What are gobos?
How do they work?
What do I need?
Custom or stock?
Can I see a proof of my custom gobo?
Glass or steel?
What size gobo do I need?
What are ellipsoidals?
What type of artwork?
What if I need help creating artwork?
How big will the image be?
Whatare beam spreads, beam angles, field angles?
How do I order?
What if I'm in a rush?
What
are gobos?
Gobos are a piece of flat steel or
glass, which when placed in a lighting fixture projects the image that
is on the gobo.
The word gobo is an acronym for the phrase "Goes Before Optics". There
are specific lighting instruments that can accept gobos. The most
common is an ellipsoidal, which are lighting instruments that allow you
to focus the light and gobo by moving the lens back and forth in the
lens tube. Gobos can be used for multiple projects; for example they
can project breakup patterns to create texture on walls or even project
your company logo. Most gobos are made of steel but more complex
patterns and colors can be achieved using glass gobos.
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How do they work?
A gobo is first placed into a gobo
holder or frame. These are necessary and not usually included in your
lighting
instrument. Holders and gobos vary in size for each type of lighting
fixture used. Then the loaded gobo frame can be inserted in to the
light or rotator wheel. When your light is turned on - your image will
be projected. All that's left is to move the barrel of the fixture to
adjust the focus.
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What do I need?
1.) An ellipsoidal style fixture or
gobo focusable light
2.) A gobo holder
3.) A gobo - If custom, your artwork or if stock, your stock number
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Custom
or Stock?
If you are looking at creating a gobo
based off of your
company logo or specific text, you will need to order a custom. If you
are looking for a gobo that is a general image, you might be able to
find what you are looking for in a Stock gobo. There are 1000s of
images and patterns pre-made and ready to go at a significantly lower
cost than customs.
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Can I see a
proof of my custom gobo?
Most gobos when made look exactly
like the artwork you send. However due to
some size restrictions on certain instruments or limitations in making
a steel gobo, changes might occur. In cases where a major change is
required, such as an omission of text, we will have a proof sent to you
to confirm the changes. However, if you would like a proof made before
the full purchase of a custom gobo, you can. Proofs are $35, which is
applied to the purchase of a custom gobo, if you approve the artwork
and have us make the gobo. If you make changes, however, the $35 will
be charged for every revision except the last one - which will then be
included in the price of your gobo. Typically, we suggest our customers
get proofs if their artwork is very intricate or if they question how
it will turn out when made into steel..
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Do I want
glass or steel?
There are numerous advantages with
glass gobos, one
being the absence of tabs required to hold the image together as in a
steel gobo (see examples). Another benefit of glass is that complex
images can be produced with very high quality. One more benefit is
glass will not distort or melt when used continuously.
Steel gobos provide excellent quality imagery at a great price.
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What size gobo do I
need?
When ordering gobos we need to know
what size you need.
This is dependant on the type of fixture you are placing it in. If you
do not know the size, tell us what fixture it is to be used in. We will
make sure you get the correct size. If your fixture is not a standard
size listed on the website do not worry, we can make all sizes. In some
cases steel gobos may need to be trimmed to fit your fixture, this is
easily done with a pair of scissors.
1). Click
here to
find out what size your fixture needs
2).
Visual Guide to Pattern Sizes
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What are ellipsoidals?
Ellipsoidals are lighting instruments
and are a
standard in theatre. Each comes with different beam spreads, which
would change the size of your projected image. Accessories for these
lights can also be bought to spin your gobo or move side to side.
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What type of artwork?
We can make your gobo from any
artwork. However,
especially in glass, the higher quality of an image you provide us the
better your gobo can look. Below are some guidelines that will help.
Postcript Formats
Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
For almost any style design except for photographic images, the
preferred, ideal file format is a native Adobe Illustrator file. This
kind of vector-based artwork creates the best gobo tooling.
EPS Files (eps)
A close second to Illustrator files are files saved in eps format. This
format can be created from many of the popular graphics programs
available. EPS files maintain excellent image qualities and allow for
moderate resizing without degrading the image quality.
PDF Documents (.pdf)
While there are many advantages to pdf files, ease of use in gobo
making is NOT one of them. We may be able to extract the images
embedded in pdf files, but they are almost always low resolution and
produce poor quality gobos.
Rasterized Formats
Adobe Photoshop (.psd)
Native Photoshop files provide tremendous versatility by allowing all
the elements of a design to be edited by graphic designers. This file
format maintains text editing (v.5 and higher) and preserves layers. In
addition, Photoshop is the ideal format for photographic designs or
Hi-Definition Photogobos.
TIFF Files (.tif), BMP (.bmp),
PICT (.pict)
Digital cameras and many graphics programs provide means for saving
images in TIFF, BMP or PICT format. These files are uncompressed and
maintain a very high image quality. However, they are often extremely
large, so much so that electronic transfers are difficult. Despite
that, these file formats produce excellent gobos.
JPG (.jpg), GIF (.gif)
These file types are commonly found in use on the World Wide Web. In
general, they are less well suited as artwork for custom gobos.
GIF files are 72dpi, and contain a limited color table. This means that
altering the file in any way - resizing, adjusting contrast, color
correcting - is virtually impossible to accomplish without
significantly degrading the image. So unless the file provided needs no
alteration at all (very uncommon), it is a poor format choice.
JPG files are a compressed file type, which helps to keep even very
complex images relatively small. But this compression makes it
difficult to alter the image without introducing artifacts, which
degrade the image quality. If you will be submitting jpg files, make
sure to submit a file that is 2x the size of the finished gobo.
CAD Files (.dxf, .dwg)
CAD files should not be submitted at all. Despite claims by the
software companies to the contrary, these file types almost never
successfully convert into a usable file format.
Image Size and Resolution
Guidelines
First, if you are working in Adobe Illustrator, this section is
irrelevant to you. Resizing in Illustrator is accomplished with no loss
of detail or quality.
Otherwise, you must decide at what the resolution and size to create
your design. Your choice of gobo type will influence this decision. In
general, you should create your design at full size, which is 100% of
the size of the finished gobo, or larger.
|
Type
|
DPI
|
Notes
|
|
Custom Steel
|
150 dpi
|
Line art is not usually
degraded by low resolution files. But small text may be difficult to
render.
|
|
Line Art (B/W)
|
150-300 dpi
|
If the design has fine
details or gradients, a higher resolution will produce a better quality
gobo
|
|
Grey Scale / Photographic B/W
|
600 dpi
|
Smooth tonal values require
high resolution
images
|
|
Line Art (Multi-Colored)
|
300 dpi
|
If the design has fine
details or gradients, a higher resolution will produce a better quality
gobo
|
|
ColourScenic Hi Res
|
800 dpi
|
To achieve smooth color
blends and fine details requires a very high-resolution file.
|
|
To calculate the pixel size
of your design, multiply gobo size (in inches) by the recommended
resolution. The result is the recommended size of your artwork.
For example, if you are creating artwork for a multi-colored logo in a
B size gobo: 2.54 inches X 300 pixels/inch = 762 pixels. So the artwork
you submit to Partech Inc./ Apollo Design Technology should be no less
than 762 x 762 pixels, though larger is perfectly fine.
|
|
Note that pixel size is
independent of resolution and so is a preferred manner of describing
file size.
Pixel Size = Size (inches) x Dots (pixels) Per Inch
|
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What if I need help
creating artwork?
We will be happy to assist you in
creating your artwork. There will be a flat rate charge of $45 to
create or modify your artwork for you.
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How big will the image be?
Image size is dependant on a number
of things. None of which has much to do with the gobo it self. It has
to do with the beam spread of the lighting fixture you are using and
how far away you are from the projection surface.
To calculate this you can use the
below formulas:
1. Calculate: BEAM WIDTH of any angle
(beam, field or cut-off)
BEAM
WIDTH = ANGLE x .018 x DISTANCE
-or-
BEAM
WIDTH = MULTIPLYING FACTOR x DISTANCE
2. Calculate: MULTIPLYING FACTOR of
any angle, as
follows:
BEAM
WIDTH
MF =
--------
-or-
MF = ANGLE x .018
DISTANCE
3. Calculate: ANGLE, as follows:
MF
BEAM
WIDTH
ANGLE = --------
-or-
ANGLE = ----------------
.018
DIST.
x .018
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What are beam
angles, beam spreads and
field angles?
The beam angle is the angle between
the two directions
opposed to each other over the beam axis for which the luminous
intensity is half that of the maximum luminous intensity. The Field
Angle is the angle between the two directions opposed to each other
over the beam axis for which the luminous intensity is 10% that of the
maximum luminous intensity.
The Beam Spread is a general term, describing the angle between the two
directions opposed to each other over the beam axis for which the
luminous intensity is a certain fraction of that of the maximum
luminous intensity. The amount of that fraction needs to be given in
each specific case.
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How do I order?
1). Place your order for a custom
gobo through this website at Partechlighting.com
2). You need to know if you want glass or steel.
3). You need to know the size of gobo you want.
*Note: If you do not see your size - please include instrument type in
your e-mail with your artwork
4). Select additional copies if desired.
*Note: Copy means one (1) or more additional gobos of the same type and
size.
A different size is considered a new custom gobo.
5). When checking out, select shipping that is appropriate with your
time line given the amount of time it
takes to create your gobo.
6). Send us an e-mail with your artwork to gobo@partechlighting.com
Please Include:
A). Your Purchase Order Number for those customers on Account
*Note: All other orders must be prepaid before order is processed
B). Any special needs (for example - instrument type)
C). Your need by date - just in case we need to adjust your order to
ensure timely delivery
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What
if I'm in a rush?
Rush charges are dependant on the
type of gobo. Rush
charges are added for each physical gobo being created. For example an
order for one (1) custom gobo with one (1) copy would incur a two (2)
rush charges, one (1) for the original and one (1) for the copy.
| Type |
Tooling Time |
|
|
Details |
Standard Steel
|
|
|
|
Volume Discounts 25-49
and 50+
|
| Custom Steel |
2 days |
|
|
We receive the order today before 2pm EST.
|
| Add. Copy |
|
|
|
|
B/W SuperResolution or 1
Color Dichroic
|
3 days |
|
|
Gobo will be ready to
ship 3 working days ARCO* |
| Add. Copy |
|
|
|
|
B&W SuperResolution
or 1Color Standard
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
2 Color Dichroic
|
3 - 5 days |
|
|
Gobo will be ready to
ship within 3-5 working days ARCO* |
| Add. Copy |
|
|
|
|
2 Color Dichroic Standard
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
ColourScenic 3 Color
|
5 - 7 days |
|
|
Gobo will be ready to
ship within 5-7 working days ARCO* |
| Add. Copy |
|
|
|
|
ColourScenic Standard
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
Crushed Dichroic
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
Enhanced Crushed Dichroic
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
Textured Glass
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
Textured Dichroic
|
|
|
|
All Stock Patterns
|
* ARCO = After Receipt of Complete Order. Complete order means we have
received (a) acceptable artwork, (b) job details including gobo size,
quantity, image details, etc., (c) Payment has been authorized. That is
when the clock starts on the delivery time estimates. |
