Prelite Studios and New Sketchfab Tool Help Boston Scientific Previsualize Show at Moscone Convention Center

	Prelite Studios new Sketchfab tool previsualizes the Boston Scientific show at the Moscone Convention Center.

When Boston Scientific held a corporate event with entertainment as part of a recent trade show at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, lighting designer Jeff Johnson opted to use Prelite Studios' previsualization services to make the most of very limited time on site.

Johnson, a longtime Prelite customer, worked on the project for the Chicago office of Lightswitch. BI Worldwide was the event production company with Amy Oriani producer. "Our biggest issue was that we had to load in at 9pm Monday, there were rehearsals at 10am on Tuesday, and the show was slated for 6pm that night. There was no time for any programming at the Moscone. Thanks to Prelite we were able to come in on Tuesday, update the focus positions of about 120 moving lights, and away we went!"

Prior to the show Adam Rechner set up the Prelite system at San Francisco lighting company Island Creative Management where he sat down with Johnson and local IA programmer Dave Juarez to build the show.

Even before everyone assembled for the Prelite session Johnson took advantage of Sketchfab, a new tool in the Prelite toolbox. Sketchfab publishes and shares 3D models, enables files to be displayed in the WebGL browser, and permits the user to interactively view files and adjust renderings with a multi-material editor.

"The set was one giant screen about 80' wide," Johnson recalls. "One of our concerns was that all of the fixtures were out of the way of the projectors. By using Sketchfab we could make sure that the lights were out of the projection cone when we moved in. Prelite told us Sketchfab would be quick and easy, and it was. They emailed me a link, I opened it, flew around the lights to identify any potential problems then sent the file to the technical director, Walter Ahlbrand, to check out. It was cool for all of us to see the same thing online."

Johnson notes that the two-hour Boston Scientific show included several hundred cues and play-ons and play-offs for an array of performers, including an opera singer and a string quartet, whose acts were punctuated by panel discussions.

"Using Prelite ultimately gave the client and production company a better looking show," he says. "They were very happy with the results. They liked the fact that when they walked in Tuesday morning we were ready for rehearsal. No time wasted."