Christchurch’s House of Travel Botanic D’Lights is an all-weather event featuring 40 light and animation installations at different locations in the Botanic Gardens and, for the first time this year, includes the Arts Centre of Christchurch.
Held over five nights, highlights of this year’s light festival included interactive UV Spaghetti, The Rain Tree, and Burrow, a kind of tunnel of light.
Of course, the weather in New Zealand during August can be rather damp and unpredictable but this year The Light Site, one of the leading entertainment lighting services to the South Island, were very prepared having purchased 34 ShowPRO LED FusionPar Q XII prior to the event.
The ShowPRO LED FusionPar Q XII is an outdoor-rated, quad-colour (4-in-one) RGBW LED wash light. Designed for professional touring and productions, the FusionPAR offers a rugged IP-rated fixture with the added benefit on a W-DMX receiver on-board.
“The purchase was prompted 
by the fact that we needed a whole lot of extra fittings for this job but also the fact that our existing IP-rated fixtures were ageing,” commented Grant Robertson, Managing Director of The Light Site. “The dimming down at the bottom end, from off to dim, on the old fixtures was a little bit clunky so we were after a fixture that we could use for more theatrical applications as well, if needed.”
The ShowPRO LED FusionPar Q XII has four selectable dimming curve modes (off, fast, medium, slow) and selectable P
WM frequencies for flicker-free output.
“We wouldn’t ordinarily put them into a theatre gig as a matter of choice but if our indoor fittings were already in use, it’s good to know that we can,” added Grant. “It’s good to have additional options when it comes to good dimming, and these dim very nicely at the bottom end, plus the fact that they are silent in operation is also great for theatre.”
Grant reports that his ShowPRO LED FusionPar Q XIIs performed brilliantly during the light festival with no issues at all.
“They delivered the power required and were very effective,” he added. “We didn’t utilize the wireless functionality on this project but I’m sure it will be a bonus feature in the future.”
The ShowPRO LED FusionPar Q XIIs were used to light up The Rain Tree and The Roots of Life as well as the façade of the Canterbury Museum to the delight of around 30,000 rugged up visitors.
