Marc Lorenz Invests in RoboSpots It's always a great boost to any manufacturer when a leading industry practitioner compliments a product publicly... and when they take that one step further and make a personal investment, it takes its value and influence to a different level. Marc Lorenz of Licht-Pixel is a freelance lighting and visuals designer, programmer, and operator based in Munich, Germany and working globally on a host of international projects with leading artists. Licht-Pixel owns an amount of specialist equipment related to lighting and visuals control, including a range of popular media servers -- Catalyst, Resolume, and Modul 8, etc., and the full range of Hog4 consoles. Lorenz has recently invested in four full Robe RoboSpot remote follow spotting systems -- BaseStations and MotionCameras. RoboSpot comprises several different elements that can be used in a variety of combinations to control up to 12 units of Robe's newest fixtures including the BMFL range, MegaPointes, DL7 and DL4 series luminaires, Pointes, and VIVA CMYs. MotionCameras relay visual and positional information to the BaseStation allowing the operator to accurately and instantly track performers with the assigned fixtures. The move is a "logical step" Lorenz reckons. "With this number of RoboSpots I can immediately service medium and even larger events optimally." He sees the trend for remote follow spotting systems increasing and a product like RoboSpot as a solid investment opportunity for smaller niche-market rental companies like himself. As so many of the larger rental and dry-hire companies already have large quantities of Robe moving lights in stock, Lorenz also knew that this was a good chance to offer complimentary services all linked in to the more esoteric area of control systems. He highlights that working at height safety regulations have -- with good reason -- tightened in recent years, so having followspot operators in the roof of a venue also means additional budget for productions as well as all the safety considerations. As a lighting designer in his own right, having the option of controlling multiple fixtures on the rig and the many creative advantages that this brings are also obvious to Lorenz. He also mentions that the RoboSpot systems are easy to set up and intuitive to operate. Lorenz first saw RoboSpots in action during a preview presentation with Robe. This was followed by the first hands-on encounter during the 2018 Helene Fischer tour where he was working as tech support on the Hog 4 consoles. Four back truss BMFL fixtures controlled via two RoboSpot base stations, all provided to the tour by leading rental company Satis & Fy. After seeing them in action on the road, he was soon convinced of their flexibility, reliability, and usefulness. Licht-Pixel's RoboSpots are run over fiber systems based on Neutrik opticalCON quad to make cabling easy, including Luminex based networking devices. The systems have just been out on tour with German pop band PUR and will be on Herbert Gronemeyer's Spring 2019 tour, then the Porsche Tennis Cup in Stuttgart. Lorenz has over 25 years of industry experience as a practicing LD/lighting director / programmer / operator and is also well known as a console and media server trainer and mentor. His work encompasses music tours, festivals and concerts, corporate events, and installations, and since 1999 he has been a regular collaborator with renowned German lighting designer Gunther Hecker. Together they have worked on imaginative and original designs for top artists and innovators like Xavier Naidoo, Die Fantastischen Vier, and numerous others. Lorenz works all over the world, and as well as his German clients, he creates innovative shows and productions for international artists and companies. Over the last year this has included the David Garrett tour and on the commercial front, world launches for the Skoda "Karoq" and VW's "Crafter," shows for Audi MMK, lighting the Red Bull EHC Ice Hockey in Munich, and the 2017 HP Enterprise keynote in Madrid. 
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