AV Issue 38 by Alchemedia Publishing

Monash Uni’s CAVE2 3D Visualiser HELLO POSSUM: SAVING LEADBEATER, CHILD’S PLAY BIG SCORE: MCG’S HUGE DISPLAYS NOW & FOREVER: ETERNITY THEATRE TECH REBIRTH issue #38 $6.95

Editorial Read the What? Okay, it’s confession time… My name is Andy and I read manuals. It started out innocently enough with reading the manuals for defunct WWII communications gear in my early high school years and it’s just got progressively worse since then. Today I read the manual for a mobile phone I don’t even own yet, the manuals for two models of active loudspeakers I heard a week ago, the introductory documentation for two utilities on SourceForge and, most embarrassing of all, part of the documentation for Office 13. I even have a favourite manual – the magnificent 697page, hard-cover bound, AutoCAD Version 12 Reference Manual from 1992 that sits in easy reach on the bookshelf behind me. My condition is even more serious than I generally admit to. You see, I actually write manuals too. What’s even worse: I really enjoy writing them (some of you may even have unwittingly used my manuals on projects or productions). This is why the aforementioned AutoCAD manual is my favourite – I use it as my gold-standard reference for layout, style, typography and clarity of language. AutoCAD was always a hideously-difficult piece of software to learn, particularly at the time of version 12, when every drawing or layout function still had to be typed in from the command line. The manual had to be especially good when an AutoCAD licence (and dongle) cost about the same as a family car. The Internet has actually aggravated my situation. Since most organisations no longer bother to print manuals or even send them out

in electronic format with their products, there are now millions of manuals available on line for me to download and read. I spend vast tracts of time reading the manuals for the products used in projects I’m writing about, or in selecting the news stories we cover. Of course, I spend even more time reading the documentation for the components in systems I’m designing, specifying or troubleshooting. Just lately though, I’m having more trouble feeding my… interest. Twice in recent weeks I’ve discovered that the complex and sophisticated modem/firewall/router/wireless access point/VoIP gateway/print server/media players supplied by major ISP/telcos don’t even have manuals – in any format. I’ve contacted the manufacturers who refer me to the ISPs, who deny that there is any documentation. I’m sorely tempted to believe them because none of their ‘tech support representatives’ have a clue about what these devices can do – much less how to configure them. They just keep reading their script and telling me to power the device down and wait 20 minutes before restarting it; which is never going to solve an issue with configuring the firewall or the port forwarding. (Thank goodness for user communities and discussion forums.) Even the 182-page manual for my soon-to-bedelivered mobile phone completely lacks essential technical information needed to configure and operate the telephone functions. However, I’ll be fine should I ever need to take a high-resolution, low-light photo with shaky hands, make the people in it look like brightly-coloured teddy-

bears and post it directly to Facebook. I suspect that companies may be falling for their own hype about how easy their products are to use and going along with the current community attitude that cool people don’t need manuals and using it as excuse to prepare inadequate or incomplete (dumbed-down?) documentation. In a way that’s a self-justifying argument, because even fewer people will get any benefit from reading inadequate documentation. Many AV readers are manual readers too, maybe not quite as obsessive about it as me, but manual readers nevertheless. You need to be for your jobs, in a whole host of different ways: whether it’s preparing the systems you design, build, commission or operate; or whether it’s to fill that big binder of never-to-be-read, as-built documents that are a requirement of every project. Almost the entire community, including the majority of our colleagues, peer down their noses at those of us so dumb that we have to read the manuals for gear that anyone can figure out by flicking a few switches, playing with the faders, or clicking on a few on-screen buttons. However, these are the same people who have been requesting new features in products, even when those features have been one layer down in the menu system for many years. They’re the same people who drag us away from lunch or interrupt our time at home with urgent support requests that fall precisely into the ‘RTFM’ category.  Andy Ciddor, Editor: andy@av.net.au

ELEGANT DESIGN, LIFELIKE AUDIO. MicroexTM Wireless Systems Enterprise-scale Microphone Solutions for Managed AV Environments ™

Microex Wireless systems bring vivid, lifelike audio to meetings, panel discussions, teleconferences and other applications in managed AV environments — from signature boardrooms and concentrated multi-room environments to networked corporate campuses. • • • • • • •

Flexible mic options – Gooseneck, boundary, bodypack and handheld microphones Modern, low-prole designs – Fit comfortably into diverse AV environments Dante™ digital audio networking – Low latency, multichannel audio over Ethernet networks Advanced rechargeability – Smart lithium-ion batteries enable remote monitoring Browser-based control software – Comprehensive system setup and real time control Automated frequency coordination – Ensures clean frequencies for every wireless channel Encrypted wireless – AES-256 protection for secure over the air wireless audio

Distributed by

www.jands.com.au

Crew Robert is a composer in the film and TV industries and a freelance journalist fascinated by all things technical in the audiovisual world. His music can be heard accompanying every FoxSports and Channel Nine commercial promoting the ARU Wallabies’ matches in 2012, and his articles can also be found in FineMusic and AudioTechnology magazines. In 2010 Robert co-founded a postproduction company called Aurigami, which has produced music and sound design for television commercials, documentaries, feature films and video games. Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353

Editor: Andy Ciddor (andy@av.net.au) Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@av.net.au) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@av.net.au) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@av.net.au)

Paul is a freelance lighting designer based in Sydney. Struggling to find work in his homeland, Paul spends much of the year in far flung places in perpetual search for the perfect breakfast and good coffee. With a love of lights, gadgets and a good story, Paul makes an admirable effort to bring to AV reviews of products and events from around our small and wondrous globe.

Art Director: Daniel Howard (daniel@alchemedia.com.au) News Editor: Graeme Hague (news@av.net.au) Accounts: Jaedd Asthana (jaedd@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@av.net.au) Cover Photograph: Courtesy of Mechdyne and Monash University

Marcus has worked in the entertainment industry for over 15 years. He has lit everything from TV to tours, corporate to circus, galleries to garages, and yet he’s still smiling and always up for a joke. He spends much of his time looking after a large client base for Melbourne lighting company Resolution X. He is currently a committee member of the Australian Lighting Industry Association, a member of the AVIAs judging panel, and has a continuing passion for lighting in all fields.

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2014 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title AV is a registered Trademark. Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 30/3/2014

Graeme Hague worked for the last twenty years in regional theatre venues as an audio, lighting and AV technician, before leaving to work freelance for local production companies and focus on becoming a full-time writer based in the south west of WA. Graeme is a regular contributor to Audio Technology magazine and was the principal writer for the new Guerrilla Guide to Recording and Production (www. guerrillaguide.com.au). He owns a Maglite, a Leatherman and a wardrobe of only black clothing which proves he is overwhelmingly qualified to write on any technical subject.

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Issue 38 REGULARS NEWS AV industry and product news.

NEWS: CREPUSCULAR ILLUMINATIONS Searchlight beams over White Night.

INFOCOMM ASSOCIATION NEWS News and important dates from the Asia Pacific region.

TERMINATION Imagining an Intuitive Interface.

FEATURES

BORN AGAIN TABERNACLE A rundown Baptist tabernacle is reborn as the Eternity Playhouse.

MCG WHIZZ The MCGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new video XXXL scoreboards go over the top.

HELLO POSSUMS! A Secret Forest becomes a weapon in the fight to save the Leadbeater possum from extinction.

TUTORIALS

VISIONARY CAVE DWELLERS Going information mining in Big Data.

IMAGE SIZE Designing for viewability.

REVIEWS IZOTOPE RX3 ADVANCED Audio restoration software.

012

TUTORIAL

ETX Powered Loudspeakers The ETX Powered Loudspeaker family builds upon the industry-leading innovation and 85-year heritage of Electro-Voice audio engineering to offer the most advanced professional-grade products for an array of applications. • State-of-the-art components deliver the legendary EV sound quality and reliability the pros trust: 1800 W (subs) & 2000 W (full-range) Class-D power amplifiers with integrated DSP produce high SPLs utilizing high-sensitivity, low-distortion transducers (including DVX & SMX series woofers and precision DH3-B HF titanium compression drivers). • Lightweight, durable and compact 18-mm, 13-ply birch plywood enclosures finished with EVCoat. Eight mounting points for permanent installations. Custom die-cast aluminium pole cups, handles and hardware.

Performance beyond the reach of the competition.

BRAINPOWER Intelligent technology, innovative design. • EV’s FIR-Drive utilizes the latest Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter technology to optimize transducer linearity. Advanced limiter algorithms for independent peak and thermal transducer protection. • Complete full-function DSP control via a single-knob interface. LCD screen for easy system set-up and monitoring: location/application EQ presets, limiter status, input level controls/meters and master volume control to ensure optimal gain structure. Subs feature a preset for true cardioid performance. • EV-patented Signal Synchronized Transducers (SST) waveguide design provides precise and consistent coverage across all system configurations. Waveguides are custom-designed and optimized per ETX model.

www.electrovoice.com/ETX Bosch Communications Systems (02) 9683 4752 boschcomms@au.bosch.com

10 • 12 • 15 • 15 3-way • 15 sub • 18 sub Designed, engineered, tested and assembled for ultimate reliability by Electro-Voice in the USA.

013

TUTORIAL

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Use our 12 year history with Belden to your advantage. Madison Technologies is the largest Australian Distributor of Belden products, with stock held in four warehouses across the country, and dedicated specialist staff in each state. We have exceptional product knowledge that only comes with having a long history working together, and a full range of complementary products to make us the real one-stop-shop. Contact us on 1800 00 77 80 or email av@madisontech.com.au

014

NEWS

Highlights from AV News Online

MORE SPIN WITH NEW BALL

LONCLOUD MONITORING

EIGHT BY EIGHT HDMI

Camera Corps new Q3 camera, compared to the original Q-Ball, incorporates double the zoom power, a higher specification camera and expanded feature set. It is compatible with multiple serial data formats. Using an integral 3Gbps slip-ring, Q3 can perform an unlimited number of 360° lateral rotations. Pan and tilt speed are adjustable from an ultra-slow 360° in 90 minutes to 90° per second. All pan/tilt/zoom/focus parameters can be stored to internal non-volatile memory for fast recall. Motion control sequences of up to 25 seconds duration can be stored too. Q3 is compatible with all high-definition and intermediatedefinition video formats currently in common use. A concurrent PAL/NTSC output is available. Camera alignment features include gamma correction, white balance, 16-step edge enhancement and a 2 second to 1/10,000 second shutter. An optional optical-interface provides data control, genlock and 3Gbps video over a pair of single-mode fibers. Q3 retains Q-Ball’s rigging system with just a single cable to the head. Camera Corps: www.camercorps.co.uk

Medialon has announced LonCloud, a web service to monitor critical data of audiovisual installations equipped with a Medialon Controller. Critical data, such as lamp hour usage of video projectors or video server operations, is continually monitored by Medialon Controllers. Now it is possible to regularly send snapshots of those values to the LonCloud service where users can monitor the data in real time and set up thresholds to send alarms to technicians so they can act before equipment fails. LonCloud is designed for integrators and offers several levels of access rights, allowing professionals to set up LonCloud monitoring for their customers and resell the monitoring services. LonCloud, as a web service with an easy-to-use graphical interface, also offers a diagnosis tool to compare data values such as room temperature and correlated projector lamp failures across time. The data is permanently stored in the LonCloud service, so statistics about long-term system usage can be extracted. For security, Medialon controllers encrypt outbound connections to the LonCloud servers. Interactive Controls: (02) 9436 3022 or www.interactivecontrols.com.au

Aten International has launched the Aten VanCryst VM5808H, an 8x8 HDMI matrix switch with scaler. The VM5808H is designed for environments where instantaneous switching of HDMI content are critical. Aten’s VanCryst VM5808H supports mixed deployments with different video sources, monitors and resolutions, eliminating signal loss and degradation. It features Seamless Switch, utilising a scaler technology that helps to flexibly scale video outputs from various source formats, while delivering continuous video content in real-time without any frame loss. Signals can be routed from any of eight HDMI sources to any of eight HDMI displays and resolution types. It can independently switch and arrange HDMI inputs and outputs in different combinations, as well as provide a quick view of all port connections via the front panel LCD. Through Aten’s EDID Expert technology, VM5808H automatically selects optimum EDID settings, and the EDID functionality allows video sources to communicate with the display and its native resolution to ensure optimal image quality. The VM5808H is available by special order. Anywhere Corporation: (03) 9212 8400 or www.anywhere.com.au

NEWS IN BRIEF:

ClearOne has acquired Sabine, Inc. providing ClearOne with exclusive access to the wireless microphones that are a critical component of ClearOne’s microphone portfolio, as Sabine has partnered successfully with ClearOne since late 2012. Under the terms of the transaction, ClearOne will pay approximately US$7.5m in cash and US$1.5m in ClearOne shares. In addition, ClearOne will assume and pay off Sabine’s debt of US$1.25m and make earn-out payments over the next three years, based on achievement of certain performance criteria. ClearOne expects to maintain Sabine operations at its current headquarters in Alachua, Florida. ClearOne: www.clearone.com

MediaMaster 4.0 is the latest version of ArKaos PRO’s media server software. Version 4.0 brings more flexible protection via an optional dongle and many additional features, yet keeps the simplicity of operation. A completely redesigned licensing system allows the user to register and deregister any machine remotely from their own account, so MediaMaster 4.0 is not restricted to use on only one machine. MediaMaster 4.0’s long list of new features includes new aspect ratio and cropping tools, new Hue, Saturation and Lightness tools, layer-based volume control and a redesigned interface. ArKaos: www.arkaos.net

• Get your daily news fix at www.av.net.au

Philips Entertainment debuted a wide range products at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt. The VL4000 Spot is the first in a new generation of Vari-Lite luminaires. The Showline SL Nitro 510C, follows on from the SL Nitro 510 adding full RGBW capabilities. Also launched was the SL Wash 350, a compact moving washlight with three zones of independent RGBW control. At the budget end, there were the new SL ePar 180 and SL eStrobe 130 fixtures. Selecon premiered the LED RAMA Fresnel, while Strand Lighting unveiled its new NEO expandable control system. www.vari-lite.com, www.seleconlight.com www.strandlighting.com

IML Worldwide has announced that IML and Lumi Mobile have officially merged to become one unified company, Lumi. This brand change is the result of the recent acquisition of IML by Lumi Mobile. IML Australia: (02) 8075 0100 or info@imlworldwide.com

Coolux has released new Net Link I/O Interfaces. The newly developed range of coolux Net Link products make it possible to convert a large number of external inputs into network data. Each Net Link unit can be equipped with up to two modules that can be freely configured. A very important role played by Net Link products is the connection between switching relays, sensor input and output, as well as the Coolux Widget Designer control software. Show Technology: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

REVOLABS SPEAKS UP

FOUR TIMES THE FIREPOWER

Revolabs has released two new products, the Revolabs FLX UC500 USB conference phone and the Revolabs Executive Elite wireless microphone system. The FLX UC500 USB conference phone provides powerful high-fidelity audio capabilities by using tweeter and mid-woofer elements – effectively putting real speakers back into the audio equation. Equipped with four embedded microphones, a wider frequency response, and higher power than typical USB audio devices, the FLX UC500 brings professional-grade sound to unified communication applications. Echo cancellation is applied without any additional processing. The new Executive Elite wireless microphone system is a four or eight channel configuration. Using a new distributed architecture, the system's remote antenna receiver and base units connect via a standard Cat6 cable with support for power over Ethernet (PoE). To reach beyond the system's standard four or eight channels, the Executive Elite receiver can be synchronised with other systems, allowing up to 80 (Americas) or 160 (rest of world) microphones – yes, for once we get more than the Yanks. Audio Products Group: (02) 9578 0137 or www.audioproducts.com.au

The Salamander Quad Pro is the latest flame projector system from Le Maitre. A larger, more versatile four-canister system, it can be operated with each canister being fired independently and the option of multiple colours being loaded. There is a choice of fuels – butane/propane (natural canisters) and where the use of propane isn’t permitted, ethanol/methanol (red canisters), provide an alternative solution. Firing the canisters sequentially can be used to increase the duration of the effect, with up to 120 hits in total and each flame reaching around 4m in height. Alternatively, all four canisters can be fired at the same time to produce a much bigger single flame, reaching up to eight metres. A unique firing system eliminates internal valves and accumulators, minimising the chance of the system becoming blocked or leaking. Canister-based fluids eliminate the need for external propane tanks, trailing pipes and multiple valves, enabling quick set-up and reduced cost. The system is controlled by DMX512. Universal Lighting Audio (ULA) Group: 1300 852 476 or www.ula.com.au

Melbourne-based Atomos’ new Ninja Blade device allows the recording of pristine, 10-bit images straight from the camera sensor directly to inexpensive HDD or SSD drives, captured using Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD codecs. Waveform, vectorscope and monitor assist tools such as tri-level focus peaking, zebra, false color and blue-only offer a very comprehensive test and shot setup tool kit. The Ninja Blade takes advantage of low-cost, modern technology by utilising HDMI-capable pro-video and consumer camcorders, as well as DSLRs. Atomos: (03) 9999 5908 or www.atomos.com

ITI-Image Group has been shuffling desks around the office. Louis Proctor, who has already been with the company since September 2013, is now Sales Manager, Projection Display Technologies. Jason Wright joined ITI-Image in February taking on the role of Sales Manager Electronic Display Technologies. ITI-Image Group: (02) 9477 5709 or www.iti-imagegroup.com.au

Christie has announced that Kenji Hamashima, Chairman, President and CEO of the Christie group of companies will step down from his current role effective as of April 1, 2014. Jack Kline, President and COO, Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. will assume the role of Chairman, President and CEO of all of Christie’s operating companies, worldwide. Mr. Hamashima will remain as Chairman, President and CEO of the Christie holding company, Christie Digital Systems Inc., as well as Ushio America Inc. Christie Digital Systems Australia: (07) 3844 9514 or www.christiedigital.com

Revolabs announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Yamaha Corporation. The merger of the two companies will help Yamaha further grow its enterprise presence for audio equipment. Revolabs will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation and execute on its existing roadmap with the current management team. Revolabs: www.revolabs.com

True To Your Pitch Wi-Fidelity

Epic digital wireless technology, now amazingly affordable. Introducing the DWZ Series with affordable 2.4 GHz technology. You get solid-gold, 24-bit linear PCM digital audio to keep you sounding your best. You get robust transmission and easy channel selection. Even automatic feedback reduction, encryption and battery charging are available. And Sony has pre-assembled DWZ packages for presentation and speech, as well as musical instruments. Sony’s DWZ Series. Sound like a million bucks without spending it. pro.sony.com.au/audio

016

NEWS

1/ CHIEF AIMS FOR THE TOP

2/ ARX BLUETOOTH DI

3/ MORE MEDIA

Chief set itself the task of solving installers' problems when putting up a video wall, addressing issues such as speed of installation, ease of alignment, access for serviceability and rigidity to maintain adjustments. The solution is the ConnexSys Video Wall Mounting System. Features include a single strut channel install per row, PowerZone Adjustment with six points of tool-free height, tilt, lateral and depth adjustment, a generous depth adjustment and a RapidDraw display release – a controlled pull cord release gives installers access to any display on the video wall, removing the possibility of accidental pop-outs from ”people bumping into screens” (where exactly are they installing these?). ConnexSys is available in landscape and portrait versions with rails, and can be ordered without the strut channel, if need be. Image Design Technology (IDT): 1300 666 099 or sales@idt.com.au

ARX Systems, the Australian-based designer and manufacturer of digital and analogue interface and signal processing products has announced the release of the Blue DI Bluetooth Direct Box, an addition to its AudiBox range of precision tools for audio professionals. As the name will let you guess, the Blue DI allows smartphones, tablets and other Bluetoothenabled devices to be a program source in audio playback applications. Connections to professional audio equipment with balanced signal, XLR connectors are possible using the wireless connection, extending to over 12 metres range. ARX’s Blue DI is compatible with Bluetooth Version V2.1 EDR, 3.0 and 4.0, can be powered by 48VDC phantom power from a mixing console, or an external DC PSU and features industrystandard balanced left and right line-level XLR outputs. More info is at www.arx.com.au. The Resource Corporation: (03) 9874 5988 or sales@trc.com.au

Avolites Media has announced the new S-Series Media Servers, along with the latest generation in the Infinity line, the Ai Infinity EX series. The Ai S2, S4 and S6 media server offer two, four and six Display Port / DVI outputs respectively. They feature 3rd generation PCI Express motherboards, graphics cards and RAID SSD drives along with 4K UltraHD capability in the S4, S6 and S8 servers. The dual processor, highest specification S6 server also performs up to Apple Pro Res 4444 playback. All systems are supplied with a fully featured Ai Miami license, which allows for eight discrete fixture groups with four layers each, producing a total of 32 media layers. In addition, the Salvation Engine can be easily configured to provide up to 64 layers of PIPs with a single server. The Ai Infinity server has been upgraded to the Infinity EX. Like the S-Series, the Infinity EX now uses third generation PCI Express motherboards and graphics cards. Universal Lighting Audio (ULA) Group: 1300 852 476 or www.ula.com.au

6/ DIGITAL DAD

7/ NEUTRIK AT BREAKING POINT

8/ DIGITAL DISCUSSIONS

NTP Technology Digital Audio Denmark has released the DX32, a digital audio bridge and router interface. The DAD DX32 is designed for multiple audio applications and allows all digital input and output routing to be managed within a single unit or a combination of units. The DX32 can be used to expand I/O channel count and interface digital components, providing a high quality bridge between AES/EBU, MADI, Pro Tools HDX and the Dante IP audio network. At its core, the DX32 is a 384 x 384 router which can patch any input to any one or more outputs on a mono channel basis. It supports sample rates of up to 384kHz and Super Audio CD formats such as Direct Stream Digital. In its interface role, the DX32 provides up to 192 channels on one electrical MADI I/O port and two optical ports, 64 channels on Pro Tools HDX, 16 AES/EBU channels and 64 channels on Ethernet Layer 3 using Dante IP audio technology. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or www.tag.com.au

Neutrik has introduced the PowerCon True1 connectors. These new connectors fit a wide range of applications and are suited for use in the pro touring and special event markets. Of particular note, the new PowerCon True1 connectors are Neutrik‘s first true mains connector with breaking capacity that meets the IEC 60320 and UL 498 standards which rates these connectors to be connected and disconnected under a live load. The UL and VDE certified, singlephase system is designed for 16A, 250V. New model designations NAC3FX-W and NAC3MX-W, are certified as IP65 weather resistant. These new ’W’ connectors have rear water-sealing gaskets – thus eliminating the need for overmoulding in order to achieve IP-rated performance. PowerCon True1 connectors are available in both male and female genders, plus in/out duplex chassis connectors for devices such as lighting fixtures, that get daisy chained. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or www.ambertech.com.au

DDS 5900, the new Digital Discussion system from DIS consists of a central unit and a single programmable, multi-user unit, enabling discussion, interpretation, grouping, VOX (voice activation) and audio scrambling. With plug-and-play setup and online event management capabilities, the DDS 5900 promises seamless event management for event participants and installers alike. For system set up, assigning of seats, operation modes etc, DIS provides a web browser interface, which in addition can be used during the event for event management purposes. The CU 5905 Central Unit can power 60 conference units, and control 250 conference units. It has two interpretation channels and an analogue emergency input for integrating with any building evacuation or fire alarm system. The DC 5980P Discussion Unit can be configured as a chairman, delegate or interpreter station, and can be heard via the inbuilt loudspeaker or a stereo headphone socket. Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

• Get your daily news fix at www.av.net.au

4/ TVONE SOFTWARE

5/ DYNACORD POWERED MIXER

TVOne has announced Coriographer software for the Coriomaster and Coriomaster mini. An interface for controlling the Coriomaster and Coriomaster mini videowall processors, it improves the speed and ease with which custom videowalls can be set up and deployed. The Coriographer software enables you to precisely set the exact dimensions of your displays. Mixing of projectors and displays is simplified, as the system provides the ability to account for bezels and spacing between displays. Users can build a library of displays including resolution for instant recall for future projects. You can create videowalls from a PC without a connection to the Coriomaster. You can also preview and edit before sending it live. Once designed, configurations can be uploaded into the Coriomaster at any time using a direct connection or over the local area network. Collaboration is also a feature of the Coriographer software, as it provides three levels of access to its content and interface. Corsair Solutions: 1300 562 779 or www.corsairsolutions.com.au

Dynacord has released the PM 502, a new powered mixer. The PM 502 includes five mic/line and three stereo inputs as well as a master section tailored to the needs of day-to-day use with three master outputs – each with an individual 7-band EQ. Up to three different rooms or zones can be controlled individually. The PM 502 can also be switched to 100V direct drive mode for connection to 100V or 70V loudspeaker lines without the need of an output transformer. An installation kit for 19-inch racks or surface mounting is available as an option. The built-in class-D power amplifier is rated at 2 x 450W RMS (into 4Ω). Advanced microphone processing functions such as compressor/limiter, talk-over (ducking functions) are in-built. One USB interface for PC and Mac supports 48kHz recording and playback, a second USB slot at the front feeds an onboard MP3 media player that recognises MP3 or WAV format from a USB stick or external hard drive. Bosch Communication Systems: (02) 9683 4572 or www.boschcommunications.com.au

9/ HAVE YOUR PI AND HEAR IT, TOO

10/ KRAMER K-LOCK FOR HDMI

Raspberry Pi owners can now access new high quality audio capabilities as they develop their latest Pi innovations thanks to the new Wolfson Audio Card available exclusively from element14. The card brings both line-in, line-out headphone and headset support, on-board stereo microphones, and digital audio S/ PDIF functionality onto the Raspberry Pi for the first time, opening up a wide range of new possibilities such as using the device to create a voice-controlled wireless home media network capable of running 24bit music playback. The Wolfson Audio Card has been developed by Wolfson Microelectronics, the company that has more than two billion chips designed into many of the world’s leading consumer devices, from high-end audiophile equipment brands such as Linn and Astell&Kern, through to mass market devices like the Samsung Galaxy range of smartphones. For the best portal into technical specs, go to www.wolfsonmicro.com Element 14: au.element14.com

Everyone in the AV industry is familiar with the challenges arising while using HDMI cables, even in the simplest installation. The tendency of lower gauge (thicker) cables to weigh down the cable connector and pull it out of the socket has a substantial impact on the final result. Even the slightest tension can result in signal loss, and when it comes to longer distances, the chances for signal loss are even higher. Kramer Electronics is offering a solution called the K-Lock, a pull-resistant connector that provides up to 6.8kg of retaining force. K-Lock is equipped with small springs on the surface of the connector that hold the cable tightly in place. In aging tests the K-Lock withstood a pull force of 6.8kg on the 10th extraction, 5.5kg on the 100th, and 3.5kg on the 500th extraction. The K-Lock connectors are available on Kramer’s C-HM/HM, C-HM/ HM/ETH, C-HM/HM/PRO, C-HM/HM/FLAT/ETH, C-MHM/MHM, C-MHMA/MHMA and the Kramer HDMI cables in retail packaging. Kramer Electronics Australia: (07) 3806 4290 or www.krameraustralia.com.au

True To Your Voice Wi-Fidelity

Epic digital wireless technology, now amazingly affordable. Introducing the DWZ Series with affordable 2.4 GHz technology. You get solid-gold, 24-bit linear PCM digital audio to keep you sounding your best. You get robust transmission and easy channel selection. Even digital EQ and interchangeable mic heads are available. And Sony has pre-assembled DWZ packages for vocals, guitar/bass, wind instruments, presentation and speech. Sony’s DWZ Series. Sound like a million bucks without spending it. pro.sony.com.au/audio

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NEWS

Beam Me Up

It isn’t often that one walks away from a project with complete satisfaction. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that has happened in my career. Usually the circumstances around the project can lead to the satisfaction. Or it can be a particularly difficult set of challenges that you may have to overcome, or just a great group of people coming together to produce something special, or simply something that you thought of, that actually works. The recent Crepuscular Beam installation at the second White Night Festival in Melbourne, may have been a combination of all of those things. White Night Melbourne is only in its second year in Australia, with attendances almost doubling since the inaugural event. At various points across the year, White Night festivals take place in over 20 countries around the world. The concept is for a short, 12-hour festival, incorporating a wide variety of live performance, artistic installations, architectural installations and more. White Night Festival Creative Director, Andrew Walsh, commissioned over 150 works for this year’s event. To say the overall event is a success would be to sell it short. As a lover of expressive art, I had a fantastic night exploring the various installations and venues. To have a hand in delivering the festival was an added bonus. Crepuscular Beam was an installation that grew in scope from its inception. Originally I thought it to be a sculpture of light, a structure to form the backdrop of the festival and make a statement as a beacon to the greater CBD and Melbourne suburbia. It was Andrew Walsh who came up with the idea for some audio support. He suggested a soundscape to add some depth to the installation, particularly for those who made the arduous journey through the city to the Alexandra Gardens. Enter Russell Goldsmith, Melbourne-based sound designer and composer. Russell developed a soundscape built from sounds recorded by the NASA Voyager missions in the 1970s. Russell spent many hours combining sounds from the NASA archives to compile a 14 minute and 40 second piece. The seamless loop was designed to run exactly 50 times over the festival’s 12-hour duration.

A lighting installation makes its mark in the White Night skies over Melbourne. Text and Images:/ Paul Collison

NOT JUST A PRETTY BEAM

Crepuscular adjective of, or pertaining to twilight. Hence figurative dim, indistinct, imperfectly enlightened. [Shorter Oxford dictionary]

From my perspective, the installation needed to be more than just a bunch of searchlights pointing into the sky. Early ideas had them on the ground, all bunched up. We then had ideas to spread them around the gardens. However, the final, and ultimately-realised, concept, was for a 20m diameter, facetted-circle of 400mm box truss, raised 3m above the ground on truss legs. A group of 26 Panther 7kW xenon searchlights from Chameleon Touring Systems formed the basis of the design. Spread at approximately

NEWS

2.5m intervals around the circle, they were interspersed with Vari-Lite VL3500 (1650W) wash lights. In order to make a localised visual statement, the truss structure was toned with 32 Pro Shop LED pars, and 32 Pro Shop LED truss toners. While it all sounds relatively simple, the build of the installation was not. Rohan Thornton, technical manager of the White Night festival and lighting industry guru, worked hard with Resolution X to formulate a plan to build and raise the four-tonne structure into position. A single lifting point with slings to spread the load to eight points on the circle, was used to raise the structure up to 3m in order to get the leg supports in. This process was deemed safer, and easier than individually lifting each fixture in to place. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to know that manhandling 150kg searchlights is easier at ground level than it is at 3m in the air while balancing on a ladder. Audio also used the truss structure to hang their Meyer UPQ-1P cabinets (eight facing inwards and four facing out) as well as the four inward-facing Meyer HP-700 subs that were all fed from the QLAB replay system. The same replay system also fed SMPTE timecode to the grandMA2 Light lighting controller. This meant the entire installation could run seemingly-unattended all evening. FEW BITS SHORT OF A SMOOTH MOVE

The Panther 7k searchlights have an 8-bit (256 position) pan and tilt mechanism rather than the more accepted 16-bit (65,536 position) types found on almost every other moving light. This doesn’t pose much of a problem, unless you either need to hit an exact position, or do slow, live moves. My intention was not to move these lights at all, regardless of the steppy movement. The VL3500 fixtures were intended to add a little bit

of movement and greater colour control than the searchlights are capable of. However, as always, it was the sound track that called for a cue. There was an intense build calling for an erratic twominute state of awkwardness. Over this period, the searchlights started an offset slow tilt move, that was steppy and jerky, but that suited the build in the soundscape. Had we been using other lights this look may not even have been possible. The move took the previous light canopy that sat above the inner part of the circle, and spread it out, opening up the sky to the spectators on the ground. A massive thud at the culmination of this passage snapped all the searchlights to zero, and changed the truss to a deep red for a brief moment. The searchlights then slowly returned to their intended look. It was a fitting bookend that usually ended with applause! The audience then moved on, making way for the next group to come and sit in the environment. Blessed with a high particle count in the atmosphere, and low cloud for the greater part of the night, the visual strength of the 7k xenon beams were amazingly vivid. Reports of people seeing the installation from almost 25km away were most impressive, particularly considering the low point that we were projecting from. Close up, the reviews were wide and varied. Some people thought it was like aliens had landed, others just asked ‘why?’. Most, however, just appreciated something that simply looked wonderful, despite its restraint, and simplicity. It takes a lot of skilled and dedicated people to put on an event like White Night, let alone a complicated installation like Crepuscular Beam. There are too many to thank individually, however without those wonderful people, events like White Night would never happen, and I’d never be able to shine lights at aliens. 

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True To Your Sound Wi-Fidelity

Epic digital wireless technology, now amazingly affordable. Introducing the DWZ Series with affordable 2.4 GHz technology. You get solid-gold, 24-bit linear PCM digital audio to keep you sounding your best. You get robust transmission and easy channel selection. Even automatic feedback reduction, encryption and battery charging are available. And Sony has pre-assembled DWZ packages for presentation, speech and vocals, guitar/bass and wind instruments. Sony’s DWZ Series. Sound like a million bucks without spending it. pro.sony.com.au/audio

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NEWS

Projection Mapping: Gold In Goa

Thought the British had its ‘commonwealth’ games to itself? Well, you’d be wrong. The Portuguese are in on the act. It’s called the Lusofonia Games, bringing together Portuguese speaking countries for a big sports carnival. India is an ‘associate’ member for obvious reasons (only a southern portion has Portuguese colonial heritage) but played host to the 2014 games. No games worth its salt is without a glamorous opening ceremony. And so it was at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Thousands of performers clad in elaborately-designed costumes – gloriously illuminated by rays of light from multiple projectors positioned strategically around the stadium – would go on to enthral the throng of 22,000. The show relied heavily on projection mapping with projection designer Bart Kresa and his team along with Christie’s local partners, Audio Design & Video Design, leading the creative and technical charge.

A total of 40 projectors comprising Christie Roadster S+20K, Roadster S+22K-J and Roadster HD20K-J 3-chip DLP projectors were deployed to ensure maximum projection coverage. They were positioned on specially-built platforms above the spectator stands at six points around the stadium – four stacks of eight projectors each for the flow projections onto the ground, as well as two stacks of four projectors each for projections on the stage. The projectors couldn’t be mounted in the grandstand roof, as it wasn’t load bearing. So it was more of a challenge to produce the images from comparatively oblique angles from as high in the spectator stands as could be achieved: “Christie’s alignment software Twist was a lot of help us in getting the alignments right,” noted Vijay Sabhlok, managing partner, Video Design. “This 40-projector setup for the opening ceremony of the Lusofonia Games is the biggest projection event ever staged in India. This beats our

very own best of 30 projectors used previously for the Umaid Bhawan projection mapping project,” added Sabhlok. “Our decision to use Christie projectors is really a no-brainer. The motor of the Roadster HD20K-J is the most rugged, and it works really well in all sorts of conditions.” Sharing the same sentiments, Bansi Kaul, creative director and show director for the event’s opening ceremony said: “What I really like about the Christie projectors is that they do not distort the colours. This is very important because we are portraying nature and we want the seasons and monsoons to be shown in the best possible way during the performance.” A quick look at the medal tally reveals that India and Portugal dominated proceedings with East Timor scraping in with a single bronze. And the mascot was, predictably, a Nando’s-style chicken called JoJo.  Christie: www.christiedigital.com BARTKRESA design: bartkresa.com

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FEATURE

Born Again A Victorian-era tabernacle has been given a new life for the twenty-first century. Text:/Robert Clark As Arthur Stace wandered the streets of Sydney between 1930 and 1965, sporadically crouching down to chalk ‘Eternity’ on pavements from Wynyard to Glebe, he couldn’t have imagined just how ‘eternal’ his inscriptions really were. A replica of his distinctive copperplate graffito would blaze forth from the Sydney Harbour Bridge on New Year’s Eve 2000; an opera bearing his moniker ‘The Eternity Man’ would premiere at the Sydney Opera House in 2005; and the year 2013 would see the restoration of his beloved Baptist Tabernacle in Darlinghurst – transformed into a theatre and renamed the ‘Eternity Playhouse’ in his honour. Genesis

This unassuming brick building, built in 1887, hosted its last congregation in 1996, and seven years later the City of Sydney acquired it with a view to using it as a community and cultural hub. In 2009, architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (TZG) were commissioned to revamp the space, keeping its significant heritage

aspects in situ whilst upgrading its aesthetic and functional qualities for the twenty-first century. Such a remit yielded creative solutions from the firm, and together with its new tenants, the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, an attractive and versatile space has emerged. Balancing Act

The day-to-day operations of a theatre within a heritage building presents some unique challenges for the 18-year-old theatre company, which moved here from its former home in Potts Point. Its new theatre includes a trapdoor in the stage which covers a baptismal font and a heritage-listed bath. Associate Producer and Production Manager at Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Liz Jenkins, says this is simply ‘part of the stage’, so a recess juts around the hatch and it remains up to the artists how they incorporate it into their works. This heritage preservation status also applies to all of the walls, including the rear wall of the chapel which is still in its original baby-blue colour with “Reverence Is My

Sanctuary” emblazoned across the top. Artists are free to incorporate the walls in their set design, but as Jenkins explains: “part of the agreement is that we’re not allowed to touch them”. To get around the problem (literally), the company has built a set of large scenic flats that enclose the stage neatly whilst protecting the 125-year-old brickwork. These are also made available to visiting productions. The original timber ceiling – another heritage treasure – had been plastered-over for decades, and was a surprise find during the initial phase of the restoration. It was decided that such a feature must be restored and indeed celebrated, but this posed an interesting challenge for Jands, which was charged with designing and installing the lighting system and providing rigging access. Jenkins says: “we couldn’t put the usual system of walkways in because the roof had to be a feature of the building during the day”. Jands’ solution was to design and install one of only a few tensionedcable grid systems in Australia. It consists of wire mesh stretched over a steel frame which

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Heritage treasure by day and working production space by night. Image: Brett Boardman Photography

is suspended from the ceiling, immediately below the lighting hanging positions. Jenkins describes it as being like a giant trampoline. The mesh is sturdy enough to allow lighting techs to walk freely across it to rig, focus and maintain the lighting. Importantly, the mesh spacing is also wide enough to allow full vision of the magnificent ceiling. And according to Jenkins, there is no compromise in the quality and flexibility of lighting options. In fact, “it makes focusing very easy,” she says, “and the mesh doesn’t actually show in any of the light. There’s no grid reflected onto surfaces either, even when we use moving lights or LEDs, so it’s actually worked out quite well.” For Eternity

The lighting system supplied by Barbizon is predominantly ETC, from the Ion desk to the Source Four Fresnels, profiles and Lustr+ fixtures. Part of the theatre company’s agreement with the City of Sydney was that energy efficiency should remain a focus of the refurb, but initial cost restrictions limited the

number of high-efficiency LED fixtures in the 56 luminaire rig to just 18, with the remainder being traditional incandescent sources. They have, however, opted for Cat5 FTP cable for their DMX distribution to allow for a future multi-universe DMX-over-Ethernet system, and they are looking to incrementally increase the proportion of LED luminaires over the coming years. Also in the spirit of futureproofing the space, the selection of Jands HPC (contactor plus thyristor) dimmers ensures switching between mains and dimmable power for any channel is quick and straightforward. Jenkins says this was another really important element in ensuring that the theatre itself can expand its fixture inventory well into the future, and that visiting companies can easily bump-in a wide variety of luminaires. House Music

Jands also worked in collaboration with The PA People for the theatre-wide sound system infrastructure. Talkback and tannoy duties are handled by a Jands Ezicom system, while

a traditional stage-management desk was considered unnecessary as SMs in this theatre will typically operate sound and lighting desks themselves. The sound desk chosen is a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital mixer: a 24 mic input/16 XLR output unit, deemed ample to cover any sound designer’s needs. For playback, a Mac Pro replaces traditional hardware, as QLab software is employed for all audio, video and show control. For The PA People project manager, Josh Jones, the solid brick and timber construction of the church meant it was: “already reasonably good for audio, so we were doing pretty well from the outset.” Drapes on either side of the stage can be extended down the edges of the theatre and acoustic glass is placed over the refurbished stained glass windows, but that is the extent of acoustic treatment needed. JBL’s VP Series was chosen as the PA loudspeakers, with 2 x 12-inch cabinets mounted on custom cradles for front of house, and 2 x 10-inch cabinets situated at the rear for fill. An 18-inch VP series subwoofer is also available, although

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FEATURE

The entire theatrical production and audience environment is perched inside the heritage building. Image: Brett Boardman Photography

during my recent visit it was not needed for the current production. This speaks for the acoustic reality of the space: sound carries very well and I can’t imagine sound designers requiring anywhere near a high dB level in there. As Jones put it, “It didn't need a tremendous amount of grunt, it just needed clarity, and I think the system works well in that regard.” Given the residential location of the theatre, however, measures were needed to ensure external noise levels didn’t exceed regulations. Instead of relying on physical sound suppression that would compromise the heritage aesthetic of the building, the theatre’s two dbx DriveRack 220i signal processors are fixed at a maximum level. There is still quite a lot of headroom to play with, though. “Even when it was cranking inside,” says Jones, “there wasn't much floating out onto the street. We had it pushing out 100dB on the inside, yet across the road we were still measuring about 5dB above ambient noise.” Resurrection

Upon entering the foyer at the front of the building you are greeted by a very modern looking space. It’s not all new, however. The original steel beams of the building remain present and noticeable, and timber

Left: Arthur Stace’s famous graffito is emblazoned in light on the playhouse exterior. Image: Courtesy of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer. Above: One of the few external signs of the refurbishment is the contemporary stage door. Photographer: Rod McKinnon.

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from the original church has been recycled to form a tiered ceiling for the first floor, which is actually the underside of the theatre seating on Level 2. The whole building has in fact been divided horizontally, with deep excavation into the foundations allowing for bar, café and box office facilities on the lower level. Current plans are to run the café during the day as part of a community engagement project, but it’s also about opening up the building to the corporate sector. The 200-seat theatre seems to be well suited to such clients, with ample natural light during business hours, but as yet there is no projection screen installed. According to Liz Jenkins, though, they’ve already booked

FEATURE

a few corporate gigs in, so that transition will happen in the near future. Architect Peter Tonkin of TZG summed things up nicely when he said of the revamped theatre: “I love this auditorium, the intimacy of the big stage and the audience will be direct and powerful.” And surely that’s the bottom line for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, which already has a full season of shows lined up for 2014. Celebrating the long and colourful history of its new home whilst effectively communicating with a twentyfirst century audience may well ensure its longevity as a company. Maybe they’ll even make it to eternity… 

A tech’s-eye-view of the stage space from front of house. Inset: A slightly disconcerting tech’s-eye-view of the auditorium through the tensioned-wire mesh grid. Photographer: Rod McKinnon

PROJECT CREDITS Architects: Tonkin Zulaikha Greer – www.tzg.com.au Theatre Consultant: Tony Youlden & Associates Construction: Kane Constructions – www.kane.com.au Lighting Consultation & Installation: Jands – www.jands.com.au Audio Consultation & Installation: The PA People – www.papeople.com.au Darlinghurst Theatre Company – darlinghursttheatre.com

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FEATURE

G Whiz! Two XXXL vision boards go into the ‘G’… the hard way. Story:/ Christopher Holder Images:/ SDP Media

BEFORE

Everything about the MCG is big. And when you go to replace the ground’s big screens, you’d expect nothing less than one of the biggest cranes in town – 125 tonnes ought to do it. But the terms ‘big crane’ and ‘hallowed turf’ aren’t compatible – one can do all sorts of damage to the other. Furthermore, replacing big screens in one of the busiest stadiums in the world, without seriously throwing out its schedule is a big deal. What am I getting at? Well, at the risk of losing focus on the state-of-the-art big-screen technology here, this story is really one about logistics. It’s a story where project management, teamwork and long nights of overtime are the heroes rather ingenious system design and spaceage technology. It’s the type of job that warrants investing in your own golf cart (more later!). That said, these are two very tasty vision boards. So let’s do them justice with a quick wrap of the system:

AFTER

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS

Replacing the MCG’s old Mitsubishi Diamond Vision LED screens are two Daktronics DVX15HD outdoor video displays. Each screen is 13.2m high by 25.3m wide. Each is comprised of 2484 modules (each module is 365.76mm square) with a pixel pitch of around 15mm. The screen is rated at 7000-9500 nits, boasts 16-bit colour and has a wide horizontal viewing angle of 160°. These are prodigious, magnificent displays. The screens connect via fibre to Daktronics hardware with its Show Control interface taking care of screen layouts — triggering all the heavy lifting done in the Daktronics processor racks. Each vision board is around three times the size of the previous screens. SCAFF, CRANES & WINCHES

Jason Kerr, Director of Outdoor Elements, was subcontracted to project manage the install and is now the proud owner of his very own golf cart. Not sure what his handicap is, but Jason invested in the golf cart early in on the job when he realised just how much time he was spending hustling from one end of the MCG to the other working on the two screen positions. “It’s a

couple of kilometres round trip between the screens so the golf buggy was invaluable. The concourse has plenty of space, providing it’s oneway traffic. When we had the sparkies coming the other direction it got a bit hair raising.” Jason was appointed by Daktronics Australia to ‘make it happen’. Daktronics wasn’t the only vendor tendering on the job but proved to have the best handle on the logistics of getting it done in the narrow three-month window and getting it done without the necessity of pulling all the legacy steelwork out. “The brief was to fit as big a screen as possible. By pulling down the steel fascia work and the old screen-surrounds it opened up the space required. But it wasn’t simply a case of ripping everything out and starting again, we had to be smarter than that. If we had ripped out all of the old infrastructure it would have meant an addition 75 tonnes of steel to pull down. After we reviewed our design, we devised a way to keep the secondary steel structure. In so doing there

were a whole host of cost savings, time savings, and the MCG turf would thank us as well.” TURF WAR

Pulling out the old screen and supporting steelwork took six weeks out of a 12-week schedule. But this wasn’t wrecking ball work, it was slow and painstaking. Jason Kerr: “The Monday after the AFL grand final we started stripping out the seating to make space for the demolition, while another crew built a scaffold. One side then the other. It took around six weeks to break down the old screens, the advertising surrounds and the 50 tonnes of steel that had to go. We had to develop tools and materials, and do it in a way that didn’t interrupt the pitch.” With the structure ready, it was time to truck in the new screen. Jason Kerr: “Both of the scoreboard positions are completely inaccessible, except via the front. In other words, you can’t bring in a screen from the

FEATURE

“We have hundreds of displays that have been linked to IPTV and we’re in the process of rolling out hundreds more, again, all linked”

outside and over the roof; you need to get on the pitch with a crane operating at full extension.” Ah yes, the 125-tonne crane. Jason Kerr: “But to bring in a large crane required 3000sqm of ground protection. The protection costs around $100 a square metre. Then you’ve got to fit it. It took 20-odd guys about 8-10 hours to snap all that down. That was a huge logistical nightmare: to find a window that allowed us to get in there. And it couldn’t be in there too long for the sake of the health of the grass.” With the huge crane in position, the Daktronics vision boards arrived (in bits) in a semi-trailer. Jason Kerr: “We had the scaffold in position from the demolition and the top level seating removed and we used the whole top area under the screen for the crane to drop off parts.” The smallest building block is the 365mm x 365mm ‘module’. Daktronics ship the modules around in ‘cabinets’ that can then bolt together to form the dimensions of the screen. For this job

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Jason prefabricated two cabinets together, and it was these that were craned onto the scaffold decks. Using the rear gantry infrastructure from the old screens the double-cabinet blocks were ready to be used in a giant game of Tetris. Jason Kerr: “We had an array of winches built into the roof for rope access – we had guys on ropes hanging off the structure like spiders. We also had chain hoists for raising and lowering the cabinets. The setup allowed us to pull up three cabs at a time, which in turn allowed us to motor through the process three times faster because we were no longer using the crane to position the cabinets.” Some 60 ‘cabinets’ comprise each screen, with the installation starting from the bottom/middle to ensure perfect alignment and then rows of cabinet are installed until the top row was complete. Sounds a breeze, but with millimetre tolerances to ensure a seamless display this was by no means a job for hi-viz grunts on 451 visas – it was a highly skilled, precision operation.

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FEATURE

BEHIND THE SCENES

Stepping through a door under a big screen takes you into a large, contained space. In the days of the old screens, it was a room packed with parts and processing that required air conditioning during operation. With all that cleared out for the new vision board, you have enough room for some backyard cricket. The gantry behind the vision board ensures easy access to any level of screens for maintenance. Seeing how the big screen is pieced together, it really does appear to be simplicity itself. The vision is carried from the control room via the primary and redundant fibres. Those connections plug into the main processor and then network cables interlink modules (using a Daktronics proprietary signal protocol) in a daisychain configuration. The display signal is bi-directional, bringing another level of redundancy. If a module goes down, it can be hot-swapped without impacting the rest of the display. LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE

The installation may have been achieved without an hour to lose, but there was nothing precipitous in the manner in which these screens were chosen. MCC management took three years to make its decision after plenty of due diligence. In part, the methodical nature of the process is down to the fact the vision boards are only a part (albeit a multi-million dollar part) of a much larger ‘Smart Stadium’ strategy. Talking to the MCC’s GM of Commercial Operations, Lisa Trainor, you get a sense of just how large the scope of this project is. “We have hundreds of displays that have been linked to IPTV and we’re in the process of rolling out hundreds more, again, all linked. They’ll be standalone screens, ‘gladiator’ video walls [3 x 2 multi-screen arrays, as pictured], projections, and LED on the parapets [the hoarding fascia boards facing the pitch]. You’ll walk into the bowl on a Richmond home game and see that tribal yellow and black everywhere — you’ll know you’re at a Richmond home game. The next day you’ll know you’re at a Magpies game, and then Demons.” Being a North Melbourne supporter, all that fills me with a certain amount of dread… but I take the broader point: the MCG is positioning itself as a world-class sporting venue where AV plays a crucial role in giving fans the best possible game-day experience. NERVES CENTRE

After touring the ‘back end’ of the vision board we dropped back into the control room. It was matchday for a 20/20 international cricket game and the room was buzzing. Sam Pemberton, who leads the Team Epic (MCG-contracted technical) team was still coming to grips with the implications of all those extra pixels, especially

given the control room is still a standard definition facility. “We’re an SD room with HD-capable screens, so there’s some signal conversion required,” noted Sam. “We’ll be making the move to HD soon. Regardless, you can instantly see just how good the new vision boards are looking.” There are a few philosophical tenets that are becoming obvious about how the extra screen real estate will be exploited. The MCC management are making good use of the extra ‘canvas’ by providing stadium audiences with additional info, rather than everything just being commensurately larger. This means that cricket crowds will be seeing, for the very first time, a full batting and bowling card. And even though instant replays are 2.3-times larger than before, the Daktronics vision boards have room to spare for crucial score details. On a bash ’n’ dash evening of 20/20… not so important, but for the

(Top) Some of the demolition and installation work in progress. Much of the legacy steel work had to go. A 125t crane brings the screen cabinets into position. While a giant game of Tetris ensues as the cabinets are dropped into position via winches and pulleys. (Above) IPTV 'Gladiator' video walls form part of the MCG's signage strategy.

Boxing Day test, packed with cricket loving stats tragics, the new vision boards were a revelation. But, let’s be honest, the real action is the AFL. And as AV goes to press, the new season is upon us. The AFL, in concert with the MCC, will be exploring the screens’ possibilities. It really is a case of the technology ‘tail’ wagging the media content ‘dog’, but I don’t hear anyone complaining. 

PROJECT CREDITS Daktronics: (02) 9453 4600 or www.daktronics.com Outdoor Elements: (03) 9394 1111 or www.oel.com.au

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Hello Possums A bespoke solution for Leadbeater education. Text:/ Marcus Pugh Images:/ Courtesy ThinkOTS! It’s usually a bad sign if a client requests a meeting in the middle of the bush in the dead of night, but this is precisely what created the moment of inspiration for Lunar’s Secret Forest, ThinkOTS! most recent project for Healesville Sanctuary. Run by Zoos Victoria, Healesville Sanctuary is a not-for-profit, zoo-based facility, located an hour’s drive north-east of Melbourne. Healesville is a leader in helping to fight the extinction of the Leadbeater or Fairy Possum, a small marsupial glider found only in central Victoria. The Leadbeater was thought to be extinct after the catastrophic 1939 bushfires, but was rediscovered in 1961, only to have its habitat devastated again by the Black Saturday fires of 2009. While the Healesville Sanctuary is actively fighting the Leadbeater’s extinction through a captive breeding program, it is also raising awareness through a Fight Extinction message. The sanctuary’s latest exhibition ‘Lunar’s Secret Forest’ is an interactive presentation pitched at families with young children. The brief for the exhibit was simple: Educational, interactive, for children two to six years-old and accessible to up to 10 children at a time, while also pushing the Zoos Victoria’s Fight Extinction message. And, they had just nine weeks to design, create, implement and deliver the product before upcoming school holidays. Pete Ford, Creative Director at ThinkOTS!, certainly did have to think ‘outside the square’ to come up with this solution that was both ambitious in its scope yet simple in its execution. The problem with many interactive displays is that the audience needs to be trained in how to interact with the display, something Ford wanted to avoid. Inspiration hit him one day when coming home from work to find his five yearold daughter playing with family’s Nintendo Wii game console. As anyone with young children can attest, kids are able to pick up the Wii wireless controller, and rapidly work out how to interact with the games. Ford commented: “To this day I have never been more proud than when we let in the first audience, and the kids just picked up the controllers and started using them – no questions, no confusion – just results.”

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BIG GAME HUNTING

So that ThinkOTS! team could get a better understanding of the subject matter for the exhibit, they were invited on a ‘stag hunt’ by the rangers from Healsville Sanctuary. The stag hunt is an important part of the research process where rangers go out at night with torches to find the hollows in the ancient trees of old-growth forests where the Leadbeater possums make their homes. Once inhabited hollows are located the rangers are able to calculate the Leadbeater population in the area. It was this stag hunt which inspired the concept for the interactive component of Lunar’s Secret Forest. By taking a Wii-style remote and encasing it in a ‘torch’ shell, the audience are able to go on a stag hunt of their own, guided by the animated character, Lunar, an anthropomorphised possum. The audience is able to experience some of what the rangers and researchers do to help save the cute Leadbeater. Once the concept for the exhibit was established, the real work began. A video game with purpose-built controllers needed to be created from the ground up, not to mention a sound design and the theming for the rest of the theatrette space – all within a nine-week window. ThinkOTS! had an advantage, with the team from Pixel Pickle who had experience in the world of game design, and enthusiastically took to the challenge at hand. The game was built on the UNITY 3D game engine, popular among mobile game developers, which provided a solid base for developing the characters and their movements within the game. “Also the use of programs like UNITY for our field of work was a brand new and delightful experience,” explains Ford. “We created custom software to link up 10 Wii-style remotes that worked in sync with each other and with the show. This appears to be the first time in the world that anyone has successfully linked up 10 Bluetooth remotes into the single program.” The entire exhibit is run by a gaming spec PC built around a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 Ultra Durable video card and an Intel i7 CPU that also triggers the sound and lighting cues as part of the overall presentation. System output is a single 1920 x 1080 stream. The theatrette is themed with trees coming up out of the floor that also double as small tables. The tree theme is integrated onto the screen’s surface and framing the projection, which helped to blend physical space into the digital world. All of the various elements of the exhibit blend seamlessly to make Lunar’s Secret Forest quite an immersive experience. Ford: “This took Healesville (and indeed Zoos Vic) into a whole new world. When we won the project they were flat-out convinced we couldn’t deliver on the promise of the interactive torch concept. Doing so illustrated how it’s possible to speak to the most important guests that visit zoos – the kids.”

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Simple theatrical tools like a wash of colour, tree cut-outs and leaf break-up gobos give a sense of being in a magical forest.

Kids of all ages play the game of searching for Lunar, while others work away on other activities around the tree-stump table

PLAYING POSSUM

The purpose-built theatrette sits in the middle of Healesville Sanctuary and offers some respite for weary parents, as the rest of the Sanctuary is an outdoor affair. You enter the space, lit with 45/75° Selecon Pacific profiles fitted with leafy break-up gobos, Tri Colour LED Parcans and PAR 16s, all of which help to build the atmosphere prior to the start of the presentation. Brian Laurence's 5.1 surround sound design is distributed via a 12-channel Redback amplifier to panel speakers masked with custom mesh covers. When the children point the torch at the screen a spotlight appears in front of them, ‘illuminating’ the forest in real-time. The game encourages children to work together to count possums, ward off predators such as feral cats, record time and help save the endangered species. I took along my two and half year-old son to give the exhibit a test run, and he was totally engaged for the entire game and presentation. In fact, I had to go back in on my own a second time to actually get a feel for the torches and

how they worked – not because I’m addicted to video games but simply because my son was hogging the controller! I saw some families return for a second and third time to delve back into Lunar’s world. At the end of each presentation the children are encouraged to write their names and thoughts on the Leadbeater possums onto leafshaped pieces of paper which are then hung from the trees inside the theatrette. This shows the children’s commitment to help fight extinction of the Leadbeater and also symbolises the regeneration of the forest after a bushfire. One of the most impressive achievements of this project is its thriftiness, given the scope of the work. “It utterly engages kids in a way that I haven’t seen in these environments, it is 100% original, utterly bespoke and a miracle of budgeting! This whole exhibit was delivered for $180k, the media component under $70k.” Pete Ford and Andrea Burgess (Visitor Engagement Manager for Zoos Victoria) put this down to the project being tightly-managed through good

communication between both parties. Andrea Burgess said: “We were kept informed throughout the process. ThinkOTS even presented different pieces of the project as they came together”. Lunar’s Secret Forest is a highly-technical artifice, yet manages to blend into the natural surrounds of Healesville Sanctuary. When quizzed on what his favourite aspect of the Lunar experience, Pete Ford commented: “When dads grab a torch and try flashing it on their hand, then back on the screen, then back to their hand – they have no idea where we stick the bulb!”.  PROJECT CREDITS Think OTS!: www.thinkots.com Game design and computer – Pixel Pickle: www.pixelpickle.com Sound – Brian Laurence Sound: brianlaurencesound.com.au Lighting design – Phil Lethlean: www.lightdesigns.com.au Lighting – Ken Roach: kenroach.com.au

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Living in a digital CAVE Data is not information… Text:/ Andy Ciddor

We’re hearing a lot about ‘Big Data’ at the moment. Although having very big sets of data is hardly a new phenomenon (think weather observations and telephone books), the label is quite new and it’s being grasped firmly with both hands by the marketing people who are already growing bored with ‘The Cloud’. The reason Big Data has come to everyone’s attention recently is the exponential increase in our ability to generate and capture data of all kinds. Big Science tools like Australia’s Synchrotron and Europe’s Large Hadron Collider, the Hubble and Japan’s Hisaki UV space telescopes and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope being built in Australia and South Africa, are producing data at a rate that couldn’t even be stored a few years ago, let alone be processed and analysed. But it’s not just about spectacular tools or mapping the genome of species that haven’t walked or oozed across the earth in millions of years. Every time you click on a link on the web, read or send a text or an email, walk past a wi-fi hot spot, make a phone call, have a blood test or buy anything anywhere, the amount of data being stored just keeps on growing. Unless you need to check who woke you by calling at 7:30 last Sunday morning, or verify how much you paid for the last pair of jeans you bought, these exabytes of stored data are simply occupying valuable disk and tape space in big, secure, airconditioned data warehouses.

Even if you’re not a three- or four-initial security agency looking for secret terrorist training camps in the Royal Botanic Gardens or tracking the covert activities of kayaking clubs, there is an immense amount of useful information that can be extracted from these data repositories and used to further our knowledge. If you’re a telco you might want to know which customers, on which mobile data plans, access which data networks during particular sporting events. If you’re an epidemiologist you may want to know if there’s a relationship between the use of certain public transport routes and the prevalence or locality of a particular set of health issues. If you’re a physician you might want to know whether certain genes are in a given state of expression for all sufferers of a particular set of symptoms. MOVING MOUNTAINS OF DATA

Such information doesn’t exist yet. But if researchers are given access to the various unrelated data sets that are languishing in data warehouses around the globe; have access to enough network bandwidth to bring the data into one place; and then have access to enough processing power to slice, dice and compare the data according to previously-untried recipes, new information will emerge. However, even if you have all the storage, network capacity and processing power you need for a big data research project, there is

still a major barrier to converting this new information into new knowledge: the sheer volume of the results is overwhelming. A vast spreadsheet, or a Pelican case full of hard-drives with the results of a sky survey of a couple of thousand anomalous astronomical objects may contain the clue to unravelling an unsolvedmystery, but chances are that answer may never be found in the mountain of data. VISUALISING: HEADS UP

Despite computers being quite good at searching for relationships in vast amounts of data, the search has to be programmed by someone who knows what they’re looking for. On the other hand, many discoveries are fortuitous accidents that come about when a researcher is looking for something else entirely. Even though Skynet became self-aware at 2:14am EST on August 29th, 1997 (see the Terminator movies for full details), machine intelligence is still a long way behind the human brain when it comes to noticing unexpected relationships. As we in the AV world are well aware, the brain’s highestbandwidth input channel, with the most direct connection, is our visual system, so it’s hardly a surprise that the best way of working with huge amounts of data is to find ways to make it visible. Visualising data is exactly what you’re doing when you build graphs in your desktop spreadsheet software. However, when there

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The almost-seamless and almost-smooth 330° curve of the CAVE2 display wall allows a degree of immersion in this 3D image set of Mars that’s just not possible by any other means. (Photographer: Lance Long.) Above: The original CAVE2 at UIC, showing the truss structure used to support the LCD panels, loudspeakers and motion tracking cameras. (Image courtesy of EVL at UIC.)

“Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom.” – usually attributed to Clifford Stoll & Gary Schubert

are tens of millions of data points, with large numbers of variables with wide ranges of values that may be changing over time, the visualisation process becomes more complicated. Visualising big data sets in ways that allow the viewer to take in the scale, complexity and dynamic range of the data requires screens a little larger than your average laptop and image processing power in the range of a 20th-century supercomputer. These visualisation facilities generally have screens large enough to provide the viewer with a sense of immersion in the rendered images and increasingly use 3D images to intensify the connection between visualised data and the viewer. Even today, with commodity data projectors, commodity flat-panel screens, multi-core CPUs in commodity laptops, and commodity graphics cards with thousands of graphic processing units, systems capable of usefully visualising Big Data, generally cost big bucks, and remain relatively rare. Such visualisation facilities are mostly found in such well-resourced places as global mining, automotive, and bio-technology companies or the military, with the few currently in public hands scattered amongst elite research institutions. BROADENING NEW HORIZONS

Professor Paul Bonnington, director of Monash University’s e-Research Centre, describes visualisation facilities as the viewfinders for

the ‘microscopes’ and ‘telescopes’ of 21st century science – the instruments that will enable advances in myriad disciplines by making visible the previously unobservable. Monash acknowledged the critical importance of visualisation tools to the future of research across the entire institution when in 2009 it allocated part of a floor of its soon-to-be built $140m New Horizons Centre for advanced teaching and research, to an advanced visualisation facility. Although Monash recognised the importance of visualisation and was determined to be at the forefront in this area, at the commencement of the project nobody was quite sure of where that leading edge was to be found, and where it would be by the time the facility was open for business in 2013. A group from Monash and the New Horizons design team undertook a five-day study tour of leading visualisation facilities in the USA to determine the direction of developments in visualisation and to begin the process of selecting the tool for Monash. That group included Sean Wooster, Principal ICT Consultant at Umow Lai, which provided engineering consultancy on the infrastructure for the New Horizons project. As a result of the tour, the New Horizons visualisation facility was allocated a 10m x 10m space with a 10m ceiling height. Wooster knew that it would need a lot of power, data connectivity and HVAC, but even as construction got underway that was all he knew. As the facilities the study tour had examined used rear projection systems and loudspeakers, rigged above and behind the walls of the visualisation space, a 1.5m-wide gantry was constructed around the room at a height of 6m to allow for rigging, maintenance and service access to projectors.

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active monitors for viewers moving around in the visualisation space. The images for each column of four panels are rendered by a Dell Precision R7610 computer fitted with dual eight-core Xeon CPUs, 192GB of RAM, a pair of 10GBps network interfaces and a pair of 2.1 Teraflop NVIDIA Quadro K5000 video cards, each with 1536 CUDA parallel processor cores. Each column of panels is driven by an external Planar power supply module and Planar quad video wall controller module, mounted adjacent to the rendering computer. The 20-machine cluster driving the CAVE2 would have ranked right up there in Australia’s supercomputer stakes just a decade ago. TAKING THE HEAT

DIGGING A CAVE

Top: CAVE2’s large display space enables collaborators to simultaneously compare multiple design documents using EVL’s SAGE interface. (Photographer Lance Long.) Middle: EVL PhD candidate Thomas Marrinan visualises brain vasculature and cortical tissue in CAVE2 using EVL’s OmegaLib 3D modelling software. (Photographer Lance Long.) Bottom: Prof. Paul Bonnington cruising round the virtual universe with the aid of both the hand-held and head-mounted motion tracking controllers. Image courtesy of Mechdyne and Monash University.

In early 2013 a CAVE2 (Computer Automated Virtual Environment version 2) system was selected for the New Horizons building. Developed by the Electronic Visualisation Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to replace their existing CAVE system, the technology of CAVE2 has been licensed for commercial development to Mechdyne, a US company specialising in visualisation systems for a wide variety of applications. Although the CAVE2 for Monash was purchased ‘off-the-peg’ from Mechdyne, it is in fact the first such system other than the prototype at EVL and is a more powerful and much further refined development of the concept. Display technology has moved on so far since 2009 that CAVE2 doesn’t even use projectors, much less in complex custom configurations. Indeed, most of its components are essentially commercial-off-the-shelf. It’s a 7.3m-diameter by 2.4m-high cylindrical array of truss-mounted flat-panel displays, giving a 330° field of view. The access catwalk is now only used as a viewing platform to allow guided tours of the facility to get a good view of the visualisation space without disturbing arrangements on the floor. The truss cylinder carries 20 columns, each of four Planar Matrix LX46L 3D (46-inch diagonal) LCD panels. These micropolarizerequipped 3D panels have a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which amounts to full retinal acuity for the majority of the 3D viewing space. Total system display resolution is 27320 x 3072 pixels. To avoid visual cross-talk between the polarizing bands on the top and bottom rows of monitors, their micropolarizer arrays are offset by 9° in the appropriate direction to retain optimum 3D imaging. The use of passive, polarized 3D not only allows the use of inexpensive polarized viewing glasses for 3D work, it also eliminates the issue of synching 80

The entire visualisation facility is built on a modular raised-floor system to enable the complex cabling to be installed, maintained and endlessly reconfigured. While the flooring system also provides for quiet, low-speed chilled air to be circulated into the space, it simply isn’t enough to handle the 20kW of heat produced by the 80 display panels in the viewing space and the 15kW output from the fully-loaded racks in the adjacent machine room. Sean Wooster from Umow Lai revealed that in the end, the capacity of the building’s air-conditioning and power delivery infrastructure became an important factor in the selection of the visualisation system. Although the planners had expected that flat panel displays would eventually replace projectors in visualisation systems, the leap to systems on the scale of the CAVE2 installation is far beyond anything that had been envisaged. MOTION TRACKING

Interaction between the viewer and the rendering system is primarily via an optical motion tracking network of 14 Vicon Bonita infrared cameras, mounted around the top of the support truss. The cameras track the location of retroreflective markers on the head of the primary viewer and attached to the handheld navigation controller in six degrees of freedom, and return results to the rendering system’s input management computer using Virtual-Reality Peripheral Network protocol. The handheld navigator wand also incorporates orientation-aware wireless remote functions for input selection and control. Donning the primary viewer’s glasses with their little white-tipped tracker antennae and walking through a rendered environment, or having the whole screen system tracking your head movements, is an experience that’s better than any dark ride. As someone with an abiding interest in space science who’s closely followed the journeys of the three Mars rovers, I was captivated to be able to stand in a fullyimmersive 3D Martian landscape composited

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The NEW Name In Control Systems

Researchers walking around inside a map of the neuronal connections in a human brain. Image courtesy Mechdyne and Monash University.

from thousands of the 1024 x 1024-pixel stereo images taken by the Opportunity rover. While principally a visualisation facility, the CAVE2 is also well equipped to provide immersive and accurately-imaged surround sound through a 22.2-channel 24-bit system driven by a dedicated audio-processing computer. The speakers for this system consist of 22 compact, nearfield Genelec 6010A bi-amped (12W+12W) full-range cabinets mounted around the top of the truss ring, while sub-bass comes from a pair of floor-mounted Genelec 7050B active (70W) subwoofers. Signal distribution is via MADI. A THX-certified 7.2 channel receiver is also present to decode and process output from movie material. SAGE ADVICE

One of the five operating environments currently being used for the CAVE2 environment is SAGE (Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment) which can launch, display and manage the layout of multiple visualizations in disparate formats on a single tiled-display system. In Fully Immersive mode, the entire system displays a single simulation. In 2D mode, the system can operate like a standard display wall, enabling users to simultaneously work with large numbers of flat images and documents. In Hybrid mode, some of the objects displayed can be immersive 3D windows with each able to be controlled by independent 3D user interface devices. Hybrid mode is one of the unique and compelling features of the CAVE2 environment. Perhaps the most complex part of operating a big data visualisation facility is getting that data onto the screens in ways that give researchers insights into the relationships embedded in their data. To achieve this requires researchers to either learn how, or have access to skilled programmers who know how, to take the appropriate elements of the dataset, then scale, manipulate and translate it into a visualiser control language to visually present those previously unseen relationships. Right now Monash is in the process of developing those skills within its user community. CAVE2 is a very impressive piece of kit with application possibilities that are limited more by the user’s imagination and the demands for its use, than by any capability it lacks.  MORE INFORMATION CAVE2 at Monash: monash.edu/cave2/ Mechdyne: www.mechdyne.com EVL at UIC: www.evl.uic.edu Umow Lai: www.umowlai.com.au

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REVIEW

iZotope RX3 Advanced Audio restoration software Text:/ Graeme Hague

The concept of purchasing specialised plug-ins to supplement the basic functionality of a digital audio workstation all seems a bit quaint these days – all the better-known DAWs are loaded with most everything you need, and sometimes lots of what you may never need. For example, pitch correction was once an exclusive domain for third-party plug-in developers, but for a while now we’ve seen proprietary pitch correction software built into DAWs (Sonar’s V-Vocal, Logic’s Pitch Correction) or an included license to something like Celemony’s Melodyne as a matter of course. Audio restoration plug-ins haven’t gone mainstream just yet – maybe because DAWs have such a focus on new recordings, and, aside from cleaning up samples from your dusty vinyl collection, if you need to repair or fix your studio session tracks that much, maybe you’re doing something seriously wrong. For many AV applications you probably don’t want to be working inside a full-blown DAW anyway. Rather than dealing with studio sessions as such, you can frequently be working with individual files. Indeed, you may be working with archival sound that will benefit from some judicious tweaking, or maybe field recordings that didn’t quite go to plan. In these cases, software such as Sony’s Sound Forge Pro or Adobe’s Audition have the tools, but they’re well buried among a wealth of mastering effects and publishing, production functions. ONE JOB: ONE TOOL

So iZotope has done well to create RX, an audio repair and restoration application (it can be inserted as a plug-in in a DAW host, too) that focuses purely on the job at hand – wrangling the best out of any unfortunate audio file on a one-on-one basis. If the task is, for instance, converting old analogue recordings into digital files to be used in displays, museum exhibits or public, press-to-play devices, RX offers all the restoration processes as standalone software without having to work inside a host DAW.

If you need more vision of the wave file, the modules can be collapsed to icons on the right hand side.

The latest version is RX3 and here we’re looking at RX3 Advanced. What I immediately liked about RX3 is the easy accessibility of the basic repair modules. You’re not overwhelmed with complex controls for manipulating the audio. In other words, for many of these functions you don’t really need to know what you’re doing – just listen to the results. Most of them are obvious in their intent such as DeClick and DeCrackler, DeNoise and Hum Removal. If you’re looking at something more ambitious then DeConstruct and Spectral Repair can really zero in on the problems and provide the best chance of removing the offending noise, but you’re going to have to either do some homework or plug away (excuse the pun) at experimenting with settings. REVERB: HALL OF INFAMY

I was intrigued to see a DeReverb. In the past, if someone had been too heavy-handed with digital reverb there was almost nothing you could do about it. I pulled up a recording I had of a live solo guitarist and singer that was drenched with reverb. After applying the DeReverb I was impressed at just how effectively it worked, although you could hear a compressor-like ‘pumping’ artifact which I reduced by dialling down the DeReverb – but that incrementally brought the reverb back. It’s a reminder that any of these audio renovation processes are markedly affected by the overall material you’re working with and if you can get hold of individual tracks that need help, rather than mixdowns, you’ll improve your results.

ONE THING AT A TIME

Each of the restoration modules have to be applied individually via a Process button, meaning you can’t have more than one process happening and they can’t be chained as you might do inside a DAW. So the order in which you use the modules can potentially change the results. There is an Undo function and all the modules have a Preview facility. It’s not absolutely necessary, but RX3 is structured to encourage you to do the hard stuff first – the repairs and restoration – prior to using modules like Gain and EQ to bring the audio back on par with any other. A Time and Pitch module offers precise adjustments to both, and an Advanced mode has some neat tricks such as Noise Generation, which will insert noise to cover for gaps created by too much slowing down. This is playing to RX3’s strengths, as because it uses offline processing instead of real time, the software has time to give the processing some ‘thought’. BITS & PIECES

Some of the modules are obviously aimed firmly at fixing musical problems – such as time and pitch issues for synchronising to vision, and these kinds of warping functions tend to overshadow the real strength of RX, ie. its restoration and repair abilities. The way RX3 can remove unwanted noise and leave behind the important audio is very well done. This is technology that’s been around awhile (arguably Cedar Audio brought audio restoration to the world 20-plus years ago), but there was always a compromise between

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A full EQ module that can breathe life back into audio that’s gone a bit dull after noise removal.

The full GUI with the module tabs visible on the right.

original noise and artifacts created by the cleaning process. With careful application, now RX3 creates clean audio almost without any artifacts at all. For more precise jobs, the workspace for RX3 can be zoomed and areas of audio selected to get rid of momentary problems within a file. Accidents like background car horns or someone coughing that spoil an otherwise perfect take. A variety of selection tools including a Magic Wand (unfortunately RX3’s Help files glitched and I couldn’t determine exactly how this worked, but Photoshop users are familiar with the concept) let you grab sections of the file to an exacting amount. However, to be this clever it’s back to that homework to learn about recognising what audio you need to target within the spectral display. That comes with practice and you always have the Undo function, if you get it wrong. Save As is an option (if not standard procedure) and you can Export a Selection once you’ve stretched squashed and scrubbed the audio to your heart’s content.

options and these are what are missing in the standard version, plus the DeReverb and the Time and Pitch Module – check out the comparison chart on iZotope’s website for a full explanation of the differences. RX3 Advanced is not a mastering plugin – iZotope has plenty of other products for that. For cleaning up and clarifying historical recordings, or smoothing that vinyl collection you decided was worth transferring to digital, or perhaps removing the doorbell sound from when the pizza arrived at the worst moment, RX3 Advanced is perfect for the task. Dig deep into some of the modules and the learning curve gets a little steep – but be brave, the payoff is worth it. If it’s audio repairs that are needed and you believe in using the right tool for the job, that’ll be iZotope RX3 Advanced. For analogue to digital conversions, it’s perfect. For recording studios it’s the kind of software that can sit unused on your desktop for months on end, then when you do need it – it may well save your bacon. 

For those who prefer the standard analyser display.

IZotope has never been one for flashing lights and pseudo-3D GUIs. The Channel module shows the utilitarian approach.

CRUNCH & DE-CRUNCH

The important measures for software like RX3 are twofold: how cleanly it removes the unwanted audio, and how well it achieves this without ruining the other noise all around it. For these you need some powerful algorithms crunching the numbers and iZotope plainly has developed these – RX3 is impressive with its results. Obviously, performing miracles isn’t a menu choice, but you can certainly achieve a lot more than any DAW might do. Most of the RX3 Advanced modules have ‘advanced’

MORE INFO CONTACT Electric Factory (Elfa): (03) 9474 1000 or www.elfa.com.au PRICE: iZotope RX3 Serial only: $389 iZotope RX3 Boxed: $399 iZotope RX3 Advanced Serial only: $1349

The DeNoiser allows you to target a specific noise that may not fall into the hum or hiss category.

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InfoComm News

News from the Oceania Region INFOCOMM, AETM, COOPERATE TO SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL TECH MANAGERS

InfoComm has signed an agreement with the Association of Educational Technology Managers (AETM) representing audiovisual professionals in Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. The agreement will extend InfoComm membership with free or discounted training to AETM members and the AETM will promote the benefits of InfoComm’s education services, standards and certification programs to its members and the industry. InfoComm and AETM have a shared goal to promote professionalism and networking opportunities for the audiovisual and education technology manager community in the Oceania region. To accomplish their common goals, all AETM members will now benefit from automatically becoming reciprocal members of InfoComm International and will receive select free online training, including CTS Prep, along with access to discounted advanced training. “InfoComm is pleased to be working closely with AETM to advance training and networking for audiovisual and educational technology managers,” said David Labuskes, CTS, RCDD, Executive Director and CEO, InfoComm International. “InfoComm will be providing important training for an AETM conference and at InfoComm University sessions at the Integrate show. It is InfoComm’s hope to expand our joint relationship over time to best serve this important tech manager community.” “The members of the AETM hold InfoComm’s professional training, standards and industry certification programs in very high regard, so the Association is excited about the potential of this new collaborative initiative,” said Terry Coe, President of the AETM. “AETM members take a leading role in audiovisual projects worth more than $100 million every year. This new cooperative agreement sends a clear message

to the industry that this huge client base values skills development, performance standards and industry certification for its staff and equally in the consultant, AV integrator and vendor community that service the sector.”

28-30 May, Gold Coast 2-4 June, Sydney Please visit infocomm.org/store to register. INFOCOMM EXPANDING STAFF IN OCEANIA REGION

DID YOU KNOW?

If your company is an InfoComm member, all employees are eligible to participate in free online training, including CTS Prep, Essentials of AV and the InfoComm-Recognized AV Certificate program. Contact oceania@infocomm.org for more information. PLEASE JOIN US AT OUR UPCOMING SERIES OF FREE EVENTS:

Auckland networking event, April 1 Brisbane networking event, 23 April Melbourne Roundtable, 29 April Please email oceania@infocomm.org to register or visit infocomm.org/roundtables to learn more. CALLING ALL AWARDS ENTRANTS

InfoComm is looking for 2014 awards entrants. Open awards include the Adele De Berri Pioneers of AV Award, the Distinguished Achievement Award, Educator of the Year Award, Sustainable Technology Award, the Women in AV Award, the Young AV Professionals Award and the Fred Dixon Service Award in Education. Applications must be received by April 25, 2014. Visit infocomm.org/awards to view criteria and find entry forms. NETWORKED AV SYSTEMS TRAINING

InfoComm and AMX are jointly sponsoring discounted regional Networked AV Systems classes. You won’t want to miss our second quarter offerings: 2-4 April, Auckland 7-9 April, Melbourne

Please welcome Jason York (pictured), InfoComm’s new account manager for Australia and New Zealand. He brings a wealth of corporate relations management and customer service experience to InfoComm. We will feature a Q&A with him in the next edition. Jason will be reporting to Jonathan Seller whose responsibilities are being expanded to include development responsibilities in Asia and Oceania. InfoComm is committed to investing more resources in the Oceania region to better serve our growing membership and provide additional services. DON’T MISS INFOCOMM 2014

You won’t want to miss the largest commercial audiovisual show in the world – InfoComm 2014, June 18-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We will be hosting 36,000 attendees and more than 950 exhibitors on our largest show floor to date. Education and networking opportunities are everywhere, from our new UCC and Digital Signage Solutions Summits, to manufacturers’ training, to unforgettable tours and our 75th Anniversary Awards Dinner. Register today at infocomm.org. 

All The AV Industry Employment News Delivered to your IN box with AV Newswire Any time you want it at www.av.net.au

A touch of brilliance

Epson’s new ultra-short-throw projector offers the ultimate level of interactivity by combining finger-touch with dual pen capability. Featuring a brightness level of 3,300 lumens and WXGA resolution, the EB-595Wi’s ultra-short-throw design allows you to present large images from a very short distance with minimised shadows and glare. The EB-595Wi is coming soon to IDT. Quality image - Epson’s 3LCD technology ensures high-quality images Finger-touch and dual pen - Use your fingers to annotate directly onto the screen Reliable - Proven reliability with a longer lamp life Save time - Simply plug in and turn on Wireless - Wireless capability allows content to be shown from a range of devices

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049

TUTORIAL

Image Size The following is an excerpt from Design Online. These topics will be covered in greater detail, with added project based skills practice, during InfoComm’s AV Design Bootcamp in Sydney July 2 ‑ 11. DESIGNING FOR VIEWABILITY

The main objective in creating a design with visual displays is to ensure the audience can clearly see what is presented. The ‘viewability’ within the room is affected by a number of issues. Viewers should see the best quality image possible. This must take into account a number of factors affecting the perceived and actual image quality: Visual resolution: The amount of detail a viewer can discern in an image. This is determined by the system design. Task: Defines what the viewer needs to do with the image. For example, does the viewer need to read large bullet points, or inspect a detailed engineering drawing of a machine? Viewing distance: The distance of a viewer from the screen. Image size: The physical dimensions (width and height) of an image. Image height: The vertical dimension of the image. Image resolution: Determined by the number of lines/pixels in the image. Higher resolution results in a more detailed image. Text height: The physical size of text on the screen. It is determined by font size and image height and resolution. Aspect ratio: The ratio of the width to height of the image. Contrast Ratio: The ratio of highest to lowest luminance level which can be reproduced. VIEWER TASKS

The task the viewer must accomplish is the main factor affecting image size. The main task categories are: Viewing: General viewing not requiring close inspection. For general viewing of video, typical PowerPoint, film or very simple graphics. Reading: Detail viewing with clues when reading. Includes text or simple graphics containing adequate clues. Inspecting: Detail viewing without clues. For tasks such as analysing spreadsheets, spellchecking and studying CAD drawings. Clues are important for discerning what information is being viewed and how it is interpreted. Clues are elements of the image content which allow the user to ‘fill in the blanks’ of details which are not legible. Your brain automatically fills in illegible letters within words, based on the expected word or the context of

the word in a sentence.Inspection tasks are those for which there are insufficient clues to fill in the blanks. If a viewer is spellchecking a document, analysing a list of alpha-numeric passwords, or inspecting system drawings, they must be able to discern the smallest elements of the image in order to perform the inspection task. This requires an image of sufficient size, appropriate resolution and text height, and adequate contrast ratio, so the user can inspect each of the elements to identify errors or design issues. IMAGE HEIGHT

Image size is based on the furthest viewer position and the level of detail they must discern to complete their task. Keeping the task criteria in mind, industry experts have agreed on a best practice for determining the recommended image height. The furthest viewer should be no further from the screen than: Viewing: Eight times the image height Reading: Six times the image height Inspecting: Four times the image height To size an image, measure the distance from the screen to the furthest viewer and divide by the number, above, for the most demanding task to calculate the minimum screen height. Formula Determining Image Height SH = D ÷ SL Where: SH = Height of image D = Distance from screen to the furthest viewer SL = Level of detail (task category) (= 4 for inspection, = 6 for reading, = 8 for viewing)

FONT SIZE

Text height is affected by the resolution and size of the image, so determining text height requires some calculations. In an image text is created by pixels forming a pattern in the shape of each character.

10-point font is 10 pixels high for Microsoft fonts at 100% zoom.

Zoomed to 200% the same font is 20 pixels high. For example, 14-point font on a 100-inch diagonal screen at XGA resolution will be 28mm high. This is calculated by dividing the image height (1524mm) by the 768 pixel height of the image, then multiplying that by the pixel height of 14 point font. TH = 1524 ÷ 768 * 14 => TH ≈ 28mm VISUAL RESOLUTION

Visual resolution, also known as acuity, is determined by evaluating the ability of the viewer to distinguish between line pairs on a test pattern. Based upon the tasks the audience is required to perform, and the image resolution, the appropriate image size can be determined.

As a screen is set further from the viewer the image size must be larger to maintain visual resolution. TEXT HEIGHT

The ability to see text characters on a screen is important for reading and inspection tasks. For determining the viewability of text characters, the viewer should be no farther away than 150 times the height of the character. The theory of human visual acuity boils down to this general rule of thumb. Formula Determining Viewer Distance by Text Height D = TH * 150 Where: D = Distance from screen to the furthest viewer TH = Height of the text on the screen

Application of this formula directly affects the layout of the viewing area for the image. The maximum viewing distance is based on the amount of detail we need to see in the image, not the resolution of the image. 

050

HUMOUR?

Termination Unicorns, the Tooth Fairy, and the Intuitive Interface Text:/ Graeme Hague

The highly-intuitive interface for AV magazine's current digital publishing system.

There’s the old saying, you “know enough to be dangerous”. What would be the modern equivalent? Probably something along the lines of “you know enough to keep IT support technicians very busy the world over”. In this business? You know enough to make yourself look like a chump. This unfortunate condition is encouraged by the AV industry by means of an irresponsible device known as the ‘intuitive interface’™. We should really have a decade-long moratorium on the term ‘intuitive’, because manufacturers and developers have flogged the word to death using it for suggesting that any noddy can operate the GUI, the LCD panel, the software… whatever the intuitive device someone has recklessly suggested you can operate all on your own, without supervision and – it goes without saying – without reading the manual (okay, I get that, manuals are for wimps). Reverse Swedish Notation

Just prior to the Dawn Of Time I used to work in a theatre that had a truly evil, utterly-possessed piece of equipment called an AVAB 202 lighting desk. Whoever designed this abomination had serious psychopathic issues, but we can only assume they honestly believed that the data input of the AVAB was in some Nordic way intuitive. In fact, as I reluctantly remember – risking cold sweats and nightmares – the command syntax was kind of backwards (in keeping with its satanic origins) and how you did even the simplest of programming, just didn’t make logical sense.[Like some scientific calculators, it was based on the totally-opaque Postfix or Reverse Polish Notation system - Ed]. It didn’t help that I was an audio technician (now, now…), but this was a regional theatre where the whole crew was expected to chip in for every department

including knowing enough about the AVAB to be… well useful, if not dangerous. You’ll be familiar with the problem of teaching yourself, out of necessity, how to use a bit of gear outside of your normal sphere of operations, but you don’t put your sticky fingers on this equipment often enough that the lessons stick. Confronted with making the damned thing work, a voice in your head insists, you know how to do this, when in fact you don’t. For the despicable AVAB we all resorted to a laminated list of ‘top twenty’ programming commands that was never, ever allowed to leave the control room. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a mere PostIt note compared to the importance of that laminated list. In our defense, visiting lighting technicians used to stare at the AVAB in a sort of despair and it wasn’t until we replaced the whole system with a completely different lighting console, relegating the AVAB to being a door chock for the storeroom (where it belonged from the very beginning) that we realised what we’d been dealing with. The Illusory Intuitive Interface

Fast forward to last weekend at a music festival and I’m chalked up for operating a digital audio console that promises an intuitive work surface. Now, I’ve used this mixer before – about four months ago – so I managed not to bat an eyelid when the road case was opened. Mentally I’m thinking, Ah…it’s that desk. Crap, how does this thing work again? And I made plans to sneak into the venue an hour before anybody else for a discreet refresher course. Every digital console, audio or lighting for that matter, has an odd quirk or nonsensical way of doing something. Fair enough, what else would we whinge about over beers? Most functions are quite straightforward, but that

doesn’t mean you can see them. The sneaky bloody things hide in plain sight, like an optical illusion. And when the pressure’s on and you’re trying to figure something out, the risk is you fall into the trap of over-thinking the problem, looking for a complicated solution when the simple button, fader or menu command is right in front of your nose. I had a few face-palm moments when my memory cells kicked in and I sorted out some very easy menu functions, after seriously considering taking the desk apart with a screwdriver instead. Which still isn’t my fault, because intuitive should have nothing to do with some kind of polygraphic, ink-blot, Rorschach memory test. Besides, one person’s intuitive interface can be another’s GUI Rubik’s cube. Certifiably Intuitive

So I reckon we should come up with an Intuitive Interface (II) certification standard and any new product that claims to be intuitive needs to pass some rigorous tests to achieve certification. Does it need offensive language to be operated? Is a printed copy of the manual or a PDF version on a separate device within reach, necessary? Can an audio technician operate a lighting product and vice-versa? (All right, let’s not go overboard). Only once all these kinds of vital prerequisites are satisfied can a manufacturer put an “II Compliant” sticker (which will include some indecipherable small print to make it look proper) on the product and customers can be confident something is genuinely intuitive. Yes, I know… true genius on my part – please email congratulations directly to the editor. Next issue we’ll be looking at ‘innovative’. Then it’ll be ‘best in class’, followed by ‘ground-breaking’. Put the kettle on, we’re in for the long haul. 

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