I wish a Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans. And as there will be fireworks everywhere in the U.S., why not take a peek about the technologies used to produce these shows. This is the subject of this article from The New York Times (remember that you need to register if you want to read this story on their website.)
Here are some excerpts.
Like many designers, pyrotechnicians use software to realize their visions. The Photoshop of the pyrotechnic world is FireOne, a software and hardware system developed by Pyrotechnics Management of State College, Pa. This system, based on Windows, does not look like much: it presents a timeline running from left to right with dots to represent when fireworks go off. But it allows for very precise firing times and cuts down on time-consuming paperwork by generating reports to coordinate each step of the show.
Of course, like many designers, pyrotechnicians take pains to explain that their shows are not created by machine.
"All our shows are scripted on a computer," Phil Grucci, an executive vice president at Fireworks by Grucci, said. "But they're scripted by the sense and emotion. The computer is just a very powerful tool."
Reuters also published a story about fireworks: "Virtual Fireworks Explode on the Web for July 4." Of all the sites they mentioned, here is my favourite.
A show at http://members.aol.com/rivfs/July/4th.html is one of the prettier shows in cyberspace, featuring a full-screen night sky full of twinkling stars and fireworks shooting off in an array of different shapes and colors with patriotic tunes like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "God Bless America" playing in the background.
Sources: Matt Lake, The New York Times, July 4, 2002; Doug Young, Reuters, July 3, 2002
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