What am I thinking? What are you thinking?

Light Minds

Hey guys - you may have noticed that I stopped posting after LDI 07! Did you notice?

I wanted to post one last time to let you know that I am officially blogging (along with a few of my peers) on the new ETC blog - Light Minds Think Alike.

If you subscribed to this blog via email updates or RSS - you'll need to resubscribe to the new blog. You can find it here.

Seeya over there!

David

LDI a Late report

Dear Readers --

I struggled with community server this weekend and could never manage to post from my connection at the LDI hotel. This is a conglomerate post of the happenings at LDI. Sorry it was late. 

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Well - this is the end of Day 2 of LDI and my first opportunity to file a report. Seriously - We have all worked our butts off the past 2 days and things are great!

I am providing photos as best I can - but mostly of our stuff as I have had little time to wander the floor. We have been slammed with people wanting to see Ion and Eos - as well as all the other products.

We ran out of private demo slots and had to add extra equipment to accommodate more people - only problem is that we have been juggling the people to do the demo's!

Fortunately for us we got another great set of Smart Students who spend their day demoing the SmartFades and ML's. They have been enjoying learning to use the ML and SmartSoft! SmartSoft has been a big hit. People love the look of the app and the reception is very nice. Everyone is eagerly awaiting the Beta release in 2 weeks.

Even the newest ETC employee, only 36 hours fresh on the payroll was hard at work. Welcome to ETC Nick Gonsman!

The design of the booth is working well - about 100 square feet more space than last year - and the crowds fit nicely.  The Pharos display has been busy - despite being on the "other side of the shed." We are previewing the LPCx - a new and lovely box designed to output up to 200 universes of networked DMX to run all sorts of lighting. The AVC - in its final phase of completion,  has also been popular to look at. The folks at Pharos just keep raising the bar on this kind of lighting control.

The highlight of today was the awards ceremony where Fred Foster was awarded the Wally award for lifetime achievement. This is a great honor and well deserved by Fred - who has had an enormous impact on the lighting industry. Richard Pilbrow presented the award and gave a heart-felt speech about the things Fred has done and the experiences he has had with Fred personally.

And then - who should make an appearance but -- Mini Fred! Notice his prominent position at the podium!

I have not blogged about mini Fred - but suffice it to say that it is a running joke at ETC. All employees were given a mini statue of Fred honoring his 50th anniversary. It was put together as a roast of sorts. Since the appearance of mini Fred - he has traveled the world!  See him sitting on the edge of the podium as Richard Pilbrow speaks!

And here in Fred's thoughtful acceptance speech - mini Fred respectfully listens (he was not thanked.)

Fred graciously gave credit for his success to his employees - something he never fails to do. It was a beautiful speech - raising laughter and tears from all of us. Congratulations to Fred on this award.

LDI was a great success. I hope everyone had a great time at the show.

David

LDI Preview Part 2 - Ion

Have you watched our talking heads video? You should. 

Not a well kept secret, we will be introducing the newest meber of the Eos family of products at LDI -- The Ion console.

You can click on many of the images below for larger ones.

Ever since the day we stopped shipping the Microvision FX - people have been complaining. It is remarkable what a strong role size can play in the purchase of a new lighting desk. When people ask me for a Microvision I know what they really mean is something the size of that desk.

Ion answers that call in a desk that any true dedicated ETC user will appreciate. You have probably seen this form factor before - as Congo Jr and Ion share a similar hardware platform with some significant differences - not the least of which is the operating software. Ion runs the Eos software - with some changes to account for hardware differences.

Ion is also designed for a range of universal master wings (that will also be shared with Congo jr.) These include a single 20 fader wing that fits directly on the top of the Ion unit and preserves the small footprint (See above photo -- MVFX style!)

A 2x10 fader wing

and a 2x20 fader wing.

Notice that the latter 2 wings include LCD's to display what content is loaded to them. This is an important need that cannot be overlooked - especially as we add som many features to the traditional submaster. Each wing also has 2 buttons associated for bump and/or go-pause-back operation when used to playback cue stacks. The wings can be rigidly connected to the console to make a single fixed unit you can pick up and carry away -- or connected via USB cables for use "on the side." 

You can connect up to 6 of these wings to the desk - resulting in an unlimited number of configurations for your particular use.

The Ion Facepanel (click the above image for a larger view) shows a great deal of functionality in the desk - but a very straightforward layout. Every desk ships with 4 rotary encoders. Yep - we just had to make the investment in physical encoders as we predict even the smallest of venues will be using them inside of 5 years. The encoders and softkeys are labelled via an integral LCD - something at least one manufacturer has left off of their highest end consoles. Again - labelling items on the desk is not a luxury any more - but fundamental. We can't imagine not doing at this level of desk, not to mention on the larger desks!

The Ion screens are beautiful - but maybe I am biased. The show a lot of thought - easy to read and view in a dark location without spoiling your view of the stage. The CIA (central information area) from Eos is really the only major part of the desk that requires the use of a mouse. The CIA appears when it is needed for soft-functions. It is not needed that often and even things like patch have been offloaded to the Desk LCD and encoders (ala Smartfade ML!)

Ion is highly networkable - as you might guess. It runs on the Net 3 Platform, which is our ACN based network - but it also has Net 2 compatibility for existing nodes. Ion can be networked to other Ion's -- Remote Video interaces and PC's running client software -- Net 3 gateways and Net 2 nodes -- and Eos systems. An Ion connected to an Eos system becomes a remote facepanel with the full capability of that system. And Ion uses our channel partitioning setup from Eos - which is very powerful for multi-programmer systems. You can easily rack mount a unit backstage and have electricians working on stage while pre-writing cues elsewhere.

Ion offline software has been rolled into the Eos offline package - with the addition of a full on-screen keypad (shown above and clickable.) This makes working on your shows easier and is useful for training as well.

Ion has been asked for by ETC customers for a long time! You will be surprised how much is in there and how easy it is to use.

David

LDI Preview Part 1

We are getting close to LDI and I thought I would share with you all what we have up our sleeves this year.

First off - a great product, SmartSoft. SmartSoft is a software package companion for SmartFade ML (and soon SmartFade) that allows you to have video display (and much more) with your SmartFade ML. You're going to like this!

SmartSoft was designed by Adam Benette - creator of the ML console. The Software was done by Lars Wernlund - also knwon for his great product Capture. Anders Ekvall is the software developer for Congo, SmartFade and SmartFade ML.

SmartSoft boots fast and looks good. Cleanly designed screens make it easy to see your data and it runs on fairly weak PC's. Only real requirement is windows (for now) and a 1280x1064 display. Connect SmartFade to your ML console via USB and your off to the races.

You can click all the images below to get full size screens.

The display above will be best for working in offline mode. You get the controls you need most often and  a cue list for the stack. A series of tabs across the top allow you to navigate to different screens. You also get labelling of the device and channel names. The faders at the bottom work live and interact with the connected desk.

The above image is of the Palettes tab. You can view and edit palette data in this screen. When you view the full image notice that you get a pan/tilt position indicator. Color palettes also show the approximate CMY mixture. Change the values in this screen by clicking on them - the Color will change too!

The patch tab is another cool one. You can see the 2 DMX ports in a field and channel and device indicators above. You can drag intensity channels to any address - or any DMX address can be dragged to a channel. Best of all you can drag a device to any DMX address and get the pop up as shown below to select your device. The entire Carallon library, over 1,000 devices, is included and you create your own devices as well.

This is a great feature for setting up shows in advance. SmartSoft also has a main output display that shows intensity and parameter values.

This display would most likely be used for running and programming live.

The pages tab is used to see and label content on the various memory pages. You get labelling here to see what the actual content is. This is a great way to keep track of a lot of memories.

There are dedicated screens for editting memories and sequences. It is really easy to insert and delete steps and you can see exactly what is going to happen next. The image below shows a sequence ready to be editted.

SmartSoft is a great addition to the SmartFade line. It will initially work with SmartFade ML only, but regular SmartFade users will get the benefits in early 2008. 

Best of all - IT IS FREE. SmartSoft will be on display at LDI. We will be starting a public beta of SmartSoft in November open to all ETC Forum registered users. If you own an ML - look for the beta soon. If you don't own an ML - look for the beta - download - you'll want to buy an ML.

Any questions? Post them here as comments.

Bucky fever at ETC!

Yeah we got Bucky fever at ETC and Bucky came to visit today! What a great day.

If you are not familiar with Bucky Badger you should get to know him I love that guy! In fact - everybody loves Bucky!

I guess his ETC visit all started with fred and Susan Foster inviting 1000 ETC friends and family to come be Basgers at the UW Volleyball team game this weekend. Fred and Susan are very generous to make this offer and UW volleyball rocks! I mean these girls are good.

So I guess when you buy 1000 tickets Bucky is willing to come and visit. He made his way all around ETC.

He visited Wade at our new SMT line - where he inspected a SmartFade mother board (notice the thumbs up - it passed!)

He hauled some freight around in the warehouse!

Visited the Paint line.

He even took a conference call in the Presidents office.

Thanks Fred and Susan for the gift of Bucky and Badger Volleyball for ETC!

Construction at ETC - Again

Upon my return from PLASA, I was greeted by a new sight at ETC.

Yep - we are expanding again. Adding another 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space to our existing space. It is hard to believe that we have outgrown this building already, but the evidence is there. ETC just broke shipment and bookings records for 4 months straight! We kept breaking our own records.

The added square footage will support new product lines in 2008 and help us spread out a bit. The biggest impact on employees is the walk from the parking lot! It is going to get a lot longer. The new space is where the existing South parking lot is now.

I guess we could have bigger complaints. Our business is expanding - we are profitable - privately owned - the list goes on. I feel confident we will continue to expand our business.

David

Eos Wins!

It has been a grand slam for Eos on product awards this year as she wins the award for innovation at PLASA!

Do these guys look happy?

Representing ETC and holding the trophy-- Anne Valentino, Dennis Varian and Fred Foster. This is  agreat day for all ETC employees as we have all worked hard to make this a reality. Congratulations!

Celebrate! We are!

PLASA - DAY 1

I say DAY 1 because it is a 4 day show. That is not an easy thing. As someone who believes all trade shows should be 2 days, I must object.

Oh well. The ETC stand was as busy as ever - although many of us commented that it was not as busy as usual. Sunday is known as a day for tire kickers. The professional crowd comes during the week - when they are on payroll.

The demos went non-stop though as people paraded in to see Eos, Congo and Smartfade ML. I will feature more on our new products tomorrow.

Ofcourse today I was cruising the competition stands and really enjoying watching them work on their products. I also visited good friends of the family.

Lars and Lasse at the Capture stand.

Yngve continues the long debut of the E.go system!

Fred Foster and Lennart Knauf discuss the future of the E.go system.

Sarah Clausen and Oskar Krogell at the end of a long day of demos.

Dennis Varian converts Congo developer Bullen Lagerbielke to an Eos man. Bullen points out a small detail.

No need for alarm Dennis - remember, he likes things backwards.

Erik Larsen keeps the Sensor rack from falling onto Mike Wood.

Quite frankly there was very little noise today. Nothing really big to report on. Happy crowds, lots of food served and tired feet. I'll try to report more on the new innovations of the show tomorrow.

David

Plasa – London – On the road again

Well, having been mum for 2 weeks, I am on the road again. I guess that not doing a blog post for 2 weeks is probably not “best practice” in the bloggers world. From time to time it seems to be my reality.

Today I have landed in London for PLASA 2007. I always enjoy the yearly excursion to the UK and try my best to make the most of the trip beyond the obviously important business reason for being here. After landing I took and afternoon walk through the city.

London has the spiciness of a big city, bustling with life, alongside a rich culture where things are just obviously, old.

Like most large cities, Space is at a premium. I cannot imagine what these shop owners pay in rents.

Do you see marmite on these shelves?

With the pound worth over 2 bucks this city bleeds your pocket rather quickly. I didn’t ask how much the Psychic readings costs – but if you are going to do readings on the street I definitely recommend a Volkswagen van as your office. It does lend a bit more credibility to the operation!

One of my favourite (British spelling) activities is riding the tube. Hopefully I will be able to keep doing it – I was told there was another strike planned this week.  I love the “authorized buskers.” 

These talented musicians are licensed to play for spare change throughout the tube.

They have adopted varying styles – solo pieces, ensembles, some even accompanying recorded tracks blasted through and amplifier.

You can hear and learn more about them at www.buskear.com.

I also enjoy British advertising on the tube. Perhaps these ads are showing in the US, but they have not made it Middleton yet.

I’ll be covering PLASA all week beginning Sunday. Please join me!

David

Airport Seats Dot Com

The life of a traveling salesman includes lots of airport seats. Have you ever really looked at airport seating? I mean really looked at it?

My good colleague David Gray had a moment of clarity one day as he sat in an airport. The result was www.airportseats.com Read about his sudden vision on the site.

David has a website dedicated to the places we sit in airports. If this sounds strange to you - take a look. It is strange. I recently submitted a photo to David and he blogged me! You too can submit photo's if you follow his photo rules.

So, visit David's site and enjoy it. He is an artist - if you don't believe me -- look at what he will do to get the right photo. Here he is in action.

Home

I spent the last day in Holzkirchen and then trained up to Munich to spend some alone time walking the streets.

OK, so it was not so much alone time, but I wasn't talking to anyone. Munich is a crowded city - and this is the City Center, Marienplatz. I turned my camera to people here. It is hard to photograph people - they are always watching you.

I took photos for a few people at this popular photo site. I really like these girls photographing themselves. This fountain is a popular meeting place - lot's of people waiting for something, someone.

Business trips are whatever you choose to make of them. This one was especially enjoyable as I chose to make it an exploration. I also learned the joy of having my small camera on my belt at all times. My SLR was being repaired so I just took my small minolta digital. I will always take the small and large hardware from now on! They each have a place.

Bavaria is a beautiful part of the world and it is possible to notice this even when you have to work.

Work is different for some people. I often feel that this kind of work would ultimately be more satisfying. But my wife points out to me often that I should be grateful for the work I do and the possibility of traveling and meeting so many people, learning about the culture in other places and having rich experiences. She is right of course. Monday I am back to "the factory" to Chop Wood and Carry Water.

David

All work and no play?

If you know Jake Dunnum you know that he is a busy guy. As product manager for ETC's major dimming lines and all of our networking products he has very little down time at work.

Here we see Jake taking a conference call from our dinner location at the Lindl, Mark vassallo's favorite place to eat. The Lindl is in a lovely location with charming service and very bavarian style food.

Mark insists that everyone eat the garlic soup - which makes for a  nice atmosphere in the conference room the next day. Just to prove that we are not all work and no play - we wound up the evening with a game of traditional Bavarian bowling called Kegelscheiben.

This single wooden lane at the Lindl has been around over 150 years - originally as a dirt lane. The Bavarian variation on the game "Holzbarteln" is very complex - involving strategies to leave certain pins up and payments of beer litres to the group for certain combinations and extra payments to the pin setter for sertain actions. We played it american style. And Jake Dunnum emerged the winner. You can see his early skills forming here on video. Don't miss Mark vassallo setting pins!

Great pains were taken to document the occasion. David Gray is truly an artist.

You can see Davids other work here.  Myself, I didn't do too badly in the evenings game.

Now here is something you don't see everyday in Germany. Gunther Weidemann has a nice ride for the Autobahn.

According to Gunther this is the only 1977 Chevy Stepside in Germany! And it is a beauty. A precision tuned 350 - 4 barrel makes this quite fun on long stretches of highway. Gunther spent the last everal months doing the final assembly. He wishes he had purchased a digital camera before he began the disassembly! Special thanks to Oskar Krogell for the video clips!

Jake and I took a decompression driving trip down to Tergernsee last night after the days meetings. Here is a slide show of my pictures from that trip.

Munchen tonite. Home tomorrow.

David

Chop wood, Carry Water

A Zen Proverb

Chop Wood, Carry Water. 

This is what we do before enlightenment. This is what we do after enlightenment.

Stacking firewood is an art in Bavaria. I noticed this the first time I ever came here - but I am now struck by how significant the Art of stacking wood is. This morning I photographed the Art.

Watch the slide show.

Have you ever attended a sales meeting?

A famous ETC marketing VP once referred to these annual events as a "blood sport."

Do these people look dangerous? No - not to a mere mortal - but to a marketing person this scene draws immediate fear!

As Anne Valentino presented her content to the sales team via telephone, I showed her "death by powerpoint" presentation locally on my PC in Holzkirchen. Sarah Clausen "skyped" me. As you can see from our chat below, after asking a few simple details about here segment of the meeting - She asks "is it bloody over there?"

Funny thing was that I was showing Anne's powerpoint onscreen so everyone in the meetnig got to see Sarah's question! Needless to say - she got a few laughs from the room.

Sarah - On video. Skype is a great application! If you do not use it - you should.

David

Off to Germany

I travelled to Bavaria on Saturday for the ETC Europe sales force's biannual sales meeting. Jake Dunnum and I flew into Munich and enjoyed a brief excursion to Nymphenburg Palace before heading down to Holzkirchen where our ETC office is located.

Munich is a great city, great museums, great sites. I think it must have been interesting to have been carried around in these little boxes. I guess I will never really know. Claustrophobia might have been a problem.

The views from the hotel near Holzkirchen are extraordinary!

The sales meeting began to day - so much for the fun - now its time for the beatings to begin. (Stay tuned to see who gets beaten!)

Here is a link to a slide show of photos.