"LightAct has a strong vision for the product and is extremely responsive to customer needs."
Jim Testa
Show Sage
We had a chat with Jim Testa, Crystal Lee and Connor Wright from Chicago based AV distributor Show Sage.
They have been working with LightAct for more than a year now and had a lot of interestings things to say about their work, media server technologies on the market and what they are up to.
Tell us about Show Sage
Jim Testa: Show Sage was founded in early 2002 as the North American distributor for Dataton’s new media server product, WATCHOUT. Over the years, the company has grown and evolved from being focused solely on WATCHOUT to being a trusted advisor for multiple media server solutions and AV control systems. Today, the company serves hundreds of customers and has provided media server and control system technology for applications in theme parks, theatres, cruise ships, visitor centers, corporate meeting spaces, immersive experiences, retail spaces, casinos, and more.
When did you first start looking for another media server for your portfolio?
Jim: Over the past several years, the media server market has exploded with new solutions spanning the spectrum of price points. It became apparent to us that we could not effectively serve our customers with a single-product focus. That is when we began to transition to a multi-solution company, capable of offering our customers a range of products and services that meet their requirements and budgets.
"LightAct is an advanced solution for the most demanding live events yet still very cost effective."
Crystal Lee
Show Sage
What was the thought process that led you to choose LightAct?
Jim: As we have diversified our solution portfolio, we have been very careful to select products that offer unique capabilities and are not carbon copies of our other solutions. It is also important that the partners with whom we work have a strong commitment to continuously evolving their products and have an even stronger customer focus.
We were drawn to LightAct because we wanted to add a higher-end solution that was still easy to use, reliable, and can handle the most complex requirements. We found LightAct to be all that and more. In addition, LightAct, the company, has a strong vision for the product, is extremely responsive to customer needs, and is great to work with.
Crystal Lee: Our decision was driven by the need to offer a more advanced solution to our live performance customer base. We knew our clients were actively seeking something different.
The key factors that led us to LightAct were that it is an advanced solution for the most demanding live events, yet it is still very cost effective. It also combines node-based with timeline-based programming. This represented a fundamental, powerful difference from our existing products, giving users the flexibility they demand.
What services can Show Sage offer to the LightAct community?
Jim: The services we offer include system design assistance, programming, pre-installation prototyping and testing, installation commissioning, and post-installation support.
"I found LightAct interface to be simple and genuinely enjoyable to work with."
Connor Wright
Show Sage
You recently did a projection mapping with LightAct for LUMA projection festival. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Crystal: We’ve been a proud supporter of the LUMA Projection Arts Festival for about seven years. When they approached us a few months ago looking to add an additional projection piece but lacking the necessary crew and equipment, we saw a perfect opportunity to showcase LightAct. We dedicated a LightAct server and our expertise to setting up the new projection site on 34 Chenango Street in Binghamton, New York. Our specialist, Connor, took on the programming, which was a great chance to use the software in a live public environment.
Connor Wright: I found the LightAct interface to be simplistic and genuinely enjoyable to work with. A particularly rewarding part was seeing the reaction of local college students who are looking toward this industry. They were excited to see the software in action and impressed with how smoothly and intuitively the interface worked for a large-scale projection mapping show.
"Overall, the process was super easy and very fast."
Connor Wright
Show Sage
The students were actually peeking above your shoulder while you were working?
Crystal: Yes, they were! We actually arranged a special interview with students from the regional chapter of USITT. They came into the booth for several minutes and watched a few runs of the show while Connor walked them through how he had accomplished the projection mapping.
Connor: Exactly. While the show was running, I was showing them the software interface, and they were asking a lot of great questions. They seemed really excited about the future opportunities that the software presents in the industry.
Crystal: And just to clarify the scale, this was a massive projection. We were mapping onto a building that was about six stories tall, projecting across four or five of those stories. It was a really big canvas.
In the software you used a single video screen and then created sub-areas and applied warp and softedge, right?
Connor: Yeah, the setup was quite straightforward. I used one Video Screen in the software to represent the front of the building. We then created two sub-areas within that screen and blended them together using the nodes.
It was very simple. I was able to quickly add a little soft edge blending to the bottom, which was a specific request from the client. Overall, the process was super easy and very fast.
