Matt Intelligent Lighting Le-1310 12/7/13 Intelligent lighting refers to the use of stage lights that operate using

a motor to move across the stage. They are commonly referred to as robotic lights and use a very basic of form of AI. The first idea of a mobile stage light originated with a patent in 1806, where a carbon arc powered lamp was moved using a series of cords. Electrical motors were not introduced until 1925 and they remained fairly similar until the late 1960s. Then starting in 1969 more experimentation was done for use in live audio instead of in a theater. The first truly modern intelligent light was invented in 1978 by an audio visual company by the name of Showco. They received funding and formed the company vari-lite. The creation of vari-lite furthered the production until the first mass-produced model, the Coemar Robot, was created in 1986. The first intelligent light featured only 2-4 dichroic filters which made the color selection still very limited. In the 1990s a company named Martin entered in with their Martin MAC series, which are still very popular today

The newer models of intelligent lights like the Martin Mac 250 Krypton (pictured above) consist of multiple LEDs on a platform with a motor. They are capable of simple automated movements and complex programmed movements. Intelligent lights can also combine the active LEDs to create millions of different color combinations. The programming side of intelligent lights is done with a digital lighting console; the consoles present options of automated movements such as figure eights or the ability to program certain lights to display a pattern or focus on a certain part of the stage at a given time. As the concept that grew into what is now intelligent lighting the consoles controlling the lights had to grow as well. The console that shipped with the original vari-lite system was the first to use a digital core which allowed states or cues to be programmed into the lights. The capabilities of lighting consoles have grown quite a lot since the first vari-lite console, now a console can control individual lights and program them to move in patterns and change colors on the fly. One of the most prominent developers of lighting consoles today, ETC, provides a simplistic interface that allows almost every control to be done with scrolling wheels.

The future of intelligent lighting lies within digital lightning and full LED systems. Full LED systems are starting to rise up in the world of stage lighting due to the drop in price of manufacturing LEDs and they are a smaller, more powerful, more efficient and more versatile alternative to conventional lighting. LEDs are now being used to put an intelligent light in the form of a wash, or a light that fills the entire stage. These lights share many of the characteristics of their intelligent spot brothers. The LEDs are programmable with options like color and movement and they provide more opportunity to a lighting designer because the wash can be many different colors. Digital lighting systems are also making a debut with new full systems such as the DL3 from High End Systems. Digital lighting systems are essentially a full computer and projector attached to motors. The DL3 uses an i7 processor and an ATI HD 5770 graphics card to project colors and patterns and images long ranges and in a crisp quality. These lighting systems are essentially merging the world of lighting and video production and opening many new opportunities for both industries.

While intelligent lighting seems like a wonderful new innovation there are many disputes about its uses and if it is actually intelligent. One ongoing argument is that the intelligent lights are only as intelligent as their programmer and can easily be tampered with by a lighting designer who does not what he is doing. There are also restrictions with the amount of motion that intelligent lights are capable. Truly only the higher end of what are called intelligent lights are truly intelligent, the low end used in bars and clubs are nothing more than pre programmed lights that only follow specific patterns. Another limitation is the amount of channels available, conventional lighting systems use only one channel per light for intensity; whereas an intelligent light could use around 30 on average or even more. An ample example of this is the High End Systems DL3 I mentioned earlier, the get every single function out of one DL3 light well over 100 channels, almost 200, are required. This puts limits on how many intelligent lights can actually be used intelligently. I am not sure if in the future lighting design will become fully automated, it is fairly close right now. I do think that a programmer could come in and set up an intelligent light system and program the show to where it proceeds without human control. Most of what is done live is just pushing a single button to progress to the next cue and I believe that aspect of the process could become fully automated. If the human element of the programmer making the decisions of how certain scenes should look was eliminated I think that it would remove a lot of the variety in the stage lighting world. The very well known lighting designers have their preferences and if it was all done by robots I feel like everything would become the same where depending on the emotion or theme of the music or scene of a play the lighting would follow a base color scheme instead of deviating to a path less traveled.

References: Intelligent Lighting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_lighting

DL.3 Digital Light, https://www.highend.com/products/digital_lighting/dl_3.asp Martin Mac 250 Krypton Image, http://www.djkit.com/images/products/large/mac250krypton.jpg ETC Ion Image, http://www.tpimagazine.com/siteimage/scale/800/600/57135.png A Plus Audio Visual Mac 250 Setup, http://www.aplusaudiovisual.com/siteimages/wedding-setup-withscreens-and-martin-mac-250.jpg