Elation advances color accuracy and intensity with TruTone

The R&D department of Elation has achieved, after several years, that the new TruTone technology offers the optimal balance between chromatic precision and intensity in its luminaires.

The technology Elation TruTone, described as “a revolutionary advance” by its developers, allows designers adjust CRI from a single luminaire to find the best lighting fidelity.

get that perfect balance between intensity and chromatic precision It is a problem that has persisted in the entertainment lighting sector for years., for both designers and rental companies.

Traditional Led engines, with their fixed CRI values, have fallen short in offering a full spectrum, leaving designers and equipment suppliers searching for an appropriate solution.

“The basic concept of TruTone - the company explains- It's ingeniously simple but deeply impactful.: a High and low CRI white Led fusion in a single high-density optical assembly, what allows CRI settings in a range of 70 a 93”.

The system blends light smoothly without needing to change the CRI, no switching or stepping, and without visible artifacts or color temperature alterations.

Its differential advantage is flexibility to adjust the color rendering in a single luminaire to respond to various lighting needs, while presenting a new approach to Precisely adjust color tone and depth.

Matthias Hinrichs, Product Manager at Elation, has played a key role in the development of TruTone, which began with the analysis of the inherent limitations of existing lighting technologies.

“As Led lights usually have a low CRI, of 70 -explains-, and the discharge lights surround the 80, the font is not very good at representing the actual colors of an object, which may appear dull or, in the case of skin tones, not very natural".

Normally, This problem was attempted to be alleviated with glass CRI filters., that reduce the green component of the font to create a warmer spectrum. “That's fine for a rock concert and other applications,” he says., but when more critical environments are illuminated, like a fashion show, a car show, television, the theater or the opera, where the color reproduction of costumes and sets is important, deficiencies appear in the spectrum”.

Another option was to use multicolor additive LED motors., with which it was possible to choose different LED emitters to mix and compensate for the missing frequencies, “a step that achieved better results, but it was still not completely satisfying.”, Hinrichs adds..

Although Led motors began to be available with a high CRI option of 90+, while manufacturers offered high-CRI versions of existing products or even replacement motors, “This led to a decrease in performance,” he says.. As the CRI increased, the LEDs lost effectiveness, so the final result was a luminaire that consumed between 60% and the 70% of the original power.

For rental companies, high CRI options meant having to stock two different sets of fixtures, and these often remained in the warehouse for longer periods compared to normal CRI stocks.

“That is not good for business,” this official emphasizes., and Elation made the decision to abandon the double luminaire versions. By the designers, You had to be careful with what was specified, because if it was done with all the luminaires with high CRI, was needed between a 30% and a 40% more about equipment, because the necessary light output was not available, and so?. It's not ideal either.".

So things, The crux of the matter lay in the inherent trade-offs between CRI values and performance, although each solution presented its own set of trade-offs.

Elation engineers then asked themselves the following question:: And if, instead of settling for a fixed CRI value, we could offer users the possibility of perfectly adjusting the color rendering in a single luminaire, depending on your needs: more power or more chromatic precision?

He I+D department of Elation studied how to combine high and low CRI LEDs into a single cohesive array and a breakthrough came when independent drivers and electronics were tested for each array..

“The independent CRI motors eliminated the switch and allowed us to adjust the fixture to any CRI we wanted. Due to differences in efficiency at each CRI point, We did a lot of calculations and optimizations to get the perfect mix of output and color spectrum, at the same time ensuring that the color temperature remained stable when going from one CRI to another”.

This fluid fit, facilitated by sophisticated algorithms and meticulous engineering, Ensures optimal performance and efficiency across the entire CRI range of 70 a 93. In the first case, Fits many existing light fixtures, as Elation Proteus Maximus and Lucius, while a CRI of 93 Ideal for applications where color accuracy is essential, like theater, moda, etc.

Color influence

The more the engineers examined the system, the more they realized its advantages. “But we quickly realized that the system also greatly influences the color mixing system.”, changing them from a cold balance to a warm one and creating beautiful theatrical colors. "It's an adjustment in fidelity and a new way to influence color.".

By changing the spectral composition of how a color is constructed, This gives the designer an expanded range of variations to choose from.. “When we presented the feature to theater and television designers they really saw its advantages and were surprised by the palettes they could create”.

Since TruTone allows CRI adjustment from a single luminaire, not only adapts to a wide spectrum of applications, but also eliminates the need for multiple luminaire variants to achieve a accurate color representation.

The designer no longer has to limit himself to choosing the type of LED engine. A luminaire can play a double role in the same show. Whether it's illuminating a presenter with a keylight high CRI and then reposition it to a rock band to make it look at its full power, as if it were about lighting a car in a living room, the seamless CRI transition “TruTone is unique and is the only system in which this is possible”.

TruTone's adjustable fidelity opens up a world of possibilities, allowing users to adjust the hue and depth of colors with unprecedented precision.

The new moving head with frame profile Proteus Odeon by Elation is the first luminaire to incorporate the new TruTone system, and the technology will be implemented in other manufacturers in the future.

“We have been working on TruTone for years and we are delighted to bring this new technology to the market. I think that when designers see its possibilities they will realize the real impact it can have on their designs.”, concludes Hinrichs.