On the morning of May 28, 2016, a fire started in the electronics of the marquee sign for the Goodman Theatre, Chicago’s oldest and largest nonprofit theater. Local fire departments rushed to the scene, but before they could extinguish the blaze, extensive damage had been done. I saw a video of the fire on YouTube and showed it to Landmark Sign Project Manager Mike Lanovich, suggesting he contact the theater about a replacement.
在2016年5月28日上午，芝加哥最古老、规模最大、非营利的古德曼剧院燃起了一团大火，当地消防部门急忙赶到现场，但不幸的是，在火焰熄灭之前，整个剧院的标识已经造成了大面积的损坏。相关人士在YouTube上看到了关于这个事件的视频，并将其给Landmark Sign公司的项目经理Mike Lanovich，建议他赶紧联系剧院，进行所有的标识重塑。
Landmark Sign Group (Chesterton, IN) already has a reputation for creating iconic signage throughout down-town Chicago, including signs for The Cadillac Palace Theatre and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at the Navy Pier. Mike met with the directors and designers of the Goodman Theatre to discuss design, but first we had to create and install a temporary surround for the damaged sign. Using 3mm, 6 x 10-ft. Alucobond panels with direct digital prints on the faces, our installers folded and fastened the aluminum composite material around the damaged sign.
Landmark Sign公司在芝加哥创造了很多标志性的地标，其中包括卡迪拉克宫剧院和芝加哥莎士比亚剧院的标识。事件发生后，Mike会面了古德曼剧院的董事和设计师，来共同讨论重塑剧院标识的设计流程，为损坏的标识创建和安装一个临时的环境。首先，他们使用了6 x 10英尺的Alucobond面板，将图像打印在面板上，然后安装人员将其折叠后，连同铝复合材料一起固定在损坏的标识周围。
BEST OF OLD + NEW
原有的外观+先进的照明技术
All were in agreement that the new sign should maintain the overall look of its predecessor, but we wanted to upgrade it with efficient LED lighting. Senior Technical Engineer Terry Ambrosini prepared initial designs that would utilize four different types of LEDs, including border lighting for the backer panels; flexible simulated-neon LED tubing to match the look of the previous sign letters; and a border around the letters themselves capable of being lit as static white or with changing colors. Chuck Harder from Bitro Group told us about his company’s LightSymphony Addressable RGB System, which uses RGB “pucks” controlled by a DMX system to produce full animation effects. This system goes beyond the regular fade and color changing capabilities of some current RGB systems and helps the borders of the letters stand out.
经过商讨后，所有人都同意新标识应保持原有的整体外观，但希望通过高效的LED照明进行升级。高级技术工程师Terry Ambrosini准备好了初步设计，利用四种不同类型的LED，包括用于背板的边界照明等，它们既符合原有标识的外观，还能使字母周围的边界发生颜色变化。Bitro Group公司的Chuck Harder告诉我们，它们使用了最新的RGB系统，可以使标识产生完整的动画效果，该系统比之前的RGB系统在渐变功能上得到了增强，有助于字母的边框更加凸显，引人注目。
“We worked diligently to provide a sign that continues the tradition of being a historic landmark in downtown Chicago,” Mike said. “Paying close attention to capture the spirit of the previous sign, this new display incorporates the latest and greatest in lighting technology.”
Mike说：“我们在努力地重塑一个传承芝加哥文化的历史地标，我们不仅要抓住这个传统标识灌有的实质精神，还要融合最先进的照明技术。”
With the basic design concept in place, Landmark began fabricating a single letter panel for testing and approval from the Goodman Theatre. The panels consist of a 6 x 6-ft. 4-in. piece of 1-in.-thick clear acrylic with a routed groove around the perimeter in which we embedded red GE Tetra Contour LEDs to create a halo effect. We back-sprayed the back panel a burgundy color and mounted a 2-in. aluminum tube border to the perimeter of the face. Finally, we used Matthews 15394 Red Ferrari to paint the acrylic panel backed with 3mm Alucobond.
随着基本设计方案的敲定，Landmark公司开始制作一个单字面板，供古德曼剧院测试使用。面板是一个6 x 6英长、1英寸厚的透明丙烯酸材料，周边有凹槽，我们在其中嵌入了红色的LED，以产生光晕效果。面板的背面喷上了酒红色，并在面板边界安装了2英寸的铝管。
The letters mounted to the panels are 5 ft. tall x 5 in. deep fabricated aluminum. The perimeter of the letters has a 2.5-in. channel to house the addressable RGB pucks along with GE Tetra MAX High Output white LEDs. We covered the channel with 2247 white acrylic placed flush to the letter face. The insides of the letters have a recessed piece of acrylic painted second surface that rests on a F-channel retainer.
安装在面板上的字母也是铝制的，5英尺高，5英寸深，2.5英寸的周长。槽型发光字可容纳RGB系统，以及能输出白光的LED。对于槽型发光字，我们用白色亚克力覆盖在其表面，此外，发光字内部有一块凹陷的地方，也是用亚克力覆盖在表面，以此固定每个字母。
Once we had attached red Sloan FlexiBRITE LED tubing to the acrylic, we mounted the letters to the backer panels. For the bottom panels, we fabricated and mounted our own 1-in.-thick, white acrylic, face-illuminated LED letters with embedded ribbon LEDs on the faces. When all of the panels were completed, it was time to wire everything up and build the control panel.
我们将红色LED管连接到亚克力板上，将槽型发光字安装在支撑板上。对于底部面板，我们安装了1英寸厚的白色亚克力板，并在字母里嵌入了带状的LED。当所有的面板都完成后，一同连接起来，建立控制面板。
The entire sign runs on 12V DC with the exception of the GE Contour border, which is 24V. By using LEDs for all of the lighting, we designed a system that consumes only a tenth of the power of the previous sign. In order to control the combination of all lighting elements independently, we installed a four-channel sub DMX run by the main DMX to control four hybrid electronic relays. This gave us the ability to turn the primary 110V power on or off for the borders, insets, letters or bottom panel LEDs.
除轮廓边界之外是24伏，整个标识都是运行在12伏的电压上，通过使用所有照明LED，我们重新设计了一个仅消耗前一个功率十分之一的系统。为了独立控制所有照明元件，我们安装了一DMX控制器，以控制四个混合电子继电器，使我们能够为设置在边界、插图、字母或底板的LED随时打开或关闭电源。
The Bitro Group LightSymphony system uses two 512 DMX controllers that set up four universes. This allowed us to control the 900 addressable RGB modules individually. Combined with ESA PRO software, the sign can produce thousands of effects and colors including chasing fills, gradients and other animations.
Bitro Group LightSymphony系统使用两个DMX控制器，并设置四个域名，这样方便我们单独控制900个RGB模块。再结合ESA PRO软件，该标识可以产生数千种效果和颜色变化，包括追逐填充、渐变和其他动画效果。
On January 15, the Landmark crew headed for downtown Chicago to install the new 56-ft.-tall sign. We used two of our Elliott crane/bucket trucks along with a hydraulic crane. The sign was lifted in place while Landmark installers bolted the new sign to the existing steel supports. Once the sign was installed and the primary power hooked up, Terry was ready for on-site testing.
今年1月15日，地标队员前往芝加哥市中心，安装了一个高达56英尺的新标识。我们使用了两台Elliott起重机、斗式卡车以及一台液压起重机。安装人员把新标识栓在现有的钢支架上，一旦标识被安装就位，由主电源连接起来，就可以进行现场测试了。
CABLE > WI-FI
电缆>无线网络
All of the LED elements were working fine, but when it came time to run the RGB animation system, we ran into a problem: For the DMX controllers, we had used a 1W Wi-Fi router in the shop test, but it was having trouble staying connected in the field due to the metropolis’ competing Wi-Fi bands and antennae. Even the Bluetooth remote for the hydraulic crane was turning itself on and off because of the density of network activity downtown. After a full day of troubleshooting, we decided to run a Cat 5 cable directly into the network of the Goodman Theatre. This immediately solved the problem and the sign was fully operational the day before the lighting ceremony.
所有的LED组件都可以进行正常工作，但是，当运行RGB动画系统时，却遇到了一个问题。对于DMX控制器，我们在测试中使用了1W的Wi-Fi路由器，由于Wi-Fi频段和天线会出现不稳定的状态，在现场难以保持持续连接的状态。即使是液压起重机的蓝牙遥控器，也会因为市中心的网络活动密度大，而处在不断地开启或关闭的状态中。经过一整天的故障排除之后，我们决定将Cat 5电缆直接连接到古德曼剧院的网络，发现问题立即解决了，在这个项目开幕前一天全面投入了使用。
Speaking for all of us at Landmark Sign, Mike summed it up best: “We thank Goodman Theatre for allowing us the opportunity to be a part of its wonderful Chicago legacy!”
Mike总结道：“我们为古德曼剧院地标而骄傲，让它有机会继续成为芝加哥传奇的一部分！”
