The MartinMAC Viper line of automated luminaires are extremely popular due to their extensive feature set, great color mixing, small size and weight, quiet operation and more. You will find them on concerts, television shows, Broadway and other theatre, corporate shows and more. The MAC Viper range ships with an Osram Lok-It HTI1000W/PS lamp which is a wonderful source.
Osram has recently updated this lamp with some design improvements and suppliers are changing over to the newest revision.
The lamp can be ordered as Osram code 54385 or Martin P/N: 97010346.
Osram has recently developed a new lamp for the MAC Viper series that has also been approved by Martin. The Osram Lok-It HTI1000W/PS Brilliant is an alternative for situations where quality of light is key to the performance. This lamp delivers enhanced color rendition (CRI >95), resulting in better performance in critical applications such as theatre and TV productions.
The color temperature is the same as the original lamp, but there is no green peak in the spectrum; resulting in no further need to use the minus-green filter from the static color wheel. The output appears more brilliant and the colors from the CMY mixing system even more vibrant than with the standard lamp. The only downside being a slightly lower output (-5%) compared to the standard lamp.
The lamp can be ordered as Osram code 53973 or Martin P/N: 97010351.
Martin has also approved an alternate lamp from Philips for the MAC Viper series. The Philips MSR Gold 1000 MiniFastFit lamp has a slightly longer lifetime (900 hrs.) than the Osram lamp, but a little lower output (-10%) and a CRI around 80.
The lamp can be ordered as Philips code 928171405115 or Martin P/N: 97010350.
The following comparison chart utilizes data supplied by the lamp manufacturers and is a great way to understand the differences between the lamps:
All of the above lamps are now available from lamp retailers as well as direct from Martin. Be sure to ask your rental company for the best lamp for your application.
Martin Professional has released a new mirrored fixture called the RUSH Scanner 1 LED. Taking on some iconic design elements from the classic Martin 1220 and Martin 518 scanners, the RUSH Scanner 1 LED is a totally new and updated fixture.
The RUSH Scanner 1 LED is based on a 90W white LED engine; the unit boasts an impressive 2300 Lumen output from the fixed 15 degree lens. All the features you would expect come standard including remote focus, both rotating and fixed gobo wheels, two color wheels, an independent prism, along with dimming and strobing capabilities.
Programming is simple via 16 DMX channels, or you can use stand alone programming, or even audio triggering. Movement is accomplished by moving the mirror through its 170 degree pan and 75 degree tilt. Weighing in at only 21 lbs (9.6kg), the RUSH Scanner 1 LED is a great choice for many installations and productions.
The yoke is adjustable and can both extend and be used as a floor stand!
The Martin creative LED strips known as VDO Sceptron just received several new accessories. You can read about the previous accessories here and the great line of diffusers here. Creative opportunities are abundant with the VDO Sceptron and P-3 System Controllers and now the new accessories allow for even more flexible designs and usages.
The first new accessory is the Pivot Coupler. With this nifty item you can attach VDO Sceptron strips together and then adjust the angle in 15 degree increments. In fact, you can select every 15 degree angle between 0-180 degrees! This part allows designers to come up with amazing configurations that are easy for technicians to build.
This accessory is now available from Martin and Martin dealers as part number "91611793 VDO Sceptron Pivot Coupler".
The next new accessory is a Floor Stand that allows the VDO Sceptron unit to be mounted on the deck. This is ideal when used as an uplight, a front light, or a direct view source placed on the ground. The stand can be installed in two different methods, either directly on the end or inset to allow coupling of multiple VDO Sceptron units. When combined with the Asymetrical Wall Wash Lens it makes for a great uplight system.
This accessory is now available from Martin and Martin dealers as part number "91611792 Set of 2 VDO Sceptron Floorstands". Note that they are sold in pairs.
The Low Profile Half Coupler allows for a quick and easy connection to a VDO Sceptron and negates the need to use a sliding bracket and half coupler by combining the abilities into a single half coupler.
This accessory is now available from Martin and Martin dealers as part number "91611790 Low Profile VDO Scpetron Half CouplerHalf".
Finally, Martin now also offers a Spigot Adapter which allows the VDO Sceptron units to easily connect to many standard OEM accessories such as a Doughty Turtle Plate and more. With the Spigot connector endless configurations are possible such as upright stands or other unique placements.
This accessory is now available from Martin and Martin dealers as part number "91611791 VDO Sceptron Spigot Adapter 28mm".
MartinVDO Sceptron units have become very popular with designers around the world and are in use on major television shows, touring acts, and special events. This video further describes the units and the possibilities:
Martin M-Series systems have many great features that allow programmers to create exciting and dynamic lighting cues and shows. One of the little-known functions is that M-PC enables one universe of output for FREE. With no additional hardware or dongles, you can use M-PC to control lighting fixtures, media servers, and any DMX compatible device.
The output is via Art-Net or sACN and will control anything that is patched to the first universe. You simply have to connect the Ethernet from your computer to a node or Art-Net/sACN capable device. There are no time restrictions or DMX interruptions, so anyone could use this in a show environment. The only M-Series functions that are disabled are DMX IN and RDM capabilities.
In addition, with M-PC you can also access the FREE universe of DMX control via any ENTTEC capable USB to DMX device (USB DMX PRO, PRO MKII and OPEN USB DMX). With these units you can simply plug in the DMX line to the USB device and start programming. Note that before you can use your ENTTEC device you will need to ensure its drivers are installed. For details, see this page and scroll down to the "ENTTEC Devices" section.
M-PC is a full featured lighting control platform with total access to all the features of the M-Series control system. Whether working with one universe or many, keyboard shortcuts can be extremely handy. Here is a list of all the keyboard shortcuts that are compatible with M-PC.
The MAC Axiom Hybrid is a full featured luminaire that features beam, spot, and wash functionality. I wrote all about it here. As with most automated lights there are many different functions that programmers and designers need to be aware of. One of the important options of the MAC Axiom Hybrid is the ability to toggle the color mix system between two different modes via DMX settings in the control channel. The MAC Axiom Hybrid uses dichroic color flags to mix the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and CTO colors. Each color adjusts from low saturation to full saturation.
When in Snap mode, each color will snap to its lowest level of saturation that fills the aperture of the light. This occurs at 1% for each color. You can then adjust the saturation amount of the color from 1% to 100% as you adjust the associated DMX value. When the DMX value for the channel is at zero, all the color will be removed from the aperture. By default the MAC Axiom Hybrid color mix system operates in Snap mode.
Fade mode will change the behavior of the color mix system to allow for partial colors at low saturation. When adjusting the color channel between 1% and 30% a partial covering of the aperture is visible. At 30% and above, the color will completely fill the aperture starting with the least saturation and increasing to the most saturation as the channel increases to 100%. The split colors that are possible with Fade mode allow for some unique and creative color combinations becasuse each of the color flags (CMY) are offset from each other.
Toggling between the two color modes is very easy by just adjusting the control channel to a specified level. The control channel of the MAC Axiom Hybrid is Channel 23 of the light and the following values will assign the color mode:
DMX 34: CMY Snap Mode
DMX 35: CMY Fade Mode
Of course your console library may label these settings differently or exclude them all together. Be sure to check your library to ensure you can access this option.
The following video shows the difference when using Snap versus Fade mode with a simple crossfade on Cyan. The same sine wave effect is running on cyan from 0-100% at a medium speed for both modes. You can clearly see the difference when the color mode is changed from Snap to Fade.
Designers and programmers may find that Snap mode works
best for most situations, however effects that continually change color
or certain slow color transitions tend to look better when in Fade
mode. With a good understanding of the usage of the color modes, any designer or programmer can get the most out of the color system in the MAC Axiom Hybrid.
The VDO Sceptron creative video products from Martin have
gained popularity on a multitude of different production types.With the adoption of these powerful products,
more accessories are becoming available too.
Currently there are thirteen different diffusers available
for the VDO Sceptron range with both white and smoked options available.The smoked versions allow the units to
virtually disappear when not illuminated from within.Several lens options also aid in direct
viewing or wall washing applications. The video below demonstrates the multitude of choices and
also demonstrates the simple method to swap diffusers on VDO Sceptron units.
In addition to the actual VDO Sceptron units, there are also
several P-3 video processor options to choose from.P3-050, P3-100, P3-150, P3-200, and P3-300 are rack mount units of
varying pixel output sizes that allow productions to purchase systems designed
for only what is needed. Plus, the P-3PC
software provides over 20,000 pixels of control from any PC as well as diagnostic tools and
layout creation abilities.Furthermore,
Hippotizer V4.0 and greater units can now have P-3PC installed internally for
direct P-3 output from an industry standard media server.
The multitude of possibilities with Martin creative video
products continue to amaze designers around the world.The VDO Sceptron, P-3 processors, and VC products all work together to help create interesting custom video displays and
installations.
Martin Professional has released the new MAC Axiom Hybrid which is an amazingly powerful fixture. The unit has many features that enable lighting designers to achieve beam, spot, and wash functionality from a single, compact fixture.
The MAC Axiom Hybrid uses a 440w short-arc lamp to achieve a bright output throughout its entire zoom range. The zoom is amazing as it is continuous from 2 degrees to 44 degrees. There are no modes or additional lenses required to change from beam to spot. In fact, the zoom from 2 to 44 is extremely fast and can be used with or without focus tracking.
The nine rotating gobos are all designed to be strong aerials or great projections. Each is on its own easy-to-change carrier. As is common with rotating gobos, each can rotate at different speeds, index and shake. The entire wheel can also spin in opposite directions and at differing speeds.
The fixed gobo wheel has many different abilities combined into the single wheel. First there are a number of beam reducers that tighten the beam to a near pencil beam effect. Next you will find twelve fixed patterns (again a good combo of aerial and projection). Following that there is a frost filter and partial animation effect. The latter is similar to the animation effect on the MAC Viper Profile.
The MAC Axiom Hybrid's two prisms with prism lineator effects provide superb image multiplication. The prism lineator function allows movement of the prism within the optical path to alter amount of overlap in the prism facet projections.
An independent beam softener can be inserted into the optical path to reduce the hot-spot created by the short arc lamp. This is especially useful for crisp gobo projections or flat-field illumination needs.
The MAC Axiom Hybrid also sports a great color system consisting of CMY flags that have been tuned to match the Viper series. An independent variable CTO and a fixed color wheel with sixteen colors plus open add to the color abilities.
With a low weight, servo motors for movement speed and accuracy, and a compact size the MartinMAC Axiom Hybrid is quickly becoming a new industry standard.
Furthermore, when combined with the Aura effect, many unique looks become possible. By using the properties of wavelength transmission you can create some interesting effects. For instance, if the aura effect is in red and you have a magenta scroll in place then the audience will still see a red aura. However, when the white LEDs of the main strobe turn on they will output a magenta color. This can prove to be very interesting as a red light appears to output magenta. This works with other colors and other combinations as well.
When using the Atomic Colors on the Atomic 3000 LED there are a few things you must be sure to configure on the Atomic Color unit. First, be sure to always use the internal power supply in the Atomic 3000 LED. This provides power and communication to the scroller and ensures that the Atomic 3000 LED is aware that the scroller is connected. Simply plug the 4-pin XLR between the Atomic 3000 LED and the Atomic Colors.
Next, set the following menu items on the Atomic Color unit:
Set Fan Speed Fn to maximum: Fn4.
Set Light-Activated Fan LF to constant fan operation, not light-operated: LF0.
Set Gel Saver mode GL to active: GL1.
You should also always check in the Atomic 3000 LED menu that is confirms that the scroller is connected: INFO → COLOR SCROLLER → CONNECTED
Now your Atomic 3000 LED with Atomic Colors is ready to go! Programming is very straight forward as long as you have the correct libraries and DMX address in your console. Have fun strobing in color and creating awesome effects by combining the aura and the scroller colors.
Martin Professional's M-Series controllers have a host of powerful features for programming lighting. While most consoles provide groups and simple fixture selection tools, the Grouping Tools window in the M-Series offers unprecedented abilities. In short, the tool allows for the easy division of selected fixtures into various subsets; but it can do much more. It is very useful when creating fixture groups; plus when combined with the Next/Last buttons, rapid manipulation of selected fixtures becomes possible.
Before you can use the Grouping Tools, you must select the fixtures you wish to work with. Then the various options in the Grouping Tools window become available. The top right of the window will also indicate the quantity of fixtures in the current selection. The rest of the Grouping Tools window can be split into two distinct parts: Mode and Actions.
The Mode section of the window is where you can select a mask to apply to the current selection. First you select the type, then adjust the Mask Value as desired. Using the Next/Last button will cycle through the various mode subsets. The Mode options are as follows:
Every - Selects every "xth" fixture, where "x" is the number in the counter. For example, if the number is 3 then every third fixture will be selected. Pressing Next\Last will cycle through subsets by 3's. Block - Selects the first "x" fixtures, where "x" is the number in the counter. For example if the number is 3, then the first 3 fixtures will be selected, then the next 3 and so on. Divide - Splits the fixtures into "x" equal blocks. For example, when you select 12 fixtures then set the counter number to 3 then there will be three blocks of four fixtures. Mirror - Selects "x" number of fixtures, half from the top of the selection and half from the bottom of the selection. For instance, if the counter is set to 4 then the first 2 fixtures and the last 2 fixtures in the selection will be selected. When pressing Next, the subsequent two fixtures at each end will be selected. Group - Segments the fixtures into the fixture groups as they were originally selected. For example, if you choose groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 then use the Next/Last keys, it will cycle through the groups instead of the individual fixtures.
Activating any of the above will allow you to cycle through the selections using the Next/Last buttons to enable quick programming. In addition, if you turn on the Fan/FX toggle then the Grouping selections will also be applicable to the fanning function. This means that you can quickly fan in groups according to what you have selected. For instance, if you use the Group mask and have selected four different fixture groups, then your single fanning operation will be split into 4 distinct fans based on these groups in one simple action. Without this ability, you would have to fan each group individually.
The bottom half of the Grouping Tools window is equally as powerful as the top, but in a different way. The Actions buttons provide additional tools regarding selection order and overall selection. The Actions options are as follows:
Revert - If you have made changes in the fixture order, this will revert the selected fixtures to their original selection order. Note that this does not necessarily mean that they will be in numerical order. If you selected fixtures 24 through 1 and then made changes to that order, pressing Revert to selection will return them to 24 through 1 again.
Invert - The fixtures in the Programmer that are selected will become deselected and vice versa. This button is the equivalent to the / (slash) Enter command.
Invert Mask - This feature works in much the same way as Invert. When pressed, all masked fixtures become unmasked and vice versa.
Random - The order of the selected fixtures in the Programmer can be randomized by pressing the Random button.
Reverse - Similar to randomizing the order of the fixture selection, you can reverse the order by pressing the Reverse button. This will flip the current selection order regardless of whether fixtures are selected or deselected. Reverse can also be used in conjunction with Random.
Sort - Changes the fixture selection order to a numeric method based on the fixture numbers from lowest to highest.
Grouping Tools are extremely powerful in the Martin ProfessionalM-Series controllers. Below are two videos that further demonstrate the immense control the tool provides.
With DMX you simply address each product via RDM and then use a lighting controller or media server to map the control of the pixels. However there are many downsides to using DMX to control pixels and display video. These include latency, poor smoothing, steppiness, artifacts, and synchronization problems. Although many productions can be successful when controlled by DMX, most users prefer the P3 control system for the best video playback on any of Martin's video products.
The P3 system controller allows not just easy setup and configuration of a video system, but it also processes video input exceptionally well. With a range of products available including the P3-100, P3-200, P3-300, and P3-PC the system is totally scale-able depending on the number of pixels you wish to control. Plus for no cost, you can use P3-PC to prepare your video mappings and use test program for setups. (See this previous post about P3-PC)
The P3 system controllers also have the ability to receive 2-way communication from each connected device. This allows for easy identification and setup as well as thermal reporting and throttling. The P3 system is much more than a video processor as it provides many control possibilities. Color temperature adjustments, on-the-fly mapping changes, as well as gamma adjustments are just some of the robust features. In addition, users can now install P3 onto Hippotizer V4 media servers from GreenHippo. This functionality allows direct P3 control and processing to be output from the media server itself.
To fully understand the difference between using DMX and a P3 system controller check out this video that details the differences:
There is nothing like a perfectly smooth fade to blackout over ten seconds to evoke emotion at the end of a scene or song. The dimming ability of any lighting product is determined by several factors including the light source type, dimming method, control signal and more. Generally, designers prefer a smooth dimming ability that provides a seamless and even change in intensity whether increasing or decreasing in value.
All Martin Professional lighting products default to a smooth dimmer curve that is ideal for most situations. However, there may be instances where you wish to match the dimming abilities of other products such as cyc lights or incandescent lamps, or you just prefer a different path. All current Martin Professional products include the ability to select between four different dimming curves from either the menu system or DMX. With DMX, you can actually change the dimming curve on a cue-by-cue basis! Lets look at the various options:
Linear - provides an even distribution of light in correlation to the DMX level of the dimmer channel(s). Although mathematically uniform, this dimmer curve is often not the most desired by lighting designers.
S-Curve - provides a finer control at lower and higher levels while being more coarse at medium levels. This dimming curve best emulates a typical incandescent lamp's dimming abilities. This is also the default and often considered the most natural dimming curve.
Square Law - provides a finer control at low levels and coarser at high levels. Useful for low level scenes and chases as more DMX values are allocated for dimming at the bottom end.
Inverse Square Law - provides a finer control at high levels and coarser at low levels. Useful when not dimming all the way out or when less low level control is desired (snap on/off).
Often it is best to ensure that your lighting console is properly crossfading the dimming channel(s) in a linear fashion. Otherwise there may be conflicts between how the console is fading and how the light is responding. It is also important that all your fixtures are set to the desired dimming curve. A good practice is to set all fixtures to the factory defaults when starting a new show. Then make changes in the menu or via DMX as needed. Otherwise you could end up with some fixtures dimming differently than others. In addition, if you do change the dimmer curve for a particular cue, be sure to set it back to the default in the following cue!
Adjusting the dimmer curve is a very useful tool when applied to specific situations. Martin Professional maintains the same four types of dimmer curves and control abilities across the entire range of Martin Professional products. This ensures simplicity and consistency when using MAC Vipers, MAC Auras, MAC Quantums, or the Atomic 3000 LED.
The MartinM-Series lighting controller range has a really cool and unique software feature called Q-Blender. This function allows you to stack cues into a list and then instantly spread these different looks across a fader. This gives you the ability to manually crossfade between looks and create some exciting manual controls. For instance, you could make a fader that simply moves some fixtures between pre-defined positions as you move the fader up and down. Alternately you could adjust the color, speed of strobing, iris size, or much more. I am sure that any programmer can come up with many instances where Q-Blender would be extremely valuable.
Q-Blender is a setting that can only be applied to an Override type of cuelist. The best option is to first build and record your looks into a cuelist (set to Override). It is important to remember that override cuelists do NOT use tracking and therefore you need to think about what parameters you are storing into every cue. You can use the record option "Active & Inactive" to ensure that what you are seeing is being recorded.
Once you have stored your looks, press Options in the top left of the cuelist window. You will see in the Advanced area the option to active the Q-Blender feature. Once selected, close the Options window and you are ready to try out your cuelist.
Looking at the cuelist window, you will see that there are two new columns labeled "From" and "To". These show the range of the fader that will be assigned to each particular cue. As you run the fader up and down, the data on stage will crossfade with your manual movement at the given ranges.
You can edit various attributes of the Q-Blender cuelist as well. For instance, you can change the Fade Mode as well as the range for which each cue is active on the fader. For instantce, the Fade mode can be changed to snap when you want something to instantly come on and then control subsequent changes with the fader. By also adjusting the From/To designations of the fader you can have the first bit of the movement activate a look while the subsequent (and evenly distributed) ranges of the fader control all your other cues.
Q-Blender is a very unique and powerful feature of the MartinM-Series lighting controllers. Programmers and designers will find many different uses for this tool. For further details, consult the M-Series user manual and watch this video demonstration:
