118 Part 2 · Entertainment Discipline Overview M Y S HOW C ONTROL D ESIGN P ROCESS Modern show control is not necessarily accomplished through a particular piece of hardware; it is more a design approach that may or may not incorporate a show controller. Here are the questions I ask when first approaching a show control application: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What are the safety considerations? What type of show is it? Is the show event-based, time based, or a hybrid? What is the control information source? What is the type of user interface required? What devices must be controlled/connected? Let's go through each of these questions in some detail. In Part 5, "Example Show Control Systems," on page 329, we will apply this process to some case studies to show you what kind of specific approaches are commonly used in some typical situations. Q UESTION 1: W HAT ARE T HE S AFETY C ONSIDERATIONS ? Safety, of course, is the utmost consideration in any situation--in entertainment technology and elsewhere. Many entertainment control system applications are basically safe for audience and crew in all but extreme circumstances: lighting, sound, video, and so forth. 2 Other sys- tems, such as scenic automation, pyro, flame systems, and so forth, are very dangerous and must be approached with extreme caution--you should get expert advice before integrating them using show control. With proper safety precautions in place, these systems can and often are integrated using show control to provide highly precise timing accuracy, enhanced safety, or other functionality not possible with human operators. We covered this in detail the "Princi- ple 1: Ensure Safety" section, on page 44 of Chapter 4, "System Design Principles." Q UESTION 2: W HAT T YPE OF S HOW IS I T ? For our purposes here, we will break shows down into linear and nonlinear. Each type presents different challenges and limitations; see the "Show Types" section, on page 17, for more infor- mation. 2. Of course, you can electrocute people, deafen or blind them, but you get the idea.