Anaheim Ducks Upgrade Lighting with HES SolaRange Luminaires

	Kevin Sorg

When the Anaheim Ducks revamped their entertainment system in the Honda Center, lighting designer Kevin Sorg specified new automated lighting from High End Systems, including a dozen SolaWash 37 and four SolaSpot Pro CMY fixtures. The installation was part of a $10M upgrade including replacement of the scoreboard.

Sorg says, "We wanted to add lighting fixtures underneath the scoreboard to give us a closer fixture to the ice, as well as be able to use them as eye candy and spotting specific areas in the arena. As power is always a consideration, LED technology played very heavily in the decisions; we wanted bright and multi-functional fixtures that would not use a lot electrical to function."

Purchased from California Stage & Lighting and installed last September, the new HES fixtures were first used for the Ducks' 2015/16 pre-season games. The lighting is also employed by the LA KISS football team of the Arena Football League. Sorg says they also typically rent the system out to clients like UFC to augment existing touring systems in the Honda Center.

The SolaWash 37s are installed on the new scoreboard. Sorg explains, "We placed four 37s on the long sides, and two each on the short sides. The fixtures are trimmed at 40' above the ice. I specified the SolaWash 37 because I needed a multifunction fixture; I wanted a good solid RGBW wash light for the distance to the ice. I also wanted a fixture that could be pixel mapped and used for fun color patterns as eye candy for the arena crowd. The color rendering is very precise, i.e. there is no shift in color from fixture to fixture. The indigo highlighter LED's are a great plus as well!"

Sorg installed a quartet of SolaSpot Pro CMY fixtures in the four corners of the scoreboard, also trimmed at 40'. He says the luminaire offers "amazing lighting output for only 320W of lamp power, and a very clean, crisp, and flat field all the way across. The intensity from fixture to fixture is very consistent."

"The SolaSpots have many uses for our in game looks. I utilize them for gobos and texture on the center ice, and they have become very useful for lighting benches for anthems. For the camera, I can dial down the color temperature to match our sports lighting. In that way, the cameras are already color balanced for the sports lights, so when we go dark, the color render is correct for camera. Although I haven't really used them in wash mode yet, I do like the fixtures' frost, prism, and iris functions. It's been nice to have a fixture with a good rotating prism. We have custom Ducks logos installed and will expand to more custom gobos in the near future."

Sorg's system also includes a smorgasbord of HES control, including a flagship Hog4, HedgeHog4S (auxiliary programming surface), NanoHog4 (pre-viz console), Master Wing4, and a Hog3 Fader wing, with all but the Hog3 fader wing purchased as part of this installation.

Augmenting the new gear in the arena are several High End legacy products, the Cyberlight 2.0 and Showbeam 2.5. Sorg comments, "The Cyber 2.0's are used for gobos and projection on the ice, as well as spotting specific areas. I recently purchased them used to replace the Cyberlight Turbo's we owned. I could use all the same patterns and the increase in output was amazing. Before the 2.0's, you could hardly see any logos on the ice with all the sports lighting on, and now you can even make out colors very well! I have always been a fan of the moving mirror fixture, especially for hockey. Hockey is a high speed sport, and I felt we needed a high speed pan and tilt fixture to emulate the speed of the game and entertainment. There are 24 Cyberlight 2.0's, six each on four trusses."

The 12 ShowBeam 2.5's are positioned evenly around the outer catwalk that spans the entire ring of the arena. "The ShowBeam is the only fixture I have found that produces a blue wash on center ice from the catwalk with all our sports lighting on at full. I use them to produce a solid ice wash, as well zoom down the beam to produce some great ballyhoos throughout the entire area. I also like to use them to spot sections during in game promotions, to show which section has won a prize. They also are great for spotting up areas for camera when needed in just about any section of the arena."

Joining Sorg on the Duck's production team are director of production and entertainment Rich Cooley, entertainment manager and game director Davin Maske, lighting programmer / technicians Jon Griffin and Jeff Handke, and lighting technicians TJ Simons and Phil Presentadi.