Light boxes

[Nick LX]

For an upcoming production in November, there is an idea of creating several light boxes which have the ability to change colour, and I was wondering what the best way to do this was. I've already had a few suggestions, as well as thought of my own ideas, however as I've never done something like this before, you guys might know the tricks.

 

Basically these light boxes are going to be constructed in one of two ways:

 

1) So that the front is made from a plastic sheet like perspex so as to diffuse the light with vertical strips of wood spaced about 4cm apart across the whole flat (4ft wide). Then about 6inches behind that, will be the "back" of the flat, which will be white (either from wood being painted white, or from a white cloth stapled to the wood.

 

2) So that the front is made from just the vertical strips of wood spaced about 4cm apart across the whole flat (6ft wide). Then with a back similar to number (1).

 

One of the ideas that has been suggested is using colour blocks (DB4) with a bit of Leelux 400 in front so as to diffuse them. They would then be pointed at the white background, and hopefully if we had them side by side along the bottom of the flat, they would cover the whole thing. (considering it will be 4ft high).

 

My idea was to use schick schnacks (sp?) which line the inside (stuck to the wood). However I was wondering whether they have enough light output compared to the DB4s, and whether they will give an even cover.

 

Our aim is to be able to change the colour of the light boxes to anything we want, and also to have some control over them, because we will have 6 in total. Given that we don't want the flats to be more than 6inches deep, are there any other LED options we should look at? Also what is the best way of diffusing the light given out my particular LED products?

 

I will try and get some drawings done although I'm on a computer that doesn't even have Paint.

 

Opinions?

 

Cheers

[niclights]

Have you considered Pulsar ChromaPanels (CP600)? They are effectively 2'x2' with nice even coverage going all the way to the edge meaning you can join multiple units almost seamlessly. All you would need to worry about is mounting by way of the M6 bolt holes or optional adapter plates.

 

I've been using them on stage for many years and they are very effective.

[Nick LX]

I think the biggest worry about anything, especially with the chroma panels, is the "stitching" of the separate light sources. Not sure what how visible the joins are on these panels if you place a whole load together and have them on the same colour, but then again, we would probably have similar problems with LED battens/blocks.

[niclights]

I think you'll have much bigger problems trying to get even coverage using custom methods, especially with such limited depth. And it will be a huge faff. If you really wanted to you could remove the front panels from the Chroma's (they're designed to - attachment is push on/pull off velcro-esque) and replace with one large sheet of the same type plexi.

[Nick512]

I agree with Nick.. Chroma panels are the way to go.. I wanted to do the same thing a while back and ended up using a similar product, the ColorKinetics iTiles as we wanted the option of playing very lo-res video through them too.. we removed the standard front panels had frames that have a 2 x 2 config and added custom sheets of plexi and it worked out great.. each custom panel was 4' x 4' by 6" deep which I think is perfect for you we also had some 4' x 2' versions which you can see in front of the band.... these are still available as is and I could probably find a rental price out for you. here are a few pics..

 

Here as block Colours

http://www.nick-whitehouse.com/pics/1.jpg

 

http://www.nick-whitehouse.com/pics/2.jpg

 

Playing lo-res video

http://www.nick-whitehouse.com/pics/3.jpg

 

http://www.nick-whitehouse.com/pics/4.jpg

[Nick LX]

Looks great, however if we were to have a 4x4 grid of chroma panels, would we be able to "blend" all of the edges with some frosted plexi?

 

E2A: Who in London hires it?

[niclights]

Mounted correctly the edges will be barely visible. If you want absolute perfection then one large sheet of the correct plexi is the way to go. Any attempt to cover the joins will most likely increase the opacity where it overlaps and exaggerate, rather than help hide it.

Of course you will have big problems getting hold of an 8x8' sheet of plexi, let alone trying to transport it

 

Richard Martin stock the Chroma's.

[Nick LX]

Ok well I'll have a think about that. I might also consider getting EvenLED panels, as I know Whitelight stock them. Then all we'd have to do is find the right bit of white cloth to put in front of the panels. Not sure how we'd incorporate them into a door though, but the challenge is where all the fun comes from!

[Nick512]

E2A: Who in London hires it?

 

The client actually purchased all the iTiles and processing for this. Brilliant Stages made the custom boxes and plexi fronts and all the clever re-wiring was done by TMB.

 

Its all in storage in London and hasn't really been used for a couple of years so im sure you would get a good deal, if it were the right product for you job then message me with the requirements and I can find out a price for you.

[son of lx dad]

I work/freelance for a company called "LED Poison" that specializes in doing exactly this sort of thing. Currently you can see our work on TV on shows such as 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'The Drop' and the BBC's Election coverage. All of the light box work around/in desks, stages, stairs, floors, set pieces are provided by us from depths from 6inches to a couple of feat.

If you wish to construct your light boxes in the traditional way as is described in your original post, you could consider contacting Simon Deary through the website ledpoisonltd.co.uk.

[Nick LX]

I work/freelance for a company called "LED Poison" that specializes in doing exactly this sort of thing. Currently you can see our work on TV on shows such as 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'The Drop' and the BBC's Election coverage. All of the light box work around/in desks, stages, stairs, floors, set pieces are provided by us from depths from 6inches to a couple of feat.

If you wish to construct your light boxes in the traditional way as is described in your original post, you could consider contacting Simon Deary through the website ledpoisonltd.co.uk.

 

Unfortunately the link doesn't work, however what LED equipment do they use?

 

Maybe you could PM me an email address?

[niclights]

Remove the 'ltd' bit

[peternewman]

what LED equipment do they use?

For what its worth, the BBC Election set was using a kind of generic ribbon around the mezzanine ring certainly, I think the floor was using a similar source, but I only saw under a floor panel briefly, and I'd imagine the polo was similar again. The floor was made of 18mm perspex, which probably helped the diffusion, even if it was an irritatingly good dielectric! :P The ends of the desks were using 5 or 6 30cm Pulsar ChromaStrip 2 tubes each. I wasn't involved in the lighting, just working in there on other tasks.

[LEDPOISONMD]

Hello all Lightbox people...

I'm Simon managing Director of LED POISON LIMITED the Leading LED Lighting consultancy in the UK and Europe.

The pictures shown on here are of our installation for Alicia Keys Tour that we organised at rather short notice for the lovely Steve Dixon.

Yes, we all remember soldering a lot to make the things tour friendly(TMB are the kings of soldering).

I worked with Color Kinetics and various LED companies for a number of years on things like the itiles and you can rent them from loads of places.

In fact the Alicia Keys ones are probably still in storage as mentioned but not to sure I'd want them now after the tour.

 

If you wanted Chroma Panel I would recommend you invest in a chroma tool to fix the connectors constantly!

 

There is a cracking little solution which my colleague here is talking about which is an LED Ribbon.

We use this on X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, The Drop, Push the Button, The Election and it is called X FLEX-1 which a non generic ribbon which has been specifically manufactured for television using high frequency drivers and bespoke adapter cards.

It's on 6 pin XLR, 14 watts a meter and 24 volts and we worked with Panalux to make it damn easy to fit and to make it the same colour temperature .

 

It is a colour calibrated High Bin number (the Bin of the LED is owned) SMD based product.

Basically you will not notice any significant colour temp. difference.

The key to these things is keeping them nice for two years time so that's why we spend a long time making bespoke products.

 

We have access to loads of LED hired equipment and hire companies so people benefit from our mass purchase or hiring.

If you have a few more pennies you could up your game with some X-Flex 2 which is much brighter or DMX- FLEX or my favourite at the moment...Video Flex!!!

 

I'll happily take a look at your drawings and give you some lovely ideas for you and your price range.

 

I set up LED POISON Limited to create a new way of looking at the type of work we do with LED, OLED, 3D and lovely technology stuff.

 

We do not advertise our services but we are happy to help as we work direct with designers and productions.

 

I would strongly advise for a big block of colour and low res video the new extremely cost effective products from Light Emissions.

We work closely with these guys to make these kind of products.

There are a few other products and we make bespoke SMD, OLED, Hellio display and 3D Systems for all kinds of stuff so can give you some cool ideas.

 

You can contact me whenever you like and I'd be happy to help you out!

 

Simon

[willdart666]

Siyan in High Wycombe also stock iTile if that's more what you're looking for.