ETC is one of the world leaders in the market of rigging and stage and architectural lighting. Although in our country this brand is particularly known for a series of sensational profile lights, hidden under the name "Source Four", which reside in many a philharmonic hall, theater and opera house, it is worth knowing that under this brand there is also a line of ETC Eos consoles, which is the choice of many lighting engineers around the globe.
I will not hide the fact that I myself am an operator working on practically all controllers from the aforementioned series. Although my pragmatic nature has more than once suggested that I familiarize myself with other solutions on the market, I have never found anything in them that I have not already had under the proverbial "hand" in the Eos series. In addition, it allowed me to see some of the pioneering solutions found in this system. This confirmed my conviction that I made a very good choice of tool in my daily work.
Workflow
Given that I highly value myself for order in my workspace, one of the first aspects that caught my attention is the extremely clear interface. In Eos, everything is logical, clear and well organized. Among other things, we get a device status preview, which gives quick access to all parameters of the controlled devices. Although most will see an "Excel table" at first glance, if we take a closer look we will notice that it is much more multicolored.
This is no coincidence, as each of these colors informs us about the origin and role of a given value. Thanks to this, we are very quickly able to locate new settings not yet saved anywhere, extract information about whether they come from Cue, for example, and what kind of change they are about to make (increase, reduce or maintain the value). Such a way of presenting information will certainly be appreciated by any skylight designer who works a lot with detail in his realizations.
In addition, the workspace on the displays working with the system can be freely configured, and its settings can be saved in the form of countless "Snapshots", so we always have quick access to what we currently need. It is enough to make a single hand movement.
Eos also has something for those who value complete freedom and have unique workflow requirements. The answer to this demand is the "Magic Sheet" function. With its help we can create a variety of customized shortcut layouts in the form of virtual buttons, sliders, etc. In addition, it can be enriched with graphic files, which allows us to upload our own, for example, "thumbnails" or, for example, excerpts from architectural designs depicting the projection of space.
Color mixing system.
The environmental situation in the world has had a very strong impact on the stage industry in recent years, and has steered manufacturers of lighting equipment towards LED technology, which fully dominates the market. The need for quality light has forced the increasing use of multi-LED systems. Unfortunately, the presence in devices on the market today has the option to emulate RGB or CMY color mixing modes, which shows that most lighting controllers were not ready for these solutions. The use of ad hoc solutions from the firmware level of the cameras themselves deprives us of the potential that a multi-diode light source brings. Fortunately, ETC has been heavily developing LED-based technology in its products over the years, and the Eos itself has benefited greatly as a result.
It is equipped with a proprietary color-mixing engine, to which lamps based on solutions based on up to eight LEDs in the light source do not frighten him. I very much appreciate this functionality, as I myself very often work with color on a daily basis. As part of the development environment, we get, among other things, the ability to independently calibrate colors in the devices, a built-in library of filters from the Lee and Rosco palettes, and emulation of saturation and saturation parameters, where the software automatically selects for us the light output of individual diodes.
If the result obtained by the program does not quite suit us, then with help comes the function of color modulation while maintaining the indicated color. A large number of light sources with different components make it possible to obtain the same shade with different variations in the levels of individual diodes, so why shouldn't we take advantage of such possibilities offered by modern technology as well.
Augument3d - if you learn, you won't regret it!
Another thing that is hard not to mention is a visualizer implemented less than three years ago in the Eos environment called "Augment3d". Its name is not coincidental and immediately tells us that it is more than a built-in application for imaging lighting work. In addition to that well-known functionality from programs such as WYSIWYG and Capture, for example, it gives a number of new and unprecedented tools, which were achieved by adding the option to define the position of lights using XYZ coordinates, rather than using PAN and TILT parameters as before.
Thus, having a prepared design, we are able to easily adjust the saved lamp positions to the new equipment placement. All you have to do is mark out a few precisely measured points in the stage space, aim the moving heads at them and voila! The illuminated areas remain unchanged and the lamps can easily find their new position. From now on, changing locations is no longer associated with the prospect of not having enough time to take a coffee break!
The features mentioned earlier in this article are just a foretaste of what Augument3D has to offer, so I will cover more of its capabilities in a separate article.
Types of devices
At the head of the Eos family is the range of recently unveiled professional Eos Apex 5, 10 and 20 consoles. These controllers, packed with pioneering technological solutions, are designed to maximize the ergonomics of performers' work and their main goal is to meet the toughest market demands for the next decade. It's a proposition aimed at large venues and concert halls and all places where the number of lighting devices makes your head spin.
If someone values mobility his attention should be directed to the controllers - Ion Xe, Ion Xe 20 or the smallest of the consoles with the signature Eos Gio @5.
On the other hand, for those starting out in lighting or working on small lighting systems, a great choice would be an ETCnomad-licensed dongle, which allows us to transform our personal computers into a simple but still fully functional light controller.
Summary
Finally, it is hard not to mention the availability of the ETC Eos environment. Anyone without exception can download the software to their computer from the manufacturer's website, regardless of whether they are working on MS Windows or Apple OSX, and check out all its capabilities. Admittedly, in order to light up we need the aforementioned ETCnomad license, but for free we get the option to work on Augment3d and the ability to connect to any visualizer of our choice.
As far as learning is concerned, we also get full freedom, because if only we have in us the minimum enthusiasm for self-study, on the channel of the company ETC we will find a number of training materials divided into different levels of advancement, which is in fact completely sufficient to fully master the work with these controllers. If, on the other hand, someone appreciates learning in a mentor variant, it is worthwhile to be interested in training courses conducted within the Academy of Stage Techniques.
That, in a nutshell, is my private choice of controller, with which I have had a lot of fun and development for more than eight years. Although it is a highly individual and subjective topic for everyone, the ETC Eos family of consoles carries a range of comprehensive solutions in which everyone is sure to find something for themselves.
It is worth spending at least a moment with them when we are faced with choosing our best "board"!
Manufacturer: ETCDistributor: P.S. Theater.
