The Great Qin

The brief

The Great Qin is a permanent spectacle staged in the world's largest theatre — a production built around aerial performance at a scale that demands automated tracking. Aerialists move through three-dimensional space above the deck, and the lighting needs to follow them precisely through every flight path without relying on manual followspot operators to chase performers through the volume.

The challenge

BlackTrax's multi-camera IR system had the range and precision to cover the massive performance space, but the scale introduced its own problems. The camera array had to cover an enormous volume, the aerialists' flight paths created complex three-dimensional tracking requirements, and the console integration had to translate BlackTrax position data into something the lighting rig could use cleanly — fixture assignments, tracking groups, and cue structures that made sense to the operator, not just the software.

What we did

We handled lighting programming and the BlackTrax-to-console integration — building the bridge between the tracking system and the lighting rig so position data from the aerialists drove fixtures reliably and predictably through every flight sequence. That meant fixture mapping, tracking group assignments, and a programming structure that could handle performers moving through the full volume of the space.

The integration fed real-time position data into pan and tilt across the rig, keeping light on the aerialists wherever they were in the air.

The result

Reliable tracked lighting for aerial performance at a scale most tracking systems never see. The system holds calibration through the run, and the programming structure we built lets the house crew maintain it independently.