Rainbows and Virtual Production
Features That Fit
Volume walls provide the environment, and traditional lighting enhances the look with flattering lighting. What was the old norm has become the new norm in Virtual production, but with the added agency of Image-based Lighting.
Quasar Science, with its Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow, is able to fill the gap between Volume Walls and traditional lighting. Their highly pixelated, color correct, disguise(™) compatible linear LEDs are the perfect tool for Image-based Lighting. The combination of hardware and software make Rainbows the other indispensable tool.
The Rainbow series’ RGBX color engine can utilize over 1,000,000,000,000 (that’s one trillion) color combinations to produce over 1 billion colors. That is a huge color space.
The addition of two “white” diodes- 2000 and 6000 degrees kelvin- guarantees that each of those billion colors will have a full color spectrum. The RBGX color engine sends spiky spectrums and their unpredictable color renditions packing.
Hue Intensity Equalization (HIE), an entirely new way to marry saturated color to white light, allows for accurate exposure reading of saturated colors. HIE removes the guesswork and helps avoid clipped colors in the end result.
Coming back to Virtual Production, the Image-based Lighting the Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow offer, with all the color control features built in, will make those reflections on the shiny hood, the twinkle in the star’s eyes, the subtle play of light on the hero’s cheek immerse you in a world heretofore impossible to produce. And at the end of the day, you will not have to answer the question, “Why does number one on the call sheet look like a lobster just out of the pot?”
But Color Control is only half the battle. Without robust data management protocols, it's all just plastic and metal. The pixie dust is spread through any number of industry standard wired data protocols. DMX, sACN, and ArtNet are all available. Whichever wired data protocol you want, the Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow respond.
The Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow also receive wireless data protocols such as CRMX, W-DMX, WiFi, and Bluetooth.
Built into each of the Rainbow series lights is an Ethernet Node. The Double Rainbows also have an Ethernet Switch. These hardware capabilities mean constructing rigs has never had more options. Maintaining and altering network architecture to adjust for re-rigs has never been easier.
Given the versatile communication capabilities, both hardware and software- using Rainbows for permanent installations or last minute additions to your virtual production- will ensure quick set-ups, reliable output, and receptive control.
All these capabilities in the Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow set them apart from other similar lights. The features and design flow seamlessly with Image-based Lighting.
The Rainbows’ seamlessly work with Unreal Engine and disguise, two leading software pioneers that have set the standard in Image-based Lighting.
The Rainbows have scalability down to a science. With the introduction of the Ossium Mounting System (OMS), not only do we present to you another acronym, but also a holistic rigging concept. Sliders, baby pins, rotators, mounting plates and rails are designed to maximize ease of use and seamlessly integrate with existing standardized rigging hardware. Ergonomic linear lights can exist, and the Rainbow’s OMS is the proof in the pudding.
The OMS also includes multiple options of prefabricated arrays for all types of their lights, including the unique 8’ Rainbow 2. Whether the massive 848, an array of forty-eight 8’ Rainbow 2s (which contain a total of 2304 pixels), or the smaller polyshells that hold just a couple of fixtures, every OMS product works flawlessly with the Rainbows. No more ad hoc light fixtures. The days of MacGyvering linear LEDs are done.
Set the Standard for the Future
The Motion picture industry is famous for sewing silk purses out of sow's ears. How many times have you heard, “You know what would be cool…” and then suddenly you are tasked with finding a way to do something that was deemed impossible just a moment ago? And after the first success, it becomes standard practice.
As one of the last industries to make each and every one of its products unique and hand crafted, technicians in motion picture have had to embrace the ever evolving and expanding visions of writers and directors with gleeful aplomb.
Image-based Lighting is the latest iteration of such creative experimentation and artistry. It is the newest child of the artistic and technical. It is the next logical step in creating living light photographically. Thus far it is the ultimate expression of our attempt to represent the vibrant world around us, and the ones we create in our imaginations.
Not only is it the here and now, it is the future.
“Light can be gentle, dangerous, dreamlike, bare, living, dead, misty, clear, hot, dark, violet, springlike, falling, straight, sensual, limited, poisonous, calm and soft.” - Sven Nykvist
