Multi-Image in 2020

[John Francis]

Shouldn't I use a SmartPax for projectors with RS232 ports? I read that here: https://insightlighting.co.uk/media...ecision-control-of-SAV-projectors_hy8NK4p.pdf

Not necessary the 3475 cables all that is needed from the Pax, SmartPax is used when controlling other serial devices like motorised curtains, screens and lighting.

You could also look at the AV Stumpfl dissolve units they come up on eBay quite often and are available in English. The SD404 runs 4 projectors and is reasonably priced however the one I saw has adpters for the S-AV carousel not Ektapro. Have a look at the attached manual from Bassgen.

Regards
John

 

[perkeleellinen]

Hmm, food for thought. There's an SD102 on ebay right now but it only controls two projectors, it does come with the Wings software cd, though. There's also a Dataton SmartPax with 3 Ektapro cables on ebay in Italy but a little costly. Did you know Nan Goldin's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was programmed on a Dataton? A simple program, I think, as it is just dissolves. I'd love to see that slide show.

 

[Steven Michelsen]

I just wandered into this conversation. I was a slide programmer back in the day, and still work in the AV staging business. I have assembled a 15 projector AVL-based projection rig in my garage - see the attached photo. In addition, last year I was given a cache of really high-production-value multi-image slideshows from a producer in Detroit. I have spent months getting these things restored, running, captured to video and posted to youtube. Please see my collection and subscribe to the channel as I am not done. AV Archaeology - YouTube

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to Photrio.
Many of us here will be tempted to bookmark your post, to show to their spouses

 

[Michael Firstlight]

Thank you! You just sent me back to 1982 when I was doing the very same for IBM.

Mike

 

[AgX]

Welcome !

You sure may be a help to those trying to program these projectors. A issue I find quite puzzling.

 

[perkeleellinen]

Great rig Steven!

Watched a few of the youtubes and subscribed, fascinating to see them.

If you ever get a source for Wess soft-edge masks, you've got a willing buyer here!

 

[Steven Michelsen]

Michael:
I am expecting one last cache of shows this spring; some of them were produced for IBM. There may be some superslide shows in there; fingers crossed. Hopefully by this summer there'll be more to see on my channel.
AgX:
Yes I would be happy to help with AVL Procall programming. I did nothing but that for a dozen years or so, and this last year has brought most of it back. I don't have any experience at all with the other manufacturer's gear.
perkeleellinen:
Glad you are enjoying the shows. Most were for sales meetings and the like, one was an installation at a visitors center (the super-wide 5-screen ANR/Mercer county show). It's true that soft-edge masks are a challenge to find. I have a small collection that I am guarding jealously - I have vague but grand plans of creating my own multi image shows once I run out of modules to restore!​

 

[Steven Michelsen]

Thank you! You just sent me back to 1982 when I was doing the very same for IBM.

Mike

Mike, it dawns on me we have "met" before, in the comments at ncmike's Completed Build - PCPartPicker . FYI I am closer than ever to getting my hands on that collection of modules from Wilden Enterprises, possibly containing IBM shows. Still can't wait!

Steve

 

[Michael Firstlight]

Yes, I think we did. That's my vintage PC/XT 486 "FrankenPC" build LOL.

Looking forward to the IBM shows - they were amazing.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Huss]

Welcome to Photrio.
Many of us here will be tempted to bookmark your post, to show to their spouses

 

[perkeleellinen]

perkeleellinen:

Glad you are enjoying the shows. Most were for sales meetings and the like, one was an installation at a visitors center (the super-wide 5-screen ANR/Mercer county show). It's true that soft-edge masks are a challenge to find. I have a small collection that I am guarding jealously - I have vague but grand plans of creating my own multi image shows once I run out of modules to restore!​

Steven, I've just realised you are the author of this great website: https://www.stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/ I've visited that site often.

Do you know about Douglas Mesney's site? http://www.incredibleimages.com/index.html

Also interesting: http://fahl.se/the-story-of-watchout/

Have you seen this:

And lastly: https://www.aidtopia.com/mccarthy/aid/multi-image/matetrac.html

Enjoy!

Steve

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I would love some links to a few great driving syncopated music for new screen shows. I have never been able to find my favorite track from a show done by a large NYC firm which was a Blondie cut that I've never found again even after hunting for countless hours. It might have originally been off of a double vinyl album but I'm not sure. I believe it was a long, driving slow (non-disco) version of Rapture that was heavy on percussion and chimes and no vocals whatsoever, Any good references to diving percussion-heavy tracks would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

 

[Steven Michelsen]

Steven, I've just realised you are the author of this great website: https://www.stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/ I've visited that site often.

Do you know about Douglas Mesney's site? http://www.incredibleimages.com/index.html

Also interesting: http://fahl.se/the-story-of-watchout/

Have you seen this:

And lastly: https://www.aidtopia.com/mccarthy/aid/multi-image/matetrac.html

Enjoy!

Steve

Yes, I have been building that AVL page for 13 years (!)
Just today I added the Wess Plastic catalog: http://stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/#Wess_Catalog
and also a little description of what's new: http://stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/#2022

Re: Doug Mesney, yes I have seen his site and in fact have been in touch with him for a couple of years. Moreover, when I got all those shows from Richard Shipps last year, I also got a show by Doug! It's called "You Can't Stop a Dove" and apparently won a bunch of awards back in the late '70s. It's on my youtube channel. Doug was a friend/competitor of Richard, which I suppose was why his old shows were kept at Richard's house. Anyway, I also have the show "Bumbles", which is a 15-on-1 show. I am working up a plan to capture that one!

Re: Watchout, I have never travelled in circles that required me to learn it, but I understand nowadays it's the software that facilitates seamless widescreen projection using multiple video projectors. Very cool stuff. Here's one example I just found.... https://multimediaplus.co.uk/portfolio-item/peugeot-london/

Yes I have seen the "AVL Commitment". Great stuff.

Re: mate-trac: If I had a show in hand that demanded I dive deeper into Arion gear, I would. As it is, I have my hands full!

Steve

 

[Steven Michelsen]

I would love some links to a few great driving syncopated music for new screen shows. I have never been able to find my favorite track from a show done by a large NYC firm which was a Blondie cut that I've never found again even after hunting for countless hours. It might have originally been off of a double vinyl album but I'm not sure. I believe it was a long, driving slow (non-disco) version of Rapture that was heavy on percussion and chimes and no vocals whatsoever, Any good references to diving percussion-heavy tracks would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

Hi Mike,
I asked a guy who used to program slides for Wilden Enterprises - he did not recall that Blondie tune. Is it possible that it was a custom mix, only for the show?

OK I looked again and found a possible track. See your email.

 

[perkeleellinen]

Yes, I have been building that AVL page for 13 years (!)
Just today I added the Wess Plastic catalog: http://stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/#Wess_Catalog

I'm very thankful for that Wess catalogue and I think APUG user @AgX will also like it.

Steven - tell me, is /was there an AVL machine that worked with Kodak Ektapros (RS232 inputs)?

 

[AgX]

Yes, somewhere in my archive I had a Wess catalalog but somehow it vanished, maybe with the content of a harddrive.... And it was less comprehensive.
That upload thus is much appriciated! As the other stuff. You are preserving a bit of photographic history.


(So far I never came across some product from Wess in real life, and likely never will.)

 

[Steven Michelsen]

I'm very thankful for that Wess catalogue and I think APUG user @AgX will also like it.

Steven - tell me, is /was there an AVL machine that worked with Kodak Ektapros (RS232 inputs)?

Re: the Wess Catalog - you're welcome. This is information that anyone that manages glass mounted slides should have, and it wasn't anywhere else, so...

About the RS232 inputs on Ektapros - I looked for an Ektapro manual and found one at https://resources.kodak.com/support/pdf/en/manuals/slideProj/ektapro_user_manual. The right hand column of page 30 describes how 16 Ektapros can be daisychained together to be controlled directly by a PC. It then goes on to vaguely refer to "computer software" to make it all work. So then, Ektapros are designed to not need a Dove or any dissolve unit at all! The fact that "16" Ektapros can work together kinda-sorta suggests compatability with Arion systems, in that they are a 16-projector based rig. On the other hand Arion SPC projector control boxes don't use RS-232. So it's a mystery to me. "16" happens to be the highest number in binary that one can count to using 4 bits (counting from 0 to 15), so maybe the fact that 16 can be strung together is a PC-software programming thing.

The "Super Dove", seen here http://stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/AVL_sales_sheets/AVL_Super_Dove_sales_sheet.pdf has standard 7-pin cables to connect to the projectors. So that's not it.

 

[Tel]

Just stumbled across this thread. Back in the late 70s I worked for Les Buckland (Caribiner), who did these big multi-projector shows. IBM was our biggest client; in '78 or '79 we did the Field Engineering Division show at the Masonic Temple in San Francisco. If memory serves, there were more than a hundred projectors. I wasn't on the technical side--I did set design and some lighting back then. But in its day this was impressive technology.

 

[Steven Michelsen]

Tel - Caribiner! I never worked for them but am quite familiar. I am in touch with Susan Buckland, who now works as a realtor! I have learned that Caribiner scrapped all their rental slide modules when Jack Morton bought them in 2000. A sad day.

 

[perkeleellinen]

so maybe the fact that 16 can be strung together is a PC-software programming thing.

Thanks, Steven, I think the Ektapros came right at the transition into PC based presentations and I also think they were more of a European thing. I've seen units from Dataton and Stumpfl and can command them and perhaps an Arion unit too.

I'm using a pc-based programme to control three of these but it is only a simple sync / timer design, I can't program which is what I want to do.

 

[AgX]

I think the Ektapros came right at the transition into PC based presentations and I also think they were more of a European thing.

Maybe, but still I never have seen one offered in the wild. And I am not sure I have seen one in use. If at all then at some art installation.

 

[Tel]

Tel - Caribiner! I never worked for them but am quite familiar. I am in touch with Susan Buckland, who now works as a realtor! I have learned that Caribiner scrapped all their rental slide modules when Jack Morton bought them in 2000. A sad day.

Some of the most enjoyable times I ever spent were on Caribiner jobs. Les was a treat to work with; he could read people like open books. And some of the crew who worked for him were great people. It was like working rock concerts but the producers actually paid you.

 

[John Francis]

Great rig Steven!

Watched a few of the youtubes and subscribed, fascinating to see them.

If you ever get a source for Wess soft-edge masks, you've got a willing buyer here!

Just was browsing the forum reading latest posts and saw your comment about Wess soft-edge masks.
Which ones are you interested in?
John

 

[perkeleellinen]

Just was browsing the forum reading latest posts and saw your comment about Wess soft-edge masks.
Which ones are you interested in?
John

Hi John - I'd like to create panoramas, I need MSA053 & MSA054 - 1/4 dense and 1/2 clear overlap horizontal panorama masks.

By the way, there was an interesting auction on eBay last week for some Dataton equipment including a Pax and Mic3. Unfortunately it had S-AV cables