ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of a number of principles relating to brightness or intensity control and provides materials related to control through circuiting and dimmers. It introduces several additional features that relate to developments in dimming technology. The chapter explores an introduction to both manual and memory-control systems, in which the dimmers are controlled through some form of light board or console along with an overview of some of the different types of lighting consoles that are available. Mechanical mastering is more of a control form of the past, although it can still be found in facilities where the lighting installations date back to the 1950s—1970s. A control protocol is nothing more than the language that an electronic lighting controller uses to communicate with the dimmers. Preset control provided the first truly practical manner in which designers could have one cue on stage while setting up future cues ahead of time on an additional set of controllers.
