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Academy of Production Technology Offers Electricity Training in Dallas, TX

Are you looking to increase your self worth or gain renewal credits to your ETCP certification? Good news, the Academy of Production Technology is offering a 3 day training session in Dallas Texas next month. From December 1st through December 3rd, the APT is offering a training session on Entertainment Electricity, Power Distribution, and Controls Training lead by the Electron Magician himself, Mr. Richard Cadena, an ETCP recognized trainer and certified Entertainment Electrician.

The 3 days of training includes everything from basic electricity to advanced power distro, safety, codes and regulations, and control systems. Join ETCP Recognized Trainer Richard Cadena three days of discovery and learning about the essential skills of the entertainment electrician and technician. It covers theory and practice of entertainment technology for the working electrician and technician.

Day one: theory and fundamentals of electricity including

DC and AC electricity
Impedance
AC power
Phase angles
Power factor
Three-phase power
Balancing three-phase loads

Day two: practical power distribution

Electrical safety
NFPA 70E
Lockout/tagout
Arc Flash/Arc Blast
Portable generators
Feeder transformers and cable
Overcurrent protection
Branch circuits
Grounding
GFCIs

Day three: networking Ethernet

DMX512-A
RDM
ACN
And more…

SPACE IS LIMITED, hurry up and register TODAY! Head over to the Academy’s website at www.aptxl.com and register now. Each day cost just $225 or for all three days $675. If you go, make sure to say hi to the swami for me!

Ken Billington Joins SUPER Saturday, January 22,2011

Ken Billington, award-winning lighting designer, has agreed to provide the keynote inspirational session at the Sixth annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday seminars. Billington says, “I am always happy to speak at any stage lighting educational seminar. I think that the Stage Lighting Super Saturday seminar is one of the best.”

Sonny Sonnenfeld says, “The program is designed to educate beginners and new professionals who seek additional training. It will be 10 hours of hard work, fun, and a great learning experience.” This popular annual seminar is designed for everyone involved in stage, architectural, or entertainment lighting. The sessions are not too basic nor too advanced. Everyone who attends will benefit. The intense all day seminar will be led by theatre lighting professionals leading sessions about inspiration, training, product, and just doing it.

Scott Parker adds, “A dozen theater lighting professionals will speak and about 20 industry lighting manufacturers will on hand and have technical personnel and equipment to demonstrate.”
The tentative program includes inspiration, stage lighting 101, fixtures, color, consoles, moving lights, trouble shooting, paperwork, and other subjects. Starting at 8:00 am on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the sixth-annual Stage Lighting Super Saturday all-day seminar will take place at the conveniently located Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City located across from New York City’s Lincoln Center.

For more information, please visit www.stageseminars.com.

United Visual Artists D3

Visual media has become more and more a standard over the past few years. As more and more shows and installs are asking for media, companies are now providing more ways to serve it. One of the coolest systems I saw at #LDI2010 was the d3 by United Visual Artists. It’s been around for a little while but is only now making a [huge] splash here in the states by being debuted on the U2 360 Tour. You see that giant bird nest thingy over the stage? Thats being driven by d3.

At first glance d3 is a bit intimidating- timeline based editing, built in real time visualizer and the capability to drive an entire visual rig including lighting. It can play media at a full 1080p resolution and spit it back out to one of four DVI outputs at a max resolution fo 1920×1200. It’ll play most of the current video formats, so no need to worry about re-rendering content. Send it live feeds on 2 HD SDI or 4 SD SDI inputs.

Being visual, you of course want to see what you’re creating in real time and the built in visualizer doesn’t lack in that department. It can import complex 3D objects, simulate camera movements, and even let you build complete pixel maps. Future updates will allow for full projection masking and spherical mapping.

Control is very well thought out as well. You can run right from the d3, have multiple devices setup in a master / slave system to Art-Net, MIDI, and MIDI timecode.

UVA really want’s you to use d3. So much so that (until further notice) when you buy a new system they will train you for free.

I want one.

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Creative Stage Lighting Host Workshop at University of Texas at El Paso

Creative Stage Lighting, in conjunction with the University of Texas at El Paso Department of Theatre and Dance, will present a workshop series on November 18.

This day long event includes three workshops:. “Theatre Programming – Lighting To Video” with Michael Nevitt of Creative Stage Lighting explores programming techniques for theatrical designers. “Scenic Painting” with Damon Hatten of Rosco Laboratories will display professional scene paintings and discuss the application of a variety of texture paints.

A guest presentation by Richard Cadena titled “Keys to Success in the Live Event Production Industry” is a session devoted to the direction of the live event production industry and how young people and newcomers can get kick-started on their career path into this field.

The event will be held in UTEP’s Wise Theatre. For more information please go to www.creativestagelighting.com.

‘Nook’s Ultimate Punt Pages’ DVD is Ready to Rock Your World & #LDI2010 Show Price

The Academy of Production Technology announces the release and special LDI trade show pricing of “Nook’s Ultimate Punt Pages,” a new training DVD designed to instruct lighting programmers how to run a show “on the fly.”

The DVD is available for sale Oct. 22-24 at booth #1828 in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Those who ordered the DVD during its pre-release promotion may pick up their copies at the booth by showing their printed web order. DVDs may also be purchased via the website www.ultimatepuntpages.com Special pricing ends at the conclusion of LDI.

In the one-hour DVD tutorial, industry lighting designer/programmer Richard “Nook” Schoenfeld guides viewers through his step-by-step process of a universal punting method. As a design specialist in festivals and festival-type tours, Schoenfeld says, “Punting as opposed to programming the entire show ahead of time has not only become an art form, but the shows usually look much better.”

The universal art of punting involves setting up one page of the console with as many programming elements as possible before the show. This allows the designer to then choose focus positions or movement cues, color schemes, gobo patterns and intensity levels through a variety of faders and push buttons on the fly, Schoenfeld explains.

The special LDI 2010 pricing on the DVD is available on the website at www.ultimatepuntpages.com.

For more information on other Academy of Production Technology training tools, visit www.APTxl.com.

#LDI2010: Phone It In Session – I’m on the Panel, SO BE THERE

One of the many benefits of LDI are some of the great sessions that are offered. One of them I just happen to be on the panel, the Phone it In Session. It falls under the LDI Innovation & Technology Conference, Lighting Summit II Track. While I would love to say that the sessions are free, they are not. BUT, is furthering you mind and learning new things about the industry a small price to pay for?

The Phone it In Session is about you guessed it, apps for our mobile devices that make working and living in our industry so much better. I’ll be joining a laundry list of app developers and programing monkeys that have brought us some of the most useful apps out there. Here’s a list of who is on the panel:

The session is from 9am to 10:30am on Sunday in room N120. The official session tag is #LG05 when looking for it on your registration. Make sure to bring you tips, trick, questions and of course wish list to the session. I hope to see some of you there, who knows, I might have something to give out after the session!

Mid-Atlantic Vectorworks User Group Meeting at the Mothership 10/14

I love user groups, they are so much fun. User group meetings bring together like minded people that share the same passion and love of whatever the user group is about. This time is it is Vectorworks!

On Thursday, October 14th from 7pm to 9pm, Vectorwork aficionados and lovers of the CAD program will converge on the mothership, Nemetschek’s headquarters in Columbia Maryland to talk, discuss and learn new tricks with Vectorworks 2011.

Not only is this a great time to learn new things, but talk with other users about problems, questions and issues that you face when working with Vectorworks. On top of that, it’s a great place to networks and meet new and exciting people! Then being at the mothership, we’ll get a chance to meet some of the people behind the software! I am totally there!

Here are all the details and how to register for the VUG-MA.

Date: Thursday, October 14th
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m. EDT
Place: Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc.
7150 Riverwood Drive
Columbia, MD 21046

Make sure to send a note to the group leader, Tom Pearce, (tns@coronal.net) to let them know you are coming. If you are not in the Mid-Atlantic region, no worries, there are still a ton of other VUG meetings across the country, check out the VUG website to find a meeting near you.

Take Vectorworks 2011 For a Test Drive Around Your City

You wouldn’t buy the latest sports car or luxury sedan without taking it for a test drive, and I’d bet you feel the same way about your design software. Much like a high-performance vehicle, Vectorworks 2011 software gets you where you’re going quickly, in style, and will make all your friends green with envy.

Join Vectorworks for a free, hands-on training session to experience the Vectorworks 2011 software for yourself.You’ll get three hours with a Vectorworks trainer to ask questions, get answers, and explore all the new bells and whistles of the Vectorworks 2011 software, including:

Improved 2D/3D integration
Renderworks™ 2011 with the CINEMA 4D® render engine*
Real-world editing with the Push/Pull tool
Exceptional text tools that allow you to create and edit text in a snap
New scalable symbols functionality

Vectorworks is driving to a city near you.
Seats are limited—please reserve yours today!

Santa Barbara, CA October 11, 2010 – Register Now
Los Altos Hills, CA October 12, 2010 – Register Now
San Francisco, CA October 13, 2010 – Register Now
Columbia, MD October 26, 2010 – Register Now
Las Vegas, NV October 27, 2010 – Register Now
Boston, MA October 29, 2010 – Register Now
Richmond, VA October 29, 2010 – Register Now
Orlando, FL November 2, 2010 – Register Now
Dallas, TX November 3, 2010 – Register Now
Irvine, CA November 10, 2010 – Register Now
Alexandria, VA November 11, 2010 – Register Now
New York, NY November 16-17, 2010 – Register Now
Chicago , IL November 19, 2010 – Register Now

LDI2010: More Learning Available at PRG Institute

If you are heading to Las Vegas next month for LDI, why not take FULL advantage of your time there? Production Resource Group, (PRG) is offering classes on their products. Here are the details on the classes being offered at PRG Institute.

PRG is pleased to offer introductory training on our proprietary products including Mbox EXtreme® Media Server, Bad Boy® Luminaire, the V676® and V476 ™ Lighting Control Consoles, and the Series 400® Power & Data Distribution System. These highly acclaimed and widely used products have quickly become industry staples for designers, programmers and technicians in concerts, theatre, special events, film and television.

Join us at the PRG Las Vegas depot for hands-on introductory training that will give you the knowledge you need to start using any or all of these exciting PRG products.

At PRG Institute you can sign-up for one session, any combination of sessions or all three days to get exactly the training you want. Class sizes are limited to allow hands-on training for all attendees so sign up today for PRG Institute in Las Vegas.

SCHEDULE

Tuesday, October 19th
9:00 – 12:00 Teching the PRG Bad Boy – Session Cost: $50.00
1:00 – 5:00 Networking with Series 400 Power & Data Distribution System – Session Cost: $50.00

Wednesday, October 20th
9:00 – 5:00 Mbox EXtreme Media Server Basic Training – Session Cost: $100.00

Thursday, October 21st
9:00 – 5:00 Introduction to the PRG V676 & V476 Lighting Control Consoles – Session Cost: $100.00

If I wasn’t getting in late to Vegas, I would totally be there to learn all about PRG’s products. Hurry and sign up for the PRG Institute at LDI in Las Vegas, you’ll be happy you did! You can learn more about the PRG Institute by visiting PRG’s website at www.prg.com.

Live Design Concert Master Classes in LA December 11 & 12, 2010

Mark your calendar, Live Design is holding another series of Master Classes this winter in Los Angles, the Live Design Master Classes. Similar to the Broadway Master Classes that were held on the east coast in the spring, Live Design has organized classes on the west coast.

Join creative consultant Jeff Ravitz and a faculty of top designers for two-days of sessions on concert lighting and projection applications and techniques. Get inspired. Get great information. Get a chance to network with the best designers on the concert stage today. Get a look at cutting-edge lighting, projection, and staging technology. Get insight into this exciting aspect of the entertainment business!

Two noted speakers at the LDMC will be Anne Militello, president of Vortex Lighting in LA and the head of the graduate lighting department at California Institute of the Arts. Joining Anne will be legendary concert lighting designer and author Jim Moody. Mr. Moody is the head of the Technical Theatre Program, technical director, and lighting designer for The Theatre Academy at Los Angeles City College.

n addition to the Concert Master Classes, LDI and Live Design invite you to join them for Backstage Disney Day on Friday, December 10—featuring the new World of Color spectacular—and a full Technical Training Day on Monday, December 13 with hands-on training including moving lights programming on a cutting-edge Avolites console; and media server programming on the Green Hippo Hippotizer.

Just when you thought there was nothing to do during the long winter days, Live Design brings you yet another place to learn and experince all things related to concert lighting. What are you waiting for, head over to registration and book your seat for the Live Design Concert Master Classes!

Renew Your ETCP Certification at LDI 2010

Continued training and professional development activities are essential in the changing entertainment technology environment. Therefore, to maintain ETCP certification, an ETCP Certified Technician must accumulate 40 renewal credits of continued training/professional development OR retake the certification examination and accumulate a minimum of 10 renewal credits of continued training/professional development over the 5 year period following the examination to maintain certification.

LDI 2010 provides many opportunities to gain renewal credits at the 2010 show, which will occur October 19-24, 2010. The following courses are taught by ETCP Recognized Trainers and are sponsored by The ESTA Foundation Seminars &Training Committee: “Left Brain Rigging: An A-Z On Math and How it Applies to Rigging,” Johnny Perri (14 ETCP Renewal Credits); “Stage Rigging Fundamentals,” Jay O. Glerum (14 ETCP Renewal Credits); and “Left Brain Rigging Calculator,” Johnny Perri (7 ETCP Renewal Credits).

Three courses are offered by ETCP Recognized Training Programs: “FTSI Professional Automation Training: Navigator Programming and Equipment,” Fisher Technical Services (21 ETCP Renewal Credits); “Safely Building the Beast,” TOMCAT USA, Inc. (12 ETCP Renewal Credits) and “Overview of the Ion Control System,” (3 ETCP Renewal Credits) and “Advanced Tips and Tricks for the Ion Control System,” (3 ETCP Renewal Credits) – both taught by ETC.

There are many other opportunities for ETCP Renewal Credits and more information about these courses can be found at: www.ldishow.com. Want more information about ETCP? Please contact Meredith Moseley-Bennett, Certification Manager at certification@esta.org or call 212.244.1505.

Sunday YouTube Videos

This weeks Sunday YouTube Video is actual hosted on Vimeo. YouTube doesn’t like us uploading more then a ten minute video. Nuts to that! Seems like this week has been focused on Vectorworks 2011 and rightfully so. There are some huge new features included into 2011 and thus makes the announcement and release big news. Late this past week I put up a listing of some of the new features of Spotlight. Vectorworks went a step further and created an introduction/tutorial video about the new features of Spotlight.

Are you excited about Vectorworks 2011 yet? If so, head over to www.vectorworks.net/2011 and download a 30 trial version of the software as well as learn more and get some more in depth training videos.