The Intellaspot is one of High End Systems’s (HES) newest automated fixtures, and it’s 115 pounds of knock your socks off brightness and bad-assitude. I’ve had an opportunity to see these fixtures in action as well as to play with them myself. I’ll admit, I went into that experience expecting to be underwhelmed by yet another moving yoke fixture. However, I quickly found out that High End did in fact push the envelope.
The Intellaspot, much like its digital lighting cousin the DL.3, is enormous. It’s part of the new generation of lighting fixtures that have been drinking protein shakes, are roided out, and you know, eating whatever hormones we stick in the cows before they become burgers. Intellaspot is a big boy, and rightly so. Its 850 Watt lamp and 20,000 lumens is accompanied by all the standard bells and whistles that you find in yoke fixtures. You get a large zoom range, crisp CMY color mixing and a color wheel, 14 rotating gobo slots, an effects prism, optional soft edge, mechanical and electronic strobe, and an iris. Now, in addition to all that stuff, HES finally got smart and put in an animation system. Martin was the first company to patent and implement an effect called the animation wheel. I’m assuming it was the patent that made it hard for other companies to copy them, but I’m glad HES finally figured it out. The animation system allows you to create effects that emulate the movement of water or fire. So, not only can you make it look like there is fire or water on stage, but you can add this animation effect to any design you create. It makes for beautiful content and it’s fun to design with. It’s also a quick and dirty fix that makes it look like you have video in your show, even if you don’t.
HES also included something called Indigo Highlighter in their Intellaspot. The Indigo Highlighter consists of four large indigo LEDs that surround the lens of the fixture. While I am a fan og the Indigo Highlighter, and it can create a really cool look in your design, I’m not totally sold on it being as necessary as HES makes it sound. They imply that the Highlighter allows you to design in layers, but honestly, it’s just four jumbo indigo LEDs. They look the same every time you turn them on. Yes, they look cool, but it doesn’t open any design doors that weren’t open before. That being said, I wouldn’t turn Indigo Highlighter down if it were offered to me, but it wouldn’t be the selling point.
Both the animation system and the Indigo Highlighter give the Intellaspot qualities that vaguely similar to that of a digital fixture. They allow the designer to bring the feel of video and layering to their show without having to pay for it. These options also make for a pretty untouchable stand-alone automated fixture. I’ve seen amazingly well-done shows lit entirely with nothing more than four Intellaspots. The unit is strong and versatile enough that it can carry an entire show on its own. Having this option can potentially reduce the number of fixtures on your rig and the cost of touring, and who doesn’t need that nowadays?
Keep your eyes on the lighting rig next time you see a concert. If you see Indigo LEDs mysteriously hovering in the sky, you know you’re in for a treat.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyxaH_kNQIQ’]
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