Slovenia convinced me that the company’s consoles would do all that I want faster and more logically than an alternative.  His advice was certainly true.

“The MagicQ MQ80 was a big help in this show,” continued Birsa. “It is powerful with enough universe support for a show of this size. (It’s capable of handling 48 DMX universes.) Plus, it’s fast to program, and fast in editing cues. By simplifying things, my MQ80 frees up my creative side.”

Birsa’s creativity was on full display during the 40 Fingers livestream. Pulling out all the stops, he served up an explosive array of bold immersive looks,  showering the quartet with flood of split beam and gobo patterns one moment, then directing a quasar-like torrent of intense rays out to the empty theatre seats the next. 

“Because there was no audience, and the show was made just for the camera, I could do a lot of looks that I would normally stay away from out of fear of blinding  people in the seats,” said Birsa. “This opens up a lot of creative possibilities and the chance to push things in bolder directions. I am fortunate that Vigna PR believed my crazy ideas and helped bring them to life for this show and that the Event Lighting crew did such a great job setting up the rig.”

By creating sweeping looks, Birsa ensured that his design would present a smoothly flowing image to viewers from every camera angle. “Being aware of all the cameras, we wanted to cover all the main backgrounds with light,” he said. “Of course, we also used the very nice ambience of the venue itself as often as possible.

In addition to creating his big picture vistas, Birsa ensured that each song had its own look.

“This was still a concert and light must support the music,” he said. “I think that in a livestream setting, because there is no audience, concerts are becoming more and more visual. The looks we create can be stronger, as long as we don’t lose sight of the music.”

Supporting the performance on stage, must always be at the heart of any show, affirms Birsa. But for now, while working livestreams, he is free to push his designs in directions that are bolder and more comprehensive than ever.

BREMEN, GERMANY – Chauvet Germany GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChamSys’ parent company, is now exclusively responsible for selling and servicing the complete line of ChamSys products in the German market. In conjunction with this move, which reflects ChamSys’ commitment to building on its success in Germany, Frank Alofs has been appointed the German Business Development, Training and Support manager.

Highly regarded throughout the industry, Alofs brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his new position. “We’re very excited to be direct in Germany and to welcome Frank to our team,” said Henning Oeker, Operations Manager for Chauvet Germany. In his new role, Alof will be responsible for conducting training sessions and tutorials that cover the full range of ChamSys consoles in German. Information on these can be found on ChamSys’ new German language website: www.chamsyslighting.de and social media support page: www.facebook.com/chamsysgermany 

“Going direct gives us greater resources to meet the demands created by our rapid growth in Germany,” said Chris Kennedy, managing director of ChamSys. This, combined with the deep understanding of the market that Frank brings to ChamSys, puts us in an ideal position to build on the success we’ve already achieved, so we can grow even more in 2021.”

Frank Alofs is equally optimistic as he assumes his new position. “I have always been a big believer in ChamSys products,” he said. “They offer a practical, realistic and user-friendly solution to programmers and designers. The sky is truly the limit.”

ChamSys products will be more readily available than ever in Germany. Poised as it is for growth in the year ahead, this is a welcome development for its expanding base of customers in the German market.

NEW ALRESFORD, UK – Seen from a distance, the Steam Illumination Christmas Train appears like a rolling band of moving light cutting through the dark night as it rolls past the farms and fields of the Hampshire countryside. To those inside, the experience is even more magical, as they find themselves immersed in a rotating tunnel of brilliant colors and patterns. 

Covered entirely by LED lights, this special 120-metre-long train seems like something out of a fantastical Hollywood Christmas movie suddenly come to life in South East England. In reality, however, it was the result of extensive of planning and hard work by the nonprofit Mid Hants Railway’s Watercress Line and a creative team that includes Simon Horn.

The owner of Purple Lighting in West Sussex, Horn was responsible for designing and programming the 78-universe Steam Illuminations lightshow with the help of his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M console and MagicVis software. “This was the kind of project you become completely immersed in,” he said. “The Watercress Line typically has visits with Santa every December, but this year that was impractical because of COVID, so the foundation turned to something new.

Horn spent two weeks programming and four months on background research for his show, which involved two Steam Illumination trains, each adorned with 14,000 individual fixtures. (Some fixtures are banked, so the console sees just shy of 10,000 heads and pixels.) He programmed roughly 1000 cues for his show, breaking them down into an internally timecoded cue stack for each section, which cover the intervals between the two stations on the 20-mile roundtrip route as well as the time spent at each station.

“I programmed everything on my MQ500M,” said Horn. “Although the design was originally built on another software, I ended up using the MagicVis Visuliser to preprogram this show, as it was far more stable and smoother with visualizing such a big array of pixels.”

The ability to manage a large number of pixels was a key benefit of using the MagicQ MQ500M in this project, according to Horn “Being able to make pixelmap grids automatically from the plot, saved me days of work, as 10,000 pixels all in a slightly complicated array would have been nearly impossible to do myself,” said Horn.

Given the size and scope of this lightshow, the channel capacity of the MQ500M was another important benefit for Horn. “At 78 Universes and with limited space on the train for control gear, my console was a life saver, because it handled everything with no need for any racks of external processing.

“The on-board audio playback was also essential,” continued Horn. “Using the console to play back the Audio content was a fantastic help. One gain, the meant I needed less equipment. It was nice and simple to have an all-in-one solution with audio and time code all in one place!”

Aside from dealing with cramped quarters, Horn also had to content with power and data distribution issues. “There are a great many long cable runs in a railroad environment,” he said. “This can play havoc with distribution. We got around this by using custom waterproofed and powerful PSU and drive modules that were built for this application with its complex cabling system.”

Dealing with these issues freed Horn to push the creative envelope for Steam Illuminations. For example, he created immersive and memorable looks by rolling an intensity effect from one side of the train over the roof and down the other side. In addition to creating a jaw-dropping impression on those viewing the train from the outside, this created an engaging tunnel effect for the train’s socially distant passengers.

Horn also used his lighting to play off the tress that the train passed along its 20-mile roundtrip route. Hitting the trees from two angles from the wash lights under the train, he created animated color shadows that mesmerized passengers as they passed through wooded areas.

At some points, Horn even created rainbow chase effects, something he normally avoids.

“In the concert world, I would look at these as ‘my first lightshow’ kind of effects,” he said. “But as it’s Christmas — and also as a nod to our hard-working NHS – I did it, and frankly it looks pretty epic in this scenario.”

For those visiting Steam Illuminations, which ends January 3, many of the looks created for this event will be “epic.” By combing a centuries old form of transportation with cutting edge lighting technology, this popular attraction is transporting visitors away from the daily concerns of life in 2020, to a place where the magic of the Holidays blooms in vibrant color.