Steve Alcorn | Alcorn McBride Blog

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LightingPad Demo Video

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

One of the hits of InfoComm was our LightingPad application for the iPad and iPhone. LightingPad is the perfect tool for controlling small shows, or for installing and testing lighting systems. It’s also great for programming our LightCue Pro lighting controller. Simply connect any Art-Net compatible DMX device to your wireless network, and you have a complete lighting console in the palm of your hand. Because it’s an iPad / iPhone application, it’s incredibly simple to use.

This youtube video shows you how it works.

LightingPad will be available in the iTunes App Store. For more information, visit http://www.alcorn.com/products/lightingpad/index.html

Posted in Alcorn McBride Products, Lighting, Live Shows, Museums, Technology Notes, Theme Parks | Comments Off

New Products, New Shows

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

It’s been a busy first five months of the year, with lots of new products and shows opening. In fact this could just turn out to be our biggest year yet. As we head into the summer we wish everyone a busy time at work and some relaxing time with loved ones. And if you’re in the neighborhood of Hershey Park, be sure to check out their latest show, Rock the Jukebox, in the Music Box Theatre. It uses an HD Binloop. Enjoy!

Posted in Audio and Video, Live Shows, Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment | No Comments »

UDP Remote iPhone App

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Wouldn’t it be great if you could control or test your show control, lighting, audio or video without being in the equipment room or at an Operator Control Console? That’s what we thought, too. And since most of us at Alcorn McBride carry the ubiquitous iPhone, we figured, what an ideal portable controller! For this, our first iPhone app, we didn’t want to get carried away, so we kept it simple. There are eight buttons, and you can define whatever UDP message you like for each of them. This lets you talk to all of our Ethernet enabled devices, and other manufacturer’s devices as well. You can also name the buttons and specify the destination IP address and port number. Whether you use it to ease installation, or as a portable OCC, we think UDP Remote will make a great addition to your next project. Enjoy!

Posted in Alcorn McBride Products, Audio and Video, Lighting, Show Control | 1 Comment »

Software Intern – Summer 2010

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Alcorn McBride is looking for a Summer Software Intern to help with product development. The ideal candidate has a minimum of 1 year experience in all of the following software areas of knowledge: C, C++, and Visual C++ Object-Oriented Programming using Microsoft Visual Studio and other integrated development environments.

Familiarity with microprocessor-based systems using uCLinux and/or Embedded Real-Time Operating Systems, PC-based Graphical User-Interface Programs for Industrial Control, QT development framework, Theme Park Show Control, or similar applications using Java, PHP, and other HTML scripting or XML-based languages is a plus.

Other skills of a standout candidate include proficiency with graphic design and video software such as Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and other programs to generate video and graphic design files. Read more...

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Summer Internship

Friday, February 19th, 2010

If you know an aspiring mechanical engineer who’d like a summer internship, please pass along this interesting opportunity.

Mechanical Design Intern – Summer 2010

Alcorn McBride is looking for a Mechanical Design Intern to work at our headquarters in Orlando for the summer of 2010.

mechanical tshirt

The ideal candidate has a minimum of one year of experience (or equivalent College-level course) in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) applied to electronic and mechanical assemblies. The ability to generate mechanical drawings using AutoCAD and OrCAD (printed circuit board design) software packages is required.

Responsibilities include generating production-ready fabrication drawings based on existing documentation, creating Integrated Circuit footprint drawings, simple cable assembly drawings and other mechanical design tasks. Read more...

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Finding the Case Studies

Friday, January 15th, 2010

When I look at the access statistics from our website it’s not surprising some pages get a lot more hits than others.

Where is this mystery attraction?

Of course, the home page is the most frequently visited, and after that the product data pages. But there’s also a lot of interest in the pages about particular installations. I suppose that’s because it’s fun to read about the wide variety of theme park attractions around the world.

However, I notice that only the featured installation pages get the high traffic; there are tons more that most people never see, and among them are some of my favorite installations. Read more...

Posted in Applications, Live Shows, Themed Entertainment | 1 Comment »

3D Display Technologies

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

With the success of Avatar and other recent releases, 3D is attracting a lot of attention lately.

Outstanding 3D

Because they incorporate video sync inputs, Alcorn McBride players such as the DVM/HD and Video Binloop HD are two of the best ways to reliably play back images in perfect sync, a requirement for 3D. There are many way to display 3D images, most of which involve tricking the viewer’s eyes into perceiving two different, slightly offset images. This article at Gizmodo does a great job of summarizing the available technologies: http://gizmodo.com/5084121/giz-explains-3d-technologies

Posted in Alcorn McBride Products, Applications, Audio and Video, Technology Notes, Theme Parks | Comments Off

Harry Potter: A Land, Not a Park

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

A list of the “5 Coolest Theme Parks Around The World” has appeared at UPHAA, and I found it surprising, because none of them would have made my list. More troubling, though, is the inclusion of the “Harry Potter Theme Park.”

As with most of the mainstream press, UPHAA has confused what is simply going to be a “land” at Universal’s Islands of Adventure with a complete theme park. While I have no doubt that Harry Potter would have been a great theme for a complete park, that’s not what the public is going to be getting when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens this spring. Let’s hope the general public doesn’t have overblown expectations, because I think it’s going to be a great addition to IOA. But it’s not a complete theme park.

Posted in Themed Entertainment, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Lost Art of Writing

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

I thought Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code was okay, and I enjoyed Angels and Demons (I haven’t seen either of the movies because I prefer the depth of a novel). So I was looking forward to his latest book, The Lost Symbol.

What a disappointment. In trying to think how to describe the book’s problems, I found it hard to come up with anything I liked about it. What I did come up with was a list:

How to Write Like Dan Brown Read more...

Start with an idea for a 20 page short story.
Turn it into a novel.
Label every scene as a chapter.
Use the viewpoint of every living thing in Washington (don’t overlook bums, pets and inanimate objects as possibilities).

Posted in Themed Entertainment | No Comments »

Alcorn McBride Users AcoustiCon Release New Music Video

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Acousticon - Brad Sayre and David Simmons

AcoustiCon is the duo of Brad Sayre and David Simmons. They use Alcorn McBride show control and video playback equipment in their live shows, which are complete multimedia concerts incorporating sounds, images and blistering guitar work. Here’s their latest video, which also features 16 month old Aziyan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trhfWeMt8Q8

Posted in Alcorn McBride Products, Audio and Video, Live Shows | No Comments »

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