The VL4000 BeamWash follows on the success of the VL4000 Spot by providing designers, rental companies, venues and productions with a multi-purpose luminaire offering further unlimited possibilities without compromises. Sharing many of the VL4000 Spot design principles, the VL4000 BeamWash combines stunning wash capabilities with intense beam functionality as well as the ability to produce a powerful collimated shaft of light. Now, one single unit can serve multiple uses without changing lenses or adding additional fixtures. Complete with low ambient noise, high lumen output, and amazing optics, the VL4000 BeamWash is the perfect luminaire for wash, beam, and shaft looks on any stage.
The VL4000 BeamWash produces an amazing 43,000 lumens using a 1200W Philips lamp in Standard mode, and the DMX selectable Studio mode produces 35,000 lumens in near silence. The luminaires beautiful 10 inch front lens illuminates fully providing incredible point-of-source imagery. High-quality 36 volt pan and tilt motors ensure both amazingly fast and impressively slow movement abilities.
When used in wash mode, the luminaire provides a remarkably even wash of intense light with variable Hot Spot/edge control. The 10 to 60 degree zoom range allows for a broad range of usage, while the indexable and rotating beam shaping alters the output from round to elliptical. The Hot Spot and edge of the wash output can be further adjusted with ease from any DMX lighting console.
By simply adjusting a DMX value, the VL4000 BeamWash shifts from a soft wash to an intense beam luminaire with an amazing 4 to 40 degree beam angle. A multitude of images are available from two seven position gobo wheels and a variable animation wheel. A high speed mechanical iris and an independent 5-facet rotating step prism further add to the graphical abilities whether used to create stunning aerials or exciting projections. A unique lenticular feature allows the output to be further modified to create a rectangular hard edge or extruded gobo imagery.
The DMX selectable shaft mode allows the VL4000 BeamWash luminaire to also function as a powerful, collimated ray of light. With the full force of 43,000 lumens, the narrow output from the ten inch lens creates a stunningly bright parallel shaft that makes an impact like none other. The 4 degree beam angle can be further reduced to near zero degrees with the mechanical iris. In addition, all of the standard features such as Gobos, animation wheel, prism, and color mixing function fully when utilizing shaft mode.
Whether used as a wash, beam or shaft luminaire, the VL4000 BeamWash includes the Infinity Color Mix system providing incredibly smooth color changes and instantaneous snaps. Two five-position fixed color wheels and variable color correction further add to the color abilities. The luminaire also contains unbelievably smooth dimming flags which when combined with independent shutter blades delivers unmatched dimming and strobing abilities.
The VL4000 BeamWash borrows many of its standard features from the VL4000 Spot such as a battery-backed, full-color LCD menu system, intuitive time capabilities, and multi-point connections allowing the luminaire to be hung at any angle.
As the next luminaire in the VL4000 range, the VL4000 BeamWash complements any production with its vibrant wash, amazing beam, and powerful shaft features. No other luminaire even comes close to the combined functionality and amazing feature set of the VL4000 BeamWash. Never again will designers, specifiers, or rental companies need to compromise when choosing a wash, beam, or shaft luminaire.
Vari-Lite
A "technical creative soul" has kept Vari-Lite at the forefront of the automated lighting industry since 1981. The company is founded on the belief that creative engineering can join with creative lighting to bring a new dimension to any performance or presentation.
That notion first took root when Rusty Brutsché and Jack Maxson founded Showco in 1970. Innovation made Showco the premier sound and lighting equipment rental firm for the concert touring industry. A decade following Showco's initial success, company officials found themselves working on another technical leap, this time within the field of automated lighting.
Until the 1980s, stage lighting systems for concerts and theater productions were bulky with numerous fixtures (a typical rock concert usually required up to 3,000 separate lights). Each light had to be manually focused and colored using celluloid gel material placed in front of each lighting fixture. To achieve color changes, the lighting fixtures had to be turned on and off or dimmed using electronic dimmers controlled by a computer lighting console.
Throughout the late '70s, engineers worked to develop a color changer for a lighting fixture. Finally, they arrived at a solution: forget the "add-on" schemes, and concentrate on using internal dichroic coated glass filters and metal halide bulbs. The dichroic filters could be used to change colors almost instantaneously and create saturated colors not capable from the gel filters.
That might have been the extent of their advancement if for a barbecue lunch in the fall of 1980. At that gathering, the idea of adding two extra motors to the fixture to actually make the light move was conceived. This "eureka" moment facilitated an all-out building effort for a fully automated lighting system that resulted in a prototype in December 1980.
Shortly thereafter, the engineering team flew to London to show the prototype automated light (named "VL Zero") to longtime Showco client, Genesis. The British band had long been at the forefront of cutting-edge performance art technology, and was in rehearsal for an upcoming tour. At an English countryside studio, the new luminaire made its debut on the side of a 500-year-old barn. The prototype light had been programmed to enact two simple cues. The first reaction from the presentation came from band member Mike Rutherford: "I expected the color change, but by jove, I didn't know it was going to move."
It was enough to convince Genesis to immediately invest in developing this new technology. Genesis wowed the audience with the first VARI*LITE® Series 100? system consisting of 50 VL1? luminaires and a computerized control console on the opening night of their "Abacab" tour on September 25, 1981 in a bullring in Barcelona, Spain.
That rural demonstration was the "Genesis" of a new company - Vari-Lite, coined from a suggestion by Genesis manager Tony Smith. The new system was developed, complete with a programmable console that enabled lighting designers to create lighting effects that electrified the lighting industry and began a revolution that continues to this day. The dichroic color changing system allowed for up to 60 preselected colors to be changed in less than a tenth of a second and the computer control of the color change, dimming and movement of the light beams created stunning visual effects. The original VARI*LITE system was patented in 1983, and Vari-Lite has received numerous other U.S. and international patents on automated lighting technology as it has continued to innovate and develop the technology.
Inspired by the magic of moving light and changing color, Vari-Lite set about creating complete lighting systems that add subtle nuance or brilliant spectacle to any event. The company offers designers the ultimate tool for creating lighting moments to remember.
Since the beginning, Vari-Lite has led the world in automated lighting technology; developing pioneering products with an unrivaled reputation. Today, lighting professionals in theatre, television, concerts, motion pictures, corporate shows and advertising, look to Vari-Lite for inspiration and support for their productions.
Used Moving Lights
Moving lights, or intelligent lighting as they are sometimes called, are basically a type of stage lighting that is able to move due to its integrated mechanical elements, which go beyond the moving parts that are found in more traditional, non-moving lighting.
Automated lighting such as moving lights is highly valued by stage lighting technicians as through them, it is possible to create highly complex special effects that simply cannot be made using standard, non-moveable lights. It should be noted however, that when it comes to intelligent lighting, the real intelligence lies with the programmer of the show, rather than the lighting equipment or any operator.
Moving head lights, also called moving head luminaires, are highly versatile lighting instruments capable of performing multiple lighting functions at once. They have largely superseded the use of multiple non-moving lights to create special effects, which required many lights and a large amount of skill on behalf of the operators.
Moving lights are hooked up to a lighting control console and send data to it in one of three ways ?? through an Ethernet control (a relatively new technology), analogue control (now almost obsolete), or DMX, (which is now the industry standard).
So long as they have been properly programmed, the optics of wiggly lights can be altered in many ways, allowing for the ??personality? of the lights to be adapted almost instantaneously, depending on the requirements of the operator. Typically, moving lights will be pre-programmed before a production and controlled using simple commands, although some more experience operators may prefer to control them ??live?, if they have the experience to do so.
