Stunt test with Visual act 3D system. Photo by Team Velocity.

Visual act 3D is at the forefront of an entirely new, groundbreaking concept in motion control. The designer´s only concern is the movement of the object, not the drives that move it. The system handles the specifics of individual drives completely in the background.

Visual act 3D brings the maneuvering of theatrical stage equipment a step forward, supporting applications such as stunt rigging and camera movement. The shape, acceleration, velocity, and deceleration of the flight path can be changed in seconds. The system can operate winches capable of speeds of over 10 meters per second.

Visual act 3D is the interface between creative thought and technical solutions. Two joysticks (one with a dead man’s switch) are mounted on the operator desk; one is assigned the X- and Y-axes and the other is as-signed the Z-axis. Using both joysticks the operator can freely move an object or play back a preprogrammed path. Paths can be played back at low speeds and stopped at any point for camera or lighting adjustments. Several objects can be operated simultaneously, their motions synchronized or started at will.

Programming in Visual act 3D is easy. By using Bézier curves and click-and-drag drawing techniques, complex 3D-paths can be created in minutes. Teach-in allows the operator to move an object freely with the joysticks, using the resulting path as the basis of a new movement.

Most Visual act systems use industry standard intelligent drives to do the actual work of positioning. The central positioning system is left to calculate paths, to interpolate positions for groups of drives and handle communication and safety. A high-speed independent control loop continuously supervises the status and relative positions of interpolated drives. For 3D objects the actual position is calculated from the data of the individual axes. This is then compared to the theoretical position in real time. Any fault in a drive will be quickly discovered and that drive and any drives synchronized with it will be brought to a controlled stop.