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West Pump Room contains 12 of the 24 pumps and is where head end rack is located as well
Once I got used to the idea that DMX was indeed a great way to control pumps and solenoid-driven jet nozzles, I realized it was a pretty cool project to stretch the envelope of what these two products were typically used to doing. We also found an opportunity to collaborate more closely with Stage Research on this, incorporating their SFX software for not only sound playback but a programmable level of show control that really makes it all fit together.
As Eric Howell explained it, they had 4 basic challenges to meet , and here's how they met them:
Challenge #1
To let the fountain grow beyond the 256 DMX addresses that were a limitation with the original control system, we needed to rethink how show data was created, edited, and played back, with more reliability being a secondary goal.
The new system involves two different stages of interaction between the control system and the fountain itself. The first stage is show creation. This is where Eric and Mark "Whitey" Tenkely choreograph the dance that the water jets will perform to the songs selected for inclusion in the playlist. For this, LightFactory Professional with 512 dimmers was chosen. Eric especially likes to use the Layout view, and to arrange the channels displayed in this screen just like the six diamond-shaped jet nozzle clusters in the fountain. This speeds up programming a lot.
Once the movement of water and photons has been figured out, and timed to the music correctly, the next stage begins. This is where they place the recorded show into a playback device, schedule it to be played at a variety of times and under various conditions, and make it as bulletproof as possible. To do this, Enttec's E-Streamer was the product of choice. This rack-mounted fanless device is built ruggedly, and once Eric's team figured out how to record shows onto it, it became the reliable workhorse they were hoping for. They can put shows into their catalogue, and integrate the playback of lighting levels, pumps, and jets with the music and other things which need to happen to complete the experience.
Challenge #2
Though a set schedule exists for triggering the shows every half hour during operating hours, the technician, and property management also, wanted to be able to trigger a show at random times, or jump to a specific song.
ENTTEC E-Streamer on the rack, conveninent and connected !
The E-Streamer's inherently flexible web-interface is a great tool that has allowed them to build in all the options they need. It can be programmed remotely as well, so that shows may be watched during the recording from the plaza level. Nobody needs to be in the control room by the racks. And if they sometimes want to rearrange the playlist spontaneously, with a remote device, this system allows that too.
Challenge #3
If it's windy, a different show needs to be played than if it's calm.
On the roof of Westgate City Center, there are two anemometers which measure wind speed constantly and if it gets too high for a water jet to spray 40' up in the air safely, then a second more sedate version of the show can run. If it's a very high wind or gusts last more than 20 minutes, then the fountain show will be bypassed and not run until its next scheduled time slot. This conditional logic is achieved by custom programming which Eric did in concert with the folks at Stage Research using their SFX 6.1 sound playback and show control software.
Challenge #4
As neighboring businesses got more technically savvy and budgets were increased, other elements would be incorporated into the show, such as a large HD video screen, sound effects from the speakers of nearby Margaritaville restaurant, and so on.
Again, SFX came to the rescue here and allowed Eric to use the show control aspects of that program to fire off media playback on a large Daktronics High Def screen (measuring ~50 feet high and ~80 feet across) which is the keystone of the Plaza's advertising billboard collection. It is owned by Clear Channel and Westgate, and is controlled by a complex Daktronics rack mounted media server/signal processor. But all of that power is under the control, ultimately, of the show control system running in SFX.
The scripted shows created by Eric also coordinate one event each day at 5pm with the Margaritaville restaurant's own show controller, thereby bringing online their sound, video, and animatronics in a way that synchronizes with the fountain show.
Sharing Techniques:
Eric's approach to building interesting looks, that take maximum advantage of the physics of the jets and pumps in the fountain, involved creating effects from primarily two of the LightFactory engines. He used the simple chase and the property/attribute effect. This was the norm for the first 15 shows he programmed there, more or less, but after further discussions with Enttec personnel a technique for using the pixel mapping capability of the program, applying it to a matrix of the jets or the pumps, has been shown to have some promising new directions to explore. Maybe we'll go back in 6 months or a year and see what new ways he has come up with to make the fountain trip the light fantastic.
Adjoining the property where the fountain is located, the University of Phoenix Stadium (used by the NFL's Cardinals) was the site for the Superbowl in early 2008. This occasion was an important milestone in the project's ongoing development. They had a lot of visitors during that week, and it was important to get the core elements playing together by that time, having started in late '07 to get the equipment assembled. The reviews were very good, and Eric received the go-ahead to explore further improvements on the system design, which are ongoing. Possible near-term options for the next phase include adding Program and Playback Wings for LightFactory, to make the content creation easier, more fluid and hopefully much quicker.
Project Statistics
Here are some relevant statistics about the project:
186 @ jets arranged in 6 diamonds.
24 @ variable frequency pumps
144 @ Par64 underwater fixtures
20 @ Color Kinetics Color Blast 12
1 @ universe of DMX over Ethernet (Art-Net)
1 @ Enttec 512 channel LightFactory License
1 @ Enttec E-Streamer
1 @ Enttec DMX Ethergate Mk2 Ouput
2 @ Pathport DMX Signal Processors used to merge signal from various sources.
1 @ Daktronics Venus 7000 system including rack controls and 50'x80' LED display board.
1 @ Doremi Nugget HD video playback device
1 @ SFX 6.1 license on dedicated Stage Research Digital Audio Workstation
Project Information
Location: Westgate City Center, Glendale, AZ
Property developed and managed by Ellman Companies
Retrofit project spearheaded by Stranger Production, Eric Howell Production Engineer
Lighting Control Equipment provided by Enttec (through Barbizon of Phoenix)
Sound Control and Show Control solutions by Stage Research
Fountain originally installed by Crystal Fountains
All pictures posted in this article © Eric Howell.
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