Integrated Design Systems Used for Chevy's Freedom Over Texas 2005

The technical production of any event involves a balance of many factors. These factors include the physical attributes of the event site, the goals of the overall event producer, and the experience of the audience. For the Chevrolet-sponsored Freedom Over Texas, Houston's 4th of July celebration, we utilized our cutting edge integrated design system to achieve incredible results. In the end, the event was a tremendous success for the producer, the sponsor and most importantly the citizens of Houston.

We use all or just a few components of our design systems depending on the scope of the event and the type of pre-planning. When we started the design of Houston's annual July 4th celebration in Eleanor Tinsley Park along Buffalo Bayou, we left nothing to chance given the challenges. Scenic changes mandated by the sponsor meant that the banners would be shown in public for the first time. There would be no second chances here. And since the event would be televised the Houston skyline now became part of the set. Added to the mix were the design requirements of the performers. We were able to not only combine these three elements seamlessly but in a relatively short time frame.

The main programs used were AutoCAD (site and stage logistics and design), Corel Photopaint (integration of the graphics to be used in 3D Studiomax), WYSIWYG (lighting/set design and programming) and 3D Studiomax (integration of the AutoCAD design, stage design, and sponsor graphics). Below are images from various stages in the development of the project.

Site of the event

AutoCAD "shell" of the stage structure.

Lighting and set design using a lighting program called WYSIWYG (wizzy-wig). This program allows the lighting designer to program intelligent lighting in a virtual setting. All relevant paperwork (dimming and channel assignments) results from this program and greatly reduces the amount of time for programming on-site. The programmer imported the above AutoCAD file and added all lighting information. The resulting design was then exported back into a .dxf file for use by the 3D design software.

Taking the sponsor's artwork into Corel Photopaint we prepared the various elements for mapping onto the signage surfaces. We use Discreet 3D Studiomax (3DS) to combine the original site photo, the AutoCAD stage file, the lighting programmer's elements and 3DS's inherent lighting and effects capabilities to create the final proposal render.

Photograph of the event showing all three design elements of performer/set lighting, sponsor stage graphics, and the Houston skyline.

Photograph of the concert.

Credits:

Project Manager: Rob McKinley
AutoCAD Designer: Mike Mecum
WYSIWYG: John Dickson
Corel/3D Studiomax Designer: Scott Justis
Lighting Operator: Brent Sanders

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