Moving head lanterns as the name suggest are lanterns which can be remotely moved. As in their direction once rigged is no fixed. Fixed lanterns are predifined with their direction colour and direction and then DMX is used to control intensity (dimmers) this requires only 1 DMX channel per fixture. However these lanterns do not have DMX theselves just power, the DMX protocol is used here to control the dimmer pack not the lantern. Moving head lanterns require many more DMX channels per fixture as they have more parameters to control. The moving heads that we use at Kendal College can be found here and the desk we use to control them here.
Some control parameters common with normal lanterns
- Pan
- Tilt
- Focus
- Gobo – can move and can be on a wheel can change (some can be changed some can’t)
- Colour either via a wheel or colour palette (no need of gels)
Other aspects are
- They can be spots are washes (usually defined by model type)
- Strobe function – built in
- Sequence chases and routines (usually defined by model type)
- Pre programmed movement e.g. Figure 8, circles (usually defined by model type).
All these aspects are controlled via the lighting desk which does need to be programmed. In our case this is an Avolites Quartz Desk.
Moving heads often have both an input and an output DMX socket these are used to daisychain fixtures together thus allowing easier rigging and wiring as you don’t have one cable going from the desk to each fixture.
Matt Cooper 