Russell Grubiak
Russell Grubiak
Your Name: Russell Grubiak
Company Name: Creative Visual Artists Limited
Website address: http://www.CreativeVisualArtists.co.uk
Email: russ@grubiak.co.uk
Name of Project(s) related to Hippotizer: X factor, Britains Got Talent, Got to Dance, Red or Black, Comic Relief, 8 out of 10 Cats, Paul o Grady, Sing if you Can, Graham Norton, Piers Morgan, Chatty Man, Last Night of the Proms
Date used : 2004 - Today
How would you best describe yourself? My background came from theatre lighting, I am now working with some great Lighting Designers on a variety of events and shows from small exclusive private parties to live public events and television spectaculars, I also manage the overall visual look for a number of varied production companies andperforming artists staging corperate events.
How did you first hear about the Hippotizer?
I played with an version 2 unit during a lunch break on xfactor and was intregued to know what else I could get out of the machine that I struggled with others
Did you specify the Hippotizer or was it supplied to you? the first time it was supplied as part of a whole video deal ! Now I would generally specify at least one for most shows with a video element or intriguing led set up
Have you used other media servers before you encountered Hippotizer? Yes, I used most of the systems out there, Catalyst, M box and Pandoras box.
Which Model of Hippotizer are you using?
I am using all the current series of version 3 machines and we have just invested in three Grasshoppers for some of my forthcoming work, I have also just purchased a data path x4 which helps me split my one grasshopper hd output to several separate feeds.
How are you displaying the media? I have used them in many different applications projection onto screen / scenery / water / fog and leds walls. I have used them for many video floors as the mapping utility is a great tool for odd single pixel and led lighting products.
What display mode are you running (single/dual/pan)? All of the above in different arrangments
Are you using Pixel Mapper on the project?
I have used pixel mapper a great deal and always looking forward to improvments to the GUI
What features of the Hippotizer do you like most? Video Mapper is very important and essential to a lot of the led sets I have to work on, Pixel mapper, screen warp and live mask are a quick useful tool to cope with the most imaginative set designers.
What features would you like to see in future versions? Video mapper and pixel mapper combined, a quick way of dragging original media off the server, Mac support for media manager, keystone and video mapper per layer not just on the master, and the option of changing frequency of output to stop flicker with tv cameras at 50 hz.
Anything else you want to tell us?
The hippotizer has become a piece of kit that can add a great deal of diversity to most shows and events, giving control of the media manager to the content creators has saved me a lot of work swapping out files that are re-rendered and fixed whilst i am operating and concentrating on the shows running order.
One graphic designer that i work with has a great head for numbers and we are always pushing the hippo to new limits and finding out what fun we can have. He can produce a hippotizer file based on fixture co-ordinates to make complicated mapping of single pixel fixtures a piece of cake. i simply load this file as a map and BANG the mi strip layout is there. we have used this now for Got 2 Dance and for the recent series of Britains Got Talent.
With these files we can place a square edge or a simple line in any array of off set led strips in the stage elements by spreadsheet without having to drag everyone by mouse. WIth designers coming up with the most intresting layouts of led this means that complicated paths can be extracted from cad drawings easily and used to laydown the fixtures. This is a massive time saving and gives us options of using text and keeping straight edges from the original content created with no distortion. we have given the process a Nick name of OUTRAGEOUS MAP.
we are very excited about the release of hippotizer software 3.1 and look forward to new exciting features!
