lighting effects

[byronyasgur]

hi - i am new to effect lighting - all lighting i've used so far has been simple colours/whites -is there anywhere that i can see photos of a range of lighting effects (gobos and that type of thing - i dont mean strobes or lazers etc ) so i can familiarize myself with what's commonly available to i can figure out what i need or do i just have to search through manufacturer websites etc to audition effects - ( roughly speaking i am looking for a sort of multishade/multicolour abstract soft gobo pattern which would move very slowly and blend in with the regular straight colours )

another question - how close can i put a gobo to the surface that it's projected on - in the ideal circumstance i think i would want to put it only inches away if i could, or less than a foot - i think i have seen lights right at the back of the stage projecting upward like this or am i wrong

[Esoteric]

I am sorry, I am not following your questions.

On the first one are you looking for like a pattern catalog?

I cant think of any instance where you would want a gobo inches from the scenery it is being projected on.

Mike

[waynehoskins]

For patterns, one of several places to look is Rosco. There's also GAM and Apollo that come to mind, but generally they all have the same sort of selections.

I don't think I'd want to put a unit with a pattern inches from a surface. Stage lights get very hot (as generally is the light they emit), and the pattern would be very small. Plus, I wouldn't want to be the guy who caught the scenery on fire. That would just be very bad.

[byronyasgur]

thanks for the replies

yes a pattern catalog might be what i'm looking for - i will try rosco and the others mentioned

i suppose i should have mentioned that i think i am looking for an LED fixture ( at least i think that's what i need ) .. I think traditionally you'd buy the gobo's separately from the lamp, is that right ? but i seem to notice modern LED lamps with patterns built in ( and i was supposing i'd be stuck with those patterns ) --- eg i was thinking of the "american dj H2O" ---- maybe i've got this all wrong, apologies if i do

as regards closeness to the background - when i say inches i really just mean less than a foot ( eg 8 inches not 2 ) but obviously i wouldn't do that with a regular can, i have probably again the wrong idea that LED systems run pretty cool so i was thinking of the visual effect not the fire hazard, but i certainly dont need to risk anything .... as regards why I'd want to do this it's simply because i don't have very much space on stage.... very roughly how close can a typical LED pattern producing lamp be from a backdrop both in terms of safety and also pattern produced

apologies for my ignorance on all this stuff an thanks for your help and patience

[waynehoskins]

A gobo is a piece of steel between two and four inches in diameter that has a pattern cut out of it. The gobo is placed in the gate of a Leko (inside the fixture, where the shutters are), where it burns red-hot from the heat of the light from the 575-to-1000-watt quartz-halogen lamp.

A gobo only works in a Leko with a single-point-source lamp. All LED fixtures that I know of are multiple-point-source fixtures, using a large array of LEDs, and unfocused, without optics. You cannot use a gobo in these types of fixtures.

[daver2]

You can get single white LED point sources with colour optics and gobos in the form of moving head lamps instead of using 575 and up MHDs. I had a demo the other day of a 575W MHD moving head fixture - but the sales guy also brought in some of the other kit he had in the back of his van; and one of these was a white LED fixture. Quite neat - but no where near as bright as I needed unless it was mounted fairly close to the action.

Have a search on the internet for "LED GOBO". I found a few hits to get you started. Is this what you are thinking about?

CMN Player - YouTube - 30 watt LED gobo projector

http://www.thomann.de/gb/american_dj...jector_led.htm

http://shop.showtec.co.uk/showtec/sh...gobo-projector

http://www.thomann.de/gb/showtec_mic...oving_head.htm

Dave

[RickR]

When it comes to LEDs everything changes so fast that you shouldn't assume anything.

There are also LED effects projectors and low resolution screens. There are also lights intended to shine directly at the audience, they have some pattern cabability.

To find these look for "club" lighting. Probably the best single source is Elation lighting.

[byronyasgur]

thanks for the replies - i had missed these somehow, sorry

here's an example of something similar to what i'm looking for - the early parts of the video, up to about 6:30 minutes have one effect which looks like a few gobos and then after that there is a sort of fluid effect like maybe a special effect or maybe the lamps are deliberately out of focus or something, it's like layered gobos with some kind of subtle fluid effect .... any ideas on how it's done, it looks fairly standard to me but i know hardly anything about lighting

http://vimeo.com/17481136

[waynehoskins]

Two guesses: movers from 20-ish feet away, or video projection. Most likely movers, some of the nicer ones at that. Could also be very well-planned Lekos with gobos and gobo rotators or mirrors, but less likely. My guess is Vari*Lite, Studio Spot, DL3, etc.

... in contrast to the conventional use of a gobo in a non-mover, where the pattern doesn't move.

[byronyasgur]

i will probably be restricted to led's for a number of reasons, is there any way to get anything like that happing, ( or somehing roughly in the same category, eg a relatively subtle and non descript pattern moving slowly with blended colours )
also i will have 3 options for placement - directly overhead, on the floor a maximum of 1 foot away or from 5 metres in front - i had thought that using a gobo or projector from the front would project onto the musicians which is not happening in the video link that i added so i'm lost on this one

[millamber]

The video link effect is done by a floor mounted fixture in front of the panels shooting up onto the fabric in orange and the other is from the top down in blue. The first song has a sharply focused gobo with a slow anticlockwise rotation on it and then it slides out of focus and changes direction on the rotation for the second song.

You could do this effect with a leko and a dual gobo-rotator. Keep one gobo still and rotate the other while out of focus and it will give a shimmer or oil-wheel kind of feel.

[byronyasgur]

sorry for my ignorance but is a leko just a focusable par can ? is there any way i can do something like this using led technology

edit

floor mounted fixture in front of the panels shooting up onto the fabric

how does it spread out so wide - if it's at the bottom it must be very close to the fabric, are some of these devices designed to spread very wide

ps thanks for all the replies