LED Designer: Matt Ardine
Costume Designer: Elise Valasco
RC4 did a showcase on this project. Click Here
Lighting Gear
900 – 12V LED RGB Digital Pixel Light Square
18 – WS2801 DMX Decoders
36 – 1800ma Battery Pack
24 – RC4Magic DMXio data transceivers
2 – DMX2dim 2-Channel Wireless Dimmer
2 – Cool white LED strips
1 – GrandMA2 Command Wing
1 – GrandMA2 NPU
18 – WS2801 DMX Decoders
36 – 1800ma Battery Pack
24 – RC4Magic DMXio data transceivers
2 – DMX2dim 2-Channel Wireless Dimmer
2 – Cool white LED strips
1 – GrandMA2 Command Wing
1 – GrandMA2 NPU
There were a number of difficult technical decisions that had to be made. Which LEDs should be used and how many per person? What minimally sized battery will run these for enough time and how many spares should there be? What wireless solution can transmit such a large number of channels?
For LEDs, I knew I wanted medium sized pixels that were 12 volts. USLEDSupply has a great product that can put 50 LEDs on a single string. It also used the WS2801 protocol which is a much higher resolution of dimming that other protocols.
I told USLEDSupply the run time I needed for the strings of 50 LEDs and they recommended their slim, 1800ma battery pack. We also had a spare battery for each primary battery so that one could always be on charge and ready to swap. During testing, the batteries lasted around 5 hours.
With 900 RGB LEDs that needed data (2700 DMX channels), I needed a reliable wireless data system. The receivers also needed to be very small to fit in the belt packs that were created to house the batteries, decoders, and receivers. After speaking with Sean Dane at RC4 Wireless, I determined that their system is the best for this application. For each universe, there was a transmitter linked with 3 receivers. There were 6 universes total, so this allowed for 6 transmitters DMXio acting as transmitters and 18 acting as receivers. The receivers, being 12v, were able to run off the same batteries as the LED decoders. Last minute, we added LED ribbon to the shoes. Litegear, in Burbank, CA supplied us with 2 RC4 Wireless DMX2dim 2-Channel Wireless Dimmers that were cut into the heel of the shoe along with a flat battery.
For testing, I used a GrandMA2 Command Wing, but quickly realized I was above the parameter count. I realized the virtual dimmer takes from the parameter pool. So Matt Shimamoto, at Volt Lites, was able to get a NPU to me on a Sunday. With the NPU, i was able to do distance range tests with all the suits up and running. The costumes were shipped to Austin where a local crew and programmer did the programming for the show.
