[SML] Automated linesets

[ani]

Just saw this thread, thought I'd chime in.

My previous employer splurged on 15 JRClancy sets at 16" centers, with
the possibility of installing 15 more on 8" centers at a venue
renovation in 2009.  Since the winches had to be craned into the
building through a giant hole in the wall, I am certain the expansion
will never take place, but it was nice to dream.  These proved to be a
blessing and a curse.

Pros:

1. Significantly more efficient changeover times.  We were changing
over every two weeks, with student and underskilled overhire labor.
Moving LX and soft good locations became a breeze.  Hanging set pieces
ditto.
2. Consistent fly speeds from untrained operators.
3. Flying 2 or more elements with one operator.
4. 3000# capacity, allowing for use of linesets as cranes and winches
on installs.
5. Speeds as slow as nearly imperceptible and as fast as 10 ft/sec (I
might be lying on that, I can't recall the speeds right now...)
6. Programming a whole show in one file, not having to reference cue
sheets - definite bonus with students.
7. ability to set trims using math, not tapes or spikes - Oh, you want
that at 6' from deck? Here you go!

Cons (and some of these are specific to the venue...)

1. As previously mentioned, a motorized lineset doesn't know when it
hit something it's not supposed to.  The Clancy system has dynamic
load capabilities, but with our turnaround times, there was never time
to make the battens learn their loads.  And the students don't always
take their finger off the button in time, E-stops notwithstanding.  No
serious accidents, but more than one disabled batten due to
"rats-nesting" in the drums after catching on LX cable or catwalks
(the system was installed with only 6" of SL-SR clearance for the
battens...)
2. SceneControl console is clunky, runs on Windows 98, prone to
crashes, was replaced twice since install, touch-sensitive screen
faults often, and the process of programming is torturous,
counter-intuitive, and doesn't provide for things like "go back" or
"reset" without creating those cues first.  A show with 30-40 fly cues
would take me up to 8 hours to program, there's no keyboard or mouse,
so everything is touch-screen-entered.  I suppose that is fine for a 5
week run, but horrible for a 6 day one...
3. All of the above times 15 shows...
4. As the winches aged, they became louder and louder.  Not noticeable
during musical numbers, and not much louder than moving lights, but
audible in silence.
5. Only having venue staff operate these due to many operator errors
from inexperienced operators.

I am sure there are others, but this is what came to mind.

---
Anna B. Labykina
Technical Director
BOSTON LYRIC OPERA
11 Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111-1736
ALabykina at blo.org|o 617.542.4912 x259 |m 617.388.5656


On Sun, May 31, 2015 at 1:11 PM, Bill Conner via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> Basic machines are 2000 pounds 400 fpm - Bigtows on on a Navigator.
>
> I wouldn't worry so much about head height vs digital precision.  Some
> lighting designers never got past out-3-5-7-full of piano boards and
> did fine in the computer console era.  You look at Cirque and similar,
> I wouldn't worry too much about the mission critical aspect of these
> systems.
>
> Still, I do like hands on a rope.
>
> Can't find the photo - pre-digital for me - but for those that like
> the best of both worlds was a system in a Quebec City theatre with a
> "lock rail" with full size ropes rigged to a control for the Gala
> Vertilifts.  Kind of the same feel but you held the rope and moving it
> up or down moved the set up or down, and the further you moved it from
> "center" the faster it would go.  It had a strangely intuitive  feel.
> I seem to recall a digital read out of elevation on the rail.
>
>
> --
> Bill Conner Fellow of the ASTC
>
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