Atomic Colors for the Atomic 3000 LED

The Martin Professional Atomic 3000 LED is an amazing strobe that I have written about before.  Of the many features, one of the coolest is that the unit works with the original Atomic Colors.  This means you can achieve colored strobes in addition to just white output.


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.

Make Dimmer Curves Your New Friend

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.

Martin LED Products Video Tracking

Martin Professional has built many great features into their lights, yet some go unnoticed or are misunderstood.  All Martin LED fixtures operate at a high refresh rate (generally >1200hz) and are designed for use with HD/high-speed video cameras.  However, there is also an additional user setting called "Video Tracking" that provides an optimization for dimming and color changing when using Martin LED fixtures with a video based control system.


The video tracking feature will change the internal methodology used to control the dimming of the LEDs.  This is important ONLY when using Martin LED products to display a video signal (pixel mapping).  In normal use, the fixture processes the DMX signal it receives, tracking (or smoothing out) changes in values in order to ensure smooth fading between colors and/or intensities. This signal processing takes fractions of a second and is normally invisible, but if the fixture is used to display video the processing can interfere with video response times.

In situations where a video image is controlling intensity and/or color it is advised to enable video tracking.  If you are using pixel mapping from a console or media server or even a Martin P3 Processor to convert a video file to DMX values then it is suggested that you utilize the video tracking feature.  When enabled, the fixture will not ‘smooth out’ DMX input but instead will snap instantly when a DMX value changes.  This leads to the best representation of the color changes coming from the video file as the DMX value changes correlate instantly without smoothing. 

For best results, Martin recommends that you enable video tracking during video display control and disable it (the default setting) during normal DMX control.  The video tracking feature is found on  MAC Quantum Wash, MAC Quantum Profile, MAC Aura XB, and Atomic 3000 LED fixtures.  The setting can be adjusted either via DMX (found in the control channel) or via the fixture's menu system.  Note: The video tracking feature is referred to as "video dimming" on the MAC Aura XB.

With a proper understanding of the internal software of Martin LED products, any programmer or designer can optimize the fixtures for control from video or DMX.

Atomic 3000 LED Unique Abilities

 
The Martin Atomic 3000 LED is an incredible piece of technology.  It is an amazingly bright LED based version of the original Atomic 3000 DMX strobe.  But it goes far beyond what the original could do, and not just in terms of reduced power consumption.  You can even connect the Atomic Colors scroller to the new unit and plug it directly in without the need for an external power supply!  The Martin engineering team added many more unique abilities to provide designers with a large range of creative options.

The Atomic 3000 LED strobe includes an amazing Aura Backlight feature that not only allows the designer to glow the reflector in any color from the RGB LED's, but also provides a plethora of stunning animated effects.  The programmer has full control of the effect selection, speed, and color to create some wonderful never-before-seen looks.  Now the Atomic 3000 LED strobe can be used in ballads and more as it becomes a beautiful accent addition to the set or lighting rig.


One of my favorite software innovations in the Atomic 3000 LED is the ability to toggle between output modes called "LED" and "Xenon Emulation".  This setting changes the behavior of the primary LED's as they illuminate.  When set to LED mode, the LED's behave as expected from an LED source and simply turn on/off at a defined rate.  A crisp clean strobe or ON state is emitted from the unit.  However, when the Atomic 3000 LED is set to Xenon Emulation mode, the LEDs will rapidly pulse whenever activated (strobing or ON).  This behavior perfectly mimics the original Atomic 3000 DMX xenon lamp that could never achieve a true ON state.  Exciting cue building is easy with this simple DMX setting.

Martin engineers have also created another unique mode in the Atomic 3000 LED called House-light mode.  This too can be activated via DMX and it serves two purposes.  First, it reduces the total output thus allowing it to remain on for an unlimited timeframe.  During this state, strobing, continous on, dimming and more are all possible.  Furthermore, when set to House-light mode the Atomic 3000 LED will retain its last state when DMX is removed from the unit.  This allows operator to turn on the units (in a solid ON state) at the end of a performance and utilize them to illuminate the venue.  Then the lighting console can be turned off and the Atomic 3000 LED units will remain on.  They will only shut off when power is removed or DMX is reconnected and a new setting sent.  This is an extremely useful feature in many situations as it allows stand alone operation and bright white illumination.

The Martin Atomic 3000 LED is poised to be an industry workhorse much like the original Atomic 3000 DMX strobe.  The added creative and technical innovations delight designers, programmers, and technicians.  Take a look for yourself...