The home of lighting terminology which is not a part of the other lighting sections.

Very similar to a rotating gobo, but the center of rotation is outside the beam of the light. Often combined with a rotating gobo to give watery effects / fire effects.

These are used on the front of fixtures to mask off the edges of the beam of light to stop light shining on to things which need to be kept dark (e.g. certain parts of the stage, or the tabs).

As well as being a sound often produced by noise boys, this is also the name for a vertical lighting bar.

Term that describes a type of connector on power cables. Comes in 16A, 32A, 63A and 125A commonly. Red ones are three phase, blue ones are single phase.

Abbreviation for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow. A colour mixing system used in lighting fixtures. Essentially the inverse of RGB (Red, Green, Blue). RGB can be used with floods to create pretty much any colour needed on a cyc. for example.

Moving fixture equivalent of a scroller. It is a small wheel inside a fixture, which rotates in the beam of light allowing you to control the colour of the light. These do not use gels, since they would wear too easily.

A device that distributes power to the lighting fixtures. The amount of power to each fixture is goverened by the value specified for the fixture's channel on the DMX line.

Short for Distribution Unit: used to split up power in to combinations of smaller ampage outlets often used to producer single phase neutral power from three phase neutral power as well. Should be fitted with RCB trips.

Acronym of Digital Multiplex. This is the protocol that the dimmers, intelligent lights, and lighting desks use to communicate. DMX cable, comes in five or three pin versions, but the connections and protocol are the same. DMX cable is not the same as XLR cable, although XLR cable can be used for short stretches.

An oversized profile which is controlled by a followspot operator (Limey). Used to highlight certain actors, props, or parts of the stage during a show.

Used to be made of gelatin, hence the name. They are the sheets of coloured plastic used to colour light. You can get bored and order mini swatchbooks for the fun of it too!

A shape or design that can be projected using a light by inserting a cut-out metal disk (sometimes made from apple-pie tins for cheapness ).

This is a device, which can be put onto the front of a generic light, which allows a gobo to be rotated around its centerpoint.

A mechanism which allows gobos to be slid across the light.

A two-way power splitter used on the 15 amp light 'sockets'.

(See also soft-patching)
The act of assigning lighting desk channels to DMX addresses (dimmer channels usually), by physically swapping plugs/cables over.

The standard lights you have on while the audience are coming in and out of the auditorium. These are usually a couple of floods.

This is a cleverly assembled device, which is used (often in followspots), to change the size of the beam of light smoothly from a small aperture to a large one.

Internally Wired Bars. Basically a long scaff bar, with wires inside, and sockets along the length. If you're lucky, you get them like Arts H, where you have God knows how many phases going through one bar.

Generic term for lighting crew.

Little used term for follow spot operators, which stems from when stage light was created by burning lime - hence “lime light”.

PVC adhesive insulating tape, other wise known as PVC tape, insulating tape, LX tape or after a long get-in “insulting tape” (and often mistaken for Spike Tape by Stage Managers).

This is a device, in which you take a lot of cuts of gel, and stick them together into one long scroll. You can then use a controller to scroll the gel around to the colour you want. This is handy when using limited fixtures, and being able to control the colour of them.

Used in intelligent fixtures, the shutter is the piece of metal which can cover the whole beam. Depending on how good the fixture is, as you bring the shutter in, the light intensity will fade, or you will see the shutter come across the beam of light (having a semi-circle of light when the shutter is halfway in!)

The shutters are a set of four pieces of metal that can be used to mask off the edges of the beam of light. Typically used in a similar way to barndoors however, can also be used to produce “square” spots i.e. a door spot.

Like a grelco, but three-way rather than two.

Acronym of Toughened Rubberised Sheath. This is heat resistant cable used for providing power to lighting fixtures, that won't melt if it touches a light fitting.

A DMX universe consists of 512 channels of DMX data, which are sent down one DMX connection. If you have enough fixtures so that you are using more than 512 channels, or wiring restrictions mean that putting all the fixtures onto one DMX line would be hard, you can use multiple universes.