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Superbowl (Yeah Packers!) halftime LED light strip costumes — Parallax Forums

Superbowl (Yeah Packers!) halftime LED light strip costumes

sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
edited 2011-02-25 09:30 in General Discussion
So if you saw the halftime show (no comment...) of the Packers' big win yesterday, you saw dancers wearing costumes with LED light strips on them. They flashed in different colors, coordinated across the dancers. How did they do that? RF receivers in each costume?

I'm imagining each costume having the LEDs, a pretty decent battery pack, and a microprocessor attached to an RF receiver, and then a central processor somewhere sending out the patterns.

(Yes, this post was largely just an excuse to brag about the Packers)

Comments

  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2011-02-07 05:24
    I was amazed too..

    I REALY want to know how Cause my 2ed major is in costuming .

    And I have a sight obsession with light up clothes ...
  • bsnutbsnut Posts: 521
    edited 2011-02-07 09:00
    sylvie369 wrote: »
    So if you saw the halftime show (no comment...) of the Packers' big win yesterday, you saw dancers wearing costumes with LED light strips on them. They flashed in different colors, coordinated across the dancers. How did they do that? RF receivers in each costume?

    I'm imagining each costume having the LEDs, a pretty decent battery pack, and a microprocessor attached to an RF receiver, and then a central processor somewhere sending out the patterns.

    (Yes, this post was largely just an excuse to brag about the Packers)
    Yes, an RF receiver is on dancers costumes with a DMX lighting board that controls LED patterns. The DMX lighting computer/control board is sending out the LED patterns.

    If, you understand the way DMX works, one of the 512 addresses can be assigned to a dancer lighting board or a stage light. This means, that each dancer in this case has a DMX address assigned to them.
  • Jessica UelmenJessica Uelmen Posts: 490
    edited 2011-02-07 09:29
    Yes indeed, GO PACK GO! It's good to be bringing Lombardi back home. :D

    And I also was intrigued by the halftime show's costuming, thanks for the explanation bsnut!
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2011-02-07 10:02
    so they DID use DMX .. Mind it looks like there was more then 500 dancers.

    so more then one Freq would be needed ...and a sepriat DMX conttoller . only the TIme code could be shared .
  • MicrocontrolledMicrocontrolled Posts: 2,461
    edited 2011-02-07 10:57
    I was wondering about this too, all set to light in coordination. Quite an amazing feat.
    It's a shame that the Packers winning it ruined the whole thing. ;-)
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,933
    edited 2011-02-07 11:57
    They did not use RF / DMX. If you have any of the game DVR'd, pause it when they show the people in costumes up close. You can see a control box on the front of each person just above belt height. The control box had buttons for each color option (red, green, white, and yellow?) I thought I recalled seeing black(off) as well, but not in the pics I found today. I don't recall them using blue. If you go to this photo slideshow, you can see it real well. This one shows them also. This explains why you saw one person with red when everyone else was white a couple times....human error. Also, at the end when they were changing colors rapidly, you could see their hands on the controls pushing the buttons at one point.

    For the performers, they could have easily used RF/DMX and that would make sense for them so they wouldn't have to fiddle with the controls.
  • DynamoBenDynamoBen Posts: 366
    edited 2011-02-07 13:22
    This might help explain how this all worked: http://response-box.com/gear/2011/02/led-control-superbowl-xlv-halftime-show/
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,933
    edited 2011-02-07 13:58
    That's an excellent write-up for the performers setup, wish there was one like that for the costumes for the people on the field. That also explains why Taboo had a show box sized box strapped to his lower back after seeing the controller for it.
  • Chris_DChris_D Posts: 305
    edited 2011-02-08 03:47
    didn't really watch the half time show, but did watch the game. YAY PACKERS! Keep the titletown tittle going!
  • Clock LoopClock Loop Posts: 2,069
    edited 2011-02-08 05:39
    In other news, while everyone in the US is obsessed with the SUPERBOWL, and a bunch of overpaid kids on steroids, their house of representatives are quietly voting on the renewal of the constitution violating patriot act today. (as in FEB-08-2011)

    http://patriotresponse.com/blast_away?cid=21025

    Sheesh.

    Oh...
    Those led outfits have nothing on me.

    I designed an outfit made out of ELwire, controlled by the SX chip over 5 years ago, MEH.
    It has various operation modes.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TLU40nFtjQ

    Never mind the above reply, continue talking apathetically about Smile that doesn't matter.....
  • CreativeLightingsCreativeLightings Posts: 2
    edited 2011-02-08 21:23
    Absolutely correct read. Response-box built the custom controllers for the "cube heads" and the two BEP costumes. CreativeLightings.com did the rest of the 325 performers and custom control boxes (not RF OR DMX) but manual (as noted) for the three static colors (RED, GREEN, WHITE and OFF). It was a huge feat and short time frame, but we also helped design the BEP suits with many mock-ups prior to selecting the config.

    APL.de.ap and Taboo both were running pre-programmed DMX code fed off SD card.

    For more info: visit our "making of the LED Suit" page at: http://www.creativelightings.com/Articles.asp?ID=247

    Great Eyes all! :)
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2011-02-08 21:37
    Clock Loop wrote: »
    I designed an outfit made out of ELwire, controlled by the SX chip over 5 years ago, MEH.
    It has various operation modes.

    I did a simalar thing for CATS the musical in LA a few years ago . for " Mr Misto "
    It was loads of fun being involved with a Pro Show . And to see your work on a real stage..



    Peter .
  • bsnutbsnut Posts: 521
    edited 2011-02-09 02:28
    You have good eyes Andrew for spotting the control box on the performers and we also got the information confirmed from Creativelighting. I was thinking DMX, because it frees the performer hands.

    By, the way Creativelighting welcome to the forums and that's for the great post.
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2011-02-10 09:04
    Okay, I admit it. I didn't watch the Superbowl. (What can I say, I'm a nerd not a jock.)

    I agree with others that the LEDs look cool.

    What I want to know is. . . Did those "cube heads" look better in the show than they do in the still photos? I sure hope so.

    Okay, for a more on topic question. I know LED are much cooler than incandescents but they still get hot. How do they keep Taboo from getting burned or uncomfortably hot?

    I read the first link, now I'm off to read the link Creativelighting posted. Maybe it is explained there. Actually I'll do that first.

    Guess I have to wait. The linked page says "Details Forthcoming!"

    Wouldn't that many LEDs present a cooling challenge?

    Duane
  • Clock LoopClock Loop Posts: 2,069
    edited 2011-02-10 09:10
    Duane Degn wrote: »
    Wouldn't that many LEDs present a cooling challenge?

    Duane

    PWM + persistence of vision = bright looking leds that run cool.

    Those leds are most likely not the luxen 3's or rebels(which run very hot)
  • CreativeLightingsCreativeLightings Posts: 2
    edited 2011-02-25 09:30
    Hey Dwane, the LEDs only get warm... Yes, with over 500 individual LEDs on the costume, I'm sure he could feel "warmth", but these will not burn anything. The LEDs were exposed to ambient air, and the product(s) are designed to be used in this fashion. (Flexible LED Strip, Non WP version on the Taboo suit). The other dancers that had the LED strips used our 5050 WP (resin coated) on a white PCB backing (not our black backed product). The APL suit used a digital RGB linear strip product that allowed the controller to address each LED as a DMX address. you can imagine the programming challenge there, so they "grouped" the equalizer bars. The product had the capability of seven static colors, but to keep the consistency, they used only white. Our thanks go out to the John @ Response-box.com for his work on the custom DMX controllers for these two costumes.

    Thank you for the welcome also William!
    Don Perkins / Creative Lighting Solutions (creativelightings.com)
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