Barbizon Uses ETC to Pixel-Map Philadelphia Skyscrapers for NFL DraftRegular season games for the 2017 NFL start tonight, but the season really began in April at the NFL Draft. The 2017 draft took place in Philadelphia for the first time since 1961, and to commemorate its return, the NFL supersized the entire affair. They shut down streets, took over the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and even painted the sides of skyscrapers with real-time draft info and team marks (logos) pixel-mapped up to 47-stories high. And to make it happen, the NFL turned to Barbizon Lighting Company's Capitol office and ETC. "PHL Sports and the NFL approached Brandywine Realty Trust, which owns the Cira Centre and FMC Tower, to ask if they could do custom lighting for the draft on the buildings," says Mark Fink, systems division manager at Barbizon Capitol. Fink and Barbizon had already been in contact with Brandywine about upgrading the lighting hardware to expand show possibilities for their buildings, so he was ready when Brandywine turned to him. "They asked, 'Can we do this Mark?' And I said well, yes -- but we really need those new controllers that I was talking about!" The new controllers were Unison Mosaic Show Controller X units from ETC. The customizable Show Controller X can handle extreme channel counts, anywhere from 5,120 addresses (10 universes) to more than 50,000 addresses (100 universes). Barbizon Capitol equipped the Cira Centre with a Mosaic Show Controller X with 10 universes and the FMC Tower with a unit capable of controlling 50 universes. More than just pure channel count, though, the Mosaic Designer software handles multimedia files with ease and is a true show creation package, which makes programming efficient, a necessity for this type of project. To make the new light shows happen in time, Barbizon had to execute a winning two-minute (okay, two-week) drill. Fortunately, they had a great team behind him: ETC's project management and technical services as well as Brandywine's management. Two weeks before the event Fink led a team of building engineers from Brandywine and field service technicians from Barbizon to test and fully map the existing equipment and networking. Barbizon also worked with Brandywine's IT staff to arrange for the necessary network configuration to allow for programming access and triggering between the buildings. This ensured that when the hardware was installed, it was ready to assume control of the existing fixtures almost immediately. While Fink was doing that, Robbie Hayes, principal and creative director of Pixelumen Lab (a frequent partner with Barbizon Capitol) got to work creating show content. After discussions with the NFL's art director, Chris Stackhouse, and working from stock files provided by the NFL, Hayes created custom animations for each team designed and scaled to fit the unusual aspect ratios of the two buildings. Working offline in simulation, these animations were then built into 32 separate shows as well as an overall "NFL Draft 2017" show which were designed for synchronized, interactive play across both buildings. "Using Mosaic meant that we could have two processors in two separate buildings connected over a VLAN trigger each other and back each other up," says Fink. "We had backup looks on each that could play if a problem came up and an operator in each building to hit go. Doing all of this through the Mosaic's web interface was very comfortable. It's not the same as using a console in terms of programming but it's still very easy. And it didn't put us in a position where we had to bring a console to run a live event, then do captures for architectural playback. This was an all-in-one solution that did both." On Monday of Draft week, Barbizon and representatives from the NFL's art direction and special events departments met on the grounds of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to review the work on the sides of the towers and make live edits to the shows. The shows had a sneak preview for the press on Tuesday, but they weren't done yet. Wednesday night, Barbizon and the NFL directors performed live rehearsals and made final tweaks. And, on Thursday the draft started, with Barbizon's pixel mapping performing flawlessly, taking the draft to new heights. And, it continues to perform. Since the Draft, Fink and the Barbizon team have continued to update show files for the buildings. "They had a list of shows that we programmed as part of close out for installation so they were able to get up and running quickly with what they needed," says Fink. "In addition to displays supporting Brandywine's charitable outreach efforts, we have also created custom shows for corporate events and major holidays." Preseason is completed and the NFL regular season is about to kick-off, and while no one knows what the upcoming season will bring, Cira Centre and FMC Tower will be prepared for future light shows, thanks to Barbizon and ETC. For more info about Barbizon Lighting, visit the URL below. 
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