ETC adds to lineup of fixtures and control functions for use in theme parks and attractions
by Joe Kleiman
ETC is a long-established leader and pioneer in lighting and control equipment. The company is best known in the theater sector but also has a strong standing in the attractions industry, with many prestigious projects and clients around the globe. The company has been employee-owned since 2015 and is based in Middleton, Wisconsin; the CEO is Dick Titus. A simple credo in the mission statement is, “We listen to our customers and give them more than they expect.”
After decades of serving the themed entertainment sector, in 2018 ETC formalized a dedicated group of specialists, project managers and field service engineers in Orlando to continue supplying theme parks, standalone attractions, resorts, museums, cruise ships and more. One of the faces of the department is Scott O’Donnell, Themed Environment Specialist. He worked as an ETC dealer for 13 years, followed by a decade as a Field Service Engineer. O’Donnell stays in tune with market needs. He has helped shore up awareness of the company and its products in the attractions space and is devoted to mentoring the next generation. He gives every indication that in his current role, he is living his dream.
At this writing, ETC was basking in the afterglow of a successful and high-profile new project in the Middle East. A leading marine life park operator recently opened a celebrated new venue, which integrated a variety of ETC control platforms and other products into its systems to help achieve certain effects. In several areas, large LED arrays behind floor-to-ceiling scenic background murals change throughout the day (and seasons) to appropriately provide a natural lighting scheme in the themed land, each mural designed to portray a unique part of the world or ocean. This lighting scheme, controlled by ETC platforms, not only supports the circadian rhythms of guests, but also helps with animal health, approximating the lighting levels throughout the day and year that correspond to their wild habitats.
Lighting components and functionality were also provided to facilitate presentations and simplify maintenance accessibility in the new marine park.
With O’Donnell’s expert guidance, we set out to explore some current trends and ETC products that will be of interest to designers, lighting professionals and technical integrators in the attractions industry.
The great outdoors and the wet indoors
Introduced last November at the 2022 LDI show, the ColorSource VXT is the newest in the company’s popular line of ColorSource architectural lighting fixtures. As part of the fifth generation of ColorSource lighting, it comes complete with a five-color array of red, green, indigo, and lime, which allow for a wide range of color combinations.
In addition to its color versatility, the VXT is designed to operate in outdoor or wet conditions. The electronics portion of the fixture is fully sealed to be watertight and certified at IP65 standards. “The VXT is ideal for illuminating architectural or landscape features, outdoor theatrical productions, and interior spaces where there’s a lot of moisture in the environment, such as flume or boat rides,” says O’Donnell.
The move to LED
No discussion of ETC would be complete without mentioning the popular Source Four. Introduced in 1992, the Source Four was a breakthrough lighting fixture that became one of the company’s biggest success stories, adopted worldwide. By utilizing a custom halogen bulb and a reflector positioned behind it, the fixture significantly reduces heat output allowing for longer operation with a cooler temperature beam than comparable reflector-based lighting. This significantly reduced the risk of damage or warping to gels, shutters, and other attachments designed for patterns, while maintaining a cool temperature beam for performers, animatronics, and sets.
The Source Four is also a pioneer in LED light sources, using an eight-color array for vibrant, nuanced color or a Daylight HDR array for tunable white light.
Look up and around in the field, and you can spot Source Fours in attractions as varied as dark rides, haunts, and pre-programmed shows as well as theaters and building exteriors in theme parks and attractions across the globe. A recent large installation is Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, utilizing over two thousand Source Four LED Series 2 fixtures.
But with so many incandescent Source Fours in the field, ETC is committed to helping venues upgrade their existing fixtures to LED sources as well. The company recently introduced the Source 4WRD Color II LED, a simple retrofit of existing Source Four fixtures, eliminating the need to replace it with a completely new luminaire. In less than five minutes, an existing Source Four unit can be converted from halogen to LED lighting. “The burner assembly, where the bulb is housed, is removed from the back of the fixture,” says O’Donnell. “Then you just replace it with the LED retrofit unit and snap in a new reflector. It’s really easy to do. This is part of our commitment to listening to our clients and coming up with cost-effective solutions that exceed their expectations.”
The 4WRD Color II LED also does not sacrifice the features of the original Source Four unit. Using an 8-pin RJ45 connector, the unit can receive instructions via DMX (a one-way control system) or DMX/RDM, which involves a two-way conversation between the control unit and the lighting fixtures.
New features for control
While individual fixtures, such as the ColorSource VXT and the Source Four can be controlled via smartphone or tablet applications, ETC’s control solutions make it easy to illuminate and integrate everything from a small showroom to entire parks.
Just as you are likely to find Source Fours in the lighting grid, you may well spot an ETC control console in the booth or equipment room. According to O’Donnell, while it is possible to operate multiple attractions, such as dark rides, off a single control platform, it’s recommended that each have its own individual control. This ensures redundancy, which minimizes downtime. “If you have multiple attractions on one console, and something happens to take one out of service, you would have to take them all down.” Individual control for each attraction allows technicians to concentrate only on the area in need of service.
New to the control console lineup is the Apex, which ETC considers the flagship of their Eos line of controllers. It’s available in three different models, the 5, 10, and 20. The top- of-the-line Eos Apex 20 features 20 motorized faders (the 5 and 10 models have five and ten faders, naturally) along with a full keyboard, programming keypad and haptic and rotary encoders. It also showcases two 27-inch, 4K multi-touch LCD touchscreens in an articulating dual-axis display panel and supports three external display port monitors (1920×1080 minimum, 3840×2160 maximum), with optional single-touch or multi-touch screen control and DDC/CI support. It is a powerhouse for programming with enough simplicity to make it easy for anyone to run a show.
The ETC Eos lighting consoles are designed for precision control for shows and large-scale events, such as parades. For monitoring and controlling lighting throughout a museum, standalone attraction, or an entire park, ETC’s Unison Paradigm system is ideal. It can run day-to-day lighting across these spaces and coordinate show, ride, and back of house lighting. ETC’s Mosaic products can control animated pixel arrays at the largest scale and respond to triggers, allowing for lighting interactivity with attractions.
Rigging the lights
In addition to lighting fixtures and controls, ETC also has an extensive rigging product line for its customers around the world. At the Daytona International Speedway, custom hoists from ETC were used to levitate winning race cars into the air above the crowds.
The Prodigy series of hoists vary in size based on lighting and space requirements. The Prodigy Flypipe is a modular design with lengths between 18- and 38-feet, which is ideal for smaller stages and environments. On the other end of the spectrum is the Prodigy P75, a low-noise hoist capable of lifting fixtures or theatrical scenery up to 75 feet off the ground.
“With the Prodigy P75, there’s the option to add our ETC SoftLift technology,” says O’Donnell. “This helps augment the transitions during starting and stopping the process.” In a theme park or attraction theatrical production, or a pre- programmed show, this helps provide smooth transitions between scenes.
Inspiring the next generation
A part of the job that Scott O’Donnell is most proud of is mentoring the next generation of lighting designers. The company offers a range of educational resources, including a popular line of posters rich in theater tech information. “The posters are available for students and educators, highlighting different aspects of lighting design and other essential lighting concepts,” explains O’Donnell. “We also do a lot of training and educational sessions at our Orlando office. Many of the attendees are students at the local colleges and universities in engineering, theater, or themed entertainment programs. We have the added benefit in Orlando of our products being used in all of the big parks in the area, so the students are able to see for themselves how they work in an operating environment.”
ETC was founded in 1974 by four students of the University of Wisconsin (UW), one of whom was the late Fred Foster (1957-2019), a visionary and innovator who served in a variety of positions at the company before becoming CEO. Foster was a theater major and understood the needs of lighting designers and concentrated on creating fixtures and control systems based on years of dialogue with customers.
Almost fifty years later, ETC maintains a strong relationship with UW. In addition to providing summer internships for UW students, the company also partners with the University’s Manufacturing Systems Engineering Program and Center for Quick Response Manufacturing. The partnerships have resulted in ETC streamlining its development and assembly process, lowering costs, and increasing longevity and durability of its products.
In April 2023, the Students in Themed Entertainment (SITE) conference was held at Ohio State University, hosted by the school’s Theme Park Engineering Group, one of a number of such university-level clubs throughout the globe. O’Donnell gave one of the keynote presentations. “I was very honored to have been invited,” he says. “I shared with them the importance of networking and meeting people, and how, if you put good out into the world, it has a habit of coming back to you – often when you least expect it.” •
