From The Horse's Mouth

Todays video is showing a little what goes on at Apollo as far as testing equipment. Joel was walking around and shot this quick video. Enjoy your weekend!

This is the first Right Arm to be fully assembled in our facility. I am thrilled we are able to bring this product that was manufactured and assembled in China now in-house. Parts come from China, Japan, and here in the U.S. We will do all assembly and testing here. Go Apollo!!

The largest Right Arm order was for the North American International Auto show, in combination of other products to create the AutoLED. Apollo teamed up with Light Source in MI and A.C. Lighting of Toronto to build this one of a kind automated unit. Apollo supplied 400 Right Arms and modified Smart Color Pro units. To read more on this project click here.

While recently spending time with the new ‘Current Technologies’ theatre class at Columbia College Chicago, a handful of undergrad students really put the Right Arm through its paces. Outfitted with a Source Four ERS and the Apollo EZ Iris, the Right Arm kept the class busy, each student choosing items (and unsuspecting faces) to light with various size beams. Pan and tilt were controlled with the student’s fingertip, tracing the Right Arm’s path using the ETC Expression console’s touchpad. I hadn’t seen application before and was amazed at the speed and repeatability of control.

http://www.colum.edu/

I received a phone call the other day from a technician at a large Midwestern amusement park, inquiring as to the possibility of mounting a large Sanyo LCD projector on their Apollo Right Arm. Due to the large size of the projector, finding the center of balance was creating difficulties. Once the projector and tray were received from the amusement park, our R&D team designed and fabricated an adjustable replacement arm specifically for this large format LCD projector.

Smooth and consistent pan and tilt are now possible when using this very bright LCD projector, and the likelihood of additional Sanyo/Right Arm units gracing this amusement park are now easily attained. 

Apollo’s creative R&D team and in-house machine shop saved the day once again!

Check out all the Right Arms  in action!

If you have photos of Apollo products in use, send them our way! We would love to make a desktop calendar of them. For more information click here.

So you are rapidly running out of dimmers and lighting instruments for your show. How do you find that one special pool that the director asked for a few minutes ago when every minute of the day is planned out? Well, having a Right Arm or two can fix those issues. By remotely refocusing a light fixture, be it a Fresnel, PAR can, or ellipsoidal, you can get that area lit or person isolated in moments. If you have seen the Right Arm and think that it is difficult to set up, just look at the four YouTube videos listed here and see for yourself how simple it really is.

Preparing a Right Arm for Mounting

Mounting the Right Arm on a pipe

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One of the constants in entertainment lighting is that there is never enough time in the theatre. We work in a world when opening night is going to happen at a given date whether you, your lighting, the scenery or even the actors are ready. The other constant is that many companies cannot afford to rent the theatre for a lot of time to set the lights or run the show many times to work the kinks out. This is why time saving gear and design approaches are valuable.

When I would design a show going into a limited time set of rehearsals, I would pre-write my lighting cues and dimmer levels. I had stage managers look at me strange as I gave them the cue sheets for the board op to punch in while they were running up dimmers for focus. Yes, the cues are not accurate or even close to the “look” in some cases, but at least it was a start and forced me to think through what I was planning to do on the stage. It also saved a lot of time during cue setting which is golden. Any extra time, whether it is minutes or hours, can certainly be used by many folks from scenic artists touching up the paint to choreographers running a dance piece one more time.

Apollo makes several products that a smart designer or electrician can employ to buy some extra time. The Right Arm is a remote control yoke that allows you to refocus a light or (continue reading…)

Hey everyone, haven’t computers made our lives soooo much simpler? In the old days (when K.C. was designing), I had a Light Palette that programmed the light cues and ran them at the punch (and I mean PUNCH) of the GO button. Now, there can be a dimmer control console, a moving light console, and a media server console running a show. Not so fast K.C., I can trigger and run all of those cues off of my dimmer control board. I agree, yes, you can and if all is programmed properly, no problem. BUT, what if a mover goes maverick and starts ballyhooing the audience or the video projection starts screen wrapping around the orchestra pit, what do you do? There is a point when the designer can use technology to run a complex sequence of cues, moves, and projections but can the board op find their way out of a problem when things go bad. I remember watching multiple stage cues (continue reading…)

I spent last week at LDI in Las Vegas and it brought up a few questions. First, is $3000 an acceptable price for a LED framing spot? I was presenting a discussion on our laser cut gobos at a green technology session and there were several LED products shown there. When one manufacturer mentioned that the price of their light was in the neighborhood of $3,000, I was expecting to hear a groan or gasp but saw folks nodding or shrugging. I was intrigued that it seemed acceptable. As I looked out over the tradeshow floor, I saw a HUGE number of LED products and many were in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000. We carry a few LED fixtures that retail for $440 and $695. Yes, these units are not as bright but have many of the same features as the more expensive units. We also showed a new product, the Spotlight Midi LED Zoom. This is a RGBW fixture with 25 watts per color output, which will retail in the neighborhood of $1,500 and has a cool feature of DMX zoom from 12 to 50 degrees. I think the price is pretty good but if you compare it to the cost of a 6″ Fresnel, it is way expensive. Mind you, it uses no gel and can be used on a Right Arm to give you even more versatility. Is it “affordable”? Well, yes, if you compare it to the other LED fixtures but NO if you use only incandescent fixtures. It just seems that all of the research and new products have shifted to LED technology completely and there isn’t going to be much in new gear for the theaters with medium to small budgets. Any thoughts?