Quasar Science Pixel-Mapping software for VP
Posted on Dec 21, 2022 by Samara Husbands
New Profiles and colour engines promise precision colour reproduction. Made for virtual production professionals
Leader of advanced lighting solutions, Quasar Science has announced the release of a new firmware update for its popular Double Rainbow and Rainbow 2 RGBX linear LED fixtures. Firmware v0.7 is available for free, bringing new features and improvements including global parameter controls for image-based lighting.
Virtual Production benefits tenfold from this update. Quasar has created the first lighting profiles containing global parameters to set the colour space and white point of input media. Users can match adjacent outputs, such as a video wall for accurate and consistent rendering, providing unparalleled control over lighting in virtual environments.
“Global parameters for pixel mapping, such as white point, spectrum control and colour space, are not available in traditional RGB profiles,” says Quasar Science CTO, Ben Dynice. “We have created these new DMX profiles specifically for pixel mapping for image-based lighting. Now, for example, users can change from pixel mapping a source video that is in REC709 to another source that uses traditional colour management on the fly for more accurate and correctly balanced light.”
Control the colour space of Rainbow fixtures to match the playback media with a single DMX parameter along with control of global parameters with new pixel mapping profiles. The RGBVW profile (RGB Variable White) allows pixel-level control over RGB, CCT and +/- Green with control over the global parameters: spectrum, colour space, and output level. The VRGB profile (Video RGB) add CCT and +/- Green into the global parameters to minimize the DMX footprint.
Firmware v0.7 also introduces two new color engines for use with the new color spaces. Absolute Hue is an RGBX color engine that offers users the maximum capabilities of the LED diode set.
Relative Colorimetric is xy calibrated with color temperature (CCT) calculated into the output and maximized SSI (Spectral Similarity Index).
Other new features include the ability to update TimoTwo over USB, new sACN priorities to improve network management, fractional intensity dimming below 12%, Auto Lead/Follow pairing, and preset IP addresses for Unicast networking.
Improvements in the firmware update include full RDM implementation and improved UI and navigation.
Firmware v0.7 for Double Rainbow and Rainbow 2 fixtures is available as a free download at the Quasar Science website.
More information about the Quasar Science linear LED lighting range can be found at www.quasarscience.com.
