JSHAA News

Lot’s of new product announcements!

Apollo is excited to announce that a major part of its 2010 new product lineup is a result of exclusive USA distribution agreements reached with two European manufacturers.

Despite numerous dealer requests, Apollo chose to let the market evolve before entering the LED arena – until now! Select units from English lighting brand Multiform’s line of quality, mid-range priced LEDs will be available from Apollo in January 2010. Click here to view the units chosen. They will prove ideal for a variety of event production applications, with additional products becoming available later in the year.

A second new product path for Apollo will be taken as a result of an agreement with Italian manufacturer Spotlight Srl. The company’s upscale MINI line of architectural lighting fixtures and Apollo’s gobo expertise will combine to offer designers high quality projection and accent lighting solutions for retail and architectural applications, including window displays, exhibit areas, hotels, museums, and houses of worship. Click here to view the products.

As experts for almost 35 years in the stage world, with thousands of lighting installations worldwide, we have closely scrutinized the state of the art of rigging. ETC has developed this new range of rigging products with the same spirit of pioneering technological innovation that brought the industry the Source Four spotlights. Prodigy™ hoists and QuickTouch™ controls literally and figuratively raise the bar – setting new standards for safety, smarter design, and affordability.

But the technological innovation is just one part of our plan to serve this market. ETC is partnering with the most experienced and qualified rigging installers and supporting them with our unmatched project management, service and manufacturing to provide complete, safe and affordable rigging solutions.

Click here for more information.

Lighting & Electronics has a few new fixtures coming out this year. Click here for more information. I’m anxious to check out their new LED Worklite:

Lex has introduced its new line of EverGrip
Maintenance-Free Molded Multi-Cable Assemblies. EverGrip connectors go through two separate molding processes to ensure that they are exceptionally tough, remarkably safe, and maintenance free. Click for more info.

They’ve also added a new dimmer aimed at the motion picture market, the 1.8k Slim Dimmer. The Slim Dimmer is an 1800 Watt, 120VAC electronic dimmer with NEMA 5-15 (Edison) connectors. It is a compact, rugged, unfiltered dimmer with onboard fader control and digital intensity display.

Littlite now has an add-on accessory for their very successful line of LED Littlites, the "Littlite Dimmer Controller". It provides dimming control for multiple Littlite lampsets in any combination of High Intensity, Low Intensity and LED up to a 1 Amp draw. It operates on an input voltage of 12-28 VDC. Standard 2.1mm connectors for power supply input and output to lights.

Rosco has re-vamped their Flamex line.

Roscoflamex fire retardants have been formulated to meet the extreme needs of the entertainment industry, designed to treat the wide range of diverse materials used in scenery, props and costume construction. Roscoflamex products meet fire retardant standards as established by NFPA, ASTM, ANSI, and UL and have been approved by the CA Fire Marshall and New York City Fire Dept.

More info can be found here.

SeaChanger is continuing to produce some amazing lighting products.

	Nautilus is the first outdoor color engine with a LIFI® plasma source that delivers 10,000 lumens out of the fixture while using only 330 watts of power. The LIFI® source leads a new class of solid-state plasma light sources that combine the best features of solid-state electronics and full spectrum plasma emitters.
	The Nautilus Wash is the first all-inclusive outdoor fixture from SeaChanger that provides soft illumination using a LIFI® plasma light source. This self-contained dichroic color changer has an internal power supply, 4 channel DMX and RDM capability for easy operation.
	The Nemo Profile is the first SeaChanger color-changing fixture with a LIFI® plasma light source. Using your existing ETC Source Four® front-end barrels and an assortment of ETC FOV optics, the Nemo comes equipped with a dimmer wheel to control the intensity of the light output.
	The Nemo Wash is the first all-inclusive fixture from SeaChanger that provides soft illumination using a LIFI® plasma light source. This self-contained dichroic color changer has an internal power supply, 4-channel DMX and RDM capability for easy operation.
	The CTE is the latest in the SeaChanger line of lighting products designed to deliver an energyefficient class of high intensity lighting, using proven plasma technology. The CTE is the first replacement lamp, which includes a housing and reflector, that turns your ETC Source Four® lens barrels into a LIFI® plasma source.

StageJunk has come out with another great tool for technicians: The Ratcheting Ultimate Focus Tool. All the great features as the Ultimate Focus Tool, but now with a ratcheting head.

Thern Stage Equipment introduced their new Brickhouse Front-Loading Counterweight Arbor Systems. Some of the features and benefits include:

• Ergonomic Loading with front-loading design and weight shelves that allow counterweight bricks to be loaded at the most convenient location.
• Secure Operation provided by sloped weight shelves that eliminate spreader plates and use gravity to hold counterweight bricks in place during operation.
• Self-Engaging Gate (Image A) is spring-loaded to fully enclose arbor structure and prevent accidental escape of counterweight bricks.
• Longer Travel Distances than possible with traditional side-loading arbors due to the compact designs.
• Convenient Installation using traditional T or J bar wall frames.

The Cygnus™ 200W Wash is an extremely efficient next-generation LED wash light, one of the only luminaires in the world to use integrated RGBW LED elements for excellent in-lens color mixing.

There’s more new product info coming in, so as soon as I get the info, I’ll be passing it along!

Contact your JSHAA sales person for more information or to place an order!

Ultratec Special Effects has announced the release of their new Dry Icer Low Lying Fogger.

The Dry Icer is a New and Improved Professional, Cost Effective Solution for creating Spectacular Low-Lying Fog Effects. This sleek new design has a 20 pound Dry Ice capacity which is placed in a Stainless Steel Basket. Other new features are Low Water Shut Off Indicator, 4” Hose Adaptor and Heavy Duty Latches on the Lid. The Low-Lying Fog Output is controlled by lowering the Stainless Steel Basket with the 3 Step Pivoting Ratchet System. This will allow the basket to ease into the boiling water to create continuous Low-Lying Fog for approximately 5 minutes.

ETC Education has put together a series of training videos for their Ion console. When you purchase a new console you will receive the Fundementals 1 DVD, which can also be purchased through any of our offices, or watched online. Fundementals 2 will be available soon.

For ETC Element users, training videos are available to watch online or download.

All of their training videos are also available to watch on YouTube.

Don’t forget about Apollo’s summer gel rebate special! It ends Sept. 22!!

Lightwright 5 has officially been released!

New in Lightwright 5

Features Lightwright/Vectorworks Data Exchange, a new and easy way to share data
with Vectorworks Spotlight 2009!

• Worksheet reconciliation compares and synchronizes show files
• Share files and worknotes via network and built-in email
• Completely rethought and enhanced worknotes
• Global search across all worksheet columns
• Complete history of all changes, with flexible rollback options
• Wheel design window for moving lights
• Color scroll design window
• Template pictures
• New standard colors choose list and color swatches on the worksheet
• Live instrument and accessory counts
• Automatic dimmer load balancing
• More than one show file can be open at a time
• 18 flexible user-definable columns

Lightwright just keeps getting better and better!

Upgrade pricing is available for individual and institutional licenses.
Upgrades must be in the same name and serial number as the original buyer.
Student Licenses must be in the name of one individual student. Not upgradable to future versions of LW.
"Student license is for a period of three years." Requires valid student ID to be verified by dealer prior to purchase.

Contact your JSHAA sales person to place an order!

Good news for iPhone and iPod Touch users:

An agreement has been reached to add Apollo patterns and color filters to Wybron’s Moiré Gobo Library and Gel Swatch Library iPhone apps. After Apple approves these revisions, which could take up to three weeks, new downloads of these apps would then include Apollo gobos and gel. Current owners of the apps will receive notification of these updates.

I’ve been playing with both the Moiré and Gel Swatch apps, and they’re great tools to have.

New from Apollo:

Now available is a DMX version of the Smart Move Jr. gobo rotator. Fitting conveniently into the ETC Source 4 Jr. fixture, the Smart Move Jr. DMX offers all the features of the Smart Move plus DMX control and indexing of one S4J size metal or glass pattern. List price $445.00.

Tracking for a record year in power supply sales signals that users are recognizing the efficiency and functionality of Apollo’s new Smart Power 200, 400, and 600. With an impressive feature set and list prices ranging from $695 – $1295, the Smart Powers provide more watts per dollar and exceptional value. Click here to check them out.

APOLLO DESIGN LOSES ITS NAMESAKE
With heavy hearts we announce the loss of our company’s beloved namesake. Apollo provided Joel & Keersten Nichols with great companionship for 23 years. While he no longer grazes the pastures of the Nichols’ homestead, Apollo’s name and image live on.

ETC has announced that they are officially taking orders for their new console, Element.

Based on ETC’s award-winning Eos® control system but with a simplified feature set in a stand-alone console, Element was designed expressly for modest rigs and maximum hands-on fader control. Affordable and easy to use, Element packs in the fundamentals of lighting control. Element comes in two hardware versions, based on fader count, to suit your rig. Each supports either 250 or 500 channels and two full universes of DMX output:

• Element 40 – 250 Channels
• Element 40 – 500 Channels
• Element 60 – 250 Channels
• Element 60 – 500 Channels

With the release of Element, ETC has also changed the Ion console into a quotations only item. ETC is also responding to end-user feedback, and will include training as part of the Ion pricing.

Rosco has updated their Professional’s Guide to Projection Screens.

Click on the photo to see the PDF!

Contact your JSHAA sales person to place an order!

I’m getting very lax in the sharing of news! My apologies. Hopefully this will make up for it!

Two New LED Lighting Products from City Theatrical

City Theatrical has launched two innovative new LED lighting products utilizing Philips Color Kinetics LEDs: The MasterBlast™ is a battery powered lighting fixture with SHoW DMX™ wireless DMX built in to allow totally wireless event lighting for up to 10 hours without recharging; and the iW Blast TR Lighting Kit is a three-light white LED lighting kit for film/video and photography lighting featuring variable color temperature, variable intensity, and the ability to be battery operated.

New DMX Irises

Both Rosco and Apollo have released DMX Irises for ellipsoidal fixtures.

Another great app for the iPhone and iPod Touch from Zinman Software!

GelCalc quickly calculates number of gel sheets/rolls and the best cutting direction to yield the most frames per/sheet. It includes a list of some of the most popular fixtures and their frame sizes. Available in the iTunes App Store.

New Wybron Coloram IT/CXI IT Circuit Boards

Effective immediately, every new Coloram IT, Aquaram IT, CXI IT, and Mariner IT will no longer be built with an RFID circuit board.
Instead, the new units will contain a main circuit board that incorporates all the capabilities previously found in the RFID board, simplifying operations for the units.

Installing the new board is NOT mandatory for existing Coloram IT and CXI IT units. The new board is necessary only if the existing boards fail.

More info can be found on their website.

Behind The Scenes

If you haven’t heard about the Behind the Scenes Charitable Fund, it’s a fund organized by ESTA which helps provide financial support to entertainment technology industry professionals when they are ill or injured.

JR Clancy has come up with a great way to help with the effort by offering this great t-shirt, with proceeds going to Behind The Scenes:

The T-shirt lists these top 10 uses for a counterweight: 10. Doorstop 9. Meat Tenderizer 8. Flyswatter 7. Boat Anchor 6. Bottle Opener 5. Computer Repair Tool 4. Scuba Ballast 3. Hockey Puck 2. Instead of Your Spouse’s Meatloaf 1. Locked Down in an Arbor

Electronic Theatre Controls

ETC has announces the release of new software for the Eos/Ion and Congo Lighting Control Systems and an update for the Net3 Radio Focus Remote that enables its Ethernet port. Info can be found at their website.

After long rumor and speculation about whether entertainment-lighting leader ETC would enter the LED market, the company has announced their acquisition of the Selador™ product line. The Selador Series is built on the x7 Color System, which carefully proportions an unprecedented array of seven LED colors onto a single luminaire. It’s a patented technology based on a simple premise of additive color mixing: more color in means better light out.

Pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but I was able to take a look at the Vivid fixture last week, and was very impressed!

ETC will be showing the Selador Series at the upcoming USITT Conference in Cincinnati, March 18-21. ETC will also reveal the newest console in the award-winning Eos® family. Designed for modest rigs dominated by conventional lights and a need for more hands-on fader control, this new board contains a roster of lighting-control fundamentals. Channel faders, submasters, cue lists, effects, plus control of devices like motorized accessories for conventional lights, LEDs and small numbers of moving lights.

Contact your JSHAA sales person for more information and to place an order!