What People are Saying about Catalyst™ Media Server
Lighting Director Christian Choi, Radio Music Awards 2003:
"In the video world, everybody wants dissolves, and Catalyst Version 3 gives you that ability. It enables you to do some interesting things not only with dissolving but with playing with multiple layers at once and masking out different parts of that layer and using up to four videos at once, playing behind each other. That's really a cool thing because you can combine videos to make other concepts. It allows you the flexibility to recycle old art into new art. Catalyst Version 3 Software is a quantum leap over Version 1.2. It's incredible what you can do with this software. The functionality has exponentially increased and all of the effects channels were so brilliantly conceived that it really marries the technology to the art. This was a living, breathing Catalyst set."
LD Per Sundin, Eurovision Song Contest 2003: "When we found Catalyst last year it was the perfect solution, so I was keen to have them this year, too. But now with Catalyst Version 3 software it's a radically revised product that can do a whole lot more. You can apply a huge range of effects to the images and scale them and much more; and having four layers that you can combine makes the entire system vastly more powerful as a creative tool. As a gobo content maker or designer you now have a whole new challenge, because this is like having four gobo wheels in one system, and much more besides."
Lighting Director Danny Nolan, Simply Red tour: "The Catalyst Version 3 Media Server is very good and stable. It's easy to use and lots of fun. We have used lots of abstract generic fill, along with some footage recorded by Video Director Blue Leach."
LD Oli Metcalfe, The Muse tour: "The Catalyst has a custom software build which allows me to take Midi Timecode IN, SDI Video IN, Stereo Sound for Spectrograph Effects. Also, RS232 Control was implemented for running my Camera Switcher. The Catalyst controls the switcher via RS232 and then the video signal from it is applied to the live video input via an SDI Card. All other media content comes from Catalyst HD. So far everything has been very reliable. There are limitless possibilities now that Catalyst Version 3 Software has four layers to work with."
Programmer Jonathan Goldstein, "Born of a Dream," USAF show: "I am familiar with the Apple Mac platform so operating the Catalyst software was just as simple as using a moving light. Setting it up was as easy as punching a DMX address, and the orbital head makes it even more flexible. One of the movies we used was a rendered video of the Kitty Hawk plane's first flight, which we played on a black scrim with a gobo from the stock Catalyst library masked over it to give the appearance that the plane was 'ripping' through the scrim. As the plane lunged at the audience, the stage lighting was perfectly timed to interact with the video and revealed the scale model of Kitty Hawk hidden behind the scrim. Timing was critical and would not have been so accurate if the videos were being played from a deck by another person."
Programmer Brad Schiller, Cleveland Cavalier's Halftime Show: "The keystone correction feature of the Catalyst software was a significant attribute of this production. I was able to adjust the geometry of the image to perfectly project onto the square surface laid out onto the basketball court."
LD Jeff Stover, "A Clockwork Orange," UT Dallas and Collin County Community
College: "Fifty-plus locals is really hard to do with just lighting and an abstract set. So the Catalyst system really bailed me out by projecting the moon or trees on the cyc, giving us a park feel. Catalyst opens up a whole new area of texture. You can put real trees as texture onstage if you want. Or moving clouds. It added a dynamic to the show without getting in people's faces."
Set designer Craig Erikson, "A Clockwork Orange," UT Dallas and Collin County Community College:
"When we heard about Catalyst, we jumped on it. We ended up using three Catalyst systems to take the place of the 10 video projectors we had anticipated using. Probably what we were going to have to do was use a PowerPoint-driven slide show for each of these projectors. The Catalyst took the place of that and was much more user-friendly than PowerPoint. It ended up being a lifesaver, not only saving the cost of having to buy and/or rent the 10 individual projectors; we would have had to find 10 operators. We operated our three Catalysts from one position, so it saved money all the way around."
LD Hugh Taranto, Silverchair tour: "We used three LED screens with custom-made picture frames surrounding each of them, and three Catalyst Media Servers to provide the custom content. The ability to program and control video content directy from the lighting console to get the cueing right is awesome."
LD Alex Saad, "The Wiggles Safari Show": "Big, bold and beautiful," says Saad, "the Wiggles' images and branding demand this, and Catalyst was the ideal tool. The flexibility and precision of the Catalyst system made the production seamless. Catalyst's ability to scale and modify both static and moving images meant the looks could very simply be tailored to the production requirements without extensive and expensive pre-production. The Wiggles themselves were so impressed with Catalyst they intend to use the product more extensively for future tours."
"When we found Catalyst last year it was the perfect solution, so I was keen to have them this year, too. But now with Catalyst Version 3 software it's a radically revised product that can do a whole lot more. You can apply a huge range of effects to the images and scale them and much more; and having four layers that you can combine makes the entire system vastly more powerful as a creative tool. As a gobo content maker or designer you now have a whole new challenge, because this is like having four gobo wheels in one system, and much more besides."
"I am familiar with the Apple Mac platform so operating the Catalyst software was just as simple as using a moving light. Setting it up was as easy as punching a DMX address, and the orbital head makes it even more flexible. One of the movies we used was a rendered video of the Kitty Hawk plane's first flight, which we played on a black scrim with a gobo from the stock Catalyst library masked over it to give the appearance that the plane was 'ripping' through the scrim. As the plane lunged at the audience, the stage lighting was perfectly timed to interact with the video and revealed the scale model of Kitty Hawk hidden behind the scrim. Timing was critical and would not have been so accurate if the videos were being played from a deck by another person."
"Big, bold and beautiful," says Saad, "the Wiggles' images and branding demand this, and Catalyst was the ideal tool. The flexibility and precision of the Catalyst system made the production seamless. Catalyst's ability to scale and modify both static and moving images meant the looks could very simply be tailored to the production requirements without extensive and expensive pre-production. The Wiggles themselves were so impressed with Catalyst they intend to use the product more extensively for future tours."
