How We Built It: The INFINIBARio Wall at Cine Gear LA

Summer time, summer shine: Spring and summer mark the tradeshow season, and for Aputure, that means spinning up creative, fun ways to showcase our lighting ecosystem in an ever-changing media landscape. It’s important for us to keep pace with the latest innovations and workflows in the industry.

Aputure loves to look to our community for inspiration. The advent of image-based lighting software, such as Assimilate, calls upon us to properly exhibit the way our fixtures can be used alongside these new tools.

The Ideation Phase…

For Cine Gear LA, the discussion within our team circle following the success of APEX at NAB in Vegas came down to one simple concept: what's next? We showcased COB fixtures and INFINIMATs in an image-based lighting workflow, displaying lighting effects contextualized by video files that were then color and pixel mapped using Assimilate Live FX. How could we demonstrate this same IBL workflow using our flat-faced linear lights: the INFINIBAR?

Inspired by an installation from some of our friends in Atlanta, we conceived the idea to outfit an entire wall at our booth at Universal Studios with 48 INFINIBAR PB12s vertically oriented in an array to display video files. As a fixture, the INFINIBAR is an exceptional alternative to a traditional tube light. Diffused and flat-faced, INFINIBARs are designed for practical use in film sets, but also work great for game shows, live theatre, music videos, sporting events, and art installations.

A single 4-foot INFINIBAR PB12 is capable of mapping 48 individual pixels of light information. That gets us a working resolution of 48x48 pixels across the full wall. Assimilate Live FX worked as the go-between, transforming videos into a compatible low-res format.

Out of the Brain and Onto the Paper…

Ideas are wonderful things, but executing on those wonderful ideas means proper planning. As gaffers, we are visual creatures who like to get our hands on our tools, so visualizing on the back of a napkin or scratch paper is always (in my mind, at least) the first step toward bringing a rig to life. From there, the OD or CAD rendering can be digitized alongside a draftsperson, rigging gaffer, key grip, and/or production designer.

Once we have a rough idea of dimensions, our next order of business is sourcing the gear. You would think that as the manufacturer, we would have all the INFINIBARs on hand we could want, but our planned wall was so large, we had to supplement our inventory with additional PB12s from our friends at Lux Lighting LA. To be safe, we sourced 56 total fixtures, so we would have spares on hand.

The Magic of Profile 24

The next piece to our INFINIBAR Rig puzzle: managing data and profile selection. How do we want these fixtures to behave, and how are we going to control these fixtures? Upon consultation with Aputure’s own Ben Dynice (Director of UI/UX Experience) and Tim Kang (Principal Engineer), we opted for Profile/Mode 24: LE RGB 48 Pixels 8-bit and to control the lights via Assimilate Live FX on a personal laptop. Through a relationship with Assimilate, Aputure’s own Dash Escrofani, North American Industry Solutions Expert, provided the LiveFX license to map the media to the wall. Dash also took the DMX Profile (Profile 24) that Ben and Tim recommended and built a profile-accurate pixel map for all 48 INFINIBAR PB12s in a Live FX show file for the team.

This particular profile afforded us maximum pixel and color control across the individual fixtures while simultaneously optimizing the available 512 channels per Universe. Additionally, running the 48 INFINIBARs in 48-pixel mode would allow us more uniformity across the rig as a whole. After all, many fixtures compile a rig, but it is important to remember that these many pieces compose one single picture.

So how many Universes of data do 48 INFINIBAR PB12s in Profile/Mode 24 require? Let’s do some quick math:

• [1] INFINIBAR PB12 in Profile/Mode 24 = 192 active channels
• [1] Universe of controllable DMX parameters/information is capable of facilitating 512 channels
• [2] INFINIBAR PB12s in Profile/Mode 24 will occupy 384 of 512 channels per Universe.
• [24] Universes total, with [2] INFINIBAR PB12s in Profile/Mode 24 per Universe, will provide us with enough data management capabilities to more than successfully control [48] INFINIBAR PB12s in Profile/Mode 24.

I left 128 channels open per Universe for two main reasons.

1. It is not possible to fit a third INFINIBAR PB12 onto a single Universe in Profile 24, and I tend to lean toward cleaner patches when it comes to allocating fixtures and the number of channels the chosen profile demands per fixture within a 512 Channel Universe.
2. In the event we are thrown a curveball on Show Day and need to pivot from Profile 24 to a 16-bit profile requiring more channels, I have left enough open channels to provide a quick solution if Profile adjustments need to be made.

Again, getting ahead of unforeseen obstacles that inevitably arise when a rig is installed is part of the job as a Technician. Knowing that a Profile adjustment is a possibility and giving yourself the room within the Universe to make those adjustments without needing to send a runner to pick up extra hardware to accommodate transmitting more channels will save time, money, and most importantly, a headache.

Another way to look at this can be:

48 INFINIBAR PB12’s in Profile/Mode 24 (192 channels per fixture), paired off 2 per Universe (384 channels per pair), will require 24 Universes total, or 48 INFINIBAR PB12 in Profile/Mode 24 = 9,216 active channels, 24 Universes = 12,288 channels; to stay organized in the rig, pair off 2 INFINIBARs per Universe and leave open channels within the excess values of the Universe.

Hardware for Software: Applying Tools

How do we control all of this data, and manage sending information from our laptop with Assimilate Live FX out to 48 INFINIBARs distributed across 24 Universes? Answer: Cat5 ethernet cable, data nodes, hardline 5-pin DMX, and active USB-C to 5-pin DMX adapters. While we could have managed running this data across 6 Sidus Fours, we were up against the clock with only 2 days before load-in. We gave a ring to our friend Patrick Mattes of Matte Black Lighting, a local programmer and member of IATSE 728. Patrick was kind enough to rent us the perfect tool for the job: his 24-Universe Data Node, composed of 2 Netron 12-port nodes with the ability to set each of the 5-pin DMX ports to different Universes. Combined with the [24] 25’ DMX 5-pin cables, rented from our friends at Cinelease, we had our data distribution plan ready to execute.

With most rigs, it is important to work alongside your Programmer (LCP) and your Rigging Gaffer/Lighting Designer (RCLT/LD) to understand not only how the lights will be physically rigged, but also how to manage the data and power required to accomplish the desired effect of the rig. Since we needed such a massive amount of data and power, we knew we wanted to run hardline 5-pin DMX cable to each of the 24 Universes while simultaneously accommodating hardline power. To power the 48 INFINIBAR PB12s, we used 8 of the Aputure 330W Power Adapters, with an AC Power 8-way splitter (or “squid”) to provide hardline power for 6 PB12s per power bank. An Aputure 330W Power Adapter is capable of providing power for 7 PB12s on an open circuit, but since 48 is divisible by 6, I chose to lean into the natural math of the rig and power all 48 INFINIBARs using 8 adapters.

Rig to De-Rig (and Troubleshoot) (and for Safety)

After consulting with our on-site lead carpenter (Oscar Windor, White Ghost), we opted for a 15’ long, 18” tall rathole (or as we came to call it, “foxhole”) to be routed in the wall for our rigging team to access the backside of each of the 48 INFINIBAR PB12s. Access to the back of the fixture (where the control screen for the INFINIBAR PB12 is located) allowed our crew to quickly troubleshoot any hiccups that occurred throughout the rigging and tech’ing process.

Below this foxhole, Oscar and I added a 12’ long wooden shelf (held up with right-angle brackets) to rest our 8 power adapters on rather than letting them just dangle against the wall and create a hazard. More important than the rig looking great and functioning as intended is the safety of our team and any booth attendees keen to take a peek behind the curtain. Cable management is also much easier to navigate when you organize and separate each of your DMX cables and hardline AC power cables.

INFINIBARs have high-quality, extra-strength magnets built into either end of the control-screen side. To mount the fixtures on the wall, we had Oscar fix [2] 15’ long runs of nickel/steel 1” square stock along the top and bottom of our foxhole spaced 44” apart vertically.

Tech Check: Work It on the Ground First

With all the pieces of our rig in place, we allowed ourselves a tech day at Aputure’s office: our friend Micah Ten Pas came and, with his help, we managed to…

• Double-check that the latest firmware is on each fixture
• Program all 48 of our INFINIBAR PB12s (including 8 extra INFINIBAR PB12s in case any fixtures need replacing on the day) to Profile/Mode 24
• Address each fixture appropriately (per Universe: Fixture 1 addressed to “101” and Fixtures 2 addressed to “201”)
• Turn DMX Smoothing off
• Set Battery Runtime to “Standard”
• LABEL each fixture to ensure a hero reference for ourselves as we rig the fixtures

From there, we needed to lay out all 48 INFINIBAR PB12s and run hardlined power to each. A single 100-amp lunchbox was more than enough for the power draw, one of the huge upsides of modern LED lighting.

Now that the INFINIBARs were powered, it was time for data: we had the Assimilate Live FX program pulled up on our laptop, run to the Blackmagic Design ATEM Switch via HDMI cable, Cat5 ethernet running from the ATEM to the Matte Black/Netron 24-Universe Data Node, a 25’ DMX 5-pin cable running from each of the 24 ports (each assigned a Universe 1 through 24 and labeled appropriately) to the pairs of INFINIBAR PB12s daisy chained together via Active USB-c to DMX 5-pin adapters (48 of these adapters total, one per fixture).

The results were successful–not only did we succeed in watching an episode of Phineas and Ferb during our tech day, we also conquered an entire level run in Super Mario Bros and Tetris, thanks to a Nintendo Switch input to the HDMI2 port. Because if there wasn’t enough of a challenge in designing and building a 48-fixture display wall, why not make the rig just a hair more complicated by adding video game playability?

It’s Showtime…

With our INFINIBARs tech’d out, our data and video playback test a success, it was time for show day. We unpacked our fixtures and executed our build: the INFINIBARs’ magnets held onto the nickel-plated square stock on the wall without issue. The foxhole Oscar routed (and covered with black duvetyne) allowed us access to run data/troubleshoot. Our data node seamlessly transferred video files from Assimilate Live FX on the laptop through to the INFINIBARs without hiccups, and we were live!

From our Key Opinion Leaders to Studio Executives, Film Students to Chief Lighting Technicians, Rental House Reps to Owner-Operators: the Cine Gear INFINIBARio Wall (as it came to be known) landed as a huge success. More often than anything, folks expressed that they had no idea the fixtures were capable of such a quick and clear response to video file output.

The added fun of being able to play Super INFINIBARio Brothers brought many laughs and smiles to our supportive film lighting community. After all, the mission at Aputure (besides “help the gaffer keep the DP happy”) is to bring some levity and light to our community.