An ArKaos Stage Server Pro and Kling-Net protocol were used to save thousands of DMX channels and provide a fluid, real-time harmony between lighting and video effects onstage for a massive ‘Viva for Life’ concert fundraiser event organised by Belgian national TV channel RTBF.

The visual design for the stage that ran for multiple days in Tournai city square, featuring a diverse line up of top Belgian artists, was created by RTBF’s Didier Piron.

Selected highlights of the event were broadcast live on TV and it attracted massive crowds into the heart of the city each night to enjoy some great entertainment. Also integral to the fundraising efforts was a 144-hour non-stop RTBF radio broadcast with the presenters locked into a glass-fronted studio adjacent to the stage!

Didier’s production design for the stage involved several strips of LED video screen surface arranged in columns along the back, with horizontal strips around the sides of the stage. His lighting rig included a total of 18 x Claypaky HY B-EYE K15 and K25 LED wash luminaires which were mapped with Kling-Net.

This allowed the same video content to be run through both elements – the screen and the wash lights – producing beautifully matched movements, effects, and colours.

Running lights like these in ‘extended’ mode to enable the full range of pixel effects is hungry on DMX channels on the lighting console, but running them through Kling-Net and the Stage Server freed up 2,664 desk channels that could be used for other fixtures on the rig.

It also simplified the get in, set-up and programming as the Kling-Net took care of all the complex network settings. Two of the server’s HD DVI outputs were dedicated to the playback video running on the screens, and a third with a network connector ran Kling-Net to the fixtures.

The server was triggered by the grandMA2 full size. The ‘double map’ – of fixtures and video panels – also enabled content parameters like intensity and motion running through both sets of hardware to be tweaked simultaneously and at any time via the console.

The decision to run the control setup like this was made by the event’s lighting and video operator Rudy Fastre who provided the ArKaos server and the grandMA console as well as the playback video content, and worked very closely with Didier to achieve his overall creative vision for the stage.

Rudy has been a fan of ArKaos Kling-Net for some time. Kling-Net is a revolutionary plug-and-play control protocol developed by digital media specialist ArKaos for the easy operation of LED and video devices / lightsources.

It allows the distribution of real-time video data to remote display devices – like LED fixtures or LED panels – over Ethernet, adding a degree of ‘intelligence’ with the automatic configuration and connection of display devices to a computer or a console.

Last year, several leading lighting manufacturers, including Claypaky, decided to embed a Kling-Net network interface in selected products to enhance the creative and practical options for ‘visual’ designs like this that embrace both lighting and video elements.

Running a show this way also increases the flexibility of the lighting fixtures which can be run as ‘conventional’ moving lights in one cue and as pixel-mapped effects fixtures in the next in perfect harmony with the screen content.

This is an ideal scenario for multi-artist events like these where a lot of variety is needed, and where only one console is available to run a scheme with fixtures consuming a lot of DMX channels.

The Viva for Life project was produced by Nicolas De Leerner for RTBF. Rudy was assisted on the lighting operation by Maurice Fulco and the technical production supplier for lighting was CST Production. LED screens were delivered by Greg Dejardin and the sound was managed by RTBF’s team.

Photos Martin Godfroid, courtesy RTBF

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