Held on Sunday, 23 March, WrestleMania XIX was the largest event ever held at SAFECO Field and the first major show (BETA test show) for the Maxxyz in the US. The overall lighting rig was made up of 16 large truss-structures of varying shapes and contained a mixture of automated (MAC 600, MAC 2000 Profile, Atomic 3000 Strobe) and conventional lighting and was controlled by multiple consoles. In the future, the need for this kind of arrangement will be replaced by a Maxxyz network system (either a single console or multiple consoles). Additional automated lighting was placed on stage and on a special entrance ramp.
Matthias Hinrichs, lighting programmer for the event and part of the BETA-force of programmers working closely with Martin to ensure Maxxyz meets user demands, put Maxxyz through its paces, utilizing the many features at his disposal. "Connecting the main stage to the wrestling ring was a 135ft ramp lined with 54 MAC 250 Profiles," Hinrichs explained. "Illumination from the 250s provided a dramatic background for wrestlers entering the arena and it was these fixtures that the Maxxyz controlled and it performed well. The software and programming were stable throughout the show, which is of course very important, and the console never lost its playback-abilities."
As the crew set-up for the show, with fixtures still in their cases, Matthias found the built-in 3D Visualizer a major aid. "We really got a head start thanks to the built-in Visualizer. The images on the real-time rendering preview were amazing. The quality of the touch screens was also a benefit as we did a lot of programming during the day, in the bright sunlight, and the screens were still easy to read."
Developed with multi-media as a key feature, Maxxyz includes a host of useful components including a DVD/CD-RW multi-drive, floppy disk drive and USB connectors for peripheral device connection. Bandit Lites supplied the Martin gear with lighting design by long-time WWE event LD Jason E. Robinson who commented: "I got exactly what I needed out of the console, and the Maxxyz Effects Generator was a great tool to create powerful looks, chases and moves on the MAC 250s that lead down the ramp."
(Ruth Rossington
