Vari-Lite
Vari-Lite, the originators of the modern moving head light fixture and Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand, is today announcing the VLHive 151 Digital FX, the world’s first all-digital entertainment lighting fixture. This next-generation luminaire, designed and manufactured at Vari-Lite’s Dallas, Texas, USA factory, includes a digital light engine, with 45,000 lumens of output and pixel-level control.
“While trendy new direct-view fixtures come and go every couple of years, core entertainment lighting fixtures have remained largely the same for decades,” says Martin Palmer, Vari-Lite Marketing and Product Management Leader at Signify. “LEDs have replaced lamps and additive color mixing has gained popularity, but the basic concept of shaping light using layered pieces of metal and glass remains. Because of this, there is a fundamental limitation to the looks possible in these fixtures because of the physical limitations inside the luminaire. VLHive is designed to change that.”
The VLHive 151 Digital FX is a true evolution in entertainment lighting, a next-generation luminaire with advanced digital animation effects never before possible with an entertainment lighting fixture. The VLHive includes a digital light engine, with 45,000 lumens of output and pixel-level control. Thanks to user-loadable effects and familiar DMX control, the luminaire fosters better collaboration between lighting, video, and creative teams while remaining, at its heart, a light fixture. Built with Vari-Lite’s commitment to longevity and featuring the widest range of design possibilities of any fixture on the market, the VLHive 151 promises to provide fresh design looks for years to come.
The VLHive’s 151-emitter LED array offers a variety of digital effects, including 360° rotating digital shutters, full-close digital iris, and a library of built-in digital gobos and multichromatic animations. Users can even create their own shapes and animations using the HiveCreator software tool. The VLHive 151’s exclusive, patented technology gives designers an endless range of unique effects, including effect smoothing, polar positioning, transition effects, and gobo keystoning—all of which can be controlled on the fly by standard DMX. And thanks to unique Vari*glass technology, designers can convert the large 12” front lens to a frosted projection surface at the press of a button, switching seamlessly from mid-air effects to direct-view animations on the fixture’s face.
Palmer explains, “The goal of VLHive is to foster better collaboration between lighting, video, and creative teams while remaining, at its heart, a light fixture. Video has seen a huge rise in production design in the past decade, and modern entertainment lighting needs to incorporate animated elements that align with these looks. At the same time, designers need to control and configure the fixtures dynamically using standard consoles and other lighting tools. In short, lighting designers need a fixture that allows them to work better with the rest of the design team, while retaining the qualities that make lighting unique amongst the rest of the stage design.”
The IP65-rated luminaire features an RGBL additive color mixing engine that provides a wide range of colors, from soft pastels to vibrant saturated hues. To improve the output and colors, the VLHive boasts exclusive technologies, such as SmartColor+ and FluxBoost®. SmartColor+ is an updated version of Vari-Lite’s color control solution for multichromatic engines that allows designers to select the perfect balance of output and CRI for their application while achieving the best-looking colors possible using familiar CMY color mixing control. And thanks to FluxBoost technology, designers get more output across the color spectrum, along with more saturation and more consistent light quality. This intelligent algorithm maximizes the output of enabled channels in multichromatic LED luminaires, for better power utilization and lumen output, whether you’re using a deep red or a cool white.
The RGBL additive color mixing engine provides a wide range of colors, from soft pastels to vibrant saturated hues. With our exclusive SmartColor+ color mixing system, designers can select the perfect balance of output and CRI for their application while achieving the best-looking colors possible using familiar CMY color mixing control. And thanks to patented FluxBoost® technology, designers get more output, more saturation, and more consistent light quality across the color spectrum. This intelligent algorithm maximizes the output of enabled channels in multichromatic LED luminaires, for better power utilization and lumen output, whether you’re using a deep red or a cool white.
“Vari-Lite was the original name in modern moving head concert lighting, and we take that legacy seriously,” adds Sameer Sodhi, Vari-Lite Business Leader at Signify. “VLHive builds upon that history of groundbreaking innovation with the widest and most customizable feature set ever offered in an entertainment lighting fixture—all designed and built right here in our Dallas factory. The VLHive 151 opens a wide range of new opportunities for designers, aligning more closely with the rest of the production team for a more collaborative approach to the production design. Built with Vari-Lite’s commitment to longevity and featuring the widest range of design possibilities of any fixture on the market, the VLHive 151 promises to provide fresh design looks for years to come.”
Vari-Lite is showing the VLHive 151 Digital FX at LDI 2024 in booth 3045.
Vari-Lite, the originators of the modern moving head light fixture and Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand, is proud to announce that the VL2600 SE Series has received the Plasa Award for Innovation in Sustainability at the recent Plasa Show London 2024.
The award is a special category in the Plasa Awards for Innovation, a respected industry award celebrating future-focused technology that improves safety, efficiency and performance through new methods and materials. Product entries were judged by a team comprising 13 independent technical specialists from an array of backgrounds. The Sustainability Award is only awarded at the judges’ discretion, and it has only been awarded three times in the last ten years.
“This award from Plasa is a great honor, and it exemplifies why the VL2600 SE Series is the smart choice product with a sustainable future,” says Martin Palmer, Vari-Lite Marketing and Product Management Leader at Signify. “The VL2600 SE Series offers significantly increased output to new and existing fixtures. It’s possible to rent a VL2600 luminaire on every continent on the globe, and this new SE Series increases sustainability by extending the life of these highly specified light fixtures with notably higher output and the same outstanding features. It was exciting to have the judges validate the impact of this approach.”
To be eligible for the Sustainability Award, product entries were required to show a significant reduction in the environmental impact of the product life cycle. According to Plasa’s article in Light and Sound International, “The judges found that the upcycling commitment and longer product lifecycles enabled by [the Vari-Lite VL2600 SE Series] sets the benchmark for other manufacturers to follow.”
“Sustainability is core to our DNA at Vari-Lite,” adds Sameer Sodhi, Vari-Lite Business Leader at Signify. “Signify is a world leader in sustainability, and so it is never our intention just to release a plethora of new products superseding or making irrelevant our current portfolio. That’s why the new VL2600 light engine leverages advancements in LED technology to increase the output of the current family of fixtures, reducing cost and impact on the environment.”
Vari-Lite, the Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand and originators of the modern moving head light fixture, today announced a new, higher output light engine upgrade for their workhorse VL2600 Series fixtures. The light engine upgrade provides significantly higher output to the popular line of moving head luminaires while aligning with Signify’s commitment to sustainability by promoting circular economy, minimizing waste by extending the existing product lifecycle rather than making iterative new versions, for a positive impact on the environment and society.
Originally released in the spring of 2018, the VL2600 Series is, to date, one of the most popular Vari-Lite fixtures ever produced. Boasting a profile, wash, and spot version, the VL2600 Series is a full family of fixtures with a broad color palette, a wide range of features, and a consistent light engine across the series. It’s possible to rent a VL2600 Series luminaire on every continent on the globe, and the new easily replaceable light engine increases sustainability by extending the life of these highly specified light fixtures with notably higher output and the same great features.
“The VL2600 Series is now entering its 7th year of production, and it’s amazing to see how little technology and feature trends have changed in that time,” says Martin Palmer, Vari-Lite Product Management and Marketing Leader at Signify. “Although technology in areas such as the efficiency of LEDs may have improved, the core technologies and needs for fixtures like the VL2600 Profile have not shifted that much. That’s why the VL2600 Series still remains competitive, even against new competitor products that are on their third or fourth generation since the VL2600 was first released.”
The VL2600 Series includes a broad range of high-demand features, including CMY color mixing, variable CTO, fixed and rotating gobo wheels, iris, and frost. “The competitive features and distinctive Vari-Lite movement and quality of light make the VL2600 a popular option for designers to this day” adds Palmer. “The need to constantly swap fixtures with minor, iterative replacements leads to unnecessary cost for rental houses, as well as a large amount of waste that harms the planet we all live in. It’s not an environmentally sustainable business practice.”
Sustainability is core to the strategy at Vari-Lite, who boasts some of the longest lasting moving head luminaires in the industry, with many luminaires remaining in use decades after their original launch. This focus on a circular economy aligns with the corporate strategies at parent company Signify, a world leader in sustainability that has been 100% carbon neutral with zero waste to landfill since 2020.
“When we developed the VL2600 Series, it was always going to be a platform product to build on for our sustainable future—able to be upgraded and enhanced as technology or trends change,” explains Palmer. “As a sustainable business leader, it is never our intention just to release a plethora of new products superseding or making irrelevant our current portfolio. That’s why the new VL2600 Series light engine leverages advancements in LED technology to increase the output of the current family of fixtures, reducing cost and impact to the environment.”
Vari-Lite will demonstrating the upgraded VL2600 light engine in a side-by-side comparison with a current-generation fixture at Live Design International booth #577 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on December 3 – 5, 2023.
