Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light in Theatre, Live Performance, and Entertainment, Second Edition

473 Pages·2010·18.56 MB·English

by  Richard Cadena

A utomated Lighting
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Automated Lighting
T he Art and Science of Moving Light in
Theatre, Live Performance, and Entertainment
S econd Edition
R ichard Cadena
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON
NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
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N otices
K nowledge and best practice in this fi eld are constantly changing. As new research and
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L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
C adena, Richard.
Automated lighting : the art and science of moving light in theatre, live performance, and
entertainment / Richard Cadena. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81222-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Stage lighting. 2. Television--Lighting. I. Title.
PN2091.E4C33 2010
778.5’343--dc22
2009048623
B ritish Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
I SBN: 978-0-240-81222-9
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com
1 0 11 12 13 14 5 4 3 2 1
P rinted in China
T his book is dedicated to Noe Cadena, an extraordinary father, husband,
little league coach, marathon runner, and engineer who gave of his mind,
body and spirit to provide for his family and give them every opportunity
he could. Dad, you are my inspiration.
—Richard
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C ontents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
S ECTION 1: Introduction to Automated Lighting . . . . . . . . . 1
C hapter 1 Automated Lighting in the Third Millennium . . . . 3
C hapter 2 T he Foundation of the Automated
Lighting Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
T he Genesis of the Automated Lighting Industry . . . . . . 9
S ynchronicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2
“ If We Can Make It Change Color …” . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7
T he Black Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5
F or Sale: Automated Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8
S ue Me, Sue You Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1
T he Future of Automated Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2
C hapter 3 Automated Lighting Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5
S ystems Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5
R igging Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6
A luminum Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7
T heatrical Rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9
R igging Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0
P ower Distribution Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1
D isconnect Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2
F eeder Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3
D istribution Panels and Portable Power
Distribution Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6
O vercurrent Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7
D immers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 9
B ranch Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 9
W ire Gauges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1
vii
viii CONTENTS
V oltage Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2
C onnectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2
W orldwide Electrical Safety and Wiring Codes . . . . . . . 5 3
C ompliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4
D ata Distribution Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4
D ata Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7
D ata Splitters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8
D ata Amplifi ers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0
D ata Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0
D ata Terminators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1
A /B Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2
D ata Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2
C ontrol Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3
A utomated Lighting Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3
A utomated Lighting Consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4
P C-Based Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4
D edicated Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5
P layback Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5
R emote Focus Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5
P reset Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6
M edia Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6
R edundant Backup Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7
L uminaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8
E lectrical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 9
E lectronics Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 9
E lectromechanical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0
M echanical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0
O ptical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0
C ommunications Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0
S ECTION 2: Electricity and Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3
C hapter 4 DC Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5
T he Flow of Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6
T he Relative Size of Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6
T he Electron Drift Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6
F riction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7
C onductive Properties of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8
C urrent Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9
V oltage, Current, and Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 0
W ater and Electricity—Bad Mix, Good Analogy. . . . . . . 8 0
T he DC Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1
Contents ix
U nits of Measure—Current, Voltage, Resistance, Power . . 8 2
T he Resistor Color Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3
R esistor Wattage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4
S eries Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4
P arallel Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5
S eries/Parallel Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6
O hm’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 8
P ractice Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 8
D C Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9
P ractice Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 0
C hapter 5 Electricity and Magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1
M agnetic Lines of Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1
E lectromagnetic Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2
I nducing Current. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3
A lternating Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5
C hapter 6 AC Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 9
T he Alternating Current Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 9
P eak Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 01
R MS Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 01
T he Inductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 03
T he Capacitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 06
P hase Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 08
I mpedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 08
T he Transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 12
A C Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 15
P ower Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 16
T hree-Phase Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 18
T he Three-Phase Delta-Wye Confi guration . . . . . . . . . . 1 18
T hree-Phase Wye Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 19
T he Three-Phase Delta-Delta Confi guration . . . . . . . . . 1 21
E lectrical Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 22
D rugs and Alcohol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 23
C hapter 7 Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 25
T he Diode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 26
H alf-Wave Rectifi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 28
F ull-Wave Rectifi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 29
T he Linear Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 29
S witched-Mode Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 33